-Acts by Quotes-

Macbeth- 

Act 1: When the witches say “All hail, Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and the future King.” This is the small seed of an idea the witches plant in Macbeth’s mind which drives through the whole play.

Act 2: Lady Macbeth: “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.” This is one of the many times in the play when Lady Macbeth belittles her husband which leads him to go the rest of the play trying to prove her and the rest of the world wrong and gain back his manliness.

Act 3: Macbeth: “I’m in blood stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go over.” This is Macbeth recognizing that he has gone too far and he has too much blood on his hands already that there is no point in going back or stopping because then the people that died in his hands would have died in vain. This is him trying to stop and reason with his crazy actions and thoughts, very rarely does he self evaluate his situation because he is so hot headed and blind so this moment is golden. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he is remorseful or anything of the sort, I don’t think he ever reaches that point in the play ever but this is one of the very few times Macbeth actually thinks, just thinks for once.

Act 4: I was frantically searching for a quote about sins or how many sins Macbeth has committed. Macbeth was saying something like “I have committed more sins than that of those we have names for” or something like that. It was saying he did sins without names and I wanted to find it and I looked for it but unfortunately the five minutes passed before I could dig it out. I think it’s in this act I’m not sure it might be in Act 3. 

-Inevitable Doom-

In the last act of Macbeth, our fool of a protagonist finally realizes his inevitable doom. Macbeth realizes that all three of the apparitions’ visions/predictions have come true. The first is an armed head, come to warn Macbeth of Macduff’s bad intentions. He tells Macbeth that Macduff is coming back to Scotland to ruin him. The second apparition is a bloody child and it tells Macbeth that no man born of a woman can do him harm. This gives Macbeth great confidence: "Then live Macduff: what need I fear of thee?” The third apparition is that of a child wearing a crown and holding a tree who says “Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.” The apparitions give Macbeth a false pride making him think that since every man is born of a woman, no man will kill him and that if he avoids Birnam woods, he will not die. He is terribly mistaken.

                Macbeth blind pride leads him to lock himself in his castle, avoiding the forest of his doom. Little did he know, the apparitions’ visions would all come true. Macduff and his men, marching towards Macbeth’s castle, decide to hold branches from the forest they were emerging from, which just happens to be Birnam woods, to hide their numbers. So technically, the forest came to Macbeth and apparition 3 came true. Then later, while fighting Macduff, Macbeth finds out that Macduff was not exactly “born from a woman” but surgically removed rather in a C section. So apparition 2, check. And lastly, Macduff kills Macbeth and takes his head for a prize, so check for apparition 1.
                In class we discussed that the first apparition, the armored head, was Macbeth’s bloody head that Macduff took after he killed him. Macbeth was warning himself. The second, the bloody child, was Macduff as a baby torn out of his mother’s womb. The last one, the baby holding a tree with a crown, was Macduff with the branches from Bernam woods and a crown because he will end up king.

                I think when he has the talk with Macduff while they’re fighting is when it hits him. That’s when he realizes that he has gone so far so blinded and the realization of his doom. He puts all the pieces together and his false pride and courage slowly crumble revealing the foolish coward he is. From then on, both the audience and Macbeth sense tragedy in the future. Before, although the audience knew Macbeth's downfall was near, Macbeth himself was still unaware so the audience had some hope of his escape for his situation but after he notices his fall too, both sides just wait for his inevitable doom.