MACBETH

.

Henry Fuseli. The Three Witches

Ten interesting lines to use about Macbeth at a party if things are a bit quiet 1. Macbeth was a real person. He was born in 1005 and died in 1057. During his seventeen-year reign, he apparently found time to visit Jerusalem. 2. A thousand years after the king on whom Shakespeare based his play, Macbeth is still a common surname in Scotland. There are thirty-one people of that name listed in the Glasgow telephone directory alone (Yes, I did check). The best known bearer of the name in recent times was the painter, George MacBeth. 3. The real Macbeth was not all bad. In fact, members of the Scottish Parliament recently supported a motion to restore Macbeths good name and to acknowledge his positive achievements. Professor John Beatty of the City University of New York suggested that 2005 ought to be declared the Year of Macbeth. 4. The name is the Scottish version of the Irish surname Mac an Bheatha, usually anglicized as McEvoy or Beattie. Ironically, given Macbeths psychopathic demeanour, it means son of life. 5. The play is considered accursed in theatrical circles. There is no agreement as to why this is the case. Nonetheless, most actors avoid using the title, referring to it usually as The Scottish Play. 6. There are many stories that support the theory that the play is jinxed. Countless productions have been beset by accidents, some minor, some serious. The most extreme example occurred in 1849. Passions became so enflamed among supporters of two rival New York productions of the play that street riots broke out in which twenty-two people died. Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 1

7. The Irish actress Sinead Cusack fell and broke her ribs while playing the role of Lady Macbeth in 1987. 8. Every cloud has a silver lining. The Irish actor Peter OToole staged a London production of Macbeth in 1980 that was savaged by the critics. However, he received so much press and television attention that the show became a commercial success. 9. Lady Macbeth tells us that she has had a child. Where is he/she? 10.No-one can be indifferent to the fierce controversy that rages in Ireland over the pronunciation of the word scone. Some claim that the plebeian pronunciation has the word rhyme with bone; use the pronunciation that rhymes with gone if you want to sound posh. However, there may be a third possibility: the correct pronunciation of Scone, the place where Macbeth is crowned, has the word rhyme with moon.

What is Macbeth about? Its about ambition. Its about how power corrupts. Its about the futility of ambition. Its about how evil acts destroy ones humanity. Its about the emptiness of a life devoted to one cause. Its about the realization that ones life has been a failure. Its about man being a mere plaything of a supernatural force.

Three interesting results from a word search of Macbeth A word search allows you to find in seconds a word, phrase or reference. You can also use it to confirm a suspicion that certain words or phrases are recurring with greater frequency than you would normally expect. Usually, this is because a writer is trying to create a particular atmosphere or emphasize a point. 1. The word tyrant occurs fifteen times all between Act 3 Scene 6 and the end of the play. 2. The word heaven occurs twenty times. 3. The word night occurs forty-seven times. What Happens in Macbeth? 1.1 1.2 1.3 Witches set the scene for evil deeds. The aftermath of Duncans battle against Macdonwald and the Norwegians. Duncan tells us Macbeth is brave and loyal, and rewards him with the title Thane of Cawdor. The witches meet Macbeth and tell him he will be Thane of Glamis, Cawdor and King. Ross and Angus arrive and confirm that he is indeed the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth thinks to himself that he may not need to take action in order to become king implying that he has already thought about seizing power. Duncan tells all that his son Malcolm will succeed him as king. Macbeth is not pleased. Lady Macbeth reads a letter describing Macbeths meeting with the witches. SheSt Andrew's College 2012

