© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All rights reserved.NOTESDoctor. What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged.^10
Gentlewoman. I would not have such a heart in my
bosom for the dignity^11 of the whole body.
Doctor. Well, well, well—
Gentlewoman. Pray God it be, sir.
Doctor. This disease is beyond my practice. Yet I have
known those which have walked in their sleep who
have died holily in their beds.
Lady Macbeth. Wash your hands; put on your nightgown;
look not so pale! I tell you yet again, Banquo’s
buried. He cannot come out on ’s^12 grave.
Doctor. Even so?
Lady Macbeth. To bed, to bed! There’s knocking at
the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand!
What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed!
[Exit Lady Macbeth.]
Doctor. Will she go now to bed?
Gentlewoman. Directly.
Doctor. Foul whisp’rings are abroad. Unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles. Infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.
More needs she the divine than the physician.
God, God forgive us all! Look after her;
Remove from her the means of all annoyance,^13
And still keep eyes upon her. So good night.
My mind she has mated^14 and amazed my sight:
I think, but dare not speak.
Gentlewoman. Good night, good doctor.
[Exit.]⌘ ⌘ ⌘Scene ii • The country near Dunsinane.
[Drum and colors. Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus,
Lennox, Soldiers.]
Menteith. The English pow’r^1 is near, led on by Malcolm.
His uncle Siward and the good Macduff.
Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.^2
Angus. Near Birnam Wood
Shall we well meet them; that way are they coming.- charged burdened.
50- dignity worth.
55- on ’s of his.
60
6570- annoyance injury.
- mated baffled.
- pow’r army.
5 2. Would... man would incite a
dead man to join the bloody,
grim call to arms.The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act V 337LIT17_SE12_U03_A5C_WC.indd 337 3/14/16 1:13 AMAnalyze Minor Characters’
Reactions
Students may have marked lines 64–74
during their first read. Use these lines to help
students understand how the doctor feels
about Lady Macbeth. Encourage students to
talk about the annotations that they marked.
You may want to model a close read with the
class based on the highlights shown in the
text.
ANNOTATE: Have students mark details in
these lines that show the how the Doctor and
the Gentlewoman interpret Lady Macbeth’s
words or have students participate while you
highlight them.QuEsTiON: Guide students to consider
what these details might tell them. Ask what
a reader can infer from the Doctor’s and
the Gentlewoman’s feelings toward Lady
Macbeth, and accept student responses.
Possible response: Both of them seem horrified
that Lady Macbeth is probably a murderer. Yet
they both seem to feel sorry for her, too. They
can tell that she is suffering so deeply that she
has gone crazy.
CONCLuDE: Help students to formulate
conclusions about the importance of these
details in the text.
Possible response: Neither of them seems likely
to reveal her guilt—God will judge her soon
enough. The Doctor believes she is mortally ill
and that her immortal soul is also in jeopardy—
she needs a priest, not a doctor.
Remind students that the actions of minor
characters such as the Doctor and the
Gentlewoman help to move a story’s plot along.
Also, authors use minor characters’ reactions
to help characterize main characters (to show
readers what main characters are like from minor
characters’ viewpoints).CLOSER LOOK
CROSS-CURRICULAR PERSPECTIVES
Humanities Review Scene i with students. Point out
the common literary exploration of characters who
are burdened with guilt. For example, the narrator
in Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a
murderer who conceals his victim’s body beneath
the floorboards of a room. When police officers
come to investigate a shriek in the night, the narrator
easily convinces them that everything is fine. He even
invites them to sit down for a rest and a friendly chat.However, the narrator soon begins to hear something
unsettling:
It was a low, dull, quick sound—much like a
sound a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
I gasped for breath—and yet the officers heard it
not.... the noise steadily increased.... I swung the
chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated
it upon the boards.... [The disturbing sound]
grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men
chatted pleasantly, and smiled.... I could bear thosehypocritical smiles no longer! ...hark! louder! louder!
louder! louder!
“Villains!’ I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit
the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—It is
the beating of his hideous heart!”
Ask students to describe other literary
characters—or characters in films—whose
feelings of guilt drive them insane in a similar
manner.Whole-Class Learning 337
LIT17_TE12_U03_A5C_WC.indd 337 4/9/16 2:41 PM