Structure, Meter & Dramatic Irony

Structure

The play is in five acts. This would fit with Freytag’s tragic dramatic structure. He was a nineteenth-century writer who identified different stages in a play:

Act 1: Exposition

The setting, events, and characters are introduced.
- We meet Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, King Duncan and the witches.
- We are told that Macbeth is a brave warrior, we are shown that he trusts his wife and tells her everything. We are shown that he has a close friendship with Banquo, and that he is loyal to his king. We also meet the witches and hear them make predictions which will alter the future of all of our characters.

Act 2: Rising action

Events that lead up to the main part of the play, which links together and cause more and more dramatic tension.
- We are shown how Macbeth seems to be unable to make firm decisions and how controlling and manipulative Lady Macbeth is. We are shown that Macbeth is also manipulated by the witches and their promise of his future power.
- King Duncan is murdered – this changes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and also starts a chain of events which lead up to Macbeth’s own death.

Act 3: Climax

This is the turning point in the play, where the main character’s life changes for the worst and things start to go wrong.
- Macbeth becomes King of Scotland but is plagued with uncertainty and worries about losing his crown to other people.
- Macbeth murders Banquo and tries to murder Fleance (Banquo’s son).
- Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost and starts arguing with it, showing everyone that he has become mentally unstable.
- People start to see Macbeth as a tyrant and doubt his abilities.
- Macduff goes to England to find Malcolm.

Act 4: Main conflict/falling action

The main conflict between the two main characters is determined and the setting for the final stage is set.
- Macbeth goes back to the witches and asks them to tell him the rest of his fate. He learns that he must beware of Macduff but that 'none of woman born shall harm Macbeth'.
- Macbeth murders Macduff’s family. Macduff hears of his family’s murder and now wants revenge against Macbeth – Macbeth has essentially sealed his fate by murdering Macduff’s family.
- With Macduff’s help, Malcolm plans to invade Scotland and defeat Macbeth.

Act 5: Downfall

The main character is defeated and life returns to normal.
- Lady Macbeth dies - it's assumed she commits suicide.
- Malcolm and Macduff invade Scotland and attack Macbeth.
- Macduff (who was not 'born' but was removed by caesarean) kills Macbeth.
- Malcolm ascends the throne, continuing the royal line from his father, King Duncan.

Cyclical structure

Interestingly, the structure of the play is almost cyclical (a circle): it begins with Macbeth killing a traitor and ends with him being killed for being a traitor – Macbeth becomes the very enemy he was previously working to defeat.

Iambic Pentameter and Prose

Shakespeare writes most of the play in iambic pentameter. This is a five-beat rhythm. This is a poetic structure.

Definitions

Iambic pentameter is a line which contains ten syllables in pairs - an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, with the pattern repeated five times in a line.
- E.g. 'and wash this filthy witness from your hand' (Lady Macbeth).
Prose is when people speak normally, without rhyme or meter.
Trochaic tetrameter is a line which contains four sets of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable ('double, double toil and trouble').

Pattern breakers

Sometimes, Shakespeare breaks this pattern by having a character only speak half a line, or by moving away from poetry altogether and speaking in prose.
- For example, when Lady Macbeth sleepwalks she speaks in prose, which might signify her control breaking down.

Trochaic tetrameter

The witches sometimes speak in trochaic tetrameter ('Double, double toil and trouble, / Fire burn and cauldron bubble.'). Shakespeare usually writes in iambic pentameter, so this shows the witches as odd.
These lines show that the witches’ speeches are full of double-meanings – they are not what they appear and cannot be trusted.
This structure shows that the witches speak in a different way to everyone else, and that they are doing something incredibly important.
This moment is almost a threat to Macbeth – they are chanting and aiming their spell at him, and it is a powerful spell.

Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters on stage don’t. We learn some of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's plans throughout their asides and soliloquies.

Asides and soliloquies

Any time a character speaks a soliloquy or talks ‘aside’, it really means they are talking to the audience and telling them what they are thinking.
This lets the audience understand what is motivating them (making them behave as they are).
It also means they will know the intentions of a character before the other characters do, which is dramatic irony.

