Samenvatting Bookreport:

The story:

Kesey gives the reader an insider\'s view of the hospital by choosing as his narrator one of the patients. The world which this narrator describes is one which the borders of sanity and insanity are unclear; in fact, he frequently makes it seem that the patients, for all their eccentricities, are really more sane than the authorities who control their lives.

The central figure of the novel is Randle P. McMurphy, a con man who has had himself committed to the hospital in order to escape work at the prison farm, where he was serving a six-month sentence. The story begins with McMurphy\'s admissions to the hospital and ends with his mercy killing at the hands of the narrator, Chief Bromden.

In some respects, Bromden is the protagonist of the novel. He begins as a paranoid-schizophrenic, posing as a deaf-mute. He has been on the ward for some fifteen years and knows the working of the hospital better than any of the other patients. He is drawn to McMurphy, as are all inmates, and during the course of the novel, the Chief learns from McMurphy who he is, and how to be himself. In effect, he has been dead for years and is being brought back to life. His escape at the end of the book is his final resurrection and symbolizes McMurphy\'s final victory over Nurse Ratched, the Big Nurse who is in charge of the ward.

The central conflict of the novel, McMurphy\'s struggle against Big Nurse, rapidly takes on overtone as a symbolic battle between the forces of the Good and Evil - freedom and individualism, represented by McMurphy, against social authority, conformity and repression, represented by Nurse Ratched. The polarization of these extremes is complete: there are no grey areas, no compromises. Nor does all the action take place at a purely literal level: the Chief\'s dreams, visions, memories and fantasies serve to give a heavily symbolic overtone to the story, investing it with elements of myth. To him, the Big Nurse and McMurphy are giants, engaged in a powerful struggle for control over the minds of the patients (though, ironically, he is physically much larger than either McMurphy or the Big Nurse). In effect, the Chief is not so much telling the story as he is creating a myth. And Kesey occasionally plays ironic games with this process of mythmaking. For example, he uses a complex of assosiations with Melville\'s novel Moby-Dick, another highly symbolic novel which pits good against evil, structure against nature. The only overt reference to the novel is when McMurphy appears on the ward wearing black underwear with the picture of white whales on it. The underwear was a gift from a female literature major at Berkeley: She said I was a symbol. McMurphy\'s joke is mildly obscene and intended lightly. But it emphasizes the serious associations with Moby-Dick, which Kesey is trying to underscore. With her white uniform and immense size, the Big Nurse resembles Moby Dick, the white whale; like him, she is a terrifying force beyond human control, and she also shares the maniacal sense of guilt which inflicts the whale\'s opponents, Captain Ahab. But Kesey\'s myth is much simpler than Melville\'s multi-layered allegory; here, the lines of good and evil are clearly drawn. (Another token of Kesey\'s debt to Melville is the character Billy Bibbet, the stuttering innocent whose name and general character were taken from Melville\'s story Billy Budd)

At the beginning of the novel, McMurphy is clearly a selfcentered, if attractive, figure. He has had himself diagnosed as psychotic in order to escape the work farm, and once on the ward, he sets out to organize things the way he wants them. He draws the inmates into gambling games, which he inevitably wins, and he tries to make things as comfortable and profitable for himself as pollible. But he meets immediate resistance from Nurse Ratched. She runs a tightly organized ward, and troublemakers are stricktly dealt with. (the Chief recalls the example of the last such troublemaker, Max Taber, as an example. His attempts to reorganize the ward resulted in his receiving Electro-Shock Treatments. He was ultimately cured, with a machine installed in his brain, and released from the hospital.)

By the end of the first chapter, McMurphy is clearly challenging the authority of the Big Nurse. He wins a major confrontation over the privilege of watching the World Series on television when he persuades a majority of the patients on the ward to agree with him. The Nurse attempts to demonstrate her authority by cutting of the power to the television set, but the other inmates gather around McMurphy in front of the black screen in a state of open rebellion.

But before McMurphy\'s troublemaking becomes serious, he makes an important discovery. Because he was involuntarily committed, he cannot leave the hospital until the staff - primarily the Big Nurse - consider him cured. He has entered into a power struggle in which he holds no real power. Upon learning this, McMurphy begins to conform, but he finds that he has become responsible for the rights of the other patients on the ward. They have become dependent upon him for leadership, and he is no longer able to act only for himself. This becomes clear to him when Cheswick, who has been his main ally along the inmates, drowns himself in despair, and when he learns that the other Acute patients have committed themselves, because they consider themselves unfit to live outside the institution. From this point on, McMurphy begins to act in their behalf, trying to give them the freedom he has, to teach them to be themselves.

McMurphy begins by smashing his hands through the glass window of the nurses\'station, pretending to be after a pack of cigarettes. Soon the other inmates are joining him in overt acts of rebellion. The Big Nurse finds herself at a disadvantage, but she simply bides her time, waiting for McMurphy to make a mistake.

McMurphy takes advantage of the Big Nurse\'s passiveness to organize a fishing trip for the inmates, in the company of a prostitute in Portland. The trip is the high point of McMurphy\'s influence. Outside the hospital and on their own on the open sea, the inmates learn to act for themselves and regain their self-respect. The rabbits, as Harding describes the patients early in the book, are rapidly becoming men.

The Big Nurse realizes that her authority is in serious danger, and after the fishing trip she tries to drive a wedge between McMurphy and his followers. The stratagem she chooses to emphasize McMurphy\'s larcenous nature. He has made a profit on the fishing trip by charging each man more than his share, and he has been continually winning from the men in his gambling games since he came to the ward. There is no denying these charges, but Harding defends McMurphy, pointing out that he is, after all, only human and interested in his own welfare. Unfortunately, McMurphy chooses that moment to make a serious mistake. He has undertaken a program of blowing up the Chief to his full size- reassuring him of his strength and individuality. The Chief has responded and is now able to lift the bulky control panel on the ward. McMurphy has previously tried to lift the panel on a bet and failed, but now he bets the other patients that the Chief can lift it. The patients, thinking they know the Chief, bet against him and lose. This seems to confirm what the Nurse has been charging against McMurphy, and even Chief Bromden feels that he has been used to con the other patients.

McMurphy is now cornered. The strain of keeping the men on his side, of restoring their self-esteem, has already worn him down. Now he is forced to act again to regain their confidence. The occasion comes later that same day, when one of the orderlies tries to force a reluctant patient, who is terrified of dirt, to have an enema. McMurphy defends George, and the Chief, realizing what Mcmurphy must do, sides with him. The two win the fight, but are sent to Disturbed ward to await judgement. There, the Big Nurse confronts them and tries to force apology. McMurphy refuses and the two are sent to Electro-Shock Therapy.

The Chief is returned to the ward before McMurphy and finds that he has become a legend. He has not spoken to anyone except McMurphy in years, but now he tells the men about McMurphy. No one is surprised to hear him speak. He is accepted and understood. His cure is nearing completion

When McMurphy returns to the ward, he puts on a good show of being his old self, but the others can see that he is not. The Chief sees a tired resignation in his face, almost desperate. He is waiting to die. And Harding, talking with McMurphy about his pressures of society which have driven the others crazy, tells him that he, too, is now crazy. The strain of his responsibility has been to much for him, and as the patients in his charge grew well, McMurphy became insane in their place. He is mentally unable to go on. When the other inmates arrange his escape, he does not go; he is no longer able to face the outside world.

