Macbeth, Part 7: Analyzing a Production — Quiz Answers

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 8 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Then, review the photo, which shows this scene being acted out in a 1946 production of the play. Macbeth is on the left, and Macduff is on the right. Macbeth: Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cow’d my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends no more believed, That palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee. Macduff: Then yield thee, coward, And live to be the show and gaze o’ the time: We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, Painted on a pole, and underwrit, ‘Here may you see the tyrant.’ Macbeth: I will not yield, To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet, And to be baited with the rabble’s curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’ Open image in full-screen view Photo by Angus McBean (c) RSC What does the blocking in the image most contribute to this scene?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 5 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Then, review the photo, which shows this scene being acted out in a 2007 production of the play. Siward is at the front of the stage, and Malcolm and Macduff are on either side behind him. Malcolm: Now near enough: your leafy screens throw down. And show like those you are. You, worthy uncle, Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son, Lead our first battle: worthy Macduff and we Shall take upon 's what else remains to do, According to our order. Siward: Fare you well. Do we but find the tyrant’s power to-night, Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight. Macduff: Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath, Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. Open image in full-screen view Photo by Hugo Glendinning (c) RSC What do the blocking and lighting most contribute to the scene?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 8 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Macbeth and Macduff are fighting each other. At another location, the leaders of the rebel army are evaluating the progress of the battling forces at the castle. A stage direction has been added in the middle of the excerpt. Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM , SIWARD , ROSS , the other Thanes , and Soldiers . Malcolm: I would the friends we miss were safe arrived. Siward: Some must go off: and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought. Malcolm: Macduff is missing, and your noble son. [ ROSS approaches SIWARD with head slightly bowed and a somber expression . ] Ross: [ To SIWARD.] Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt: He only lived but till he was a man; The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’d In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died. Siward: Then he is dead? Ross: Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow Must not be measured by his worth, for then It hath no end. What does Ross’s added stage direction most contribute to the scene?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 1 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . The doctor and a gentlewoman are discussing Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking. A new stage direction has been added to describe the doctor’s actions. Doctor: I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walked? Gentlewoman: Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep. Doctor: [ Looking pensive and writing on a notepad . ] A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching! In this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual performances, what, at any time, have you heard her say? What does the stage direction most reveal about the doctor?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Macbeth is claiming that he does not care about the rebels who are on their way to try to dethrone him. A new stage direction has been added to describe Macbeth’s actions after his entrance. Enter MACBETH, Doctor, and Attendants. MACBETH paces back and forth across the room. Macbeth: Bring me no more reports; let them fly all: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: ‘Fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman Shall e’er have power upon thee.’ Then fly, false thanes, And mingle with the English epicures: The mind I sway by and the heart I bear Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. What does the stage direction most contribute to the scene?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Macbeth is alternating between instructing Seyton to ready him for battle and ordering the doctor to cure Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking. A stage direction has been added before the doctor’s last line. Macbeth: Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it. [ To SEYTON.] Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff. Seyton, send out. [To Doctor.] Doctor, the thanes fly from me. [ To SEYTON.] Come, sir, dispatch. [To Doctor.] If thou couldst, doctor, cast The water of my land, find her disease, And purge it to a sound of pristine health, I would applaud thee to the very echo, That should applaud again.—[To SEYTON.] Pull’t off, I say.— [ To Doctor.] What rhubarb, cyme, or what purgative drug, Would scour these English hence? Hear’st thou of them? Doctor: Ay, my good lord; your royal preparation Makes us hear something. Macbeth. [ To SEYTON.] Bring it after me. I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. [ DOCTOR looks perplexed by Macbeth’s request and stealthily sidles away. ] Doctor: [ Aside .] Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, Profit again should hardly draw me here. What does the added stage direction reveal about the doctor?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 1 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper . [ Gentlewoman: ] Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close. Doctor: How came she by that light? Gentlewoman: Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; ’tis her command. Doctor: You see, her eyes are open. Gentlewoman: Ay, but their sense is shut. LADY MACBETH begins to rub her hands together. Which quotation is a stage direction?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Macbeth has just heard the reports about the large English army, and he has called upon Seyton, his chief servant, to discuss what he has heard. The stage direction regarding Seyton’s entrance has been expanded. Enter SEYTON. He bows and respectfully addresses MACBETH. Seyton: What is your gracious pleasure? Macbeth: What news more? Seyton: All is confirm’d, my lord, which was reported. Macbeth: I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack’d. Give me my armour. Seyton: 'Tis not needed yet. How does the expanded stage direction most contribute to Seyton’s character?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 1 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Then, review the photo, which shows this scene being acted out in a 2011 production of the play. While sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth kneels as she attempts to wash away an unseen spot from her hands. Lady Macbeth: Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do’t.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. Open image in full-screen view Photo by Ellie Kurttz (c) RSC What does this blocking choice most suggest about the scene?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth . Then, review the photo, which shows the scene being acted out in a 2011 production of the play. Seyton, Macbeth’s chief servant, dresses Macbeth in his armor to ready him for battle as the leaders of the rebel army look on in the background. Macbeth: Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it. [ To SEYTON.] Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff. Seyton, send out. Open image in full-screen view Photo by Ellie Kurttz (c) RSC What does Macbeth’s costume most contribute to the scene?