1. Preparations for war Act 5, Scenes 2 – 5
Tuesday, 04 December 2018Tuesday, 04 December 2018
Preparations for war Act 5, Scenes 2 – 5

2. Act 5, Scene 2
Outside the castle, a group of Scottish lords discusses the military situation: the English army approaches, led by Malcolm, and the Scottish army will meet them near Birnam Wood, apparently to join forces with them. The “tyrant,” as Lennox and the other lords call Macbeth, has fortified Dunsinane Castle and is making his military preparations in a mad rage.
Act 5, Scene 3
Macbeth strides into the hall of Dunsinane with the doctor and his attendants, boasting proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English army or from Malcolm, since “none of woman born” can harm him and since he will rule securely “[t]ill Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane.” He calls his servant Seyton, who confirms that an army of ten thousand Englishmen approaches the castle. Macbeth insists upon wearing his armor, though the battle is still some time off. The doctor tells the king that Lady Macbeth is kept from rest by “thick-coming fancies,” and Macbeth orders him to cure her of her delusions.

3. Macbeth’s reflections
Macbeth retreats to his castle; messengers bring bad news about the approaching English army, and Macbeth begins to doubt the Witches’ prophecy for the first time in the play. His outward mood changes from weariness & doubt to threat & bravado, but he is determined to fight on, whatever may happen. Through a series of soliloquies, the audience witnesses Macbeth’s private thoughts.

4. MACBETH’S LIFE
“I have lived long enough. My way of life Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but in their stead, Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath Which the poor heart would fain deny, And dare not.”
What four things does Macbeth list that people hold in old age?
What does Macbeth expect instead of these things?
What is the tone of this soliloquy? How does Macbeth use language to show his outlook on life at this point in the play?

5. Act 5, Scene 4
In the country near Birnam Wood, Malcolm talks with the English lord Siward and his officers about Macbeth’s plan to defend the fortified castle. They decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising their numbers.

7. Macbeth’s Final Soliloquy
[A cry of women within] MACBETH What is that noise? SEYTON It is the cry of women, my good lord. [Exit] MACBETH I have almost forgot the taste of fears; The time has been, my senses would have cool'd To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors; Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts Cannot once start me. [Re-enter SEYTON]
How, according to Macbeth, has he changed since he was crowned king?
When did a shriek in the night scare him before? Why does he remember it at this specific moment?
What metaphors does he use? What do they have in common?
How does he describe his thoughts? How has he described them in the past?

8. “She should have died after the battle when there would be time to mourn properly.”
“She should have waited for me, seeing that my death is so near.”
“She would have died at sometime, either now or later.”
“She should have died after the battle for now, with her gone, I know I shall not win.”
MACBETH Wherefore was that cry? SEYTON The queen, my lord, is dead. MACBETH She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word.
Macbeth pauses on the word "hereafter,“ and realises that the time will never come now.
He reflects that if he could have gone back, then there would have been time to consider the word “died” and to mourn properly.
But now that there is to be no victory, no going back, and no more Lady Macbeth, the tomorrows creep on with their slow pace till the end of time.

9. What techniques does Macbeth use? What motifs does he use, and why?
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
Petty = insignificant, useless
Lighted = led their way by light
Book of Revelations: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works“
Psalm 22: “"Thou hast brought me into the dust of death."
What techniques does Macbeth use?
What motifs does he use, and why?
What is his point?

10. What imagery does Macbeth use to describe life?
Out, out, brief candle! 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.
What quote is this similar to?
What is candle symbolising?
What motif does it relate to?
What imagery does Macbeth use to describe life?
Why is he thinking this way?
What techniques does he use?
Wisdom of Solomon: "Our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and come to nought as the mist that is driven away with the beams of the sun. For our time is as a shadow that passeth away and after our end there is no returning."
Psalm 90: “We spend our years as a tale that is told."

11. Who else has used their tongue on Macbeth?
MACBETH [Enter a Messenger] Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.
Who else has used their tongue on Macbeth?
Why is he impatient with listening to people now, unlike before?

12. “Brief Candle”
Life, almost endless in its possibilities, passing on through faith into a "life to come," has mockingly brought its far-seen end into full view; the purpose and the significance of men's deeds have quickly faded out; each day dies; dusty death ends all; the poor player struts "his hour" upon the stage, and then is heard no more; life is "brief.“
It is precisely this intense feeling of the shortness of life that Shakespeare makes Macbeth read into or find similar in a burning candle. A candle is not "brief"; it is short, and it burns for a fairly short time only. But it would be absurd for Macbeth to say, "Out, out, short candle!"
What Macbeth is really thinking about is not a candle, not even the short burning-period of a candle, but life. "Short," therefore, would not be enough; it is too physical; it belongs to the object itself. What really justifies the term "brief" is the similarity between Macbeth's life, as he now sees it, and a candle. Neither lasts for long; each implies a limit of time; both are about to go "out." Shakespeare does not apply to the word "candle" an adjective appropriate directly to the object itself; he uses a word which signifies how Macbeth himself reads into the candle, or finds paralleled in it, an important part of his central experience at this moment.
"Brief" represents in a word precisely the feeling which intensely affects Macbeth.

13. Starting with this extract, explain how Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s downfall as a tragic hero.
Paragraph #1: Macbeth’s downfall in the extract
Paragraph #2: Macbeth’s downfall in the extract & another scene in the play
Paragraph #3: Macbeth’s journey as a tragic hero