'Macbeth' structure - a different approach
A play in 5 acts, right?
Problem: the version we have is from the 1623 Folio, is divided into Acts and contains some Middleton. There is, so far, no extant quarto edition of the play.
The first record of a performance at 'The Globe' is from Simon Forman in 1611, 5 years after its performance for James I and King Christian of Denmark at Whitehall.
Forman's account differs somewhat from the text with which we are familiar.
Plays performed in amphitheatres were not routinely divided into acts, though plays played indoors were, as breaks were required for candle trimming. (The intervals also often included entertainments unrelated to the play.) At 'The Globe' there would be no interval of any kind. Division into acts was, therefore, irrelevant in terms of the written script. Scene divisions are signalled by a concluding rhyming couplet*.
However, audiences still needed some kind of structure and 'Macbeth' is, like Gaul, divided into 3 parts.
These parts are broken down as follows:
Macbeth/Duncan - ending with II.iv (Ross, Old Man, Macduff) after Duncan's murder
Macbeth/Banquo - ending with III.vi (Lennox, Lord) after Banquo's murder
Macbeth/Macduff - ending with Macbeth's death and including the murders of Lady Macduff and her children (the death of Lady Macbeth is not relevant to this analysis)
The two discourse scenes predict the structure of the next section of the action.
II.iv signals the chaos that will result from the death of the king and what happens when there is a usurper on the throne
III.vi promises redemption and the restoration of order and is the turning point of the play.
*If you find a scene which does not end with a rhyming couplet (e.g. III.iv) you need to ask yourself 'why?'
Research: Shakespeare and the Drama of his Time: Martin Wiggins OUP 2000
Problem: the version we have is from the 1623 Folio, is divided into Acts and contains some Middleton. There is, so far, no extant quarto edition of the play.
The first record of a performance at 'The Globe' is from Simon Forman in 1611, 5 years after its performance for James I and King Christian of Denmark at Whitehall.
Forman's account differs somewhat from the text with which we are familiar.
Plays performed in amphitheatres were not routinely divided into acts, though plays played indoors were, as breaks were required for candle trimming. (The intervals also often included entertainments unrelated to the play.) At 'The Globe' there would be no interval of any kind. Division into acts was, therefore, irrelevant in terms of the written script. Scene divisions are signalled by a concluding rhyming couplet*.
However, audiences still needed some kind of structure and 'Macbeth' is, like Gaul, divided into 3 parts.
These parts are broken down as follows:
Macbeth/Duncan - ending with II.iv (Ross, Old Man, Macduff) after Duncan's murder
Macbeth/Banquo - ending with III.vi (Lennox, Lord) after Banquo's murder
Macbeth/Macduff - ending with Macbeth's death and including the murders of Lady Macduff and her children (the death of Lady Macbeth is not relevant to this analysis)
The two discourse scenes predict the structure of the next section of the action.
II.iv signals the chaos that will result from the death of the king and what happens when there is a usurper on the throne
III.vi promises redemption and the restoration of order and is the turning point of the play.
*If you find a scene which does not end with a rhyming couplet (e.g. III.iv) you need to ask yourself 'why?'
Research: Shakespeare and the Drama of his Time: Martin Wiggins OUP 2000
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