Shakespeare+Page+on+Macbeth

(Notes to assist you with the play)
 * __The Tragedy of Macbeth__, by William Shakespeare **

Click on this link to watch a power point on the life of William Shakespeare. media type="file" key="Movie.wmv"media type="file" key="Macbeth.wmv"
 * View these two file videos to learn more about Shakespeare and** __**Macbeth.**__

Key Facts
**Full title** · Macbeth.
 * Author** · William Shakespeare
 * Type of work** · Play**Genre** · Tragedy
 * Language** · English
 * Time and place written** · 1606, England
 * Date of first publication** · First Folio edition, 1623, P**ublisher** · John Heminges and Henry Condell, two senior members of Shakespeare’s acting troupe
 * Narrator** · Not applicable (drama)
 * Point of view** · Not applicable (drama)
 * Tone** · Dark and ominous, suggestive of a world turned topsy-turvy by foul and unnatural crimes
 * Tense** · Not applicable (drama)
 * Setting (time)** · The Middle Ages, specifically the eleventh century
 * Setting (place)** · Various locations in Scotland; also England, briefly
 * Protagonist** · Macbeth
 * Major conflicts** · The struggle within Macbeth between his ambition and his sense of right and wrong; the struggle between the murderous evil represented by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the best interests of the nation, represented by Malcolm and Macduff
 * Rising action** · Macbeth and Banquo’s encounter with the witches initiates both conflicts; Lady Macbeth’s speeches goad Macbeth into murdering Duncan and seizing the crown.
 * Climax** · Macbeth’s murder of Duncan in Act II represents the point of no return, after which Macbeth is forced to continue butchering his subjects to avoid the consequences of his crime.
 * Falling action** · Macbeth’s increasingly brutal murders (of Duncan’s servants, Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son); Macbeth’s second meeting with the witches; Macbeth’s final confrontation with Macduff and the opposing armies
 * Themes** · The corrupting nature of unchecked ambition; the relationship between cruelty and masculinity; the difference between kingship and tyranny
 * Motifs** · The supernatural, hallucinations, violence, prophecy
 * Symbols** · Blood; the dagger that Macbeth sees just before he kills Duncan in Act II; the weather
 * Foreshadowing** · The bloody battle in Act I foreshadows the bloody murders later on; when Macbeth thinks he hears a voice while killing Duncan, it foreshadows the insomnia that plagues Macbeth and his wife; Macduff’s suspicions of Macbeth after Duncan’s murder foreshadow his later opposition to Macbeth; all of the witches’ prophecies foreshadow later events.