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Chris Vanderburgh

English 

10A

Mr.D.Newman

Macbeth Blog #3

Act 2 scene 1 through 4

Scene #1

Scene one begins with pleasantries between Banquo and his sone Fleance. Banquo asks his son how the night is and he says it is good. Banquo then complains about his inability to sleep. He says he is tired yet some mystic force keeps him awake. Could this force be the witches? I would argue yes. I doubt that its indigestion thats keeping him awake. Macbeth enters and discuss's some things with Banquo it is then revealed that it was in fact the weird sisters that had been keeping him awake. Later in the scene after everyone has gone t bed macbeth has what can only be described as a hallucination. He says "is this a dagger I see before me? The handle toward my hand?'. At this time many images run through Macbeth's head. He is imagining killing Duncan and all manner of evil thoughts are going through his head. Both he and lady Macbeth seem a little unstable. Is this the result of witchcraft or is it the result of some other inexplicable reason? Will we ever know? These unanswered questions bring us to the end of scene one.

Scene #2

Scene two is more of a continuation of the events of scene one than it is a scene to itself. Lady macbeth has been drinking by the beginning of the second scene. She says "what has made them drunk hath made me bold" soon after this is said macbeth enters with two bloody daggers. Lady macbeth had feared that the murder had not taken place but when macbeth came back with the daggers he asked if he had done well because the murder was noiseless. Macbeth struggles with his conscious. He says the men awoke whilst he was killing the king. They said their prayers but macbeth could not bring himself to say amen. Macbeth has brought the daggers with him into another chamber a vital mistake which lady macbeth swiftly tells him to wipe the blood on the daggers onto Duncan's guards. Macbeth refused to do so because he was to traumatized by the original task that he could not go back and see the scene of the crime. Lady macbeth takes the daggers and wipes the blood on the gaurds. As she is doing this macbeth is frightened by a sound in the night. Lady macbeth returns and tells him to act as though nothing is wrong. Then lady macbeth being the malicious conspirator that she is begins to plan a story that outlines where she and macbeth were at the time of the murders.this brings us to the end of the scene.

Scene #3 

Macbeth's porter enters. His porter imagines that he is letting people into hell. The porter performs a soliloquy and talks about admitting to hell a greedy farmer, a liar and a cheating tailor. Macduff and Lennon enter the castle and he jokes with them about the effects of drinking too much. It is possible that the porter is joking like this because macbeth has a severe drinking problem. Or maybe it is lady macbeth with the drinking problem. Later in the scene Lennox is shown to Duncan's room and the murder is discovered. Has macbeth been implicated in the murder? Or will he get away with it? Macbeth and lady macbeth defend their killing of the guards. Several characters vow to investigate the murder and then Duncan's son flee the country. Why would Duncan's sons flee the country? They could simply flee to the countryside of England. This causes me to wonder just how far the hand of macbeth can reach. Why is macbeth so powerful? This raise further questions such as is it better for macbeth to be hated and feared or love and respected? I believe these questions will be answered in the following acts.

Scene #4 

An old man and ross enter. The old man begins by saying thirty years of time I can remember I have seen some strange and frightful things, but this night rivals them all. This scene already has me pondering. For example, Who is this old man? What is the significance of his small talk with ross? Of course this old man would be used to advance the plot and comment on the strange events occurring however the old man need not be included and could almost be replaced by a soliloquy from ross. In this scene macbeth is finally crowned king after all of his work to get there. This was a simple and short scene however it offers a few significant events, one macbeth is crowned king and two the old man has incited and observed some interesting events that may mean the witches are involved once again. Seeing as the witches are a major catalyst in the whole play the next act should prove to be an interesting one

Macbeth blog

Christopher Vanderburgh

10A

Mr. D Newman

Intro to macbeth, macbeth and the prophecies

Act 1 scene 1-3

The play macbeth begins with three witches discussing where and when to meet a man named macbeth. It is not yet clear what significance this has to the play however it is clear that they wish macbeth harm. Macbeth is at that time fighting a battle against the rebel MacDonald. Although the rebel had strong forces macbeth fought on and "carved his way through his troops until he reached the rebel himself and then "un cleaved him from the nave to thy chaps". This particular line has great effect when read because it shows exactly how ruthless and powerful macbeth truly is So needless to say macbeth had one the battle. However after macbeth wins the battle Duncan is informed that the Norwegian king has mounted a strong assault from the North. Ross enters and Duncan asks "from when'st though cometh" ross replies "from fife great king where Norwegian banners flout the sky and make our people cold." Ross then announces that "victory fell on us" and Duncan exclaims " great joy". Then to top it all off ross states that " the Norwegian king craves great composition nor would we deign him burial of his men till he disbursed at saint colms inch ten thousand dollars to our disposal" this means that they did not allow the norwegians to bury their war dead until they payed macbeth's forces ten thousand dollars. Duncan then tells ross to go and tell macbeth about the victory.