1.4 1.5

Conall Hamill

2

asks to be unsexed and to be made completely evil. When Macbeth arrives she implies that they will kill the king who is coming to stay with them. 1.6 Duncan arrives. They greet him effusively. 1.7 Macbeth has doubts about killing Duncan as he is afraid of the consequences. His wife berates him for hesitating. 2.1 Banquo behaves like an inferior to Macbeth. Macbeth, on his way to murder Duncan, sees a vision of a dagger. 2.2 Lady Macbeth has drugged the chamberlains drinks. She could not bring herself to kill Duncan. Macbeth commits the crime offstage. He thinks he hears a voice crying that he will sleep no more. Lady Macbeth plants the daggers in the chamberlains room and smears their faces with blood. They wash their hands. 2.3 Porter Scene. Macduff and Lennox arrive and discover that Duncan has been killed. Macbeth kills the chamberlains before they can be questioned. Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee to safety. 2.4 Strange events are reported. Macbeth has been installed as king. 3.1 Banquo has suspicions about how Macbeth achieved power but says nothing. Macbeth speaks to the murderers about his plans for Banquo. 3.2 Lady Macbeth and Macbeth reveal their sense of insecurity. Macbeth does not tell his wife of his plan to kill Banquo. 3.3 Banquo is murdered but Fleance escapes. 3.4 The Banquet Scene. Begins in order; ends in disorder. Microcosm of play. Evil returns to haunt the perpetrator. 3.5 Hecate scene probably not by Shakespeare. Forget it. 3.6 Lennox and others discuss events. Rumours have started about how Macbeth gained power. We learn that Macduff has gone to England to seek aid. 4.1 Witches prepare a spell as Macbeth visits. He sees three apparitions which tell him: (a) to be wary of Macduff; (b) that he cannot be harmed by any man of woman born; (c) that he cannot be harmed till Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane. He also sees a vision implying that Banquos descendants will be kings until the end of time. 4.2 Macbeth has decided to kill Macduff. By the time his men get to Macduffs castle, Macduff has fled to England. His wife and children are killed. 4.3 Macduff tries to persuade Malcolm to return to Scotland to fight Macbeth. Malcolm suspects that Macduff may be trying to lure him into a trap set by Macbeth and so, to test him, says that he (Malcolm) is so corrupt that he is unfit to be king. He is eventually convinced of Macduffs honesty when Macduff despairs of Scotlands future. Ross arrives to tell Macduff the news of his familys murder. We learn that ten thousand men are preparing to march on Scotland. 5.1 Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking. The doctor guesses from her words that she has committed evil. 5.2 The combined English and Scottish forces are approaching. Macbeths followers are deserting him. 5.3 Macbeths tyrannical behaviour is evident. He rages against servants who bring him bad reports. 5.4 The English/Scottish forces chop trees down to use as camouflage. 5.5 Lady Macbeth commits suicide. Macbeth thinks about the pointlessness of his life. 5.6 The forces advance. 5.7 Macbeth kills Young Siward. 5.8 Macduff confronts Macbeth. Reveals that he was from his mothers womb untimely ripped. Macbeth is killed. Malcolm becomes king. Order is restored.Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

3

Did people actually believe in witches? Absolutely. The following is from: http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/part_II/mm02a13a.html (26 October, 2003) The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer), first published in 1486, is arguably one of the most infamous books ever written, due primarily to its position and regard during the Middle Ages. It served as a guidebook for Inquisitors during the Inquisition, and was designed to aid them in the identification, prosecution, and dispatching of Witches. It must be noted that during the Inquisition, few, if any, real, verifiable, witches were ever discovered or tried. Often the very accusation was enough to see one branded a witch, tried by the Inquisitors' Court, and burned alive at the stake. Estimates of the death toll during the Inquisition worldwide range from 600,000 to as high as 9,000,000 (over its 250 year long course); either is a chilling number when one realizes that nearly all of the accused were women, and consisted primarily of outcasts and other suspicious persons. Old women. Midwives. Jews. Poets. Gypsies. Anyone who did not fit within the contemporary view of pious Christians were suspect, and easily branded "Witch". Usually to devastating effect. Finally, another woman in the diocese of Strasburg confessed that she had killed more children than she could count. And she was caught in this way. She had been called from one town to another to act as midwife to a certain woman, and, having performed her office, was going back home. But as she went out of the town gate, the arm of a newly born child fell out of the cloak she had wrapped around her, in whose folds the arm had been concealed. This was seen by those who were sitting in the gateway, and when she had gone on, they picked up from the ground what they took to be a piece of meat; but when they looked more closely and saw that it was not a piece of meat, but recognized it by its fingers as a child's arm, they reported it to the magistrates, and it was found that a child had died before baptism, lacking an arm. So the witch was taken and questioned, and confessed the crime, and that she had, as has been said, killed more children than she could count. Now the reason for such practices is as follows: It is to be presumed that witches are compelled to do such things at the command of evil spirits, and sometimes against their own wills. For the devil knows that, because of the pain of loss, or original sin, such children are debarred from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. And by this means the Last Judgement is delayed, when the devils will be condemned to eternal torture; since the number of the elect os more slowly completed, on the fulfilment of which the world will be consumed. And also, as has already been shown, witches are taught by the devil to confect from the limbs of such children an unguent which is very useful for their spells There are women who discover a witch by the following token. When a cow's supply of milk has been diminished by witchcraft, they hang a pail of milk over the fire, and uttering certain superstitious words, beat the pail with a stick. And though it is the pail that the women beat, yet the devil carries all those blows to the back of the witch; and in this way both the witch and the devil are made weary. But the devil does this in order that he may lead on the woman who beats the pail to worse practices.

