MACBETH ACT 2 FULL ACT LECTURE ANALYSIS

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Macbeth summary and analysis Full play Act 1 Scene 1

Act I: Scene 1

 

Summary

In a desolate place blasted by thunderstorms, Three Witches meet to predict the future.

Analysis

Macbeth begins in "an open place" — a place without any landmarks or buildings — with the appearance of the three "weird sisters," as they later call themselves. The Old English word "wyrd," or "weird" means "Fate," which is exactly the origin of these Witches: They are the Fates of classical mythology, one of whom spun the thread of a person's life, one of whom measured it, and one of whom cut it. The bleakness of the scene is a dramatic representation both of the wild Scottish landscape in which the play is set and the more universal wilderness of man's existence.

The Three Witches' speech is written in short rhyming verse that imitates the casting of a spell. The women's language is also full of the imagery of witchcraft and of chaotic weather: thunder, lightning, rain, fog, and "filthy air." The lines "When the battle's lost and won" and "Fair is foul and foul is fair" are the most significant in the scene. On the one hand, these contradictory statements are the kind of riddles we would expect from witches; on the other, the lines suggest a paradox that runs throughout the play: Life frequently presents a confused picture of events in which discerning truth from falsehood is difficult.

Glossary

Graymalkin, Paddock (8) grey cat, toad; both "familiars" or witches' assistants

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Macbeth By william Shakespeare Summary

Macbeth Summary

King Duncan hears of Macbeth’s heroics at war and bestows the title Thane of Cawdor on him. The current Thane of Cawdor has been deemed a traitor and the king orders that he be killed.

The Three Witches

Unaware of this, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches on a heath who predict that Macbeth will inherit the title and eventually become king. They tell Banquo that he will be happy and that his sons will inherit the throne.

Macbeth is then informed that he has been named Thane of Cawdor and his belief in the witches’ prophecy is confirmed.

King Duncan’s Murder

Macbeth contemplates his fate and Lady Macbeth encourages him to act to ensure the prophecy is realized.

A feast is organized to which King Duncan and his sons are invited. Lady Macbeth hatches a plot to kill King Duncan while he sleeps and encourages Macbeth to carry out the plan.

After the murder, Macbeth is full of regret. Lady Macbeth scorns him for his cowardly behavior. When Macbeth realizes that he has forgotten to leave the knife at the scene of the crime, Lady Macbeth takes over and completes the deed.

Macduff finds the dead King and Macbeth accuses the Chamberlains of murder. King Duncan’s sons flee in fear of their lives.

Banquo’s Murder

Banquo questions the witches’ predictions and wants to discuss them with Macbeth. Macbeth sees Banquo as a threat and employs murderers to kill him and his son, Fleance. The murderers botch the job and only manage to kill Banquo. Fleance flees the scene and is blamed for his father’s death.

Banquo’s Ghost

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth host a feast to lament the death of the King. Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in his chair and his concerned guests soon disperse. Lady Macbeth urges her husband to rest and forget his wrongdoings, but he decides to meet with the witches again to discover his future.

Prophesies

When Macbeth meets the three witches, they concoct a spell and conjure apparitions to answer his questions and predict his fate. A bodiless head appears and warns Macbeth to fear Macduff. Then a bloody child appears and assures him that “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” A third apparition of a crowned child with a tree in his hand tells Macbeth that he will not be vanquished until “Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him.”

Macduff’s Revenge

Macduff travels to England to help Malcolm (King Duncan’s son) avenge his father’s death and overthrow Macbeth. By this time, Macbeth has already decided that Macduff is his enemy and kills his wife and son.

Lady Macbeth’s Death

The doctor observes Lady Macbeth’s strange behavior. Every night she acts out washing her hands in her sleep as if trying to wash away her guilt. She dies shortly after.

Macbeth’s Final Battle

Malcolm and Macduff have assembled an army at Birnam Wood. Malcolm suggests the soldiers each cut down a tree in order to advance on the castle unseen. Macbeth is warned that the wood seems to be moving. Scoffing, Macbeth feels confident that he will be victorious in battle as his predicted invincibility that “none of woman born shall harm him” will protect him.