The escape is arranged for the night of the party thrown for Billy Bibbit, who is to lose his virginity to the prostitute Candy Starr, with whom he has fallen in love on the fishing trip. She and another whore sneak onto the ward with bottles of wine and vodka; narcotic cough syrup is stolen from the nurses\' station, and the old black watchman, Mr. Turckle, provides a supply of marijuana. Harding realizes the significance of the party; it is the inmates\' last fling. There will be no forgiveness for them after this. It is if McMurphy had chosen to push them to the point of decision. Yet he is unable to escape at the end of the party and is caught in the morning, along with the other inmates.

The Big Nurse places the blame for the disorder on her ward upon McMurphy. At first, the inmates present a united front against her, but she knows their weakness. She confronts Billy Bibbet with what his mother will think about what he has done, and he breaks down. While he is left alone in the office, he takes a razor and cuts his throat. The Nurse has aroused all his deep, sensitive shame, and he is unable to live with it. When McMurphy is brought back to the ward, he has been lobotomized and is now merely a vegetable. The Chief recognizes that the Nurse wants to use him as a symbol of her continuing authority and he cannot permit this. That night, when he thinks no one is watching, he smothers McMurphy. It is the only way that his victory can be preserved.

Scanlon, who has witnessed the murder, helps Chief Bromden escape from the ward and promises to testify to having seen McMurphy alive after the Chief escaped. The hospital has no policy of attempting to recapture runaways, so it is assumed that the Chief will have no difficulty escaping. He lifts the control panel, as McMurphy taught him, and throws it through the barred window. Then he crawls out into the night and sets off southward, following the path of the flock of wild geese he saw through the window, earlier in the novel.

The Chief\'s freedom is an emblem of McMurphy\'s victory. He has been away a long time, both literally and symbolically. For he is an Indian, the noble savage, the vanishing American who is about to reappear. McMurphy\'s rejection of the forms of civilized behaviour has given Bromden a new life. And though McMurphy has failed personnally (and, symbolically, his hat is too small for the Chief when he tries it on at the end of the novel), he has succeeded in resurrecting the Chief and the other inmates.

Yet there are hints in the novel that the conclusion cannot be termed a total victory for McMurphy\'s followers. One such hint is the discrepancy in the narration at the beginning of the first part, which may be read to imply that the Chief has been recaptured and brought back to the ward, where is paranoia has returned. Consider, too, the fact that the Chief sets off in the direction I remembered seeing the dog go, toward the highway; this links his fate with that of the dog, which was toward certain destruction. Yet such inconsistencies and ambiguities must be considered as undercurrents, for the novel closes in an optimistic tone, and the reader is left with the clear impression that, despite the dangers, the Chief will escape and will succeed in his new life.

Setting Kesey wrote the novel when he did LSD-tests at a local Veterans\' Administration Hospital. This was in the late 50\'s and early 60\'s. This is probably the time when the book takes place.

Place The setting of One Flew Over The Cuckoo\'s Nest is a mental hospital in Oregon and the characters, with a few minor exceptions, are all either inmates or employees of this institution. Kesey, following satiric convention, uses the madhouse as a microcosm of American society, a small model of society in which the internal policies reflect the order of the external world.

Important characters Randle P. McMurphy A manual laborer, gambler and con man, who is admitted to the ward from Pendleton Prison Farm, diagnosed as a psychotic. Really not insane, he transforms the ward by teaching the other inmates how to be free. Finally lobotomized after attacking Nurse Ratched, he is killed in his sleep by Chief Bromden.

Nurse Ratched The Big Nurse, a representative of the Combine, the Chief\'s name for the forces of repressive organization in society. She is a former Army nurse, in her fifties-an absolute tyrant. She maintains order by pitting the inmates against one another; McMurphy compares her techniques with the brainwashing used by the communists during the Korean conflict.

Chief Bromden A huge paranoid-schizophrenic Indian, the narrator of the novel. He is a Chronic, diagnosed as incurable, and has been on the ward since the end of World War II. He imagines himself to be small and weak and pretends to be a deaf-mute in order to protect himself. The Chief is gradually rehabilitated by McMurphy and emerges as the real protagonist of the book at the end. He kills McMurphy after the Big Nurse has had him lobotomized, and escapes from the hospital.

Dale Harding An effeminate man, psychologically castrated by his wife, who has committed himself to the hospital.

Billy Bibbet A frightened thirty-one-year-old man with the mind of a adolescent. He is dominated by his mother, who is a friend of Nurse Ratched

Max Taber A former patient who caused Nurse Ratched trouble. He was dismissed after being made docile by Electro-Shock Therapy

Scanlon A patient with destructive fantasies. The last of McMurphy\'s followers left on the ward, he assists in the Chief\'s escape after McMurphy\'s death.

Cheswick McMurphy\'s most overt follower in his early days on the ward. After McMurphy\'s begins to yield to authority, Cheswick drowns himself.

Martini Exists in a world of delusions; his visions are more real to him than reality

The Lifeguard A former football player who has been committed to the hospital. He explains to McMurphy that commitment means that McMurphy can be released only when the Big Nurse agrees.

Doctor Spivey A morphine addict, chosen by the Big Nurse to work on her ward because of his weakness and vulnerability.

The Black Boys (Washington, Warren and Geever) Chosen by the Big Nurse as orderlies because of their hostility and strength. They keep order on the ward mainly by threatening the patients.

Mr. Turkle An elderly Negro who works as an orderly at night. He is bribed by McMurphy to arrange the party for Candy and Billy Bibbet

Candy Starr A prostitute from Portland; a whore with a heart of gold. Billy Bibbet falls in love with her on the fishing trip.

*There are more characters but they have a minor role in the story

The title

The title of the book is clearly allegorical in its intents. The cuckoo\'s nest is the hospital and the one who flew over it is McMurphy. The full nursery rhyme from which the title is taken is quoted in part 4 by the Chief, as he remembers his childhood while awaking from a shock treatment. The rhyme was part of a childhood game played with him by his Indian grandmother:

Ting. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she\'s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts \'em inna pens...wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock... one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo\'s nest... O-U-T spells out... goose swoops down and plucks you out.

The goose who flies over the cuckoo\'s nest is McMurphy, the chief bull goose loony; the one he plucks out is the Chief, who escapes at the end of the novel, following McMurphy\'s teaching. The goose is also the leader of the flight of wild geese, silhouetted against the moon above the asylum in the shape of a cross, foreshadowing McMurphy\'s crucifixion in the Shock Shop. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes is clearly the Big Nurse, who catches the inmates like hens and encourages them to peck one another to death in the pen of the ward, where they are kept locked in. That she is a good fisherman, a fisher of men, recalls McMurphy\'s fishing expedition and its symbolic overtones linking McMurphy with Christ, but her purpose is to imprison, rather than to liberate, her catch

Theme

The Machine Chief Bromden\'s fantasies are dominated by machines, and so, consequently, are the images of the novel. The machine is seen as wholly inimical, the opposite of everything that is natural. The Combine, the name the Chief gives to organized society, is a term for a threshing machine, used for mowing down and harvesting wheat. When the Big Nurse is angry, she is compared to a diesel truck run amok, smelling of burning oil. The machines in the Shock Shop are used to punish patients who step out of line; the fog machine is turned on to isolate and confuse the patients; and machines are installed in the walls of the ward, and even in the patients themselves, to keep everything running according to the Combine\'s plan.

