Macbeth

Macbeth

And Thane of Cawdor too; went it not so?

Banquo

To th’ self-same tune and words. Who’s here?

[Enter ROSS and ANGUS.]

Ross

The King hath happily receiv’d, Macbeth,

The news of thy success; and when he reads 90

Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight,

His wonders and his praises do contend

Which should be thine or his. Silenc’d with that,

In viewing o’er the rest o’ th’ self-same day,

He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 95

Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,

Strange images of death. As thick as tale

Came post with post, and every one did bear

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defence,

And pour’d them down before him.

Angus

We are sent 100

To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;

Only to herald thee into his sight,

Not pay thee.

Ross

And, for an earnest of a greater honour,

He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor; 105

In which addition, hail, most worthy Thane!

For it is thine.

Banquo

What, can the devil speak true?

Macbeth

The Thane of Cawdor lives; why do you dress me

In borrowed robes?

Angus

Who was the Thane lives yet;

But under heavy judgment bears that life 110

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combin’d

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel

With hidden help and vantage, or that with both

He labour’d in his country’s wreck, I know not;

But treasons capital, confess’d and prov’d, 115

Have overthrown him.

Macbeth

[aside] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor!

The greatest is behind. – Thanks for your pains.

[Aside to BANQUO] Do you not hope your children shall be kings,

When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me

Promis’d no less to them?

Banquo

[aside to MACBETH] That, trusted home, 120

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,

Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange;

And oftentimes to win us to our harm,

The Instruments of darkness tell us truths,

Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s 125

In deepest consequence. –

Cousins, a word, I pray you.

Macbeth

[aside] Two truths are told,

As happy prologues to the swelling act

Of the imperial theme. – I thank you, gentlemen.

[Aside] This supernatural soliciting 130

Cannot be ill; cannot be good. If ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success,

Commencing in a truth I am Thane of Cawdor.

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair 135

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs

Against the use of nature? Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings.

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakes so my single state of man 140

That function is smothered in surmise,

And nothing is but what is not.

Banquo

Look how our partner’s rapt.

Macbeth

[aside] If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me,

Without my stir.

Banquo

New honours come upon him, 145

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould

But with the aid of use.

Macbeth [aside]

Come what come may,

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

Banquo

Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

Macbeth

Give me your favour. My dull brain was wrought 150

With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains

Are register’d where every day I turn

The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.

[Aside to BANQUO] Think upon what hath chanc’d; and, at more time,

The interim having weigh’d it, let us speak 155

Our free hearts each to other.

Banquo

[aside to MACBETH] Very gladly.

Macbeth

[aside to BANQUO] Till then, enough. – Come, friends.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE III

The meeting of Macbeth and the witches, which we heard them predict in Act I, Scene i, is about to take place. However, before Macbeth arrives on the heath, unaware of what he will find, the witches plan to torment a sea-captain whose wife has annoyed them.

2. Killing swine Witches were said to kill farm animals, often in revenge for some supposed insult.

7. Aroint thee…! Get out!

7. rump-fed this probably means ‘fed on rump-steak’, therefore sleek and plump. The gaunt witches would envy her.

7. ronyon worthless woman.

8. Tiger a common name for a ship in Shakespeare’s time.

9. There are records of criminal trials in which so-called witches confessed that they went to sea in a sieve.

10. Another special ability witches were belived to have was to turn themselves into animals, but when they did this they became tailless and could be identified.

11. She seems almost fuming with rage and malice. What do you think she intends to do?

15–18. I myself have…card ‘I have control of all the other winds and (I know) the exact harbours from which they blow, from all points of the compass.’ The main point is that she wants to prevent the Tiger from entering any port, and leave the poor ship miserably tossing on the waves.

19. Because the Tiger will not be able to refill her water-supply.

20–1. This is an ominous suggestion of Macbeth’s later insomnia (see, for example, Act III, Scene iv, line 141).

21. pent-house lid An eyelid slopes something like the roof of a pent-house. (A penthouse is a small structure built against a larger one, therefore having only one roof-slope).

22. forbid cursed.

23. sev’nights weeks. Compare the similar word fortnight (fourteen nights) which is still in regular use. The witch is going to manipulate the winds to keep the ship at sea for 81 weeks.

24. dwindle, peak become thin.

25. bark ship. It is important to note that the power of the witches is limited. At crucial points in the play Macbeth excuses or explains his past actions or what he is about to do by assuming that they have absolute power and knowledge, but this is not so.

29. a pilot’s thumb. Bits of dead bodies were valued ingredients in making spells.

31. Is this perhaps a supernatural drum? There is no indication that Macbeth and Banquo have an escort, but they may have.

32. Weird This coms from an Old English word ‘wyrd’ which means fate.

33. Posters creatures which travel quickly.

35–6. Three and multiples of three have always been regarded as magic numbers. At this point they also indicate roughly the steps of their dance: ‘three paces your way, three paces my way, and three more paces (in the direction of the Third Witch).’

37. wound up ‘set, and ready for action’. At this very moment Macbeth and Banquo enter, as though brought there by the charm.

38. So foul and fair Macbeth’s unconscious echo of the witches’ words in Act I, Scene i, confirms the impression that he is already under their influence.

39. How far is’t called…? How far do they reckon it is…?

39–61. Banquo’s reaction to the first sight of the witches is a suspicious one. Macbeth says little, but seems far more prepared than Banquo to accept the witches’ words.

42–3. aught that man may question? beings with whom one is allowed to communicate?

