I have to write an outline for a short film about how the witches get into MacBeth's head using quotes from the play and explain how this shows that the witches have gotten into MacBeth's head.
First Witch: Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MacBeth: Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis.
But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman, and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor.
The witches have captured MacBeth's interest and left him on, wanting to know more.
MacBeth: Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. (to ROSS and ANGUS) I thank you, gentlemen.
(aside) This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in surmise,
And nothing is but what is not.
Two of the witches prophecies came true and MacBeth thinks that soon the third one will come true. He thinks that this supernatural stuff doesn't seem that bad, but it also isn't very good, and if it's bad thing then why did the prophecies come true? He's Thane of Cawdor now, just like the witches said. But if it's a good thing then why is he thinking about murdering King Ducan? His thoughts scare him more than the fears he faces outside of his head. Even though it's just a fantasy, the thought of committing murder shakes him to point where he doesn't know who he is any more. His mind is racing, he has anxiety, he can't function properly and the things that matter to him most are imaginary. MacBeth is slowly going insane.
MacBeth: If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked newborn babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th' other.
MacBeth says that if he were to actually murder King Ducan, then he should do it quickly. If the assassination of the King wouldn't leave a trace, then he would gladly do the deed. But he can still be punished in this world and by committing violent crimes we teach other to do that as well, and that will haunt us in the future. The problem is that the King trusts MacBeth, as a host and as a sibling, which is another reason why MacBeth thinks it's wrong to kill the King. There are more reasons why not to murder the king: the king isn't corrupted, he's humble and he is also virtuous (that means he has high moral standards, he knows right from wrong) and on top of that, the whole kingdom will mourn for him. But despite all of these reason not to kill the king he still wants to, he is ambitious about it. This shows that the witches have gone very deep into his head and started making him twisted.
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