Reading Journal notes

Act 1 Scene 1

This scene introduces the three witches, just in their short speech you realise that they already know what is going to happen. they even mention Macbeth's name the only reason for the meeting is to insure that all three of them are clear on the arrangements. this shows that Macbeth from the very beginging is a Gothic play as witches themselves come into the gothic genre, the chants and curses they talk about add in the extra gothic elements.

Act 1 Scene 2

This scene gives us a look in to the background of Macbeth and the current affairs that are going on in Scotland. It tells us about how the old Thane of Cawdor betrayed the king by fighting against him and becoming one of the enemys. It also tells us how Macbeth faught in the war and shows us how well Macbeth is seen by others in power. This scene is very Gothic from the begining as it starts with a discription of a bloody, hurt solider and goes on to discribe the war in detail.

Act 1 Scene 3

Starts with the witches again and their stories of who they have been messing with, this is a gothic moment as it discusses their powers and the curses which they use. When Macbeth and Banquo come in the witches start to chant, they predict the future for the two men mainly Macbeth. The witches vanish when asked for more information this is a gothic element in itself. When a messanger Ross comes in to tell Macbeth that he is now Thane of Cawdor he starts to think back to the witches as they had predicted this, he begins to think forword and what the power could be like for him.

Act 1 Scene 4

This scene starts gothic with the King discussing the execution of the original Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth enters and the conversation moves on to congratulating him, this leads to him asking the King to his house for a banquet to celebrate. This puts him in more favour and you can see Macbeth slowly thinking more and more about himself.

Act 1 Scene 5

This scene introduces Lady Macbeth, from the start you can tell that she is power hungry. when reading her husbands letter you can see her thinking ahead and making a plan to insure that what the witches predicted comes true one way or another. Lady Macbeth herslef seems to be an ideal gothic character as she is talking to the gods asking them to give her strength to carry out the tasks- these tasks being to kill the king- which she sees necessary. She is also the one trying to convince Macbeth in to her way of thinking. She seems to be the most gothic character at the moment.

Act 1 Sceen 6

This scene is the King arriving at Macbeths house and complimenting how nice the house and they are. However this scene also shows how clever Lady Macbeth is as she greats the king and plays the innocent hostess, all the while shes secreatly scheaming his death.

Act 1 Sceen 7

This scene is very gothic as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth discuss their plans of killing the King. At first Macbeth is against it but once Lady Macbeth convinces him he starts to get a little power hungry, like his wife, imagining what it would be like to have everyone answering to him. They then start plotting how they will carry out the murder and get away with it. They describe it very well creating a strong imagine in your head.