Act 5 scene 2 - END

Scene 2:
It starts off somewhere outside the castle, where a group of Scottish lord discuss the military situation.  They know the English army is coming and are planning to meet a Birnam woods where they would join forces.

Scene 3:
Macbeth walks with the doctor and his attendant into a hall of Dunsinane where he is boasting proudly about how the English army is nothing to him since nobody that were born from a women can harm him.  He calls his servant Seyton, who confirms that there are about 10 000 men in the English army that is approaching the army.  The doctor tells Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is acting strangely and how she has illusions.  Macbeth orders the doctor to make a cure her.

Scene 4:
Malcolm and the English army is close to Birnam woods, where he talks to lord Siward and his officers about Macbeth's plans to defend the fortified castle.  They decided to cut down some branches on the trees in the forest so they can disguise there numbers when approaching the castle.

Scene 5:
Macbeth tells his soldier to put up banners around the castle because he knows that his castle will repel the enemy.  Seyton appears to tell Macbeth that Lady Macbeth had been killed.  He started talking to himself giving off a that his life is pointless.  A messenger enters and tells him that the army is advancing.  Being terrified and enraged, he recalls the prophecy of the witches where he cannot die until the Birnam woods move to Dunsinane.

Scene 6:
Malcolm tells his soldier to drop the branches and draw there swords as the battles starts.

Scene 7:
During the battle, Macbeth kills the enemies around him.  He knows that no man can kill him as they are all born from women.  He kills lord Siward's son and leaves.

Scene 8:
Macduff finds Macbeth and fights each other.  Macbeth tells him that he cannot be slain by Macduff as he is born from women.  Macduff tells Macbeth that he was not born from women, that he was taken from his mother's womb.  Macduffs tells Macbeth to surrender but he does not and that resulted in his death.  Macduff has avenged his family.

Scene 9:
Malcolm and the English army now has control over Dunsinane, where lord Siward is informed that his son was killed.  Soon after, Macduff enters with Macbeth's head, where they have won the war.  Malcolm became the king and with his power, he restored order back to the kingdom.

Reaction:
I'm glad that its all over.  Macbeth death happened way too fast.  The constant switching between armies were annoying since I would never know when it change.

Questions:
Will Banquo's prophecy come true?
How does Macduff feels after he avenged his family?
How long did it take for Scotland to regain it's former glory?

Prediction:
I predict that in the future, England will end up controlling Scotland since Malcolm ask for there assistance to fix the problem that is going on in his own kingdom.


Source

Extra:
After reading through Macbeth, I still don't like this story.  My feelings for this from the beginning to end made it worst.  As the story progress, the main character starting acting like a coward who uses his power for his benefits.  He has too much confident in himself after his first prophecy came true which was bothersome as he needs to rely on others for his courage.  Lady Macbeth was a bad character.  She would also control his husband as if he's some kind of puppet for her.  Once he leaves, she acts like someone who's been scared for life trying to get rid of those memories.

The ending was okay, just didn't like how the way Macbeth died.  It was always related the prophecy the witches mentioned.  I wish the story didn't followed the witches prophecy.  I don't think Macbeth could be redeemed for his action as he killed the king of Scotland and will be deemed a traitor.  If he's lucky he would be exiled but his death will be inevitable.

I'm not sure if Malcolm will rule Scotland in peace since I am unsure of his personality.  He didn't have enough character development.  If he's like his father who is kind, then he will most likely rule it in peace.  After Macduff got his revenge, I think he will be a general in the army who is going to train the soldiers that are still trainees.

The witches are the main people at fault as they were the people who reveal the prophecy to Macbeth.  It was because of the prophecy the kingdom fell into ruins.  If Macbeth did not learn of the prophecy, Malcolm would not have asked for England's help.

My thoughts on the play is that it's quite bad.  When it comes to in class reading, everyone who had read sounded dead.  No tone and emotions are put into the line.  To make the language more accessible to students is to give a modern version of the play with translated lines or to compare the two languages together.

Act 5 Scene 1

It was night time at the king's castle where a doctor and a gentle women talked about the strange habits of Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking.  Then Lady Macbeth enters with a candle in her hand where she starts to talked about the murder of Lady Macduff and Banquo.  She claimed that the blood on her hands will never wash off.  The doctor doesn't dare to say anything on what he had witness today.

Reaction:
I was took by surprise in this scene.  In the earlier scenes, it shows that Lady Macbeth being someone who wouldn't get frighten over a simple matter of killing, someone who is strong.  In this scene, she acted as if she wanted to hide the fact she knew about the murder of Lady Macduff and Banquo, scared of letting people find out as if she was in some kind of illusion.

Questions:
Why didn't the doctor try to help her instead of asking god to?
Why is Lady Macbeth scared without her husband, without any power?

Predictions:
I predict that words will get out of what Lady Macbeth has been doing when she's sleeping walking soon.  Even if the doctor says he wouldn't tell anyone of what he witnessed.