The machines are the images of the mechanical order which the Combine is attempting to impose upon society; yet, paradoxically, they are instruments of chaos, associated with destruction and confusion. When the inmates travel outside the hospital with McMurphy - Chief Bromden for the first time in fifteen years - they notice the mechanical conformity that has been imposed upon the world during their absence: Or things like five thousend houses punched out identical by a machine and strung across the hills outside of town, so fresh from the factory they\'re still linked together like sausages... there were five thousand kids in green corduroy pants and white shirts under green pullover sweaters playing crack-the-whip across an acre of crushed gravel. The line popped and twisted and jerked like a snake, and every crack popped a little kid off the end, sent him rolling up against the fence like a tumbleweed. Every crack. And it was always the same little kid, over and over. The absolute conformity of the machine is not order, but chaos replicated over and over again with monotonous regularity. And Harding\'s vision of society overthrown by the inmates being let out repeats the same motif: a babbling schizophrenic running a wrecking machine, the force of chaos released upon itself. This is nothing more than the same image reversed, for the opposite of society\'s order is not chaos, but the order of Nature, which is what McMurphy represents.

Religious imagery Kesey uses images associated with Christ and his crucifixion sparingly throughout the early parts of the book, but increases them in the final chapters, when the confrontation with the Big Nurse is deepening and McMurphy\'s martyrdom becomes imminent. The first such image is of the Chronic patient Ellis, whose mind has been ravaged by repeated shock treatments, standing crucified, his arms outspread against the wall. Ellis\'s stance is reflected in the shape of the table used for Electro-Shock Therapy: it is shaped like a cross and the patients is strapped to it, like Christ nailed to the cross.

The image of Ellis standing against the wall recurs throughout the book, but is not developed further until the scene immediately preceding the fishing expedition. As the patients are leaving the ward, Ellis pulls his hand from the wall, shakes Billy Bibbit\'s hand, and tells him to be a fisher of men - a phrase used by Christ to his disciples, referring to the winning of converts to his cause. And, in effect, the fishing trip is the conversion - even the salvation, if you will - of McMurphy\'s followers, who, like Christ\'s disciples, are twelve in number. It is on the sea that the inmates first learn to stand firm in their own identities; they learn how, like McMurphy, to be themselves. It is for this reason that during the storm at sea, McMurphy is content to stay in the background and let others - Harding, Billy Bibbit and George - be the heroes who face the storm without life jackets. They are proving themselves.

After McMurphy and the Chief fight the black boys, they are taken to Disturbed, where they are confronted by a patient who says, I wash my hands of the whole deal. The reference here is to Pontius Pilate, who condemned Christ to be crucified, washing his hands after the trial. To wash one\'s hands of something is to refuse to participate in the guilt associated with it.

As McMurphy and the Chief are awaiting their shock treatments, another patient is crying, saying, It\'s my cross, thank you Lord, it\'s all I got, thank you Lord. And as McMurphy prepares to take his treatments, the references multiply:Climbs on the table without any help and spreads his arms out to fit the shadow. A switch snaps the clasps on his wrists, ankles, clamping him into the shadowThey put the graphite salve on his temples. What is it? he says. Conductant, the technician says. Test my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?Put on those things like headphones, crown of silver thorns over the graphite at his temples. They try to hush his singing with a piece of rubber hose for him to bite on.The preparations for the shock treatment all parallel the crucifixion; even the rubber hose for him to bite, which is like the sponge soaked in vinegar which a Roman soldier held on a stick for Christ to suck while on the cross.

The parallel between McMurphy and Christ is obvious: both gave their lives that others might live. But this parallel should not be pushed to far; the martyr doms of the meek, mild, gentle celibate and the lusty, brawling con man have quite different meanings. Christ died to redeem the sins of the individual; McMurphy\'s death is not to save the other patients from their own sins, but from society\'s sins against them. As Christ\'s death was a triumph of the soul, McMurphy\'s is a triumph of the flesh: he has relieved them of the guilt they have been taught by women to feel over their natural sexual urges. And he has prepared them for what Kesey seems to consider their rightful place in society - dominating women, rather than being dominated by them.

The role of women Women in the book are two sorts - ball-cutters like the Big Nurse, who are intent upon dominating men by depriving them of their masculinity, and whores like Candy and Sandy, who are submissive towards men and intent upon giving them pleasure. The fact that there is no middle ground between these extremes is typical of the book, with its polarities of good and evil, mechanical and natural, civilized and wild, etc. The intent of this dichotomy is not to denigrate women (though this is, undeniably, one of the side effects); it is imply a part of the mythic system Kesey devellopes in the book. One of the cardinal virtues in McMurphy\'s world is masculinity, which is associated with nature, spontaneity, and rebellion against the social organization of the Combine. Women who aquiese in a man\'s masculinity, like Candy, are good; those who opposite it, like Nurse Ratched, are evil. Thus we have the dominant female figures of the book: Nurse Ratched, Billy\'s mother, Harding\'s wife and the Chief\'s mother. The last of these is the one we know the most about, apart from the Big Nurse, who we see only on the ward. Through Mrs. Bromden, we see how the castration of both husband and son, works. It was through Mrs. Bromden that the Combine first gained rights to the Indian land on the Columbia where the dam was build. Two white men and a woman had come to speak the Chief\'s father, but upon learning that his wife was a white woman, they decided to approach the matter to her. We are never given details of the deal that was made, but apparently they appealed to her desire to return to civilization, to move into town. And once she had asserted her power, she began to grow (in the Chief\'s mind, power and size are inextricably linked - hence, the Big Nurse). Explaining this to McMurphy, he says, A guy at the carnival looked her over and says five feet nine and weight a hundred and thirty pounds, but that was because he\'d just saw her. She got bigger all the time. As Mrs. Bromden grew, her husband began to shrink in size, and she came more and more to dominate him. And her son, who had already learned that he was invisible to white people, never stood a chance of countering her influence. And so it came to be that, like his father, he had only one name - but the name was his mother\'s. Mama\'s name was Bromden. Still is Bromden. Papa said he was born with only one name, born smack into it the way a calf drops out in a spread blanket when the cow insists on standing up. Tee Al Millatoona, the Pine-That-Stands-Tallest-on-the-Mountain, and I\'m the biggest by God in the state of Oregon and probably California and Idaho. Born right into it. You\'re the biggest by God fool if you think that a good Christian woman takes on a name like Tee Ah Millatoona. You were born into a name, so okay, I\'m born into a name. Bromden. Mary Louise Bromden. And when we move into town. Papa says, that name makes gettin\' that Social Security card a lot easier. The mother\'s name in an image of the father\'s subjection, a mark of his civilization in the sacrifice of his pride and self sufficiency. As his father was born into his Indian name, Chief Bromden was born into mother\'s, and as the name and what is symbolized drove his father to alcoholism and death, it drove the son to the hospital. Nurse Ratched is to the Chief a surrogate of his mother, as she is to Billy Bibbit, and a surrogate wife to Harding. She is the living symbol of their disease, as the archetype of the repressive forces in society which drove them insane. This is why she must be defeated by McMurphy before the other inmates can have their masculinity back.

