Active Reading Notes of ACT I (MACBETH)

Scene i:
- Three witches appear and plan to meet again to discuss Macbeth
- Leave with "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air."
Scene ii:
- At a military camp King Duncan of Scotland asks wounded solider about battle
- Soldier says that Scottish generals Macbeth and Banquo fought with great courage and violence, and goes into detail how Macbeth violently killed the traitorous Macdonwald
- The thane of Ross enters and tells the king that the traitorous thane of Cawdor and his Norwegian arms have been defeated 
- Duncan decrees that the thane of Cawdor be put to death and that Macbeth given Cawdor’s title
- Ross leaves to deliver the news to Macbeth.
Scene iii:
- Three witches meet near battlefield, meet with Macbeth and Banquo
- They declare Macbeth the thane of Glamis (original title) and thane of Cawdor, which surprises Macbeth
- Also declare that he will be King someday
- Banquo asks for fortune and witches tell him that he is “lesser than Macbeth, and greater,” and “not so happy, yet much happier”
- Also tell Banquo that he will never be king but that his children will
- Ross arrives and tells Macbeth about his new status as thane of Cawdor
- Macbeth and Banquo are skeptical of their prophecies and promise to discuss them later
Scene iv:
- When Macbeth returns to the kingdom he is greatly thanked by Duncan for his heroism, and invites him to have dinner at his castle
Scene v:
- In the castle, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth talking about his new position and the witches prophecies 
- Lady Macbeth fears Macbeth is too full of “th’ milk of human kindness," though she knows he is ambitious, and decides to take whatever steps she must so that Macbeth gets the crown
- She makes the comment that “you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty,” so she can become less feminine and take the necessary steps for Macbeth to become King
Scene vi:
-Duncan arrives and comments positively on the castle and Macbeth himself
Scene vii: 
- Alone, Macbeth ponders the idea of killing Duncan saying "He’s here in double trust: / First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, / Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, / Who should against his murderer shut the door, / Not bear the knife myself."
- Macbeth realizes that his actions would set off a terrible chain of events, and really only driven by his ambition
- When Lady Macbeth enters Macbeth says he calls off the plan
- Lady Macbeth reacts negatively, saying he is a coward
- When Macbeth asks her what will happen if they fail she promises that as long as they are bold, they will be successful. 
- Lady Macbeth says her plan is that while Duncan sleeps, she will give his guards wine to make them drunk, and then she and Macbeth can slip in and murder Duncan. They will smear the blood of Duncan on the sleeping guards to make them appear guilty