MACBETH ACT 5 READING NOTES

ACT 5: 

• Scene 1: Enter doctor and gentlelady; Doctor is asking when was the last time she saw Lady Macbeth sleepwalk. She responds by telling him that ever since Macbeth went to war, she's been constantly doing this and writing something on paper. 
• Lady Macbeth enters and they hid to watch her. Lady Macbeth makes a motion of washing her hands (perhaps trying to wash away the blood of Duncan from her hands?) 
• Tries to scrub a spot on her hands that refuses to come off. She's also sleep talking to Macbeth it seems, saying that his guilty conscience is going to screw them over. 
• They begin to realize that Lady Macbeth has a deep secret and they heard something they shouldn’t have heard; Lady Macbeth also makes a reference on how Banquo is dead. 
• Doctor says that guilty people often confess to things in their sleep. Says that she needs a priest more than a doctor. 

• Scene 2: Enter Lennox, Caithness, Menteith, and Angus. About to meet up with Malcolm's English forces near Birnam woods. They talk about how Macbeth is fortifying his castle and calling him insane. 
• Also say that Macbeth's men are only fighting to follow orders, not for the love of Macbeth. "Now does he feel His secret murders sticking on his hands," Macbeth is finally getting his just desserts for all his killings. 
• Menteith tries to justify Macbeth's insanity saying that his inner turmoil is the cause of it. They march off Birnam. 
• Scene 3: Macbeth is speaking to the doctor and some attendants. He is extremely cocky saying he does not fear the English forces for it was prophesized that no man born from a woman would be able to defeat him. 
• A pale-faced servant enters and informs Macbeth the English have amounted ten thousand troops. Macbeth essentially disregards this and tells him to leave. 
• Macbeth realizes that he might die but he's like whatever I'm fighting to the death. He tells Seyton to hang anyone who is spreading fear. 
• The doctor tells Macbeth that Lady Macbeth isn't sick, but has been having visions that have prevent her from sleeping. 
• Macbeth tells Seyton to hand him his armor as he is preparing for battle.  
• Scene 4: Enter Malcolm and his posse of men (Lennox, Siward and son, Macduff, Angus, Ross, Menteith, and Caithness) and his troops. 
• Malcolm tells his troops to break off a tree branch and use it to disguise themselves, that way Macbeth's scouts will give him inaccurate information on how much troops they actually have.  
• Malcom also tells his troops that Macbeth's troops are deserting their post and those that do stay aren't fighting with their heart. 
• They move their army forward. 
• Scene 5: Macbeth is still super confident that his fortress will be able to survive the siege; even goes as far to say that if so many of his soldiers had not defected to the other side, he would have been able to beat them back to England. 
• Macbeth hears a scream and says that once that would have startled him but it no longer phases him as worse things are so familiar to him. The scream came from Lady Macbeth (she is dead). 
• Macbeth delivers his "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy, and seems unphased by the death of his wife, saying it would have happened eventually. Here he is discussing the futility of life and how it lacks meaning. 
• A messenger appears as Macbeth finishes the delivery and warns him that the forest is moving towards the castle. Macbeth, oblivious to Malcolm's plan, doesn't believe it. 
• He tells the messenger that if he's lying, he will hang him from a tree until he starves to death. If he's not lying, he'll do the same, but to himself.  
• Now Macbeth is beginning to lose confidence; the prophecy told him he shouldn't worry until Birnam Woods move to Dunsinane, which it looks like is actually happens.  
• Macbeth has some pretty big cojones because despite the daunting forecast, he is deciding to stay and fight, saying he's tired of living. 
• Scene 6: Malcolm's army is within striking range of Dunsinane so they shed they their folliage disguises to show Macbeth what he's up against. 
• Scene 7: Enter Macbeth and Young Siward during battle; Siward asks what Macbeth's name is and he tells him; they battle and Macbeth kills him, further boosting his ego. 
• Macduff wants to personally kill Macbeth. 
• Old Siward and Malcolm are talking; they took the castle without much of a fight.  
• Scene 8: Macbeth is asking why should he commit suicide so long as he has enemies to kill. 
• Macduff enters.  Macbeth tells him to leave as he already killed his entire family. They fight. Macbeth is still super cocky, because only a man not born of a woman would be able to bring about his downfall. 
• This is where Macduff drops a bombshell: he was delivered via c-section so he wasn't technically born from his mother. 
• This revelation crushes Macbeth's courage and he now refuses to fight Macduff. 
• Macduff tells him to surrender and that they will make a freakshow of him and put him on display for everyone to ridicule and taunt. 
• Macbeth does not like the thought of this and decides to fight to the death because he does not want to kiss the ground in front of Malcolm's feet or be ridiculed by the common folk. They fight. 
• Macbeth's army surrenders and Malcolm, Ross, and Siwald (along with their army) enters. Their victory has cost them very little lives. They notice Macduff is missing. 
• Ross informs Siwald his son died in battle. Siwald asks if his son's wounds were from the front, to which Ross answers yes, leading Siwald to declare his son died a man. 
• Macduff enters with Macbeth's head in hand and hails Malcolm as king.  
• Malcolm gives a short speech, stating that he will repay all of the men for their courageous efforts and that tyranny is over.  

THE END