1. Act III
Scene Notes
Objective:
• To focus on the motivation behind Macbeth’s scheme to eliminate
Banquo.
• To recognize changes in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

2. Do Now:
• What would Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
have to do to gain peace of mind?

3. Scene 1
• In Act III, scene 1, we see Macbeth, the new king
of Scotland.
• He should be happy but instead is preoccupied
with anxiety about Banquo, who perhaps knows
too much, and whose descendants may one day
be kings.
• Macbeth coolly plots more murders, this time
using assassins. He manipulates the assassins
by ______________________________.

4. • What do Lady Macbeth and Macbeth express in
these lines? (scene 2)
• “Nothing’s had, all’s spent, / Where our
desire is got without content” (Lady
Macbeth, line 4-5).
• “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear
wife!” (Macbeth, line 36).

5. Scene 2
• Lady Macbeth expresses her unhappiness.
• Both she and Macbeth are suffering from
troubled sleep, nightmares, and loss of
appetite.
• The achievement of their power has left
them dissatisfied and fearful, yet also
greedy to hold onto their power.

6. • The balance of power in their relationship
has shifted, with Macbeth assuming more
dominance in planning.
• Both remain committed to duplicity, with
“faces vizards to our hearts, / Disguising
what they are” (p. 106, lines 34-35).

7. • They are determined to hide their
agitation and to be welcoming and
jovial at the banquet.

8. • Macbeth hints to Lady Macbeth that
he has made plans for some
significant action, but refuses to give
her any details.
• “Be innocent of the knowledge,
dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the
deed” (Macbeth, line 45).

9. • In order to keep power built by
violence, more violence is always
needed. Macbeth knew this
would happen …
• He’s caught in the vicious cycle of
evil.

10. • …and that vicious cycle begins to
take a toll on Macbeth.
• Macbeth tries to protect Lady
Macbeth: traditional male –
female roles.

11. Objective: To recognize the importance of Scene 3
this scene as a turning point in the play.
The two
murderers lie and
wait a mile from
the royal castle.
A third murderer
joins them, sent
by Macbeth.

12. • When Banquo and Fleance arrive, carrying
a torch, one murderer puts out the light
and the other two stab Banquo.

13. • Fleance escapes ….
• Macbeth’s effort to control fate
seals his doom. Fleance lives and
Banquo’s death makes the Thanes
suspicious.

14. • The murder of Banquo marks the height of
Macbeth’s success, but the escape of Fleance
marks the turn of fortune against Macbeth.
• The scene is swift and brutal.

15. Objective:
• To focus on the significance of the appearance of
Banquo’s ghost.

16. Do Now
• Act 3.4 -
• Before Banquo’s fatal ride, Macbeth reminded
him not to miss that evening’s feast. Banquo’s
response, “My lord, I will not,” is an example of
Shakespeare’s irony, as the ghost takes
Macbeth’s place at the table and shakes its blood
covered head at him.

17. Scene 4
• Macbeth bids all the lords welcome to the
feast.
• He then notices that one of the murderers
is standing at the door.
• The murderer tells Macbeth that Banquo
is dead but Fleance has escaped.

18. • Macbeth comforts himself that
Fleance will not be a threat for quite
some time.
• Macbeth learns that his first attempt
to control fate has failed.

19. • Lady Macbeth calls to Macbeth and
asks him to return to the feast and sit.
• But Macbeth doesn’t see an empty
seat at the table.

20. • When Lennox gestures at a seat,
saying it’s empty, Macbeth sees
BANQUO’S GHOST sitting there.

21. • Macbeth alone can see the ghost.
• He astonishes the thanes by shouting
at the empty chair.
• Macbeth’s bizarre behavior puzzles
and disturbs his subjects, confirming
their impression that he is mentally
troubled.

22. • Is Banquo’s ghost real or a figment of
Macbeth’s guilty mind?

23. • The uncertainty emphasizes that Macbeth’s fate
is part of him, caused by his character, his
ambition, and his guilt.

24. Banquet scene…
• The contrast between this scene and the one in
which Duncan’s body was discovered is striking
– whereas Macbeth was one cold-blooded and
sure footed, he now allows his anxieties and
visions to get the best of him.

25. • Lady Macbeth covers for him.
• She pulls Macbeth aside and once
again questions his manhood.
• “Are you a man?” (line 59).
• “What, quite unmanned in folly?”
(line 75).
• The ghost disappears.

26. • Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue
to try to lie to keep their secrets and
hold on to power, but these lies
become less and less effective as guilt
about the violence they have
committed begins to affect them.

27. • Macbeth has become so warped he
cannot tell the unnatural from the
natural anymore.
• Lady Macbeth sees lying is useless
and chooses isolation: she tells the
thanes to leave.

28. • MACBETH tells LADY MACBETH: “BLOOD
WILL HAVE BLOOD” (3.4.121), and asks
what Lady Macbeth makes of the fact that
Macduff does not appear at the royal
court.
• “Blood will have blood” – Macbeth
fears that revenge will be taken on him for
the murders.

29. • Macbeth’s desperation to keep power
motivates him to visit the weird sisters.
• He has sacrificed everything for his
ambition…
• He says: “I am in BLOOD / Stepped in so
far” (3.4.135) that turning back is as
difficult as continuing on.

30. • … now ambition
and violence are
all he has left,
and he knows it.

31. • The appearance of Banquo’s ghost, the
reappearance of the witches, and the
introduction of the goddess Hecate in the next
scene, all symbolize the corruption of Scotland’s
political and moral health.
• The scenes involving supernatural elements
helps to increase the audience’s sense of
foreboding and ill omen.