Macbeth- Act 3 Reading Journal

Act 3, Scene 1
- Act 3 opens with Banquo who immediately mentions the 'weird women' and he fears that 'thou playedst most foully for't' demonstrating that he suspects Macbeth.However he doesn't seem to believe himself to be in danger even though it is clear he is a threat to Macbeth's ambitions. Macbeth has been made King and him and Lady Macbeth are going to have a 'great feast' that evening and Macbeth says 'I'll request your presence' which is strange because it seems as though he is specifically asking him to come.

- Macbeth is then left alone and he speaks a soliloquy  saying 'There is none but he (Banquo) whose being I do fear.' This implies that Macbeth is feeling threatened by Banquo, perhaps because of the prophecy saying that it is his sons that will become King. This then ties in with the idea that Macbeth has requested him at the feast. Macbeth has already killed people because he felt threatened so he might have something planned for him that night. 

-The murders then enter, Macbeth tells them that they share the same enemy in Banquo. He says 'Both of you know Banquo was your enemy... So he is mine' (Act 3, Scene 1, Line 112-115). He also says that he wants his son, Fleance, killed along with him. This bring in the theme of morality because Macbeth doesn't seem to have a problem with killing a child. He just wants him out of the way so that he can have and keep the crown. 

-In scene 2, Lady Macbeth speaks in rhyme, this is similar language to the witches. As soon as Macbeth enters the scene, she goes back to speaking normally, perhaps she doesn't wish for him to know what she is doing. Lady Macbeth also asks a lot more questions such as 'what's to be done?' (Act 3, Scene 2, Line 45). This suggests that she may be less sure of herself and has to turn to Macbeth for the plan. This shows a power shift between the characters as in the Kings death, she was the one that told Macbeth what to do. Instead of the idea that Lady Macbeth was manipulating him to do it, he is manipulating her to do it instead.

-Macbeth uses violent imagery such as 'thy bloody and invisible hand' (Act 3, Scene 2, Line 48). There is a link between this imagery and the first time that we hear of Macbeth, when the Captain says 'he unseamed him from the nave to the chops' (Act1, Scene 2, Line 22). Macbeth has always been violent but instead of it being within battle, it is to the people that trust him the most which creates the idea of it being more sinister. 

-Within Scene 3, we actually witness the murder of Banquo. This is an important scene because not only do we see Banquo's reaction, we see Fleance escape which is the first time that we see something go wrong within Macbeth's plan. This means that Macbeth isn't quite as untouchable as he thought that he was. 

-Scene 4 is the feast, which has some very important people invited to. Macbeth see's Banquo's ghost, this is the second time that Macbeth see's an inanimate object. Many of his friends are witnesses to this and so the fact that Macbeth may be crazy is now known to other people. He may not be quite as stable as people first thought and this could lead to people making connections between him and the deaths. 

-The audience meet the head witch, Hecat, in Scene 5. This is quite an important scene because we have always seen the witches to be within power and perhaps even manipulating situations but now we see someone that is above them. Hecat seems to be angry with them because they have acted against her will. When this play is acted out, this scene is not always used but I believe it to be an important one because the witches are almost humanised because they also have an authoritative figure. They manipulate Macbeth which is a human quality, meaning that maybe the witches aren't supernatural at all, it perhaps was a combination of manipulation from the witches and self fulfilling prophecy from Macbeth.

-Lennox speaks of how Macbeth killed the two servants outside of Duncan's room, saying 'was not that nobly done?' (Act 3, Scene 6, Line 14). People are still looking up to Macbeth at this point, thinking that the reason he killed them was because he was so upset that he did it in honour of Duncan when in actual fact, we know that it was to cover his own tracks. People still believe that it was the Kings sons that murdered their father though, so Macbeth is still clear of being called guilty.