MACBETH - OFFICIAL FIRST LOOK

We have finally been cast into our official roles. I play Macduff. He is the Thane of Fife. He's a Scottish nobleman who questions Macbeth's tyrannical rule and refuses to recognize him as king. Macduff follows Malcolm to England, where he demonstrates his true faithfulness to Scotland. When the English army marches on Dunsinane, it is Macduff who slays Macbeth in a duel. For even though Macbeth is said to be invincible against any man born of a woman, Macduff was born by the equivalent of a Caesarean section.

We learnt more about objectives/actions but what are they? Basically, it is what your character needs to achieve in a scene and how, ACTIONS, they go about achieving these. An objective is both psychological and physical. An action carries with it emotive scenarios that we cannot and indeed shouldn't ignore. Remember "Acting is behaving truthfully under imagined circumstances", so the objectives/actions give us a foundation to achieve this. The action MUST be a verb (doing word).

The objectives WILL ALWAYS meet a counter objective, usually other characters' objectives etc., so it becomes a truthful emotive "game" of working together in order to determine what these objectives are and to work as a group in order to tell the story of the play, especially when it comes down to just us actors. We also learnt about SUPER OBJECTIVES. It's what your character wants/needs overall in the play. Simple! We are performing two scenes.

I think his objective is to take down Macbeth because he was this close to making a deduction that Macbeth killed Duncan after Lady Macbeth told him to by manipulating him and also Macbeth killed his family and destroyed his home after he went to England to persuade Malcolm for help to kill Macbeth. So, Macduff's objective is fusion of justice and vengeance.

APPEARANCES:

ACT 2 SCENE 3
ACT 2 SCENE 4
ACT 4 SCENE 3
ACT 5 SCENE 4
ACT 5 SCENES 7 - 9

He suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act. He can be seen as the avenging hero who helps save Scotland from Macbeth's tyranny in the play. Quite pivotal. It is because of his suspicions of Macbeth that everyone starts to question the king's motives. Macduff is a quiet man who is respected when he speaks and has loyalty to his country. Macduff wasn't naturally born but was cut from his mother's womb (Caesarean section or C-section). However, Shakespeare never elaborated on whether or not if Macduff's mother died from childbirth.

Macduff can be loyal because he risks his life and that of his family for his country. He's also emotional because when Malcolm tests his loyalty, he becomes very upset. Then he gets devastated by the death of his family. He kills Macbeth in a rage of revenge. Finally, he's also brave because he fights fearlessly, even when Macbeth tries to warn him that he is invincible.


PROPHECY - The plot of Macbeth is set in motion ostensibly by the prophecy of the three witches. The prophecy fans the flames of ambition within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, serving as the primary impetus for the couple to plot the death of Duncan, and subsequently Banquo. But one also wonders: Would Macbeth have committed such heinous crimes if not for the prophecy? What if he had ignored the witches’ statements? Such speculation, however interesting, ultimately appears futile, since the prophecy itself is self-fulfilling. The witches know Macbeth’s tragic flaw: given the irresistible temptation to become King, he will choose to commit murder even though he could simply discard their words. As it turns out, the prophecies are not only fated but fatal, as Macbeth's confidence in the witches leads him to fight a rash battle in the final act.