 Hello dear learners, welcome to today's program. I am Dr. Pallavi Kukoi of Krishnakranta Handic State European University. Today I shall take up a unit from journal English course, semester one, block two. The unit is titled, unit 10, William Shakespeare, Macbeth. We shall discuss the text and I shall provide you with a brief explanation of text Macbeth. So, let us quickly begin. First I shall begin with a table of contents where we shall discuss the learning objectives, introduction, followed by a brief explanation of the text itself, and questions to check your progress of your references. Coming to the learning objectives, after going through the video, the learner will be able to discuss the content of the play Macbeth and provide a brief summary of the play. To provide you with a brief introduction, this is a continuation of the previous unit on the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. And in this video we shall gain an overall idea of the content of the text. The play Macbeth opens in an eerie way with a description of three witches engaged in black magic. Their spells and words match the bleak setting of the play and their words are written in the form of riddles, such as, fair is foul and foul is fair. These riddles are very meaningful as they tell us about the changes that would take place in the personality of the characters. So, let us quickly find out more. Coming to your text, here I shall provide you with a brief explanation of the text itself. Starting with act one, the three witches decide to meet Macbeth. So, this is how it opens. In the next scene, a sergeant comes to Duncan, king of Scotland, to inform him about the victory of Macbeth and Banquo over their rebels and their leaders, namely Macdonald and the throne of Corder. The three witches greet the two men and prophesies that Macbeth would be made the king of Corder and after that he would become the king. Macbeth is surprised by the prediction and remains silent while Banquo asks about his own destiny. To this, the witches predict that he would be less than Macbeth but happier than him and though he would not be a king, he would be a father of a line of kings. He declares that he would spend the night at Macbeth's castle of Invernus and announces the decision of making his own son, Malcolm, the heir to the throne. Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, succeeds in manipulating him and persuading him to kill King Duncan that very night. He declares that he would spend the night at Macbeth's castle at Invernus and announces the decision of making his own son, Malcolm, heir to the throne. Act two. The conspiracy to kill Duncan is finally materialized by Macbeth when the letter stabs the old king in his sleep. Initially, Macbeth was much shaken as he began to have hallucinations of ghosts and a floating dagger. However, he manages to kill King Duncan brutally. After receiving the news about the demise of their father, the two princes, namely Malcolm and Donald Bean, flee to England and Ireland respectively, thinking that they would be the next victims after their father. However, the sudden departure only led to the belief that they were involved in the murder of the father. Consequently, Macbeth is crowned as the king of Scotland as he's also a cousin of Duncan. That brings us to Act three. We come to know about the gradually developing insecurities in the mind of Macbeth in spite of the fact he was successful in becoming the king. The insecurity was caused mainly by the presence of Banco as Macbeth saw him as a threat who knew much about the witches prophecies and whose sons would possibly become kings. So a plot develops in the mind of Macbeth concerning Banco and his son Fleance. He invites Banco and his son for a royal banquet and hires three men to get them killed. The killers get hold of both the father and son as they were riding through the jungle and succeeds in killing Banco. This is sad. However, Fleance manages to escape from their clutches. Now we come to act four. In this act, we come to know of the repercussions of the events that occurred in the royal banquet. Macbeth is so disturbed by the appearance of Banco's ghost that he decides to visit the three witches again and questions them about the truth behind their predictions. The three strange creatures summons up spirits from the world of dead to answer Macbeth. Here this reference is to the three witches. Each of these apparitions predicts something new because they conjure up the spirits and they now come up with their own predictions, each different from the other. And this fuels the fear of Macbeth. Next, a bloody child appears saying that no one can kill him except someone not born of a woman. So this is the condition. Except someone not born of a woman. The last prophecy is made by a crown child holding a tree that Macbeth's life is secured until the time when the great Burnham Wood comes to Dunstinane Hill. These last two prophecies makes Macbeth feel relieved because there can be no person in the world who is not born of a woman. Also it is not possible for a forest to move to another location, is it? So he feels much more relieved than earlier. Coming to Act 5, this act begins with an account of Lady Macbeth's increasing paranoia and sense of guilt associated with the ruthless crimes committed by her husband. In the early act, under the cruel orders of Macbeth, Macbeth's family had been brutally murdered. Thus, Macbeth joins Prince Malcolm who had successfully raised an army in England. So this is a development so far. They are also supported by other Scottish noblemen who had enough of Macbeth's tyrannical rule and ruthless behaviour. They are also supported by the other Scottish noblemen who had enough of Macbeth's tyrannical rule as we already know and Macbeth leads the army with the support of Macduff and the Englishmen Seward, the Earl of Northumberland towards the castle Dunstinane. As the soldiers reach Burnham Wood, they are told to cut down the trees and carry the tree trunks to hide themselves and take their enemy by surprise, which again, if you note, fulfills the first prophecy. The Englishmen eventually overpower Macbeth's army and seizes his castle. Macbeth continues combating with Macduff, claiming that no man born from his mother's womb can defeat him. To this, Macduff replies that he is the one who was not born from the womb but ripped from his mother's womb before time. That is, he was born by Caesarian section birth. So you see how the prophecies now actualize. This led to the fulfillment of another prophecy and Macbeth understood the real meaning of the witches prophecies now and now he knew it was too late since his end was near but refused to accept defeat. So Macbeth is finally decapitated by Macduff. In the climax of the play, Malcolm speaks to the people how peace has finally been restored and he also declares his intentions for bringing happiness and satisfaction in the lives of his subjects through just and benevolent kingship. He welcomes the people to witness his crowning as the king of Scotland at the court. This brings us to the questions to check your progress. Question number one, what do the three which is predict regarding the immediate future of Macbeth and Banco? Question number two, what happens to Duncan at Macbeth's castle? Question number three, why did Macbeth begin to consider Banco as an immediate threat? Question number four, what does Macduff decide when he learns about the tragic fate of his family while he was away? Question number five, how does the prophecy of the three witches materialize at the end of the play Macbeth? Here are the references. I hope you'll go through the B English graduate self-learning material SLM that is of JL English block two semester one. Thank you, dear learners.