Engels Literatuur

Middeleeuwen

Old English Period (the Dark Ages) In de 50e eeuw hadden de Romeinen Engeland veroverd, toen zij wegwaren kwamen de Angles, Saxons en Jutes die de Celtics (originele bevolking) wegdreven. Ze veroverden Engeland vanaf de kust en brandden alles plat.

Literatuur
Mensen konden niet lezen en schrijven en luisterden naar poëzie, die anoniem was. De gedichten rijmden niet, maar hadden wel ritme en alliteraties. Eerst was de poëzie heidens, later bekeerden de dichters zich en lieten ze hun gedichten herschrijven door monniken en priesters. Bekendste gedicht van deze tijd is Beowulf. Er waren ook proza werken, voornamelijk instructies voor gelovigen en geschiedenisboeken. Bekendste: the Anglo Saxon Chronlicle geschreven in opdracht van King Alfred the Great. Ook kwamen toneelstukken op, gespeeld in kerkdiensten.

Beowulf
Geschreven in het dialect van Wessex. Gaat over de Zweedse held Beowulf en speelt zich af in Denemarken. Koning Hrothgor wordt bedreigd door het monster Grendel, niemand kan het monster doden, maar Beowulf wel. Hij hakt Grendels armen af. De volgende dag komen Grendels moeder en neemt haar zoon mee, Beowulf volgt ze en vermoord ze allebei met een magisch zwaard dat hij vind. Beowulf wordt koning en na 50 jaar komt er een nieuwe draak die Beowulf weer doodt, maar waarbij hij zelf dodelijk gewond raakt.

Middle English Period (1066 – 1500) In 1066 wordt Engeland eindelijk één land (eerst waren het kleine staatjes) met als koning the Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror). Hij ging Engeland organiseren en zette op alle belangrijke plekken in de regering Normandiërs. De officiële taal werd Frans, maar de meeste gedichten bleven Engels. Er ontstond het zogenaamde standaard Engels, geïntroduceerd door Geoffrey Chaucer.

Literatuur
Twee soorten gedichten: o Romances: op rijm, met humor, over liefde. Bv de verhalen van King Arthur. o Allegories: vaak symbolisch met een verborgen betekenis en boodschap. Er waren niet veel boeken, alleen Domesday Book over belastingstelsel en Magna Charta over de wetten. Er waren twee soorten toneelstukken die op straat vertoond werden: o Miracle play: over het leven van heiligen
o Mystery play: scènes uit de bijbel

Geoffrey Chaucer 1340 – 1400
Wordt vaak de vader van de Engelse poëzie genoemd. Was een rijke ambtenaar met een goede opleiding. Bekendste verhaal: Canterbury Tales. Chaucer gebruikte vaak verhalen van anderen.

Canterbury Tales
Veertien pelgrims gaan samen op pelgrimtocht en vertellen ieder twee verhalen. De pelgrims laten de drie lagen van de samenleving zien: de geestelijkheid, adel en de ‘gewone mensen’.

Bekendste verhaal: a Pardoner’s Tale: drie mannen hebben gehoord dat ze onder een boom goud en de dood kunnen vinden. Twee mannen gaan naar de boom toe en één man koopt eerst wijn (met gif) en komt later. Als de man met de wijn terugkomt wordt hij gedood door de andere twee, die daarna samen de vergiftigde wijn drinken.

Transition Period (Barron Age) Was overgang naar de Renaissance. Engeland had de Honderd jarige oorlog met Frankrijk (1337-1453) en de War of Roses (1455-1485).

Literatuur: Waren vaak liedjes en nog steeds anoniem. Bv Sir Patrick Spens. In proza was alleen Sir Thomas Malory belangrijk, hij vertelde de verhalen van King Arthur opnieuw. Toneelstukken: er kwam een derde genre bij, Morality plays: leren een morele les

Arthurian Liturature
De verhalen van King Arthur waren belangrijk voor Frankrijk en Engeland. Het was een romance met als hoofdthema oorlog en liefde. Twee van de belangrijkste boeken over King Arthur:

Le Morte d’Arthur (1485): door Thomas Malory. Arthuur werd opgevoed door Sir Ector en kwam er door een zwaard uit een steen te trekken achter dat hij koning was. Hij trouwde Guinevere en kreeg van haar de ronde tafel/ Hij had één zoon, Mordred, die hij had gekregen met zijn halfzus. Mordred nam de troon over toen Arthuur naar Frankrijk ging, zonder dat Arthuur dat wist. Toen de twee het later uit wilden praten kwam er een adder tussen die Mordred doodt en Arthuur dodelijk verwond.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Sir Gawain mag met zijn bijl de Green Knight vermoorden, als dat niet lukt moet hij het volgende jaar bij de Green Knight terugkomen. Het lukt niet en Garwain gaat het volgende jaar op weg naar de Green Knight. Op zijn reis slaapt hij bij Bertilak. Die jaagt en wil alles wat hij heeft gevangen aan Gawain afgeven in ruil voor alles wat Gawain op een dag krijgt. Gawain krijgt een groene riem, van de vrouw van Bertilak, die hem zal helpen, hij geeft de riem niet af. Als Gawain met de Green Knight gaat vechten (die Bertilak blijkt te zijn) wint hij dus ook door de riem.

Renaissance 1500-1660

De Renaissance is te verdelen in twee perioden: o tot 1600: Elizabethaans
o 1600-1660: Metafysical Poetry

Elizabethaans
De kerk werd minder belangrijk, Het individu werd wel belangrijk. Ook geluid en vorm werden belangrijk en stukken waren niet meer anoniem. Ook wereldse stukken werden populair.

Literaire genres: o Sonnet
o Essay: kort stuk proza waarin schrijver zijn mening geeft
o Elegy: kort gedicht
o Biography
o Pastoral: gedicht of toneelstuk over het eenvoudige leven dat de schrijver zou willen hebben.

Shakespeare
Geboren in 1564. Was acteur en toneelschrijver met een aandeel in The Globe Theatre, waar hij stukken voor schreef.

Zijn carrière kan in vier delen verdeeld worden: o Early years: nationalistische stukken over Henry VI en komedies. o 1592 – 1601: komedies, bv Middsummer Night’s dream. Maar ook Romeo en Julliete. o 1601 – 1608: tragedies, bv Hamlet, Otello en Macbeth
o 1608-1616: filosofische stukken, bv the Tempest

Middsummer night’s dream
Hermia moet met Demetrius trouwen maar ze is verliefd op Lusander en Demetrius op Helena. Met zijn allen vluchten ze naar elvenland. Waar onder andere Puck woont die door een mislukt drankje de verkeerde personen op elkaar verliefd laat worden. Uiteindelijk komt alles weer goed.

