Act V of Macbeth sees the downfall and death of the title character. Lady Macbeth's guilt over her role in Duncan's murder has driven her mad, and she sleepwalks, trying to wash imagined blood from her hands. Meanwhile, Macbeth prepares to face the invading army at Dunsinane Castle, confident in the witches' prophecy that no man of woman born can harm him. However, during the final battle Macduff reveals that he was born by cesarean section, not born of woman, and kills Macbeth, restoring order and crowning Malcolm as the rightful king of Scotland.

1. Macbeth - Act V

2. Summary
- by Nafeesa Farooq

3. Act V – Scene I
Key Events
• A conversation between a Doctor & Gentle-woman about
Lady Macbeth’s strange habit of ‘Sleepwalking’.
• Lady Macbeth talking about murder of Lady Macduff &
Banquo … she laments …
• … marvel at her descent into madness

4. Act V – Scene II
Key Events
• … Scottish lords discussing the military situation
• English army, led by ‘Malcolm’ approaches & Scottish army
will meet them near ‘Birnam Wood’
• Macbeth is called as Tyrant by Lennox & other lords
• Fortification of the Dunsinane Castle along other military
preparations

5. Act V – Scene III
Key Events
• … Macbeth walks boastfully in hall of palace b/c nothing to
fear …
• “none of woman born” can harm him
• Prophecy by witches … He’ll rule “till Birnam Wood move to
Dunsinane”
• Macbeth calls his servant ‘Seyton’ who confirms that army
of 10 Thousand Englishmen …
• Macbeth insists to wear his armor …
• Doctor tells to king about Lady Macbeth & he orders him to
cure her of her delusions

6. Act V – Scene IV
Key Events
• … near Birnam Wood, Malcolm talks with the English lord
‘Siward’ & his officers about Macbeth’s plan of defending
the fortified castle
• … decided that each soldier should cut down the bough of
tree from forest & carry it in front of him as they march
towards the castle to disguise their numbers

7. Act V – Scene V
Key Events
• … within the castle, Macbeth orders to hang the banners & boasts
that his castle will repel the army
• a woman’s cry is heard… & Seyton appears
• Macbeth is shocked & speaks dully about passage of time in
words like
• “a tale / told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / signifying
nothing.”
• meanwhile, a messenger enters with an astonishing news: the
trees of Birnam Wood are advancing toward Dunsinane
• Angry as well as terrified, Macbeth recalls the ‘prophecy’ that said
he could not die till Birnam Wood moved to Dunsinane
• With a sigh, he declares to fight & at least he will die fighting

8. Act V – Scene VI
Key Events • Macduff says to draw their swords and prepare for a battle.

9. Act V – Scene VII
Key Events
• … during the battlefield, Macbeth fights energetically
without any fear because no man born of woman can harm
him
• He kills Lord Siward’s son & disappears from the scene in the
battle

10. Act V – Scene VIII
Key Events
• In this part of the drama, Macduff comes into view searching anxiously
for Macbeth, whom he longs to cut down personally
• Failing in his attempt, he jumps back into the battleBattle is ended
resulting in the victory of Siward’s English army
• Malcolm and Siward together enters the Dunsinane castle
• Elsewhere on the battle, Macbeth at last encounters Macduff
• They fight … Macbeth insists that he is unbeatable because of the
witches’ prophecy
• Macduff reveals the truth that he was not of woman born, but “from his
mother’s womb / Untimely ripped”
• Macbeth suddenly fears for his life but even then he declares that he
will not surrender “[t]o kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,….
• Here, the scene is ended only showing their fight

11. Critical Analysis
- by Waheed Ahmed

12. Themes, Motifs & Symbols
… structures, contrast and
literary devices that define texts’
major themes.
Motifs in Act V
• Vision
• Violence
• Prophecy
• Structural Contrast
… are universal ideas
explored in literary work.
Themes of Macbeth
• Things Are Not What They
Seem
• Blind Ambition
• Power Corrupts
• Superstition Affects on Human
Behavior
… are objects used to represent
abstract ideas.
Symbols in Act V
• Blood
• Sleep Walking
• Weather
• Doctor & Illness
• Malcolm & Macbeth their
Forces
Themes Motifs Symbols

13. The Fall of Man
Greek
σ An ancient Greek tragedy concerned with The Fall
of Man from position of superiority to position of
humility on account of his ambition or pride.
σ To Greeks such behavior is punishable by terrible
vengeance.
σ Greek tragedy has bleak outcome.
Christian
σ According to Christian tragedy; The Fall of Man in
the Genesis story: “It is the weakness of Adam,
persuaded by his wife, which leads him to the
proud assumption that he can play with god.
Christian Tragedy & Macbeth
σ Macbeth exhibits element that reflect the greatest
Christian tragedy; The Fall of Man.
σ Macbeth ends with coronation of Malcolm, a new
leader who exhibits all the correct virtues of a king.
σ Christian drama offers a ray of hope
σ Both, The Fall of Man & Macbeth offer room for
hope i.e.
σ Christ will come to save mankind
σ In Christian terms though Macbeth acted
tyrannically, he is not entirely beyond redemption in
heaven.

