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This video is a line-by-line walkthrough guide for William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Act 3, Scene 4.
I provide a close reading of the entire scene, including: — Detailed explication — Commentary — Literary analysis
All commentary is supplemented by in-text, line-by-line study notes designed to help students: — Prepare for GCSE, A-Level, IB, and AP evaluation — Prepare for general high school and college quizzes, exams, and essays — Generate ideas for analysis essays — Participate knowledgeably in class discussions Click here to download the annotated text of Macbeth: https://sites.google.com/view/shakespeare-walkthrough/home
This video discusses :
PLOT: — The Macbeth’s give a banquet — Macbeth’s guilt and intense mental strain cause him to see Banquo’s ghost sitting at the table; suffers nervous breakdown with hallucinatory panic attacks — Lady Macbeth tries to explain the fit by claiming he has had a natural illness from his youth — The guests leave the party bewildered
CHARACTER: — Macbeth: very emotionally unstable; nervous breakdown — Lady Macbeth: defends Macbeth; continues to chastise him
THEME/SYMBOLISM: — Personification: Banquo’s ghost is a manifestation of Macbeth’s guilt, shame, fear; Abel accusing Cain — Borrowed robes: Macbeth is unsuited to king’s chair, Banquo takes it — Manhood — Appearance vs Reality/equivocation — Cain and Abel; judgemental glare of the murdered ideal (Banquo) — Sleep as innocence/healer — Existential despair; alienation of self leads to meaninglessness, tediousness — Thought vs action