Macbeth and Macduff finally confront each other. Macduff reveals that he was ripped from his Mother’s womb in an untimely manner, so the “none of woman born” prophesy does not apply to him. He kills Macbeth and holds his head aloft for all to see before declaring Malcolm’s rightful place as king.

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المصطلحات الادبيه Literary Terms

هنا ستجدون شرحا ميسراً للمصطلحات الأدبية التى تستخدم فى كليات الآداب و التربية قسم اللغة الإنجليزية - كما أنها تنفع من يهوى الشعر Poetry و المسرح Drama و الروايةNovel و القصة القصيرة short story و المقال Essay و غيرها من الآداب و الفنون .

الفصل Act
============
هو قسم من أقسام المسرحية play و يتضمن كل فصل من فصول المسرحية
على مشاهد scenes بدأ من مشهد و احد و أكثر
و من المعروف ان المسرحيات الاغريقية كانت تعرض مرة واحدة بدون تقسيمها إلى فصول مع وجود فواصل يتدخل فيها الكورس chorus ثم تدخل الأديب هوراس Horace و أصر على تقسيم المسرحية إلى خمس فصول ثم انتقل ذلك الى الرومانسية الفرنسية و الادباء من العصر الاليزابيثى فى انجلترا ( نسبة الى الملكة Elizabeth الأولى ) كما نرى مثلاً فى مسرحيات شكسبير و كان الفضل فى نقل هذا البناء الجديد الى انجلترا يرجع الى الاديب المعروف Ben Jonson



الحدث Action
==============
إن الحدث هو مجمل القصة التى تسرى فى عمل أدبى مثل ( القصة - الرواية - المسرحية - القصيدة من النوع narrative - أو حتى العمل السينمائى )
كما ان الحدث يمكمن أن يمثل تتالى الأحداث و اندفاعها إلى الأمام فى العمل الدرامى ( المسرح ) و ليس ضروريا ان يتم ذلك بالحركة على خشبة المسرح ( stage ) و إنما من الممكن جدا أن يتطور الحدث بمجرد انكشاف الشخصيات أمامنا و نظرتنا لها كجمهور audience


aesopic language
===============
لهجة قصص أيسوب - كلنا سمعنا عن هذه الحكايات التى يتحدث فيها الطيور و الحيوانات كلمات غاية فى الحكمة - و مصطلح اللغة الأيسوبية استخدمه الأخ Mykhail Saltykov قاصدا به اللغة المخبأة ذات النبرة السياسية و طبعا كان المقصود هنا هو التهرب من الرقابة - و على القارئ أن يقرأ بين السطور و يفهم التلميحات المقصودة

aethetic distance
==============
مصطلح مهم رغم أنه غير مشهور و المقصود به هو العلاقة بين القارئ و العمل الأدبى و هى علاقة نفسية طبعاً - و يمكننا أن نقيس هذه العلاقة عن طريق قياس نظرة القارئ و مدى تقبله للعمل الأدبى .


affectation
============
هو استخدام لغة و محسنات غير مناسبة للموقف الأدبى أو شكل العمل الأدبى و مناسبته لا تتلائم مع هذا الأسلوب - و بالتالى فإن الأدباء يتحاشون الوقوع فى هذا الخطأ قدر الاستطاعة



Prose النثر
==========
هو المصطلح الذى يناقض الشعر poetry من حيث كونه شكل من اشكال اللغة يستمر للأمام مباشرة بدون تزيين و بدون ارتباط بالوزن و القياس و القافية rhythm , measure and rhyme الثلاثى الشهير فى الشعر
لكن لا ننسى طبعا أن هناك قصائد نثرية prose poems تحتوى على بعض الصور البلاغية figures of speech و قافية داخلية أيضاً


assonance = vocalic rhyme
====================
هى تكرار نفس صوت العلة vowel sound فى مسافة قريبة لتحقيق لكنة موسيقية معينة
و جايبلكم مثال من رائعة تنيسون Lotos Eaters
The Lotos blooms below the barren peak:
The Lotos blows by every winding creek:
All day the wind breathes low mellower tone
Thro' every hollow cave and alley lone,