14. Fortune & Free-will
Beliefs
σ Ancient views of human affair were like
wheel of fortune. Length and outcome are
predetermined and fixed by external forces.
σ Fortune can tell what will be but it is man’s
own will to choose the way to attain either
right or wrong.
Macbeth vs. Fortune & Free-will
σ Macbeth is told he will become a king but he
was not told how to be a king. So we can not
blame him for becoming a king as it was his
fortune that was predetermined.
σ But we can only blame him for the foul way
which he has chosen to attain that goal i.e.
his free will.

15. Kingship & Natural Order
Macbeth is set in a society where
loyalty to one’s superior is absolute. Due to
loyalty there is order in:
σ Country
σ Family
σ Natural things
As this loyalty vanishes that results in
disorder of:
σ Country
σ Family
σ Natural things
• Renaissance concept of microcosm and
macrocosm.
• Lenox and old man talk about terrifying
alteration in natural order of universe.
• Divine right theory of kingship.
• “man is by nature superior to woman one
rules, and other is ruled.” (Aristotle)

16. Reason & Passion
Reason - Macbeth
σ Macbeth represent the manhood and he is
quite rationale about thinking of
consequences of his actions.
σ Recognizes ethical, political and religious
reasons while thinking of regicide of prince.
Passion - Lady Macbeth
σ Lady Macbeth represents womanhood and
she is quite irrational and emotional, she
examines killing Duncan.
σ She is motivated by her feelings and also
uses emotional argument to persuade her
husband..

17. Motifs
Vision
… when Macbeth is about to kill
Duncan, Banquo’s ghost sitting in chair at
feast.
… Lady Macbeth saw a vision as she
sleep walks that her hands are stained with
blood and can not be washed off by water.
Violence
… pair of battles first Macbeth defeats
invader and then is beheaded by Macduff due to
his tyranny. In between there are series of
murders;
º Duncan’s
º Banquo’s
º Lady Macduff’s
º Macduff’s Son
By the end of action blood is seen
everywhere.

18. … Motifs
Prophesy
σ Prophesy set the Macbeth’s
plot in motion.
σ Macbeth’s confidence upon
his safety was mainly based
upon the prophesies and his
all action were set in motion
by prophesies.
a. Relations
σ A wide contrast is seen in the
relationship of Macbeth &
Lady Macbeth, he speaks
about his lady in somewhat
impersonal manner. (Scene-III)
σ Macbeth is seen absolutely
changed. The speech
ambitious man made here is
about the futility of human
life. (Scene-V)
Structural Contrast
b. Tyranny and Kingship
σ There is great difference of
army motivation in tyranny &
kingship. Soldier fight due to
love for their king whereas
soldiers fight for fear in tyranny.
(Scene-II)
σ This contrast is also seen in
Malcolm’s words.
σ In kingship people are always
safe in their homes but in
tyranny they are not.
(Scene-IV)

19. Symbols
Blood
Blood in the hands of
Macbeth and his wife represents
their guilt that can not be
washed clean.
(Act-V, Scene-I)
Weather
‘Sleep’ signify mental
peace & Lady Macbeth is devoid
of that peace due to her guilt as
goodness belongs from divine so
as peace of conscience . And if
somebody shattered that peace
of conscience by evil act then
that person must need to return
to divinity to regain that peaceful
conscience or sleep.
(Act-V, Scene-I)
Sleep-walking
Violation of nature
reflects corruption in moral and
political order.