Source

Extra:
The lines I was assigned are:
A. "come thick night,/And pall thee in dunnest smoke of hell (1.5.57-58)
"Hell is murky." ( 5.1.38)
The line from act 1 scene 5 is during the time where Lady Macbeth received the letter from Macbeth stating he gained the title of Cawdor and told her about the witches prophecy.  It was after that, where Lady Macbeth started chanting and getting her to become a demon to help Macbeth gain the throne.  When Lady Macbeth said "Hell is murky," she said it in a quiet yet frighten tone.  But in Act 1 scene 5, when she said the line "come thick night,/ And pall thee in dunnest smoke of hell," Lady Macbeth was speaking in a tone where she's more happy and greed as she was willing to get her body changed in order to get power in the kingdom.  In conclusion both of these lines are pretty much the same, since they both talk about what hell is like.

Act 4 scene 3

It starts off with Malcolm talking to Macduff telling him that he doesn't trust him.  Since he left his family in Scotland and that he can be secretly working with Macbeth as a spy.  Malcolm decided to ramble on about himself to see if Macduff was trustworthy or not.  At first Macduff disagrees with what Malcolm was saying and tells him he should be king.  Soon after, Macduff agrees that Malcolm isn't fit to be the king after he stated his loyalty to Scotland.  That was when Malcolm decided to trust Macduff and take back all of what he said and welcome Macduff as his ally.  When the doctor came and spoke to Malcolm and left, he told Macduff that King Edward had miraculous power to cure diseases.  Ross comes to England to give a message to Macduff.  He told Macduff that his family and children are fine.  He asked Malcolm to return to Scotland as the kingdom is no longer what it use to be since Macbeth taken the throne.  Malcolm replied that he will return with thousands of soldier that was lent by the king of England.  Ross then confess about the lie he told earlier saying that Macduff's family is dead.  Macduff is shocked and fell into grieve for what has happened.  Malcolm tells Macduff that he should point his grieve towards Macbeth.

Reaction:
I liked how Malcolm try to make Macduff talk about what his main goal is when he was talking poorly of himself.  I also liked how Malcolm didn't just trust him right away or let him join his ranks and secretly have someone watch him.

Questions:
Why did Ross tell a lie to Macduff when they met?  Why couldn't he just tell him what happened to his family instead of breaking down.
How did Malcolm gain the trust of King Edward?
Will Fleance join them?
How many soldier will Macbeth command?

Prediction:
I predict that Malcolm's army will fail because of the prophecy the witches mention.  When Malcolm army fails, I assume that Macbeth will kill them right away to avoid any chance of causing uproar in Scotland.

Extra:

The theme song I chose is called Parting Song from the anime Pandora Heart.  There are no lyrics for this song.  This song is perfect for Macduff at the end of Act 4 scene 3 since the tone and pace of the sound makes it really sad.  It would fit with Macduff's sadness after he hears the news of his family killed.

Picture:


Source

Act 4 scene 2

It starts off at Macduff's castle where Ross tells lady Macduff that her husband had fled to England.  She felt betrayed and asked Ross why he fled, but Ross just told her to trust his judgment and left.  Lady Macduff then tells her son that his father is dead but he denies the word of his mother.  A messenger then enters telling lady Macduff to flee as her life is in danger.  She ignores the warning as she done nothing wrong.  Soon after, murderers enter and ask for the traitor Macduff.  The boy called them liars and then the murderer murdered him.  The last words that left the boys mouth was telling his mother to flee.  The murderer follows her.

Reaction:
I didn't like the fact that the lady Macduff lied to her son saying that his father is dead.  It shows that she doesn't really care about her husband and is just a person who can be used for her benefits.  Lying to the son is even worst because if his father ever comes back and is safe, he will be very confused at why his own mother would lie to him.  He will be angry at his mother for lying to him.  Even if it was to protect him.  Too bad it doesn't matter now since he's dead.

Questions:
Why didn't lady Macduff listen the the messenger's warning?
Why does the son believe that his father is still alive and is not a traitor?
Was the son afraid of death when he talked back to the murderers?
How old is the son?

Prediction:
I predict that the murderers will catch lady Macduff and kill her as she isn't use to running compare to the murderers.  I think Macbeth will use the head of lady Macduff and the son and show it to Macduff when he comes back to Scotland. To show him the consequence of betraying the King.


Source

Extra:
The staging wouldn't be that different from the book but the time may be different.  The outfit that lady Macduff will wear is a typical dress you see people wearing of high class.  The murderer's outfit would properly be a type of chain mail armor with leather armor on top of it.  There weapons would be daggers.  I think their deaths happen in the morning close to noon.  I would only have Lady Macduff's child as the scene didn't indicate that there were other children.  I would probably make the child be around 7-8 years old.  I think when the murderer arrived, both of them were at the outer part of the castle.