Toen van 1592 tot 1594 de theaters sloten ging Shakespeare poëzie schrijven. Zijn verhalen waren altijd gebouwd om drie personen: a dark lady, a blond young aristocrat en a rival poet. Hij schreef vaak sonnetten, die niet allen over liefde gingen maar ook heel ritmisch waren. Sonnet XVII (blz 24)

Metaphysical poetry
Gaat niet meer over liefde, maar over emotie en intellect. Dichter wilden gedichten maken die vragen opriepen bij de lezer

George Herbert 1593 – 1633 (was religieus) The Pulley (blz 26) The Collar (blz 27)

John Donne 1572 – 1631
Maakte veel gebruik van metaforen en schreef persoonlijk en in spreektaal. Zijn gedichten gingen vaak over overspeligheid. The Flea (blz 28) Song (blz 30) A Valediction (blz 30) Death be not Proud (blz 31)

Andrew Marvell
Was geboren in 1621 en was een geestelijke. De meeste van zijn metafysische gedichten werden pas na zijn dood bekend. To His Coy Mistress (blz 33)

De achttiende eeuw Ook wel: Classicisme, Verlichting, Tijdperk van de rede.

Bepalend voor de achttiende eeuw: o vertrouwen in menselijke rede
o overheersende klassieke cultuur, klassieke cultuur vertegenwoordigd hoogste idealen in het leven. Was vooral toegankelijk voor de bovenste laag van de samenleving. De satire kwam ook op (onder andere Jonathan Swift). Ook de bourgeoisie kwam op, die wilde lezen over dagelijkse dingen dus kwamen er kranten, waardoor de eerste romans ontstonden. De bijbel
In 1611 kwam de eerste officiële vertaling van de bijbel, die wel in lijn was met de wensen van de koning en de ‘Anglicon church view’ (kerk van Engeland, die anders was dan die van Rome).

Ook de zogenaamde Cavalier poetry kwam op. Cavalier betekent musketier. Was hoofse poëzie over liefde, maar was wel met beide benen op de grond. Gaan vaak over geluk en het thema pul de dag komt vaak terug.

Robbert Herrick
Was één van de eerste Cavalier dichters. Maar hield zich niet aan het onderwerp pluk de dag. To the Virgins to make much of the Time (blz 34)

Samuel Pepys 1633 – 1703
Hield een dagboek bij van 1660 tot 1669, waar onder andere de grote brand in Londen in beschreven staat. Het boek geeft een goed beeld over het leven in de zeventiende eeuw.

Alexander Pope 1688 – 1744
Was goed in het schrijven van satires. Was de beste dichter van de achttiende eeuw. Was heel erg bezig met rede. Zijn bekendste boek is ‘The Rape of the Lock’ waarin een landheer een lok haar van een vrouw afknipt.

Jonathan Swift
Schreef ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ (1726) dat bestaat uit drie delen. Lijkt in het begin een kinderboek maar het derde deel is kritiek op de mensheid. Een onderwerp dat vaak in satirische vorm in zijn boeken terugkomt.

Daniel Defoe
Schreef ‘Robinson Crusoe’ (1719) dat de opbouw van een samenleving laat zien. Dit is de eerste fictieve roman.

Samuel Johnson
Tweede helft achttiende eeuw. Schreef het eerste woordenboek: ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ (1755).

William Blake 1757 - 1827
Is de overgang naar de Romantische periode. Zegt dat rede het leven kapot kan maken. Schreef onder andere ‘Songs of Innocence’ en ‘Songs of Experience’. The Tiger (blz 41) The Lamb (blz 41) Nurse’s Song (Innocence) (blz 42) Nurse’s Song (Experience) (blz 43) O, Rose, thou ar sick! (blz 43)

Romantiek 1789 - 1837

Aanleiding Romantiek: o Onafhankelijkheid van Amerika 1776
o Franse Revolutie 1789 – 1799
o Industriële Revolutie

Gaat ervan uit dat de mens van nature goed is en dat omstandigheden de mens veranderen. Men ging zich meer richten op de belevingswereld: gevoel en verbeelding worden belangrijk. Ook werd poëzie individualistisch en geschreven in duidelijke taal.

William Wordsworth
Schreef veel over natuurlijke dingen. Schreef samen met Samuel Coleridge de Lyrical Ballads die het begin van de romantiek waren. The Daffodils (blz 44) Excerpt fron Nutting (blz 44)

Samuel Coleridge 1771 – 1834
Schreef over het exotische en mysterieuze. Benadrukt het bovennatuurlijke en schreef maar een paar gedichten. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (blz 46)

Victoriaanse Tijd

Oorlogsdichters
WO I maakte een eind aan het idee van de Romantiek. De loopgravenoorlog duurt langer dan verwacht. Soldaten schreven vaak patriottische gedichten. Na een tijd verdwijnt het patriottisme zijn kracht en gingen dichters schrijven vanuit de loopgraven over wat zij en hun medesoldaten meemaakten.

Rupert Brooke 1887 – 1915
The Soldier (blz 62)

Wilfred Owen
Was één van de grootste oorlogsdichters. Schreef om de waarheid te vertellen. Werd in 1918 gedood door machinevuur. Dulce et Decorum Est (blz 63) Anthem for Doomed Youth (blz 63)

Macbeth Characters

Dramatis Personae

DUNCAN, King of Scotland
Duncan is a good king who his people like. By no fault of his own he is unable to discern those who threaten his reign.

MACBETH, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, a general in the King\'s army and LADY MACBETH, his wife
Macbeth is a basically good man who is troubled by his conscience and loyalty though at the same time ambitious and murderous. He is led to evil initially by the witches\' predictions and then by his wife\'s goading, which he succumbs to because he loves her so. His obsession over the kingship shows a certain kind of egotism.Lady Macbeth is a good wife who loves her husband. She is also ambitious but lacks the morals of her husband. To achieve her ambition, she rids of herself of any kindness that might stand in the way. However, she runs out of energy to supress her conscience and kills herself.

BANQUO, Thane of Lochaber, a general in the King\'s army
Banquo serves as a foil to Macbeth, showing an alternate react to prophecy. Banquo retains his morals and allegiances, but ends up dying. He is brave and ambitious, but this is tempered by intelligence.

MACDUFF, Thane of Fife, a nobleman of Scotland
Macduff shows early on a distrust of Macbeth. He also represents fate as when knocking on the door. He thinks he can avoid having his family looking guilty and getting killed by fleeing, but he overestimates Macbeth. Macduff then plays the avenger.

MALCOLM, elder son of Duncan
Malcolm, as a good king, is everything that Macbeth is not. He uses deception only to insure his personal safety.

DONALBAIN, younger son of Duncan
Donalbain is Duncan\'s youngest son and fless to Ireland when his father is murdered.

