Macbeth

this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels…

(Act I, Scene vii, lines 16–19)

to his poignant regrets at the end of his life:

My way of life

is fall’n into the sear, the yellow leaf…

(Act V, Scene iii, lines 22–3)

How does a man who knows what human goodness is, and respects it, decline so rapidly into a murderous tyrant? Essentially, he chooses to do so, and knows that it is his choice, because of his ambition, the influence of a beloved wife, and the value he attaches to being thought a brave man. None of these aspects of his character is, in itself, evil, but he allows himself to be led by them into evil Ambition becomes an insatiable hunger, his love for his wife leads him to agree to frightful deeds, and his fighting quality degenerates into bloodlust. Accordingly, he alienates all our respect, yet evokes genuine pity at the last. We recognize a human being.

Lady Macbeth seems to alienate respect in playgoers and readers even more completely, and may not evoke pity, even at the end of her life. Yet she is, potentially, a ‘partner in greatness’ who, like Macbeth, takes it for granted that greatness is all that matters. Like so many other words in the play, this word is interpreted in various ways by various people. Lady Macbeth is a woman who will ‘do anything’ for her husband, just as he will ‘do anything’ for her. She is even willing, and able, to deny her own deepest feelings as a woman and a human being: it is at the moment when she declares that she would kill her own child rather than go back on her word that she inspires most repugnance; and it is at this moment that they are at one. It is the moment of commitment for both of them, and the signal for the train of events which plunges the whole of their society into tragic suffering. She is broken by it, and before long becomes a pathetic, deranged creature, as much a prey to guilt as Macbeth is.

No other character in the play is nearly as fully drawn as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Duncan is a good old man, reluctant to see evil in anyone. Malcolm is a tougher version of his father, and his personality seems at one point to veer towards interesting complexity (in the long conversation with Macduff at the English court). Banquo acts as a foil to Macbeth, as a man similarly tempted but too staunchly honourable to fall into evil ways himself – though he appears to do nothing to follow up his suspicions of Macbeth. Even Macduff, although he becomes the tyrant’s executioner, does not develop into a particularly subtle personality, perhaps because we are not allowed to see him agonizing over the decision to leave his family and go to England. All these supporting characters revolve around Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, however. After Macbeth has died, we just feel confident that those who have survived will lead Scotland wisely and well.

Dramatic Structure and the Thematic Pattern

The first comment in this introduction was ‘Macbeth is a simple play’. This is particularly true of its dramatic structure and thematic pattern, both of which depend on the central issue of a struggle between good and evil. The play begins with a clear-cut physical conflict with, seemingly, no ambiguities. Scotland is a ‘good’ society ruled by a good man: the enemies are traitors, vicious invaders and contemptible mercenaries. Macbeth emerges as the champion of goodness and is immediately transformed into the enemy of goodness. Evil power proliferates, good men are destroyed, other good men run away. By Act IV, Scene iii, evil seems triumphant. Then Malcolm and Macduff reach agreement and the good King Edward lends his holy power. Faith and hope return and fortune swings away from evil. Act V shows the final battle. Scotland is cleansed and the new king acknowledges the need for supernatural goodness (the grace of Grace) to support human striving.

LIST OF CHARACTERS

ACT ONE

Scene I

An open place

[Thunder and lightning. Enter three WITCHES.]

First Witch

When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch

When the hurlyburly’s done,

When the battle’s lost and won.

Third Witch

That will be ere the set of sun. 5

First Witch

Where the place?

Second Witch

Upon the heath.

Third Witch

There to meet with Macbeth.

First Witch

I come, Graymalkin.

Second Witch

Paddock calls. 10

Third Witch

Anon!

All

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

[WITCHES vanish.]

ACT I SCENE I

This short opening scene gives an immediate impression of mystery, horror and uncertainty. These witches would have been truly frightening to an audience in Shakespeare’s day, many of whom would have seen, or at the very least known about, women burnt at the stake for selling themselves to the Devil. Macbeth is introduced by name by the Third Witch, and this raises questions in the audience’s mind – who is he? And what can these disgusting hags want with him?

3. hurlyburly the confused noise of storm and battle. Thunder was produced for the Elizabethan stage by rolling cannon-balls. Nowadays the same effect is produced by shaking sheets of metal, or through electronic and digital sound equipment.

4. lost and won the first of many apparent contradictions and confusions (see line 12 of this scene). The words can mean ‘decided one way or the other’.

9. Graymalkin a name for a grey cat, which was a common ‘familiar’ of witches. A familiar was a demon which attended and assisted a witch; these spirits usually took some rather sinister form.

10. Paddock a toad. This is the Second Witch’s familiar. Sounds were probably made off-stage to represent the calls of these familiar spirits, though it is difficult to imagine what sound a toad was supposed to make.