Act three:

The three witches had been planning to meet macbeth after the battle. They did and prophesied to him that he would be the king of Glamis, be the king of Cawdor and that his children would be kings. This could mean a number of things. It becomes clear that the prophecies come true because later in the scene he becomes thane of Cawdor. However the fact that his children will be kings raises some questions like, how will his children become kings? 

Questions:

The witches themselves said all of these prophecies maybe to orchestrate his undoing later in the play or maybe to help macbeth. Do the witches have an ulterior motive. I think yes, simply because they are witches, they sound extremely sinister and they seem as though they would. In order to become thane of Glamis macbeth would have to kill Duncan. If I were to weigh the pros and cons of killing a friend to become king I would most definitely kill my friend. The prophecies the witches have provided macbeth with mean that he will ultimately become thane of glamis however the prophecies do not mention whether or not duncan has to be killed but that he may relinquish the throne to macbeth by will instead of by force. In conclusion act three allows for much speculation as to how the rest of the play will turn out and yet it offers few or no solutions to these questions.

Macbeth blog

Christopher Vanderburgh

10A

Mr.D.Newman

Macbeth and Murder scene 4,5 and 6

Scene #4:

Scene four begins with Duncan asking if the thane of Cawdor has been killed yet.

Then Malcolm replies by saying that he spoke with somebody that saw him die who did report that he frankly confessed his treasons. This raises a question what were the thanes treasons and why were they perpetrated? Chances are it will never be explained and I believe it was written in by Shakespeare to support the plot. King Duncan then makes the comment theres no art to find the minds construction in the face. A comment that was written into the play seemingly, as a foreshadowing to the inability of the king to tell that macbeth intends to kill him. Macbeth then remarks to Duncan the service and the loyalty I owe in doing it pays itself. Macbeth then goes on to pledge his loyalty to Duncan, this loyalty may be genuine or manufactured however later on when macbeth finds it difficult to kill Duncan it appears genuine. The king announces that his son shall succeed the throne. This actions significance is not initially seen however it may thicken the plot later. Macbeth is rather taken aback by this statement and says " that is a step on which I must fall down" and that brought us to the end of the fourth scene.

Scene #5:

Macbeth sends a very revealing letter to his wife. In essence the letter outlines the witches prophecies and that Macbeth is to be king. Seeing as the letter Macbeth sent is treasonous it shows that he trust lady Macbeth with his life. Lady Macbeth says "I do fear thy nature" (referring to Macbeth)" is too full of the milk of human kindness". I would agree with this statement but I also believe that Macbeth will kill Duncan simply because he wishes to please his wife. An attendant then arrives and announces that macbeth is coming. Lady macbeth then makes a bizarre call to evil spirits asking them to fill her with hatred and immorality to give her the courage to kill Duncan instead of asking macbeth to do it. This causes me to question the soon to be queens sanity.Macbeth arrives and lady macbeth greets him with "great Glamis, worthy Cawdor. Macbeth and his wife then discuss the merits of killing Duncan for their personal gain.

Scene #6:

As it turns out lady Macbeth was right about macbeth's nature. At the beginning of scene six lady Macbeth and macbeth host a banquet for the king with the intent of killing him however Macbeth is not present when the king arrives. He is to afraid that the king will be able to tell that something is amiss. Lady Macbeth is obviously worried about this because she uses excessive flattery when addressing the king throughout the scene. When Macbeth does arrive he simply sits down and has dinner with the king. This brings us to the end of scene six. Scene six has made me question the relationship between Macbeth and lady Macbeth. Are they really in love or was their marriage more of a decision of power. They seem to genuinely love each other and I believe the true nature of their relationship has yet to be revealed.

