WEEK 12: Macbeth; Act IV- V

On Act IV we notice that the three witches are chanting spells. Which to me, the witches used a lot of imagery to describe each bizarre ingredients, like on page 106, lines 4-38, ” 1 Witch. Round about the cauldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw.— Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter’d venom, sleeping got, Boil thou first i’th’charmed pot. All. Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble. 2Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble,…”, they were preparing a charm and making conjures. It was interested that on Act IV & V, the son of Macbeth was killed by a Murderers, Lady Macbeth took her life, and ultimately Macbeth was kill by Macduff, those events to me were let by Macbeth wrongdoing so it was like a payback or punishment for his bad deed. On Act IV, Macbeth says something that captured my attention, ” And all our yesterdays have lighted fools”, to me Macbeth is saying that he fooled many by his bad deed. On the last Act V, I thought it was an interesting way Macbeth compared life, subsequently leading to death, “Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and trets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and furry, signifying nothing.”, here Macbeth is saying that Life is like a player on a board game, but portrayed on a stage of a theatrical play. When the play is over, so do you, you die meaningless.

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