Duncan's murder

They know Macbeth thinks about killing the king in an ‘aside’: ‘why do I yield to that suggestion, / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs / Against the use of nature?’ (1,3).
This suggests that he almost immediately thinks about taking the crown by murdering King Duncan, but he seems scared at the idea – his heart ‘knocks’ at his ribs and his hair stands up.
The dramatic irony here also adds to the tragedy of the situation, as the audience sees a king who trusts his loyal subjects, not realising that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan to murder him in his sleep.

Lady Macbeth's plan

Lady Macbeth plots to persuade Macbeth to kill King Duncan.
She says her dramatic monologue at the start of Act 1, Scene 5 when she is on stage alone.
She tells the audience what she thinks about Macbeth’s letter and what she plans to do about it: ‘Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise thee with the valour of my tongue.’
She plans to persuade Macbeth with her speech. She thinks her speech is her strength. We can tell this because she says ‘the valour of my tongue’: her words are brave and capable. The audience knows what she is planning before she meets with Macbeth.

Macbeth's dilemma

Macbeth’s soliloquy at the start of Act 1, Scene 7 tells the audience all his reasons for not killing the king.
- This shows the audience just how powerful and persuasive Lady Macbeth is when she manipulates (controls him to do what she wants) Macbeth to continue with the original plan.

Banquo's murder

Unusually, the audience doesn’t know when Macbeth plans to kill Banquo. This is hidden until the murderers arrive on stage.
This is significant because it changes how the play has happened up to this point. The audience knows about the plots and knows that Lady Macbeth has been driving them. Here, she doesn’t know what Macbeth is planning: ‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck’ (3,2).
This shows that his character has changed. He is plotting murders by himself, and the audience will no longer have the same insight (understanding) into how Macbeth’s mind works.
This means that more surprises could be in store.

1Literary & Cultural Context

1.1Context

1.1.1Tragedy

1.1.2The Supernatural & Gender

1.1.3Politics & Monarchy

1.1.4End of Topic Test - Context

2Plot Summary

2.1Act 1

2.1.1Scenes 1 & 2

2.1.2Scene 3

2.1.3Scenes 4-5

2.1.4Scenes 6-7

2.1.5End of Topic Test - Act 1

2.2Acts 2-4

2.2.1Act 2

2.2.2Act 3

2.2.3Act 4

2.3Act 5

2.3.1Scenes 1-3

2.3.2Scenes 4-9

2.3.3End of Topic Test - Acts 2-5

3Characters

3.1Macbeth

3.1.1Hero vs Villain

3.1.2Ambition & Fate

3.1.3Relationship

3.1.4Unstable

3.1.5End of Topic Test - Macbeth

3.2Lady Macbeth

3.2.1Masculine & Ruthless

3.2.2Manipulative & Disturbed

3.3Other Characters

3.3.1Banquo

3.3.2The Witches

3.3.3Exam-Style Questions - The Witches

3.3.4King Duncan

3.3.5Macduff

3.3.6End of Topic Test - Lady Macbeth & Banquo

3.3.7End of Topic Test - Witches, Duncan & Macduff

3.4Grade 9 - Key Characters

3.4.1Grade 9 - Lady Macbeth Questions

4Themes

4.1Themes

4.1.1Power & Ambition

4.1.2Power & Ambition HyperLearning

4.1.3Violence

4.1.4The Supernatural

4.1.5Masculinity

4.1.6Armour, Kingship & The Natural Order

4.1.7Appearances & Deception

4.1.8Madness & Blood

4.1.9Women, Children & Sleep

4.1.10End of Topic Test - Themes

4.1.11End of Topic Test - Themes 2

4.2Grade 9 - Themes

4.2.1Grade 9 - Themes

4.2.2Extract Analysis

5Writer's Techniques

5.1Structure, Meter & Other Literary Techniques

5.1.1Structure, Meter & Dramatic Irony

5.1.2Pathetic Fallacy & Symbolism

5.1.3End of Topic Test - Writer's Techniques

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