Please read below how I would handle reading,
explanation, and discussion of the opening of my compressed version of Macbeth.
Know that I read every word of the original play with my students and
then perform my compressed version at our annual banquet. I am using the latter version to demonstrate
some of the many explanations I give and questions that I ask when I present a
Shakespearean play to my students.
Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth
All original lines by William
Shakespeare
Compressed for Presentation at Spring 2019
New Salem Educational Initiative Banquet
by Gary Marvin Davison, Ph. D.
Director, New Salem Educational Initiative
From Macbeth,
Act I, Scene One
[A
desert place]
[Thunder and lightning. Enter three witches.]
First witch:
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second witch:
When the hurlyburly’s done
When the battle’s lost and won.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
1) “Hurly-burly”
means a lotta stuff goin’ on--- What
hurly burly do you have in your own lives?
Third witch:
That shall be ere the set of sun.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
2)
“Ere” means “before in the Elizabethan language of Shakespeare, who wrote
during the transition from King James II
to Queen Elizabeth.
First witch:
Where the place?
Second witch:
Upon the heath.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
3)
“Heath” means open, flat land, not typically used for farming or other
productive purposes.
Third witch:
There to meet with Macbeth.
All:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
4) How
can things sometimes be good (“fair”) and not so good (“foul’) at the same
time? Can ya’ll think of such
circumstances in your own lives?
[Exeunt.]
My Comment/Question >>>>>
5) “Exeunt”
means more than one actor exiting the stage..
From Macbeth,
Act I, Scene Three
[A
heath near Forres]
[Thunder.
Enter the three witches.]
Macbeth:
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
6) Notice
that “foul” and “fair” stuff again? Let’s
see to what Macbeth might be referring here.
[Notice
my mix of slang (but with proper syntax) and highly conventional grammar (“to
what… referring” instead of “referring to”)
Banquo:
What are these
So wither’d and wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants of the
earth,
And yet are on’t?
My Comment/Question >>>>>
7) “Withered
means “dried up and skinny.” “Inhabitants”
are people who live in a place.
What do you think Banquo means in saying
the witches do not look like anything we’d expect to find on the earth?
Macbeth:
Speak, if you can: what are you?
First witch:
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee,
thane of Glamis!
My Comment/Question >>>>>
7) “Hail”
means “Hey, there, greetings to you.” “Thane”
is an aristocrat or noble--- someone who
inherited land from daddy and mama, and has status just because of that.
Do you think that having thanes is
fair--- that having status because of
the landed wealth of your family is okay?
Do the wealthy have such advantages in the United States?
Second witch:
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee,
thane of Cawdor!
My Comment/Question >>>>>
8) “Glamis
[glaa-miss] and “Cawdor” (caw-door”) are both names of certain territories in
Scotland.
Third witch:
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt
be king hereafter!
My Comment/Question >>>>>
My Comment/Question >>>>>
9) Whoa--- How does she know that Macbeth is going to be
king?
Banquo:
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favors nor your hate.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
9) “Favors”
means favorable treatment; “hate” someone
dissin” smeone pretty badly. Banquo just
wants to know what’s up for him also, now that the witches have made
predictions for Macbeth.
First witch:
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
10) Any
guesses as to what the first witch means in predicting that Banquo will both
greater and not as great as Macbeth in the future?
Second witch:
Not so happy, yet much happier.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
11) And
how could Banquo in the future be both happier and not as happy as Macbeth?
Third witch:
Thou shalt get kings, though
thou be none.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
12) “Get”
means to “beget” or to give birth to a child (or be the husband or partner of a
woman who does so). Usually one needed
to be a monarch (queen or king) before one of the princes or princesses became king. What do you think might happen so as to lead
to Banquo’s children to becoming monarchs when he himself is not predicted by
the witches to be one?
First witch:
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
[Witches move as if to exit.]
Macbeth:
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.
Say why upon this blasted heath you stop
our way
With such prophetic greeting?
My Comment/Question >>>>>
13) “Imperfect”
here refers to the wild and atypical look of the witches. “Blasted’ means “dang.” “Prophetic greeting” means being spoken to
with prophesies (predictions for the future).
Macbeth wants to know more because he is still confused as to what the
witches’ prophecies mean.
[Witches vanish.]
[Enter Ross and Angus.]
Ross:
The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success;
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of
Cawdor.
Banquo:
What, can the devil speak true?
My Comment/Question >>>>>
14) A
messenger says that Macbeth has been given more land and now, in addition to
being the thane of Glamis, is also the thane of Cawdor. Banquo’s reply means “Wow--- just like the witches predicted---“
Macbeth:
The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me
In borrowed robes?
My Comment/Question >>>>>
15) Macbeth
says that there is already a thane of Cawdor, so how could he be given the same
land and title.
Angus:
Under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose.
Treasons capital, confess’d and proved,
Have overthrown him.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
16) The
other messenger says that the Thane of Cawdor got busted for doing illegal
stuff and was going to be executed; Macbeth
is replacing him and has been given his land and titles. “Treason” means crimes against the nation. Were the insurrectionists who stormed the
United States Capitol on January 6th guilty of treason? Was Donald Trump guilty of treason for
telling them a crowd to go to the Capitol and protest the electoral college certification? (Here I typically have to explain how the
Senate, House of Representatives, and electoral college work, because these are
not properly explained in social studies classes.)
Macbeth:
[Aside]
[I am already thane of] Glamis, and [now
thane of] Cawdor [too]!
The greatest is behind.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
17) Macbeth
says, “Man, the witches were right about my getting the land and title to
Cawdor; now I’m gonna see what happens
with that becoming king thing.”
[To Ross and Angus]
Thanks for your pains.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
17) Macbeth
tells Ross and Angus thanks for your efforts in bringing me the news.
[Exit Ross and Angus.]
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