Quotes Act 4 Scene 1: “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble” Act 5 Scene

Macbeth Acts 4-5 Annotations

Macbeth Acts 4-5 Annotations

Questions What aspects of Macbeth's character change in Acts 4 and 5 and how does he change as a result?

Quotes Act 4 Scene 1: “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble”

Act 5 Scene 1: “By the pricking What are the main themes and of my thumbs, something wicked symbols that Shakespeare uses in this way comes” Macbeth's Acts 4 and 5, and how do they add to the play's overall significance and ambiance?

Macbeth Acts 4-5 Annotations Connections

Interpretations

Act 4: Macbeth's desire for power

The descent into Madness: Acts 4 and 5 of

consumes him, and he seeks out the

Macbeth could be interpreted as the

witches to find out more about his future.

protagonist Macbeth's descent into madness.

He'll do whatever it takes to hold onto

As the play goes on, Macbeth experiences a

power, even if it means carrying out more

mental and emotional collapse because of his

crimes. Act 5: Macbeth's desire finally

guilt for his deeds and his fear of losing

brings him to an end. He turns impulsive

control. Act 5, scene 5 of his soliloquy, which

and desperate, fighting an ineffective battle starts with the words "Tomorrow, and against Malcom's and the English army. His tomorrow, and tomorrow," is sometimes ambition, which formerly served as his

interpreted as a reflection of his pessimistic

motivation, ultimately proves to be fatal.

outlook, in which he thinks over the pointlessness of existence. This perspective

Act 4 depicts Lady Macbeth's spiral into

looks at how the search of power and reckless

insanity as her involvement in Duncan's

ambition can ultimately result in self-

murder consumes her. She tries to clean her

destruction.

hands of the imagined bloodstains while sleepwalking. Act 5 has Macbeth going

The corruption of morality: The issue of

insane from guilt over what he did with the

morality and the corrupting effect of power is

deaths of Macduff's family and Banquo

the focus of another interpretation. Act 4

haunting him. His well-known soliloquy,

shows Macbeth's growing arrogance and

"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and

willingness to go to any lengths to hold onto

Tomorrow," captures the intense

power. As part of this, the Macduff family

hopelessness and shame that push him over

and others' murders will be ordered. The

the edge into madness.

change illustrates the effects of reckless ambition and highlights the idea that even the most honorable people can become corrupted

Macbeth Acts 4-5 Annotations by power. This interpretation is further supported by Lady Macbeth's guilt-ridden remarks and sleepwalking in Act 5, which show how their acts have damaged their sense of morality.

Macbeth Acts 4-5 Annotations Literary Devices When Macbeth encounters the witches in Act 4 of Macbeth, powerful imagery is used. The well-known phrases, "Double, double toil and trouble;/ Fire burn cauldron bubble," are an illustration of vivid imagery.

As the witches mix a concoction in a cauldron, these phrases create a sense of ominous anticipation and magical invocation. The reader or audience is given a vivid and unsettling mental image by the addition of sensory details within these lines, such as the fire burning and the cauldron bubbling, which heightens the mood of the moment.

A literary device that is used throughout Macbeth is irony. Act 5's dramatic irony can be found in Macbeth's soliloquy anticipating the final conflict. He says the well-known verse, "I bear a charmed life, which must not yield/ To one of woman born." The irony is that Macbeth is ignorant of Macduff's unusual birth circumstances, according to which he was "from his mother's womb/Untimely ripped," which means he doesn't technically qualify as "of woman born." The audience is more tense because they are aware of information that Macbeth is not, and this dramatic irony adds to the play's sad ending.