امااااااااااا في الشعر

Metaphor الإستعارة
=========
هى أداة تصويرية تستخدم فى الشعر poetry و معناها
الإشارة الضمنية الى شئ ما بقصد شئ آخر.
مثلاً
Life a dark wood
The world a stage
حيث شبهت الجملة الأولى الحياة بأنها غابة مظلمة و المقصود ضمنياً أنها يسيطر القوى فيها على الضعيف
و الجملة الثانية الدنيا مسرح كبير

Simile التشبيه
===========
هى جملة تحنوى على تشبيه مباشر باستخدام أداة مثل like - as - resemble و هكذا
مثلاً
Life is like a dome of many-coloured glass

Meter 
========
هو تكرار نمط موسيقى معين بين السطور الشعرية lines أو عبر المقاطع الشعرية stanzas
و ذلك باستخدام الضغط stress أو النبرة pitch
و من أنواعها iamb و dactyl

Onomatopoeia
===========
هو تقليد لصوت من اصوات الطبيعة فى الشعر أو أصوات الآلات
مثلاً
screech - babble - tick tock
تعتبر من أمثلتها

accent
-----------------------

هى اللهجة أو فى الشعر طريقة قراءة البيت
حيث يقسم البيت line or verse إلى مقاطع syllables و كل مقطع يسقط عليه ضغط stress or emphasis لكن طريقة النطق تختلف حسب مشاعر القارئ


لاحظ البيت التالى
All human things are subject to decay
And, when Fate summons, Monarchs must obey

يمكن قراءة البيتين بطرق عديد بما يزيد على 12 emphasis أو الضغط على الكلمة فى النطق و هذا يسمى تغير اللهجة accent
حيث يمكنك عمل stress عند :
all-human-when-fate-Monarchs-must-obey

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Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 3 Summary and Analysis

Act I: Scene 3

Summary

At Olivia's house, Sir Toby Belch, Olivia's uncle, is criticizing his niece for mourning the death of her brother so profusely. He says to her serving girl, Maria, that his niece is melodramatically overreacting, and he thoroughly disapproves. Maria disapproves of several things herself: she disapproves of Sir Toby's arriving at such a late hour, dressing so slovenly, and drinking so much. Only yesterday, Olivia complained of these things, plus the fact that Sir Toby brought someone who he thinks is the perfect suitor to the house, Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Despite Maria's calling Aguecheek a "fool and a prodigal," Sir Toby is proud of the chap — a fitting suitor for his niece: Aguecheek, he says, receives three thousand ducats a year, plays the violincello, and speaks several languages. Maria is not impressed. To her, the man is reputed to be a gambler, a quarreler, a coward, and a habitual drunkard.

When Sir Andrew joins them, there follows a brief exchange of jests, most of them at Sir Andrew's expense. Maria leaves, and the two men discuss Sir Andrew's chances as a prospective suitor of Olivia. Sir Andrew is discouraged and ready to ride home tomorrow, but Sir Toby persuades him to prolong his visit for another month, especially since Sir Andrew delights in masques and revels and, as Sir Toby points out, Sir Andrew is a superb dancer and an acrobat, as well. Laughing and joking, the two men leave the stage. It is obvious that Sir Toby has a secret and mysterious purpose for wanting to persuade Sir Andrew to stay and woo the fair Olivia.

Analysis

With this scene, we are introduced to still another set of characters: in the modern idiom, we have already met the "upstairs" characters; now we meet the "downstairs" characters. Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Maria form the subplot that counterbalances the main plot. Sir Toby Belch, as his name implies, is characterized by his heavy drinking and by his obese, corpulent frame. In an earlier play, Shakespeare created a similar type of character in Sir John Falstaff (See Henry IV, Part I and Part II); this character was extremely popular with Elizabethan audiences, and Sir Toby is reminiscent of the earlier Sir John; both are plump, jolly knights with a penchant for drinking, merrymaking, and foolery of all types. In this play, Sir Toby spends most of his time complimenting Sir Andrew so that the latter will continue to supply him with money for drinking and cavorting. Sir Toby's niece, we discover, is too withdrawn in her melodramatic mourning to be aware of the partying going on in her house, but when she does become aware of it, she disapproves and relies upon her steward, Malvolio, to keep her household in order; thus, Malvolio will soon become the butt of the partymakers' jokes.