11. Anon! I am coming at once.

12. This line is a kind of motto for the witches. They delight in a reversal of all the normal values. Macbeth seems to involve himself with them by echoing the phrase in Act I, Scene iii, line 39.

13. fog and filthy air this may have been produced by burning resin under the stage; again, in today’s theatre if an effect is required it is more likely to be produced by smoke machine, dry ice or something similar.

Scene II

A camp near Forres

[Alarum within. Enter KING DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX with ATTENDANTS, meeting a bleeding SERGEANT.]

Duncan

What bloody man is that? He can report,

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

The newest state.

Malcolm

This is the sergeant

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought

‘Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! 5

Say to the King the knowledge of the broil

As thou didst leave it.

Sergeant

Doubtful it stood,

As two spent swimmers that do cling together

And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald –

Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 10

The multiplying villainies of nature

Do swarm upon him – from the Western Isles

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;

And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,

Show’d like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak; 15

For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name –

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish’d steel

Which smok’d with bloody execution,

Like valour’s minion, carv’d out his passage

Till he fac’d the slave; 20

Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chaps,

And fix’d his head upon our battlements.

Duncan

O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

Sergeant

As whence the sun gins his reflection 25

Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,

So from that spring whence comfort seem’d to come

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:

No sooner justice had, with valour arm’d,

Compell’d these skipping kerns to trust their heels, 30

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,

With furbish’d arms and new supplies of men,

Began a fresh assault.

Duncan

Dismay’d not this

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Sergeant

Yes;

As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35

If I say sooth, I must report they were

As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks;

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

Or memorize another Golgotha, 40

I cannot tell –

But I am faint; my gashes cry for help.

Duncan

So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;

They smack of honour both. – Go get him surgeons.

[Exit SERGEANT, attended. Enter ROSS.]

Who comes here?

Malcolm

The worthy Thane of Ross. 45

Lennox

What a haste looks through his eyes!

So should he look that seems to speak things strange.

Ross

God save the King!

Duncan

Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?

Ross

From Fife, great King

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky 50

And fan our people cold.

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,

Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in proof, 55

Confronted him with self-comparisons,

Point against point rebellious, arm ‘gainst arm,

Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,

The victory fell on us.

Duncan

Great happiness!

Ross

That now 60

Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;

Nor would we deign him burial of his men

Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme’s Inch,

Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

Duncan

No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive 65

Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

Ross

I’ll see it done.

Duncan

What be hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II

The second scene deals mainly with the report of the battle in which the ‘Macbeth’ we have already heard about, and another man, Banquo, have excelled. However, the feeling of uncertainty is maintained, because the outcome of the battle is left in doubt by the Sergeant. He nevertheless presents Macbeth as the decisive factor, and Ross gives the same impression from his point of view when he provides the final news that the battle has been won. We get a remarkable picture of Macbeth as a kind of superman, a fearless, ferocious, almost untouchable champion of right against treachery.

1–3. He can report…state He looks as though he has come, wounded, straight from the battle, and will be able to give us an up-to-date report.

5. ‘Gainst my captivity to save me from being captured.

6. knowledge of the broil news of the battle.

9. choke their art (the two exhausted swimmers) prevent each other from using their swimming skill.

10. to that to that end, i.e. to show that he is without doubt a traitor.

12. swarm upon him like lice.

12. Western Isles islands to the west, including Ireland and the Hebrides.

13. kerns and gallowglasses lightly-armed foot-soldiers and horsemen armed with axes.

14–15. Fortune the Roman goddess Fortuna, regarded as highly unreliable. Macbeth ignores her (Disdaining Fortune, line 17) and takes his fate into his own hands, a trait we are to see repeated later in the play.

17–18. brandished steel…execution His sword steamed with the hot blood of those he had just killed.

19. valour’s minion the favourite of Valour (personified in much the same way as Fortune).

carv’d out his passage cut his way through the men on the battlefield.

22–3. Till he unseam’d…he thrust his sword in at the navel (nave), ripped him open up to the jaws (chaps), then cut his head off and stuck it on the battlements.

24. cousin Macbeth and Duncan were both grandsons of King Malcolm, but in any case the word cousin was often used by sovereigns of their noblemen.

24. worthy gentleman! What Macbeth has just done seems hardly gentlemanly, but there is no irony in Duncan’s remark. Such actions in defence of king and country would have been regarded as truly to be admired.

25–8. As whence…Discomfort swells ‘Just as storms fatal to ships can burst out of the east, where the sun first shines, so danger springs from the place where everything seems well.’ Note the irony here, even if the Sergeant doesn’t realize it. These words could be a warning to Duncan about Macbeth, who seems fair.

