How does Act One prepare the audience of Macbeth for the remainder of the play? Essay

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play rich in imagery with vivid words and phrases that conjure up emotionally charged mental pictures. The way in which William Shakespeare uses contrasting scenes, especially in Act One only makes these images more vibrant. The many soliloquies in Act One illustrate the ways in which Macbeth’s mind is tormented, however, it is also these soliloquies that make the audience feel sympathetic toward Macbeth and therefore make the play more tragic when Macbeth’s character flaws. This emotional hold towards the protagonist created in Act One, makes Macbeth one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays not only to modern audiences but also to the 17th century audience. The First Scene prepares the audience for the rest of the play as it shows the witches or the weird sisters in an evil light; this thought is amplified by the use of thunder and lightning. The language that the weird sisters use also readies the audience for the remainder of the play. The weird sisters speak in riddles and prophesise future events. For example they predict that they will meet again â€Å"When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle is lost, and won†. For a 17th century audience, where people believed it possible to summon the devil with such riddles, the apprehension that the audience already posses will amplify thus creating an anxious atmosphere within the playhouse. Nevertheless this prophecy gives the audience an insight into the remainder of the play and adds suspense as the witches use mysterious and menacing words, thus enticing the audience to continue watching. At the end of the scene the weird sisters chant ambiguous words such as â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair† this again gives the audience the impression that possible strange and supernatural events are to come, therefore further drawing them into the play. The quote also infers that later on in the play it will be hard to distinguish between good and bad or, alternatively â€Å"fair† and â€Å"foul†. Shakespeare would have been aware that the reigning monarch at the time of the plays release, James I had a strange fascination with supernatural events and witches, even participating in the infamous Pendal Witch Trial. By pleasing the monarch in this way it would have helped William Shakespeare’s promotion of the play, therefore helping to popularise it. Another prediction that the witches make is in Act One, Scene Three where they predict great things for Macbeth; â€Å"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor† â€Å"All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter† This prediction is very important for the foundations of the play, as it prepares the audience for murder and scandal and makes the audience more knowledgeable about what’s to come, than some of the characters. It is this dramatic irony that allows the audience to be able to make predictions about subsequent Scenes. The portrayal of the protagonist Macbeth at the start of the First Act is one of a heroic, valiant servant to King Duncan. The Captain describes him as â€Å"For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name†. This rather glowing report gives the audience the impression that Macbeth is a loyal servant to the King, however the irony is that by the end of the Act he is plotting to commit regicide against Duncan. This contrast in character between courageousness and treachery makes the play gripping and exiting. The very first line that Macbeth says is â€Å"So foul a fair a day I have not seen† these words seem to echo the chants of the weird sisters in the first scene. This seems to indicate that even having not met each other the witches have a supernatural influence on Macbeth, maybe in his mind and it shows that the weird sisters and Macbeth resemble each other, even at this early stage in the play. The words also hint that conflict and insecurity exist in his mind even though he has just won a great battle. This gives the audience a view into Macbeth’s early thought processes, and this consequently readies them for the reminder of the play. When talking about killing the King, Macbeth uses less brutal euphemisms such as â€Å"the deed†, â€Å"this blow† and â€Å"my intent† this infers that Macbeth is not all evil and he wants to think as little about the proposed murder of Duncan as possible. This gives the audience the impression that he is not going to be the main villain in the play and suggest that there will be an external influence that pushes him to carry out the murder, as observed by Aristotle in which he lists the ingredients for a tragedy. However the end of Act One prepares the audience for evil things to originate through Macbeth, as in Scene Seven he struggles with his conscience. Evidently bad things do come through Macbeth in the lat er Acts, in fact in Act Three he says; â€Å"I am in blood stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This tells us that Macbeth has done many terrible deeds and that if he were to go back and right his wrongs it would be as tedious as to go forward and carry on the tyranny. Thus his only option is to go forward to try and claim more glory. This terrible quandary that Macbeth finds himself in could be a bit of early political propaganda that William Shakespeare has slipped into the play to satisfy James I. The purpose of this subtly placed propaganda was to put-off any people who were scheming to commit regicide, at a time where there were many plots to kill the king; non-more famous than Guy Fawkes’ â€Å"Gunpowder Plot†. In the play when Macbeth does kill Duncan unnatural events follow, such as Duncan’s horses eating each other. Ross recalls the event and says that the horses â€Å"Turned wild in nature† and â€Å"flung out†. This indicates to audiences that killing the King will provoke God to inflict unnatural events upon the earth, therefore inferring that Kings do have a divine right, a view that was firmly believed by James the First. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a scheming villain who is behind Macbeth’s murder of the King. The first thing that Macbeth’s â€Å"dearest partner of greatness† says is all about how to cause the downfall of Duncan for Macbeth’s and her own personal gain. She is portrayed as rather a manly figure who has an overpowering role over Macbeth. An example of Lady Macbeth’s male instincts is seen in Act One Scene Five when she calls on the sprits to â€Å"unsex† her and make he become more manly to assist her plan for Duncan’s murder. â€Å"†¦.unsex me here And fill me from the crown of the toe topful Of dearest cruelty; make thick my blood† This quote suggests to the audience that Lady Macbeth will be an evil unremorseful and ruthless character throughout the entire play; however ironically later in the text she becomes more conscious of her actions and Macbeth has more control over here. When her conscience returns she hallucinates and believes that she has blood on her hands. This is a massive contrast to what she told Macbeth when he was clearing the blood from his hands after Duncan’s murder; â€Å"A little water clears us of this deed†. This contrast suggests that she is regretting her earlier actions and is indeed being tormented by them. In the First Act King Duncan is perceived as a gentle, ideal king. For example when talking of Cawdor’s treachery his words are full of personal regret and he has no malice in them. His language is also full of gratitude for the service Macbeth and Banquo have performed. However ironically because he is so fond of Macbeth he rather naively does not see his murder coming and he is easily fooled by Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s welcoming looks and flattery. To back up this point an example of flattery towards the King is when Lady Macbeth repeatedly refers to him as â€Å"Your majesty† which reinforces the idea of loyalty towards the King. The use of language by Lady Macbeth gives the audience the impression that she has a mischievous and cunning mind hence setting then up for later Acts. To conclude, at the start of Act One William Shakespeare cleverly misleads the audience into believing that the characters have sound morals, but as the play progresses we see this to be a faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade. The plot becomes exiting for the audience as there earlier assumptions are proved incorrect in later acts. Also William Shakespeare’s use of juxtaposing scenes, which contrast with each other, often ironically prepares the audience for unexpected and surprising events in the play. The themes of greed, power and conspiracy found in Act One of Macbeth prove to be as relevant for a modern audience as they were for a 17th century one. They have the effect of an audience questioning the limits they would go to, to fulfil there own desires. However by the end of the play these questions should have been answered.