Macbeth+Project+-+Trevor+S+-+Dramatic+Quote+Structure



Quote explanation I chose the quotes that I did not to represent the choices that Macbeth made as the main character and protagonist, or on the most emotional points of the play, but to show the parts and lines of the play that are indispensable. The first quote is about Lady Macbeth pressuring Macbeth into killing Duncan. I view this as the beginning or exposition of the events in the play. Macbeth up until this point had no intention of violently taking the throne, but Lady Macbeth's desires drove her. She wanted the throne, she needed it, but she wasn't willing to take action so she used someone with a weaker will then her. My second quote (2.2.54-59) is again from Lady Macbeth. During this quote, Lady Macbeth is angry at Macbeth for not leaving the daggers at the crime scene. This quote is indispensable because had Lady Macbeth not taken the daggers herself, Macbeth might have admitted to other people to killing Duncan. The guilt that he felt was enormous, and he wanted to stop this madness before it got out of hand. The climactic point of this book came in act 3 when the hired murderers killed Banquo. This was the metaphorical "straw that broke the camel's back". The murder of Banquo caused Macbeth's insanity to become very apparent to the readers, it caused Macduff to flee to England and raise and army, and it caused many characters to suspect Macbeth in the murders. Without this part of the book, doubts may have never been proven as to who killed Duncan. This is not the most emotionally charged part of the play, but it was the part which made every other action after it happen. In act 4, the falling action is represented by the murder of Lady Macduff and her son. This action was to be expected because Macbeth wanted to get at Macduff for deserting and running away from the kingdom. This was also just another incentive for Macduff to attack Macbeth in the end of the play, which may not have happened otherwise. Finally the denouement came when Lady Macbeth committed suicide. This death brings the play and killing full circle. Macbeth would not have committed the original murders had Lady Macbeth not pressured him.