Maria, another member of the subplot, is Olivia's vivacious, clever, and mischievous maid. She comes from a Shakespearean tradition of servants who are wittier and cleverer than the people who surround them. Thus, she will be seen to be far more witty than Sir Andrew Aguecheek is, and he will become the object of her many jokes and puns, but he will never realize the extent to which Maria ridicules him.

Sir Andrew Aguecheek is necessary for the plot mainly because he is in possession of three thousand ducats a year, and Sir Toby is anxious to remain on good terms with him so as to be a recipient of the eccentric knight's beneficence. Consequently, he continually plots ways to make the knight think that Olivia is indeed receptive to the romantic overtures of the tall, skinny, ridiculous knight. Now we know that two vastly different people, Duke Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, are both seeking the hand of the Lady Olivia. Later, Malvolio will become a third "suitor," by a ruse played upon him by Maria and her cohorts.

Click here for Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 4 Summary and Analysis 

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Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 2 Summary and Analysis

Twelfth Night 

Act I: Scene 2

Summary
Viola and a sea captain and several sailors enter. They have been shipwrecked on the seacoast of Illyria and have barely escaped drowning. The captain congratulates Viola on not being drowned, for he tells her that when their ship split in half, he saw her brother, Sebastian, tie himself to a mast; yet even that, he fears, did not save Sebastian, for he saw him and the mast borne away on the waves. According to the captain, there is a slim chance that Sebastian survived, but there is a strong possibility that only the captain, Viola, and these few sailors are the sole survivors. Viola is appreciative of the captain's kind, if cautious, optimism; she gives him some gold coins and asks him if he has any idea where they are. The captain does; he knows Illyria well. He was born and reared here, and he tells Viola that the country is governed by a "noble Duke," Duke Orsino. Viola recognizes the name; her father spoke of him. The duke is a bachelor, she believes.

The captain is not so sure that this fact is still true; he says that according to current gossip, the duke has been seeking the love of "fair Olivia," but he says that Olivia is a virgin and that she is determined to remain so. Following the death of Olivia's father (a year ago) and the death of her brother (just recently), Olivia forswore men altogether.

The story intrigues Viola; she herself is now in mourning for her brother, Sebastian, and nothing would please her more than to serve Olivia. The captain, however, says that such a plan is impossible. Olivia will see no one. For a moment, Viola ponders, then she devises an ingenious scheme. She will disguise herself as a young eunuch, and she will pay the captain handsomely for his aid if he presents her to Duke Orsino. She will sing for the duke, play any number of musical instruments for him and — in short — she will ingratiate herself in his household. The captain agrees, and they exit.

Analysis

With the shift of this scene to the seacoast of Illyria, we meet another principal character in the comedy — Viola — and in meeting her, we hear more about the Lady Olivia, and even though their names are almost perfect anagrams (a rearrangement of the same letters in the names), and even though they are in similar dramatic situations in this play, they are vastly different women. Both of them have recently been orphaned, and, to all outward semblances, both have lost a brother and are therefore alone in the world. But here the similarity ends. Olivia is indulging in her grief, but whereas Viola deeply grieves for her brother, she is still able to function in the practical world. Unlike Olivia, Viola, shipwrecked and alone, does not have time to indulge in her grief. Being a shipwrecked virgin maid on a strange shore and knowing no one, she must use her wit, her intelligence, and her ability to analyze situations and characters. Consequently, Viola decides to disguise herself as a man for a very practical purpose — to assure her own protection in an alien world which would not respect a young virgin maiden. And with the assumption of this disguise, we will have the beginning of a complicated series of disguises which will run throughout the remainder of the comedy.
Viola's uncanny ability to intuit other people's ideas enables her to trust the sea captain; he can help her carry out her plans and keep her identity secret. Without his trust, her plans would fail, and after she has assumed her disguise, she uses it to its fullest potential — that is, she never passes up the opportunity to use her disguise in order to make puns and double entendres for parodies and satires and, ultimately, to comment subtly on the disguised biological difference between herself and the Lady Olivia. In other words, while the disguise provides Viola with security and protection, it also allows her to utilize her wit for her own enjoyment and also for the enjoyment of the audience.