30. Compell’d…heels Forced these unreliable soldiers to rely on running away.

31. Norweyan an old form of Norwegian.

31. surveying vantage seeing his chance. No doubt Duncan’s troops had relaxed on seeing the kerns run away.

32. With furbished arms ‘having repaired their weapons’ (or perhaps taken up new ones).

34–5. Yes…the lion The Sergeant is being very sarcastic. ‘Yes, they were about as dismayed as an eagle is by a sparrow, or a lion by a hare,’ he says.

36. sooth truth.

37. as cannons…cracks Like cannons with double charges of gunpowder.

39–40. Except they meant…Golgotha Unless they intended to bathe in the steaming wounds (of their enemies) or make the battle as grimly memorable a scene as the crucifixion of Christ.

43–4. So well…both Your words and your wounds do you equal honour.

44. smack taste.

45. Thane a Scottish nobleman and landowner, often the chief of a clan

47. So should he…strange His appearance suggests that he has strange news to tell.

50–1. Where…cold Where the Norwegian banners mock the (Scottish) sky and, as they wave, freeze our men with fear.

52. Norway himself King Sweno of Norway.

54. a dismal conflict one which filled the Scottish forces with foreboding.

55. Bellona’s bridegroom the bridegroom of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war. Macbeth is being compared with Mars, the god of war himself.

55. lapp’d in proof wearing tried and tested armour.

56. Confronted…self-comparisons Gave him something (i.e. a model of a fighting man) to compare himself with.

58. Curbing his lavish spirit overcoming his insolent courage.

61. craves composition begs for peace terms.

62. Nor would we…men We would not allow him to bury his dead soldiers.

63. disbursed paid.

63. Saint Colme’s Inch a small island in the Firth of Forth, now called Inchcolm. (St. Colme is another form of St. Columba.)

64. dollars These coins were in fact not minted until the early sixteenth century, 500 years after the time of the real Duncan and Macbeth. Does it matter that Shakespeare that Shakespeare isn’t worried about such inaccuracy? Could it have had a deliberate purpose?

65–6. deceive…interest treacherously attack our dearest interests. pronounce his present death order his immediate execution.

Scene III

A blasted heath

[Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES.]

First Witch

Where hast thou been, sister?

Second Witch

Killing swine.

Third Witch

Sister, where thou?

First Witch

A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,

And mounch’d, and mounch’d, and mounch’d. 5

‘Give me’ quoth I.

‘Aroint thee, witch!’ the rump-fed ronyon cries.

Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’ th’ Tiger;

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail

And, like a rat without a tail, 10

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.

Second Witch

I’ll give thee a wind,

First Witch

Th’art kind.

Third Witch

And I another.

First Witch

I myself have all the other; 15

And the very ports they blow,

All the quarters that they know

I’ th’ shipman’s card.

I’ll drain him dry as hay:

Sleep shall neither night nor day 20

Hang upon his pent-house lid;

He shall live a man forbid;

Weary sev’nights, nine times nine,

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.

Though his bark cannot be lost, 25

Yet it shall be tempest-tost.

Look what I have.

Second Witch

Show me, show me.

First Witch

Here I have a pilot’s thumb,

Wreck’d as homeward he did come. 30

[Drum within.]

Third Witch

A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come.

All

The Weird Sisters, hand in hand,

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about;

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, 35

And thrice again, to make up nine.

Peace! The charm’s wound up.

[Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.]

Macbeth

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Banquo

How far is’t call’d to Forres? What are these,

So withered, and so wild in their attire, 40

That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth,

And yet are on’t? Live you, or are you aught

That man may question? You seem to understand me,

By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women, 45

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Macbeth

Speak, if you can. What are you?

First Witch

All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee. Thane of Glamis!

Second Witch

All hall, Macbeth! Hail to thee. Thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter! 50

Banquo

Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair? I’ th’ name of truth,

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner

You greet with present grace and great prediction 55

Of noble having and of royal hope,

That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.

If you can look into the seeds of time

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 60

Your favours nor your hate.

First Witch

Hail!

Second Witch

Hail!

Third Witch

Hail!

First Witch

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 65

Second Witch

Not so happy, yet much happier.

Third Witch

Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.

So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

First Witch

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

Macbeth

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. 70

By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis;

But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,

A prosperous gentleman; and to be King

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence 75

You owe this strange intelligence, or why

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way

With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

[WITCHES vanish.]

Banquo

The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,

And these are of them. Whither are they vanish’d? 80

Macbeth

Into the air; and what seem’d corporal melted

As breath into the wind. Would they had stay’d!

Banquo

Were such things here as we do speak about?

Or have we eaten on the insane root

That takes the reason prisoner? 85

Macbeth

Your children shall be kings.

Banquo

You shall be King.