44. choppy chapped. The fact that the witches put their fingers on their lips in answer to Banquo seems to suggest that they want to speak, not to him, but to Macbeth.

50. hereafter in the future. They have just addressed him as the present Thane of Cawdor, as well as Glamis.

51. Banquo notices that Macbeth jumps when he hears the witches’ greetings. Is this just normal surprise and wonder, or has Macbeth already considered the possibility of becoming king, by foul means if necessary?

53. fantastical imaginary.

53–4. or that…ye show? or are you what you appear to be?

55–6. present grace being Thane of Glamis.

great prediction Of noble having becoming Thane of Cawdor.

royal hope becoming king.

57. rapt withal entranced by them (the witches’ mysterious greetings).

58. look into the seeds of time Banquo is prepared to accept the witches’ power to see into the future, but he goes on to show (lines 60–1) that he will not put himself in their power. Their response is to speak to him in riddles, whereas they gave Macbeth plain statements.

67. get kings: be the ancestor of kings.

70. imperfect speakers Macbeth says this because he wants to know more. He has come out of his trance and now demands further information.

71. Sinel Macbeth’s father, from whom he had inherited the title of Thane of Glamis.

73–4. Neither Macbeth nor Banquo seems to have heard of Cawdor’s treachery.

74. Stands not…belief Is so unlikely as to be unbelievable.

76. owe own, possess.

intelligence information.

78. Having asked for information twice, Macbeth becomes bolder and orders the witches to answer him.

79–80. The witches have vanished like burst bubbles. Although they had seemed very real, physical, living creatures, it now appears that they belong to the supernatural.

81. corporal made of flesh and blood.

84–5. the insane root…prisoner the root (of the hemlock or some other plant) which causes madness when eaten.

86. Is Macbeth envious and annoyed because no mention was made of his own heirs?

91. Thy personal…fight Your individual contribution in putting down the rebellion of Macdonwald.

95. Ross goes on to mention the other phase of the battle, against the Norwegian forces.

95. stout bold, tough.

96–7. Nothing afeard…death Ross comments that Macbeth is not frightened by the sight of the mangled bodies of those he has killed. We will see a different reaction later.

97–100. Macbeth’s great achievement was acclaimed in all the messages which piled up in front of Duncan. It is especially ironic that just when the audience is beginning to suspect Macbeth’s intentions, everyone else on stage is praising him.

98. post with post message after message.

102. herald…sight escort you into the king’s presence.

104. for an earnest as a first instalment.

105–6. The words are close enough to those of the Second Witch to underline the rapid fulfilment of the prophecy.

106. addition title.

106. Banquo has clearly decided that the witches are evil.

108–9. The play contains many examples of imagery related to clothes, particularly those that do not fit. This creates a picture of Macbeth wearing clothes that were not meant for him. Keep this in mind as the play develops.

110–11. The ex-thane of Cawdor is under sentence of death (see Act 1, Scene ii, line 66).

111. was combin’d allied himself.

112. line the rebel assist Macdonwald.

113. hidden help and vantage secret aid.

114. labour’d…wreck worked to ruin his country.

115. treasons capital acts of treason worthy of the death penalty.

117. The greatest is behind the fulfilment of the Third Witch’s prophecy, the Kingship, will follow after this stage, in the future (hence the word ‘behind’).

118. Macbeth again refers to the prophecy about Banquo’s children becoming kings.

120. trusted home believed in fully.

122–6. Banquo reveals his own deep distrust of the witches and their words, saying ‘The Devil’s helpers often impress us and win our confidence by telling us some small truths about our lives so that, once we are in their power, they can deceive us in really important matters (and thus destroy us).’

128–9. the swelling act…theme Macbeth sees himself as king at

the climax of a great drama.

130. soliciting prompting, egging on.

131–3. What Banquo suspected and dismissed (a small truth leading to betrayal In deepest consequence) Macbeth also suspects but will not dismiss.

134–7. If good…nature? Already Macbeth is contradicting Ross’s remark in lines 97–8. Here is an image of death of which he is clearly afraid. Is it one of his own creation or not? He is certainly considering murder (see line 140).

135. unfix my hair make my hair stand on end.

136. seated firmly fixed.

137. Against the use of nature in an unnatural way.

137–8. Present fears…imaginings A real cause of fear (e.g. a fierce enemy in the recent battle) is less frightening than something horrible which you imagine.

139–42. Macbeth is obsessed by the idea of murder and is incapable of normal action. Nothing seems real to him except what he is creating in his mind.

143. rapt lost in his own thoughts.

144–5. At first, in order to escape his horrible imaginings, Macbeth adopts the attitude of saying to himself: ‘There is no need for me to take any action; if it is my fate to be king, it will just happen that way.’

145–6. New honours…use The honours which have just come to him (Macbeth) are like new clothes which take time to shape themselves comfortably to the body. Note the reference to clothing imagery again.

147–8. Come what…roughest day Macbeth continues to shrug off his troubled thoughts: ‘I suppose I shall live through it. Even the most troubled day has to come to an end.’ The words give him something to hang on to.

149. Banquo indicates politely that they are waiting until Macbeth is ready to go.

150–1. ‘Do forgive me. My over–tired brain was disturbed by things that I can’t even remember now’. This may not seem a big lie, but it is a lie nevertheless.

151. your pains your services to me.

152–3. where every day…read them i.e. in his mind.

155. The interim having weigh’d it the interval having given us a chance to consider it.

156. Our free hearts Can either of their hearts be described as free?

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