LENNOX, nobleman of Scotland
Lennox is one of Duncan\'s nobles and he is largely an observer in the play. He grows suspicious of what he sees in Macbeth, and grows increasingly sarcastic and is fearful for the fate of Scotland.

ROSS, nobleman of Scotland
Ross is Macduff\'s cousin. He acts as a messenger in the play, bringing good news of Macbeth\'s military victory and bad news about Macduff\'s family.

SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces
Old Siward is the Earl of Northumberland and an ally of Malcom and Macduff.

YOUNG SIWARD, his son
Young Siward is Siward\'s son. He is slain by Macbeth in hand-to-hand combat.

SEYTON, attendant to Macbeth
Seyton is Macbeth\'s lieutenant.

HECATE, Queen of the Witches
Hecate is sometimes referred to as the queen of the witches. It is she who directs supernatural happenings and appearances of the mystical apparitions.

The Three Witches
The three witches add an element of supernatural and prophecy to the play. They each have a familiar, such as Graymalkin and Paddock, and are commanded by Hecate, a Greek goddess of the moon and later witchcraft. The witches are based on a variety of ideas about witches at the time. They can use sieves as boats, and they can assume the shape of an animal, but with a defect, as with the tailless rat. The witches were also thought to be able to control the winds. They are described as having beards but looking human.

The Porter
The Porter is the keeper of Macbeth\'s castle who imagines that he is the keeper of Hell\'s Gate. LADY MACDUFF
Lady Macduff represents all the good people slaughtered by Macbeth. She loves her family, and is distressed at her husband\'s departure. She doesn\'t really believe her husband is a traitor and is conerned only that he is safe when the murderers arrive. FLEANCE, Banquo\'s son
Fleance plays no large role, and the only question is how his line ends up becoming king after Malcolm. MENTEITH, ANGUS, and CAITHNESS
noblemen of Scotland
Other Characters
An English Doctor, A Scottish Doctor, A Sergeant, An Old Man, The Ghost of Banquo and other Apparitions, Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murtherers, Attendants, and Messengers