Conall Hamill

St Andrew's College 2012

4

What kind of person is Macbeth?A short answer. His personality is a mixture of inconsistencies: it depends on who you ask and when you ask. In the opening scenes, Duncan thinks that Macbeth is Bellonas bridegroom (i.e. Mars, the god of war), a valiant cousin, a worthy gentleman. The soldiers think he is incredibly brave he slices his enemies from the nave to the chops; he is as afraid of the enemy as eagles are of sparrows or lions are of hares. However, a little later, almost the first thing his wife tells us about him is that he is ambitious but that he is too full of the milk of human kindness. She seems to despise him for not being manly enough. Towards the end of the play, he is universally regarded as a tyrant. The truth of the matter, therefore, is that Macbeth changes in the course of the play. Part of your task as a student of the play is to figure out when he starts to change and why.

What kind of person is Macbeth?A longer answer There is a popular view of Macbeth as a brave and loyal soldier who is tragically lured to this death by the combined forces of a manipulative wife and deceitful witches; a fine soldier who was unlucky enough to have married a woman who hen-pecks him; a valiant and 'worthy gentleman' who would have gone on to have an illustrious military career had it not been for supernatural agents who deceived him. However attractive this theory may appear, it is one that is easily shown to be at variance with the facts. Firstly, when we first meet Macbeth he is already corrupt. It is clear from what he says, and can be inferred from what Lady Macbeth says, that he has already beenConall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

5

thinking about how to seize power. His 'start' upon hearing the witches' prophecies is the guilty start of a man who feels that his most secret thoughts have been overheard and his acknowledgement that 'the greatest is behind' is tantamount to an admission that he has had his eye on the throne for some time. His later description of Malcolm, the Prince of Cumberland, as 'a step which [he] must o'erleap' is an even franker admission of his ambitions. Secondly, Lady Macbeth's reaction to her husband's letter and the speed with which she formulates a plan to kill Duncan put it beyond doubt that they have discussed this matter many times. In fact, that they are going to kill the king, the most heinous crime imaginable to Shakespeare's audience, is taken so much for granted that they never say it in so many words. It is never actually proposed as an idea - onstage at least. When Lady Macbeth asks when Duncan intends leaving and is told, 'Tomorrow, as he purposes', she declares baldly, 'O, never shall sun that morrow see.' This is the total extent of their conversation on the matter until Macbeth begins to have cold feet. She does not need to explain what she means and Macbeth does not need to ask: it is obviously something they have already discussed at length. The question is not if, but when: they have been simply waiting for the right opportunity to come along. Thirdly, brave he may be, when his deeds are judged by his comrades. However, when judged by his adversaries, or even an audience prepared to concede that Macbeth lived well before the ratification of the Geneva Convention, his treatment of Macdonwald, whom he slits from the 'nave to the chaps', could be described as unnecessarily bloodthirsty. His behaviour in the battle at the start of the play is simply a mild foretaste of the extreme psychopathic bloodlust he displays in the second half of the play. So, for all these reasons, the theory of Macbeth as a good man led astray by his wife just doesn't withstand serious examination. However, it is not very useful to say what Macbeth is not, we need to decide what he is. Is he just a power-crazed psychopath or is there something more than that to him? If Hamlet, as Laurence Olivier famously declared, is the tragedy of 'a man who could not make up his mind' then perhaps we could say that Macbeth is the tragedy of a man who made up his mind too quickly. Macbeth's downfall derives from a combination of factors: his ruthlessness, his ambition, his wife and the witches. Perhaps the most important factor is his lack of analytical insight: he is a doer, not a thinker. Macbeth is the archetypal man of action; much is made of his valour in battle. He is brave, valiant, noble; his steel smokes with bloody execution and he has noConall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