20. … Symbols
Doctor & Illness
As medical illness in human body,
some illness happens in state level when
goodness is forced to expel and evil rules.
Caitheness says Dr. Malcolm will cure
our sick country. And this sickness can only be
removed by eradication of evil (Macbeth) by
forces of goodness (Malcolm).
(Act-V, Scene-II)
Malcolm and Macbeth & their Forces
The movement of Birname wood to
Dunsinane is the symbolic representation of
force of goodness to eradicate the force of evil.
Macbeth is the chief of evil force whereas
Malcolm is the chief of force of goodness.
(Act-V, Scene-V)

21. Merits & Demerits
- by Tayyab Mehmood Ehsan

22. Merits of Act V
1.
Sleep Walking Scene
Portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s mental unrest through sleep walking
scene is praiseworthy because sleep is related to rest of mind but walking
while sleeping means the unconsciousness of mind due to some cause and
Shakespeare’s use of sleep walking scene to portray conscience is one of
the merits of the act 5.

23. Merits of Act V
2.
Development of Conscience in
Lady Macbeth
At the very start of the Act 5 we observe there is a feeling of
conscience developed in the Lady Macbeth. In act 5 scene1 we see lady
Macbeth is afflicted with the torment of conscience which is cleared from
the Sleep Walking scene:
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why,
then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord,
fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who
knows it, when none can call our power to
account?—Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him. (Act-V, Sc-I)
This scene clarifies the feeling of conscience that Lady Macbeth
has over the killing of King of Scotland.

24. Merits of Act V
3.
Macbeth Gets Fed-up with
Life
Macbeth’s act 5 that after doing so many evil works now Macbeth
feels fed up of his life; he compares himself with the yellow leaf of autumn.
This is quite clear from the following lines:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (Act-V, Sc-V)
Macbeth compares life with a walking shadow that leaves a man
after certain time and man with the player performing on the stage that is
heard no more after his performance.

25. Merits of Act V
4.
Feelings of Sympathy for
Macbeth in our Hearts
5.
Successful Deliverance of
Moral Lesson
Shakespeare is also successful in creating the feelings of sympathy
in readers’ heart for Macbeth; which is the essence of the tragic ending of
the hero.
The act 5 also summarizes the whole play and delivers a lesson
that there is a moral order in the universe that any attempt to violate that
order is fraught with the disastrous consequences.

26. Demerits of Act V
1.
The conscience of Macbeth
not as strong as that of Lady
Macbeth
The conscience of Macbeth is not as strong as that of Lady
Macbeth; she starts walking in the sleep assuming the blood spot on her
hands and also goes insane because of her conscience but the case is
different with Macbeth. He shows his feelings of conscience but also kills
young Siward and before killing him Macbeth introduces himself as demon.

27. Demerits of Act V
2.
Lady Macbeth’s Controversial
Death
As most of the deaths in the play occur offstage same is that of
Lady Macbeth; she dies offstage but her death is a bit controversial that
she did suicide or someone killed her which is cleared in the last lines of
the play
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life; this, and what needful else

28. Literary Devices
- by Hafsa Mehmood

29. Alliteration
… is the use of the same
letter or sound at the
beginning of words that are
close together, as in
- sing a song of sixpence
(repetition of /s/)
Macbeth says,
"And with some sweet oblivous antitdote..." (repetition of /s/)
"Thou lily-livered boy..." (repetition of /l/)
"Then fly, false thanes, …" (repetition of /f/)

30. Assonance
… is the effect
created when two syllables in
words that are close together
have the same vowel sound,
but different consonants, or
the same consonants but
different vowels, for
example, sonnet and
porridge or cold and killed
Macbeth:
"As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses not loud byt deep, mouth -honor, breath..."
(repetition of vowel /o/)

31. Metaphor
… a figure of speech
in which a word or phrase is
applied to an object or action
to which it is not literally
applicable.
… a comparison
without ‘as’ or ‘like’.
"Those linen cheeks of thine Are counselors to fear."

32. Metonymy
… is the act of
referring to something by the
name of something else that
is closely connected with it,
for example
- using the White House for
the US president
Macbeth asks the doctor,
"Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weights upon the heart?"
(heart represents the soul)

33. Personification
… the attribution of
a personal nature or human
characteristics to something
non-human, or the
representation of an abstract
quality in human form.
Macbeth:
"Curses not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not."
(the heart denies, but only a person can deny)

34. Symbol
… is an object,
creature, person, action or
situation which is part of a
larger unit. This larger unit is
often abstract and
inexpressible, and thus
requires something more
concrete to give at
expression. For example:
— A flag is a symbol of a
nation.
In Macbeth, Macbeth’s castle becomes a symbol of hell when the
murder of Duncan takes place. The witches are symbols of evil. The growing
tree and Birnam Wood are symbols of good, of healthy growth. A writer
often employs symbolism, and uses symbolic images.