Act I, Scene 1 The witches plan to meet after the battle, which we find is a rebellion in Scotland. They are summoned by their familiars and end with the theme of the play. Act I, Scene 2 The king and his thanes are at a camp and hear word of the battle from the bleeding sergeant. The sergeant had saved Malcolm earlier. He says that the battle was doubtful, with the rebel Macdonwald receiving reinforcements and luck. However, Macbeth man aged to fight well, and killed the slave Macdonwald. A second attack by the Norweyan lord angered Macbeth and he met their attacks so the Norwegians got their butts kicked. The sergeant goes to get some medical attention, and then Ross tells the rest of the story. Norway and the rebel Thane of Cawdor were met by Macbeth and were defeated. The Norwegian king Sweno was forced to pay ten thousand dollars. Macbeth is given the rebel Cawdor\'s title. Act I, Scene 3 The witches meet again, as planned. One has been killing pigs. Another witch is getting revenge on the captain of the Tiger, who\'s wife has not given her a chestnut. Winds summoned by her will blow in every direction, making the sailor throw up and nev er sleep, though the ship will never be lost. The witch has the pilot\'s thumb. Then Macbeth comes. The witches sing a little song. Macbeth comments on the good and bad day, then Banquo sees the witches. They look human in some ways, but don\'t in others. The witches hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, his current title, as well as Cawdor, which he doesn\'t know he is to receive, and King, which is a complete shock. Banquo is suprised that Macbeth isn\'t ecstatic at the prophecy, and asks the witches why they have no prophecy for him. The witches make important predictions to Banquo, as lesser but greater, less happy but happier than Macbeth. They also say his children will become Kings. Macbeth wants to know more. The witches vanish, and the two puzzle over the disapperance. Ross and Angus come. Ross tells them the kind heard of his victory in battle. They tell him the King will honor him in person, but that he has also received the t itle of Cawdor. Macbeth asks why he is given someone else\'s title and is told of the treason. Now Macbeth starts thinking the prophecy might come true. Banquo is still worried. Macbeth is scared as he considers killing the king to complete the prophecy. Banquo says he is getting used to his new title. Macbeth comes out of his thinking and thanks the men. He tells Banquo they will talk later. Act I, Scene 4 The king asks if Cawdor is executed yet and if the people who did it are back yet. Malcolm says the aren\'t back but someone who saw it said Cawdor confessed and apologized, at peace with himself so that death was not a problem, and the way he left was be tter than the way he lived. Duncan makes a comment important to theme, saying he trusted Cawdor, because he was deceptive in the way he acted. When Macbeth arrives, Duncan thanks him for what he did, saying he can never repay him. Macbeth says he was just doing his duty. Duncan says Macbeth will grow, and Banquo will be close to his heart. Banquo also expresses his loyalty, saying the benefit would be for Duncan. Duncan says he is happy despite troubles, and declares his son Malcolm his successor, making Malcolm a problem in Macbeth\'s getting the throne. Duncan decides to go to Macbeth\'s castle, and Macbeth goes to tell his wife. Macbeth talks of how he is having dark thoughts about trying to become king. Duncan comments on how great Banquo is and then follows him. Act I, Scene 5 Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from Macbeth, which tells about the witches prophecy. Lady Macbeth says that her husband is too nice to get the greatness he is promised. She decides to help him gain the crown. A messenger tells her the King is coming. Lady Macbeth decides that Duncan will be killed while staying there. She tries to get rid of all kind thoughts so that she can do the deed. She tells her husband to appear normal, even while he plans to kill the King. Act I, Scene 6 Duncan talks about how pleasant the castle is. Banquo notes how the birds are abundant, marking it for a nice place. Duncan greets Lady Macbeth, who returns the formality and assures her loyalty. She leads them into the castle. Act I, Scene 7 Macbeth contemplates the crime and says he should do it soon if he does it. If this was all there was to it, and all he had to worry about was the afterlife, he would do it. But he is also judged here, and murdering may lead to his own death. He is supposed to be loyal to Duncan as a relative and subject and host. And Duncan is such a nice, great leader that whoever kills him will be damned. Everyone will be sad. There is nothing to make him do it except ambition, which is like a spur but also like a rider who jumps on a horse but falls off the other side. Lady Macbeth says Duncan almost finished dinner. Macbeth doesn\'t want to kill someone who has done him so well. Lady Macbeth asks what happened to his hope that he had so much. She will not love him if he doesn\'t do this, what he wants. Macbeth doesn\'t want to do it, and Lady Macbeth asks what happened since he was so willing to do it before. She says that if she had sworn to, she would kill a baby suckling at her breast. Lady Macbeth says they won\'t fail because they will get the King\'s attendants drunk and make it look like they did it. Macbeth comments on his wife\'s mannly mettle, and starts to believe his wife. She says it will look like the servants did it, so Macbeth agrees to do it, while hiding what he did from his face, a refernce to the theme. Act II, Scene 1 Banquo and Fleance are walking around and wondering at the time. Baquo is worried about the dark thoughts in his head. Macbeth comes up and Banquo asks why he isn\'t sleeping when Duncan went to bed happy and sent them gifts. Macbeth responds that he wasn\'t as good a host because he was unprepared. Banquo dreamt of the witches and Macbeth says they should talk about that later. Banquo wants to maintain his loyalty to the king. Macbeth dismisses his servant and then imagines a dagger before him, but he isn\'t sure if it is real. He says it encourages to do the deed, showing him how. In the night, he dreams of Hecate and the witches, of a wolf howling the time for murder, and compares his stealthy approach to that of Tarquin. In horror, he resolves to do the deed. Act II, Scene 2 Lady Macbeth says that the alcohol that made the attendants drunk has given her courage. Omens of death wish the king good night, and Macbeth is going to kill him as the drunk attendants are unconscious. When Macbeth shows up she is afraid they woke up and it didn\'t work. She would have done it if Duncan didn\'t look like her fathe. But he did it, after some trouble. One attendant woke up and said \"Murder\" but then they went ack to sleep. Donalbain either said \"God bless us\" or \"Amen\" in response to Duncan saying it. Macbeth is troubled because he could not say \"Amen\". Lady Macbeth says not to think that way. Macbeth says he heard a voice saying he murdered sleep, which is described as such a sweet and pleasant thing. She tells him not to think of such sickly things and to wash his hands. She then agrees to put the daggers back, because Macbeth doesn\'t want to. She says only kids fear death and sleep. She will get some blood on the attendants to make them look guilty. Macbeth is troubled by knocking and says that nothing can wash his hands clean, and the blood will make the seas red. Lady Macbeth feels bad to have red hands but to be innocent of the crime itself. She tells him to wash his hands and retire and put on his nightgown so that they will not be suspicious to the watchers. Macbeth wishes he did not know what he had done. Act II, Scene 3 The porter hears knocking and says that a porter at hell would have a busy job. He pretends to be the porter of hell, and imagines the sort of people who would come, such as a farmer who didn\'t get the high prices wanted, a traitor, and a tailor who tried to overprice his garments. Finally he lets Macduff and Lennox in, and they have a discussion about drinking. The porter tells how drink causes red noses, sleep, and urine. He also says it causes lechery, though it takes away the performance. Macbeth comes and greets Lennox and Macduff. Macbeth leads Macduff to the king. Lennox comments on weird things that happened during the night. Macduff returns, having discovered the murder. He is in hysterics, telling them of the horror of horrors and calling for an alarm. He compares the events transpiring to Judgement Day, when the dead rise up to a trumpet. Lady Macbeth comes and asks what is going on. And Macduff tells Banquo when he enters. Macbeth reenters commenting on how awful life is with the death of his king. Malcolm and Donalbain are then informed what happened. Lennox says it looked like the chamber attendants had done it. Macbeth says that in his fury, he killed the attendants. Malcolm and Donalbain are afraid and agree to leave. Banquo says they should reassemble to investigate the matter. Malcolm, in a comment relevant to the theme, says it is easy to show a false sorrow. They both agree it is not safe there and depart. Act II, Scene 4 The old man says this is the worst night he has ever seen. Ross speaks metaphorically of the battle between light and dark. The old man compares it to an owl killing a great falcon. Ross then talks of the mysterious event with the horses of Duncan getting loose and eating each other. Macduff says it is thought the attendants did the murder. He thinks they were paid by Malcolm and Donalbain. Macbeth is said to have gone to Scone to get the crown. Duncan\'s body is said to be buried. Macduff and Ross bid each other farewell. The old man bids them farewell with a comment alluding again to the theme. Act III, Scene 1 Banquo comments on how Macbeth has everything he was promised, but he thinks Macbeth gained it through evil. But Banquo hopes now that his prophecies will come true and his kids will be kings. Macbeth invites Banquo, his chief guest, to a feast. Banquo and Fleance are riding that afternoon, but can be back by supper. Macbeth says that Malcolm and Donalbain, their cousins whom guilt rests upon, are in England and Ireland but don\'t admit to the crime. Macbeth bids them farewell then tells the servant to fetch the murderers. While waiting, he deliver a soliloquy about how it is insufficient to be king, unless he is secure. He fears Banquo, with his wisdom and temper, will try to unseat him, as the prophecies said his children would be kings. Macbeth fears he has given up his soul and committed an evil act, just to put Banquo\'s descendants on the throne. He tells fate to fight him to the death. Macbeth has been convincing the murderers that Banquo is a bad person over the course of two earlier meetings. Macbeth tells the murderers they have a special role as men, and the murderers say they have had a rough life and would do anything. Macbeth tells them to kill Banquo, their mutual enemy. He compares is