6

difficulty slicing his enemies from the chops to the nave: in short, he is an efficient killing machine. More brawn than brain, he lacks the ability to think clearly. He suffers from a kind of naivety, a gullibility that he shares with his 'kinsman', Duncan. They both accept the world at face value. Just as Duncan trusted the Thane of Cawdor - 'He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust' - and then transfers his trust to Macbeth whom he names the new Thane, Macbeth trusts the witches' prophecies. He fails to look beyond their riddles and paradoxes. Macbeth seems incapable of questioning the illogicality of what they tell him perhaps because he wants to believe in his own greatness so much. It is Banquo who sounds a warning about the trustworthiness of the witches, the 'instruments of darkness[who] betray us in deepest consequence'. But his suspicions go unheeded by Macbeth because he is completely consumed by his lust for power. This inability to think clearly is also evident in the ease with which his wife manipulates him. He knows that there are many reasons why killing Duncan would be stupid (I.7, 12-27). Yet he allows these very serious reasons to be brushed aside by Lady Macbeth's 'From this time forth such I account thy love'. Here, however, it is not just lack of foresight that lets him proceed, it is a new matter, an issue that has obviously caused some bitterness between him and his wife. Macbeth has an Achilles' heel: his manhood. When he is with his wife he is under pressure to prove himself as a man, as though there were some problem of a sexual nature in their marriage. Where Macbeth becomes interesting as a character is when he admits that he is afraid or seems uncertain: 'Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my secret heart knock at my ribs ? (I,3, 135) and 'We will proceed no further in this business' (I.7,30) The idea of the psychopathic and bloodthirsty Macbeth knowing fear adds an unexpected dimension to his personality. That the man of action is not invincible is entirely credible and this hint of schizophrenia somehow makes him more human. This is further developed when we see how Lady Macbeth manipulates him. Despite his bravery, it is at precisely that moment in the play that Macbeth shows some sign of thinking for himself that his wife intervenes. If, at the moment of 'We will proceed no further in this business' Macbeth had somehow found the strength to stand up to her the whole tragedy could have been avoided. Macbeth changes as the play proceeds: he develops the ability to reason clearly. There is a shift in his relationship with his wife: he begins to take the decisions; she fades into the background. The changing point is not the killing of Duncan, which, after all, was planned by Lady Macbeth but rather the killing of the chamberlains. This was never part of the original plan; they were merely supposed to be framed for Duncan's death. Their killing is significant because it is the first spontaneous evil action that we actually see Macbeth perform. It seems to be a spur of the moment decision, a flash of inspiration, perfectly in keeping with the behaviour of someone for whom violence is a way of life. It suits his purposesConall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

