Macbeth Act IV ~ Active Reading Notes

Scene 1:

• Setting/surroundings: similar to those of when the witches first appeared, creates a dark/ominous tone 
• "Double, double toil and trouble./Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." > this simple song has been used in so many other forms in current culture; what came to mind as soon as I read the line was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it has also been used in popular shows like Supernatural and such
• Witches are creating some sort of potion(may be for Macbeth), they are being instructed by Hecate
• Macbeth enters and asks what they are doing; witches do not reply directly and instead ask if he wants to speak to their masters
• First apparition > armed head  > warns Macbeth of Macduff, the thane of Fife
• Second apparition > bloody child > says that none will do harm to Macbeth
• Third apparition > crowned child > says he will not be vanquished until "Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill/Shall come against him."
• show of 8 kings, the last being Banquo, appears > showing the line of kings, Banquo's children being included(?)
• witches vanish, Lennox says he did not see them go; notice that Macduff has fled to England reaches Macbeth's ears
• Macbeth planning to attack Macduff's castle in Fife, orders all family and people found to be killed

Scene 2:

• Lady Macduff angry/worried at her husband having left, noting that this suspicious travel will make them look like traitors
• direct characterization of Macduff: "He is noble, wise, judicious"
• simile: live as the birds do - off what is given to them > Son to Lady Macduff
• indirect characterization of Lady Macduff: "Why, I can buy me twenty at any market." (speaking of husbands) as well as "If he were dead, you'ld weep for/him: if you would not, it were a good sign/that I should quickly have a new father.
• Lady Macduff reveals to her Son that his father was a traitor
• Messenger comes in and warns Lady Macduff to take her kids and leave
• Murderers enter and kill the Son while Lady Macduff runs off

Scene 3:

• Malcolm and Macduff speaking, Malcolm calls Macduff a tyrant
• Malcolm seems to want to murder Macbeth
• Malcolm is testing Macduff's loyalty and trustworthiness
• Doctor mentions a disease of some sort, called "the evil"
• Ross appears telling the men that people have been slaughtered, but that Macduff's family is fine (as last seen by Ross) > then Ross reveals that they too have been killed
• Macduff then agrees to join in the fighting and to take personal revenge on Macbeth> urged on by Malcolm