Click here for Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 3 Summary and Analysis  

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Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 1 Summary and Analysis

              Twelfth Night

By William Shakespeare                                                                                

                                

               Summary and Analysis

Act I: Scene 1

              Twelfth Night

By William Shakespeare                                                                                

                                

               Summary and Analysis

Act I: Scene 1

Summary

Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, is sitting in his palace and enjoying himself by listening to music. He is in love and is in a whimsical, romantic mood, luxuriating in the various emotions which the music evokes. But he impulsively decides that he has heard enough, and after sending the musicians away, he expounds on the subject of love. Curio, one of his pages, asks his master if he wouldn't like to hunt; perhaps exercise will cure his master's soulful, philosophical moodiness. Orsino replies that he would like to hunt — but he would like to hunt the lovely Olivia, to whom he has sent another of his pages, Valentine, as an emissary. At that moment, Valentine enters. But he brings such bad news that he begs "not [to] be admitted": Olivia's brother has died, and she has vowed to mourn her brother's death for seven years. Surprisingly, the news does not dampen Orsino's spirit. He rhapsodizes on how a girl with such sensitivity can express her emotions; if she "hath a heart of that fine frame," he says, then she would be even more devoted and loyal to a lover.

Analysis

Twelfth Night has always been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays on the stage. On a first reading of the play, some students find the play difficult to come to grips with. This is because so much of the delight of the play comes from viewing the play. One must imagine the opening of the play with musicians entering and playing lovely music of a languid and melancholy nature to match the mood and personality of Duke Orsino's mood.

The general setting of the play is also significant. Shakespeare always set his comedies in faraway places so as to emphasize the ethereal quality of the romance. The name "Illyria" would be as little known to his audience as it is to today's average person; the fact that such a place did in fact exist on the Adriatic coast is of no importance to the play, for the name itself evokes images of faraway places filled with intrigues and love, and this is the concept that is emphasized throughout the play by the extensive use of music. In some productions, in addition to the songs played and sung on the stage, languid background music is played throughout the comedy.

The duke is in love, and his famous first lines announce this feeling:

If music be the food of love, play on!

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die. (1-3)

But the duke is not in love with any one particular person (even though it would be foolish not to acknowledge, of course, the Lady Olivia); but most of all, the duke is in love with love itself; after all, the Lady Olivia has rejected his protestations of love, and yet he continues to insist that she marry him. The duke thoroughly delights in giving himself up to the exquisite delights of his own passions, but actually he does little to try to possess the object of his affections. In fact, this is the reason why he will later use Viola (Cesario) to do his courting for him.

The duke's character is set in his first speech. At the same time that he indulges in the sentimental music, he impetuously grows tired of it and dismisses the musicians. The duke then evokes the metaphor of the sea, which he likens to love. The sea is vast, as is the duke's capacity for love, but the sea is also changeable, unstable, and constantly shifting its mien. At the end of the comedy, the duke, significantly, will shift his love from the Lady Olivia to Viola within a moment; thus we should not be disturbed by this quick change. Feste later compares the duke's love to an opal, a gem which constantly changes its color according to the nature of the light.

When we hear that the Lady Olivia is going to mourn her brother for seven years, her desire to remain "cloistered like a nun" for seven years identifies her as a person of extreme romantic sentimentality, one who is not in touch with the real world; thus, she is a romantic counterpart to Duke Orsino. When the duke hears the news, he is pleased: if she can remain devoted to her brother for so long, it means that she has a constant heart; therefore, she will be constant to a lover forever, when the time comes. The duke then lies down; he goes to his "sweet beds of flowers" (usually an ottoman or lounge) in order to sleep and dream, believing that "love thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers." In this short opening scene, we have seen the duke restless and enamored of love, tired of love, and finally ready to sleep and dream of love.

 Click here for  Act 1 Scene 2 

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