7

brilliantly: witnesses have seen the chamberlains smeared with blood and will assume they are the killers; killing the chamberlains makes it impossible to discover the truth. Up to now Macbeth has not initiated anything, he has merely obeyed his wife. With this one deed he changes from being a follower to being a leader. From now on, he is in charge. His new confidence is evident in the speed with which he organises the killing of Banquo. It is interesting to note that one of the reasons he gives for wanting him dead is that 'he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour' (III.1, 53). This is precisely what Macbeth lacks: a wisdom that could curb his aggressive instincts. It is also interesting that he withholds all information concerning the planned murder from his wife. When she asks him what he has in mind he replies patronisingly, 'Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed' (III.2, 45). His next few lines are Macbeth's equivalent of Lady Macbeth's famous speech, 'The raven himself' Just as she appealed to the 'spirits who dwell on mortal thoughts' to unsex her, Macbeth, as 'the crow makes wing to the rooky wood', appeals to 'night's black agents' to help him get rid of Banquo. It is as though Macbeth has taken on the same inhuman qualities as his wife and has set himself firmly on the road to perdition. His new confidence can be seen, paradoxically, in the Banquet Scene. Although Macbeth does lose control and 'breaks the good meeting with most admired disorder' in the face of Banquo's apparition, he still manages to assert himself in the face of his wife's taunts about whether or not he is a man. The issue of manhood is raised four times in the course of this scene but it is quickly and convincingly resolved. For example, when Lady Macbeth taunts him with 'Are you a man?', he responds without a second's hesitation, 'Aye, and a bold one' (III.4, 58-60). Most importantly, it is at the end of this scene that he reveals that he has already put in place a network of paid spies who keep him informed on what the thanes are saying and thinking. Again, this was done without Lady Macbeth's knowledge. It is he who raises the question of Macduff's absence from the feast, not Lady Macbeth. This shows us that he is alert to signs of potential danger from suspicious thanes and the audience does not have to work too hard to guess what Macbeth has in mind for Macduff. After the Banquet Scene we see Lady Macbeth only once, by which time madness has robbed her of her strength and she has dwindled to the status of a non-person. Macbeth's descent into evil is accompanied by a new-found confidence and decisiveness. He initiates action now rather than being on the receiving end of other people's actions. Immediately after the Banquet Scene, he seeks out the witches; before, they sought him out. Unlike the earlier Macbeth who dithered over the assassination, he relishes the idea of being 'stepped in blood' and reasons to himself that he might as well continue as he has begun. The news that Macduff has fled to England before Macbeth has had time to deal with him is proof for Macbeth that decisiveness and speedy action are the way forward. He vows never to waste time again ('From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be theConall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

8

firstlings of my hand.') and orders the immediate destruction of Macduff's castle and the killing of 'his wife, his babes and all the unfortunate souls that trace him in his line'. By the time we next see Macbeth, in Act V Scene iii, he has become a tyrannical despot. The word 'tyrant ' is used fifteen times of him between Act III Scene 6 and the end of the play and seems to echo in much the same way that the words 'brave' or 'valiant' did in Act I. He is universally feared and reviled. Every day sees more thanes deserting him. His decline is signalled by the extent to which he seems to enjoy bullying the servant, the 'cream-faced loon', who delivers the news that ten thousand men are marching on the castle. There is, however, another change in his character. He appears to have an inkling of the emptiness of his life and how he has traded honour, love, obedience and friendship for power - but his brisk exchange with the Doctor seems to imply that, on the whole, it is a fair trade. For Macbeth, the problem is not so much that his life lacks meaning, it is that life itself is meaningless. This is conveyed in his last great speech. He compares a person's life to a poor performance on stage, a brief and dismal interlude between birth and death, 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'. His reaction to his wife's death is as cold and dispassionate as one would expect from a hardened killer; it is an inconvenience, not a tragedy - 'She should have died hereafter' Macbeth's final hours are marked by contempt for those around him: he threatens his own soldiers with hanging, he swaggers in the belief that he is invincible, he is scornful of those weaker than himself, he dismisses as folly the Roman preference for suicide over being taken prisoner. Right to the end, Macbeth displays arrogance and defiance. He refuses to countenance kissing the ground before Malcolm's feet and has no intention of allowing himself to be used as amusement for 'the rabble', the ordinary people of Scotland. His last words are defiant: 'Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!"'

Conall Hamill

St Andrew's College 2012

9

Trial Exam Question 2007 Sample Answer By the end of the play Macbeth, the reader feels both sympathy for, and revulsion at, Lady Macbeth. Discuss with reference etc. How to write these essays: These questions require an answer of between three and four A4 pages. Identify key words in the question in this case, they are sympathy and revulsion. Ask yourself if you agree or disagree. Take ten minutes to prepare your ideas on a page set aside for rough work. Your essay will have three sections: 1. Introduction 2. Development 3. Conclusion. Sections 1 and 3 are single paragraphs. Section 2 will be five or six paragraphs long. Therefore, you need five or six strong points on which to construct solid paragraphs. Can you recall the supporting quotations that we learned back in November/December?