I wake up with my sheets knotted around me like a snake. I crawl out of bed and 

slowly open the blinds. Its a beautiful sunny day over Paris. I don my robe and walk into the bathroom. I look around the bathroom, it's very simple, a shower, a white sink, there are blue tiles on the floor and walls. My Doberman Maxamillion comes to greet me with a lick and a sniff. The time is seven a.m. I sit down at my large oak breakfast table to a breakfast of croissants and jam that I have prepared for myself. I get on my jogging pants and a t shirt and then go for a light jog over to Notre Dame cathedral. I run slowly back home. 

I open the door on my large apartment. It's a massive contemporary place with many expensive paintings on the walls. Most of it is white walled with oak floors. I walk into my study, which smells of mahogany and leather bound books. I put Bach on the stereo and begin reading a book about a corporal in the Second World War who survives a plane crash. It is an enthralling book so I continue reading it until I decide to have some green tea at around nine o'clock. I then continue to my office to manage my shipping companies' ledgers and prepare a presentation for the board of directors who meet next month. I take Maxamillion out for a walk at nine thirty, he barks at various squirrels and other dogs. Maxamillion does his business, and I stoop and scoop as a good dog owner would. 

I go home again and put on a suit.  I put on black pants, a belt, a white shirt, a red tie and a black jacket. I go to the underground parking in my apartment building. I take out my keys and unlock my Mercedes. I drive slowly through Paris. Around the various round abouts. Surprisingly not getting stuck in any of them for any time. 

I decide to drive down a random alley way. I park and get out. I walk down the alley seeing some of the largest blocks of cheese I've ever seen. I walk slowly into a crepe shop and order a ham and cheese crepe and a Nutella crepe. I watch the employee put the dough on the hot plate in a thin layer and then he puts ham and cheese on it. I eat the crepe. The finest one yet. Just the right amount of ham

and cheese. I take one bite savoring the taste.

At ten o'clock I decide to meet my friend Jonathan at the Eiffel tower. We buy our tickets, and instead of taking the elevator we opt to take the stairs. The Eiffel tower is milling with enthusiastic tour groups, tourists and a few soldiers. All of them are amazed by a sight that I now consider quite common in my daily life. We take the arduous journey up to the first viewing deck. I overlook the general area and see the river, the parks with people picnicking. Jonathan says to me "hard to believe you live here isn't it?" and I say slowly "a little bit". Me and Jonathan discuss the various merits of living in France and Paris and make the decision that although very beautiful and rich with history, the tourists and the traffic are horrendous. Jonathan and I take the stairs to the third and final viewing deck. We overlook the whole of Paris. Most of the buildings are six stories tall and white with black railings. When the city of Paris burned to the ground in the sixteen hundreds Napoleon, the ruler at the time, decided to rebuild the whole of the city with six story tall, white buildings. I appreciate his choice because I am a fan of neat looking things that have a uniform pattern. Most cities have a mixed pattern, like a pair of patched hobo pants. However in Paris this is not the case. Paris is a wonderful paisley throughout the city. 

At eleven o' clock me and Jonathan decide to go back to my apartment and play a few rounds of pool. We arrive at the apartment and open the door. The dog bursts out of the study and greets Jonathan, Maxamillion always has loved Jonathan. 

We walk into the pool room and rack up the balls. I invite Jonathan to break and he sinks the orange three ball. We play pool for about an hour and a half, bringing the time to twelve thirty. Jonathan beat me every time. Then Jonathan and I indulged in some forty year old brandy. It was disgusting, but it made me feel rich which is what I like. So I drank it. By the time Jonathan left it was around five o'clock. 

I made myself a turkey dinner, Complete with roasted carrots, parsnips, turnips, turkey and mashed potatoes. I feed Maxamillion the same dinner I had. Then curled up with a good book and a cigar, I ponder what my life is like for a moment.

I live alone. Except for my dog Max, no girlfriend and no children. However I do enjoy the way I live life. I live it at my leisure, and how I want to. After finishing a degree in international commerce I decided to open my own shipping company. After finding several investors that were mostly family, I hired many people to manage my company for me. This has payed off massively considering I work maybe one or two hours a day. Thats not too long and the work isn't very difficult. I have no people to care for but myself. I live by my own rules, I make my own hours and can sleep until whenever I want. This has been one of the best days yet, possibly my ideal day.