battle with Banquo to fencing, but says he can\'t kill him himself. He tells them to do it carefully, and to kill Banquo\'s son Fleance as well. Act III, Scene 2 Lady Macbeth sends a servant for Macbeth, then says something that reminds of Macbeth\'s earlier soliloquy. It is no good to be insecure in what you have, and you might as well be destroyed. She asks Macbeth why he is keeping to himself and acting worried when he can\'t change what he has done. Macbeth says there is still a threat, and he wishes he were one of the dead who are in peace, than have such constant worries. Lady Macbeth tells him to act happy. Macbeth says his wife needs to remember that, too, and that they need to flatter Banquo to cover up for their dark plans. Lady Macbeth says not to kill Banquo and that they won\'t live forever. Macbeth says they can be happy after Banquo and Fleance are dead, which will happen that night. Macbeth doesn\'t want to tell his wife of his plans so that she can be innocent. He says this evil deed will help what was badly begun. Act III, Scene 3 A new murderer appears, claiming to be sent by Macbeth. Banquo approaches and they kill him, but Fleance escapes. They go to tell Macbeth. Act III, Scene 4 At the banquet, they seat themselves according to rank. Lady Macbeth goes to play hostess, while Macbeth meets with the Murderer. He learns Fleance escaped and says he is now surrounded by fears instead of being calm and safe. Macbeth is grateful that at least the snake is gone, thought the worm Fleance will likely return. He tells the murderer they will meet again. Lady Macbeth tells him to be a good host, otherwise the guests might as well be eating at home or paying for the meal. Macbeth then sees a ghost of Banquo sit in his chair, but Ross and Lennox tell him to sit since they don\'t see the ghost. Lady Macbeth tells the guests to wait, that this is just a temporary fit. She tells Macbeth that it is just his imagining from fear. Macbeth says he is just ill and drinks wine to Banquo. He tells the ghost to go away, that it is not real. Lady Macbeth tells the lords to leave after Macbeth continues to act strangely. He wonders then where Macduff is. He says he will go to see the witches again. Act III, Scene 5 Hecate is angry because the witches have been dealing with Macbeth without consulting her. She says he will be told his destiny at the cave the next day. The various spells she contrives will lure him into a false sense of security. The witches prepare for her return. Act III, Scene 6 Lennox thinks it is suspicious how Macbeth has been acting and how two people killed their fathers. Macduff is reported to be in the English court, rallying forces to remove Macbeth. Act IV, Scene 1 The witches meet again and cook up a spell in their cauldron with all sorts of interesting ingredients. Macbeth approaches them to answer his question, regardless of any havoc it might wreak. Macbeth opts to hear it from the witches\' masters and is greeted by an apparition that can read his mind and answer his question. The armed head represents Macbeth, telling him to beware of Macduff. The bloody child represents Macduff, who we later find out was not of woman born. Macbeth wonder why, then, he should fear Macduff but just to be safe he will kill him anyway. The crowned child is Malcolm, with the tree representing Burnham Wood, and says not to fear until Great Burnham wood moves against him. Macbeth feels safe since a wood can never move and he knows no people not of woman born. He thinks the prophecy is a good and insures him a safe life. Then a line of kings is seen, thought to represent the descendents of Banquo that eventually lead to King James. The last king holds a mirror to make the line seem endless. So Macbeth gets his question answered about Macbeth\'s descendents and the witches try to cheer him up by dancing. Then they disappear. Lennox tells Macbeth than Lennox has gone to England. Macbeth comments in his aside about how he was overtaken by time because he failed to act on his plan. He decides to kill Macduff\'s children. Act IV, Scene 2 Lady Macduff is wondering why her husband left. She thinks he was mad, looking like a traitor, loveless and cowardly to leave his family and possessions. Ross tries to comfort her, telling her he knows what is wrong at the moment. People don\'t know they are traitors, when they know fear. Ross leaves and says he will be back. Lady Macduff has an interesting conversation with her son Sirrah about what they will do without a father. The messenger tells her to leave, that she is in danger. But Lady Macduff doesn\'t know where to go, and she has done no wrong. As she realizes that doing good is sometimes a bad thing, the murderers arrive. The murderers kill the Son, but Lady Macduff escapes. Act IV, Scene 3 Malcolm says they should find some place to cry, while Macduff says they should defend their native country the way they would a fallen comrade. Scotland is full of cries. Malcolm says this could be true, but he fears that Macduff could betray him to Macbeth for a reward. Malcolm says that even is Macduff isn\'t treacherous, he good give in to the royal command the way a cannon recoils after it is fired. He says bad things can look good while good things still look good. Malcolm asks why Macduff left his family. Macduff says he is not a bad person, that the tyrant Macbeth hurts Scotland as legal ruler. Malcolm says he does want to retake Scotland, but then to check still if Macduff is a spy, he lies, saying how he is a man of vices who would be an even worse ruler. At first, Macduff says the vices won\'t be a problem, that Scotland can deal with them and that Macbeth is worse. When Malcolm persists, Macduff says that Malcolm truly unfit to rule and fears for his country. Malcolm then says his fears are allayed, and that he really is virtuous person. Macduff says this is hard to deal with all of a sudden. The doctor then talks about how the king is healing people with the evil. Malcolm does not recognize Ross since he\'s been in England for a while. Ross tells how awful things are in Scotland, but assures Macduff his family is fine. He encourages them to return and save Scotland. Ross then tells Macduff that his family is actually dead. He encourages revenge. Macduff thinks Macbeth wouldn\'t have killed his kid if he had any of his own. They plan to go to Scotland. Act V, Scene 1 The gentlewoman who cares for Lady Macbeth has summoned a doctor, but in two nights the reported symptoms of waking up and writing something have not occurred. The doctor says it is a disturbance of nature for her to do such things while appearing to sleep. The gentlewoman will not repeat anything Lady Macbeth has said for she is unsure, but then Lady Macbeth appears, carrying a light. Lady Macbeth acts as if washing her hands, seeing a spot of blood. She questions why her husband should be scared, but complains still of the blood that was shed. She is wracked with guilt that troubles her as the two observe. The doctor says she needs the help of god, not a doctor for her troubles
Act V, Scene 2 The English forces with the Scottish thanes are near, Menteith reports. The revenge they seek is a strong enough cause to raise the dead and wounded. Angus says they will met at Burnham wood, and Caithness asks if Donalbain is coming. Lennox explains he has a list of everyone, including boys ready to show their manhood in their first battle, and Donalbain is not on the list. Caithness explains that Macbeth is strengthening his castle, and is acting crazy, unable to rule. Angus explains these are the consequences of the murder; people don\'t willingly follow him and his title means little. Menteith explains Macbeth is afraid of himself, and Caithness compares Malcolm to doctor, and by working with him they will cure their country by shedding their blood. Act V, Scene 3 Macbeth is wondering how the prophecy will come true, and tries to remain confident. Macbeth upraids his servant for seeming afraid, but is told of the English forces. Mcabeth tells Seyton this revolt will either remove or leave him happy, as right now he has none of things due a man of old age. Macbeth asks for his armor, planning to defend himself to the end. Macbeth asks the doctor to cure his wife. The doctor wishes he weren\'t there. Act V, Scene 4 Malcolm hopes to regain the safety they once had. Menteith is sure it will happen. Malcolm tells each soldier to cut down a large tree branch and put it in front of him, thereby camouflaging himself. The scouts will think there are less of them. Macbeth waits in his castle, his only hope of defense. Though they have hopes of what they want to accomplish, now is the time for actual blows and battle to win. Act V, Scene 5 Macbeth says let them come to the castle, he can hold them off. If they didn\'t have his soldiers, then he could have met them on the field and beat them back. Macbeth has forgotten what it is like to be afraid, having as much fear as a man can bear. Macbeth wishes his wife had died later, at a better time. He comments on how life passes at this little speed, with people dying after a futile life. Macbeth says the messenger comes to speak, he should give his report quickly. The messenger, unsure of how to report what he saw, says Birnham wood appeared to move (remember that the soldiers are carrying boughs to hide themselves as they move), thus the prophecy is fulfilled. Macbeth starts wishing this were just all over and prepares for death fighting. Act V, Scene 6 Macolm and Macduff split off from Siward, and they throw down their boughs, preparing to fight. Act V, Scene 7 Macbeth knows he is stuck fighting, and he wonders who was not born of woman. Macbeth tells Young Siward who he is, and Macbeth says he should be not just hateful but fearful to Young Siward\'s ears. Macbeth says he doesn\'t fear any not of woman born and kills Young Siward. Macduff says he must kill Macbeth to avenge his family, and only Macbeth. By the noise of Macbeth\'s armor, he locates him. Siward explains the battle is easy. Malcolm enters the castle. Act V, Scene 8 Macbeth asks why he should kill himself when the wounds he might inflict upon himself would look better upon his living enemies. Macbeth says he has avoided Macduff and does not want to kill him after killing his family. Macduff says he will speak with his sword instead of words. Macbeth says the Macduff will not hurt him. Macduff then reveals that he was ripped from his mother\'s womb while she died. Macbeth is angry to discover that the prophecy will come true and only provided him false hope. Macduff tells him to give up and explains he will be put on a pole and displayed as a tyrant. Macbeth says he will try despite the prophecy rather than yield to Malcolm. Act V, Scene 9 Malcolm wishes no one had to die, but Siward says it is necessary and the cost wasn\'t that high for such a good day. Ross tells Siward that Young Siward, who just became a man in fighting, died. He tells him not to have sorrow, though. Siward says he died well then. Macduff hails Malcolm as king holding Macbeth\'s head.