1. Introduction: In your first paragraph say whether you agree or disagree with the question. Outline the approach you will be taking Lady Macbeth undoubtedly creates feelings of revulsion in audiences and readers. Her devotion to evil is so complete, and her manner of expressing herself so chilling, that it is impossible not to view her as inhuman. As to whether or not it is possible to feel sympathy for her, this is really a question of the extent to which we are moved by the sleepwalking scene and by her eventual suicide, for nowhere else in the play does she reveal any trait of character that might encourage sympathy. In this essay, I will argue that the only reasonable view of Lady Macbeth that can be supported by the text is that she is evil incarnate; any feelings of sympathy are misguided and arise out of a flawed reading of the play. 2. The body of the essay: In your rough work you will hopefully have assembled loads of points to back up your case that she is evil incarnate and that we dont have sympathy for her. Each point should be the basis of a strong, argumentative paragraph. Note that Ive identified the two key terms in the question: revulsion and sympathy. I Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 10

want to show that we feel revulsion but not sympathy There are so many reasons to find Lady Macbeth repulsive it is difficult to know where to begin. For many, it is the fact that she seems to instigate the main action of the tragedy by urging her husband to act on his desires that damns her. Although Macbeth is obviously ambitious at the start of the play, he is not beyond redemption. He has misgivings about what he and his wife have planned to do and acknowledges that their plan is wrong: I have no spur to prick the sides of my intentwe will proceed no further in this business. He states that Duncan is, in fact, a good king, who is entitled to his protection rather than a plot against his life: He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. However, in order to set Macbeth on his treacherous course, she first has to divest herself of every shred of humanity and this is where many audiences recoil in disgust at the hideous grotesqueness of her personality. Her opening soliloquy is one of the most unnerving introductions to a Shakespearean character. In The raven himself is hoarse she surrenders herself entirely to the forces of evil. In the course of this speech she rejects all the qualities that an Elizabethan audience would have naturally associated with womanhood: she wants to be unsexed; she wants her capacity to feel remorse or pity to be blocked up; Come to my womans breasts and take my milk for gall, she prays, using imagery that will be repeated later in an even more horrifying formulation. It is clear at this early point that Lady Macbeth is as evil as the witches we met at the start of the play and that, in the light of her appeal to the spirits that tend on mortal thoughts she is, for all intents and purposes, a witch herself. Sometimes holding back your strongest point for a while gives a sense that youre building up to a climax Repulsive as all this is, the single most damning evidence against Lady Macbeth is not that she pushes her husband to commit regicide, or that she devises the plan to frame the chamberlains, or that with her bare hands she smears Duncans blood on their faces. These actions show ruthlessness and ambition. What pushes her beyond the pale of humanity into the realm of sick and twisted psychosis is her admission of the depths to which she would sink in order to achieve her goal: I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. The juxtaposition of the images of a smiling baby, a breastfeeding woman the act that almost defines motherhood and the smashing of the babys brains on the floor is shocking beyond words. Even Macbeth, a man hardened by battle and who is used to unseaming his enemies from the nave to the chops, can only gasp in horror: Bring forth men children only, for thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males. As well as reading the play you need to read about the play. Use your library, the internet, your granny or any source you like to find out interesting facts about the play in order to make an interesting and unusual point Many critics have noted that the part of Lady Macbeth has relatively few lines, only 265 to be exact. Given her impact on the action of the play and on audiences, this seems a curious anomaly. With so few lines she does not even figure in a list of the twenty longest female roles in Shakespeare despite being probably the best known. Even people who have never read the play know that to describe a woman as a bit of a Lady Macbeth is shorthand for saying that she is ruthless and manipulative. In terms of number of lines, she lags far behind such female characters as Innogen, Rosalind, Paulina, Volumnia and Isabella, characters so unfamiliar that even Shakespeare specialists would have difficulty allocating them to their respective plays. The simple reason for the manner in which she sears herself on to the minds of the audience is Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 11

