Slide1: Barbara Canini; Roberto Casalati; Silvia Sammartino; Cristina Zaccardi I C


Slide2: SOURCE Raphael Holinshed’s chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland.


Slide3: Duncan ,king of Scotland Malcolm his sons Donalbain Macbeth general of the king’s army Banquo general Macduff Lennox Ross thanes of Scotland Menteth Angus Cathness Fleance Banquo’s son Seyward earl of northumberland ,general of the english army Young Seyward his son Son of Macduff Lady Macbeth Wife of Macduff Three Weird sisters Hecat


Slide4: When the play opens, Macbeth and Banquo, two generals of Duncan, the king of Scotland, meet three witches who prophesy that Macbeth shall be king and Banquo shall beget kings. This fires Macbeth’s ambition. On the instigation of Lady Macbeth, when king Duncan comes to Macbeth’s castle for the night he murders him as he sleeps.


Slide5: Macbeth kills king Duncan; Macduff and Lennox arrive a macbeth’s castle. King Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain,guess that the murdered is Macbeth and flee his castle. Malcolm head for England, Donalbain for Ireland. Macbeth is crowned the new king of Scotland,but Macduff snubbes his coronation at Scone to go to Fife instead.


Slide6: Macbeth arranges for several murderers to discreetly kill banquo and his son Fleance to ensure his sons and not Banquo’s become future kings, but the murderers kill Banquo while Fleance escapes and survives. Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at his party so Lady Macbeth finishes their party early to prevent further suspicions about her husband. From a conversation between Lennox and a lord we learn that an army is being formed in England to fight Macbeth


Slide7: The three witches prophesy Macbeth’s downfall with the three apparitions. Macbeth decides to kill Macduff to protect himself, but he can’t so he has his entire family murdered. Meanwhile a large army is gathering to defeat Macbeth.


Slide8: Lady Macbeth,tortured by guilt,kills herself. First Macbeth fights against Seyward and kills him, but then he is slain by Macduff and Malcolm is hailed as the new king of Scotland.


COMMENTARY: COMMENTARY THEMES The destruction caused by unchecked ambition and The difference between kingship and tyranny MOTIFS Vision and hallucinations Violence Prophecy SIMBOLS Blood weather


Slide10: Probably the most well known theatre superstition involves William Shakespeare's play, MacBeth -- often called, by actors, 'the bards play' or 'the Scottish play'. The superstition follows that any company performing the play will be beset with horrible luck, ranging anywhere from uncanny accidents on the set to actual deaths within the company! In fact, in many parts, it is not only the production of the play that will strike fear, but quoting from the play or even the mere mention of the name MacBeth inside a theatre, be it the stage, the house, the lobby, or especially the dressing rooms will lose a person aquainted with the stage nearly all his or her theatrical friends.


MEANINGFUL EXCERPTS: MEANINGFUL EXCERPTS « Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. » « La vita non è altro che un'ombra in cammino; un povero attore che s'agita e pavoneggia per un'ora sul palcoscenico e del quale poi non si sa più nulla. È un racconto narrato da un idiota, pieno di strepito e di furore, e senza alcun significato. »


FAMOUS QUOTES: FAMOUS QUOTES And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence (act I scene III) There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face. (act I scene III) -Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires. (act I scene IV) -I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn As you have done to this. (act I scene VII) -Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee; -I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw (act I scene VII)


OVERALL OPINION: OVERALL OPINION Macbeth presents a human drama of ambition desire and guilt. Violence and cruelty become the means of an exploration of the human’s minds darker recesses. It’s the tragedy of the conversion of a good man into one who completely evil; infact by the end of the play he is totaly deprived of humanity


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