the combination of her overwhelming evil and the vividness with which she expresses it. Revulsion is the only emotion one can have in the face of such an unnatural creature. Now I turn to the issue of sympathy, the second key word in the titleIn addition to the evil nature of the character I have outlined above, there are two further reasons why we should not feel sympathy for Lady Macbeth. First, the notion that we should not be too hard-hearted in judging her rests on the fact that she loses her mind and commits suicide. Neither of these events, to my mind, warrants sympathy. On the contrary, it seems a fitting end for a woman who shed herself of her humanity and sacrificed herself and her husband to ambition: she gets her just deserts. To Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences, there were few crimes more heinous than the killing of a monarch. That a woman could have engineered such a crime would have seemed even more shocking. In addition, audiences would have been aware that King James claimed descendancy from Banquo and would have been alive to the political references to good kingship and the underlying moral that evil needs to be punished. It is unlikely that Shakespeares audience would have entertained any sympathy for a character who had upset political and moral conventions to the extent that Lady Macbeth does. Disturbances in the body politic were always reflected by disturbance within the individual and her madness and suicide were no more than a manifestation of her evil, not a sign of chinks in her armour. The second reason why we do not feel sympathy for her is a technical one. Bizarrely, Lady Macbeth simply vanishes after the Banquet Scene. She goes from being one of Shakespeares most electrifying creations to a being a non-entity without any warning. Technically, she has served her function and Shakespeare has no further need of her. Indeed, her powerful presence would draw attention away from the rapidly degenerating Macbeth and simply clog up the action of the play which, after all, is supposed to be about her husband. Shakespeare writes her out of the play with the same alacrity with which a modern soap scriptwriter will employ a nasty car accident or an unfortunate encounter with a shotgun to get rid of a troublesome actor. Having dropped her unceremoniously, her reappearance at the end of the play looks suspiciously like Shakespeare hastily trying to tie up loose ends. It is as if he realised that he couldnt just ignore his creation but couldnt quite bring himself to write her back in to Macbeths life. Suicide brought on by madness must have seemed the perfect solution. With one stoke of the quill, he could get rid of Lady Macbeth and simultaneously reinforce the point that blood will out and that bloody instructionsreturn to plague the inventor. 3. At last, the conclusion. This is probably the most difficult section to do properly. Most students just stop writing when they run out of ideas. Some think that by saying So, in conclusion, I feel that they are writing the conclusion. A proper conclusion brings together all the threads of the argument briefly and reiterates your message. Remember to use the key words sympathy and revulsion Revulsion is the only legitimate response to Lady Macbeth. Perhaps if Shakespeare had written a different play, one in which we gradually see a softening in Lady Macbeths character, the unblocking of those passages and access to remorse and a desire to make the good the harm she has done, there would be some way an audience could set about attempting to feel sympathetic. However, he didnt and we must judge her by the terms of the text we have; the text we have allows us only one option. The horrific nature of her personality and deeds is such that we are left agreeing with Macduff that she was indeed a fiend-like queen. A fiend is a devil; devils dont deserve sympathy. Some themes and ideas in MacbethConall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

12

1. The theme that recurs most frequently is perhaps that of the deceptiveness of appearances. The world of Macbeth is one where nothing can be trusted. Appearances are deceptive. These notions are introduced in the first lines of the play and are reiterated frequently throughout the action: The witches short opening scene works in much the same way as a musical overture, announcing a theme that will be heard again later: Fair is foul, and foul is fair (1.1.12) Macbeth's first lines are almost identical to the witches' lines. This conditions us to associate him with evil almost from the start: So foul and fair a day I have not seen (1.2.38) Duncan's expression of regret at the treason of the Thane of Cawdor could equally apply to the treason about to be perpetrated by Macbeth: There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face (1.4.12) These words apply as much to Cawdor as to Macbeth who succeeds him. The irony is underlined by Duncan's often-expressed gratitude and by Macbeth's professions of loyalty. Lady Macbeth's advice to Macbeth before Duncan's arrival: Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent underneath (1.5.67) Her elaborately formal welcome of Duncan with its professions of loyalty underlines her treachery. (1.6.14-20) Macbeth and Lady Macbeth realise that they are not only subjects of Duncan but also his kinsmen and his hosts. When Macbeth is persuaded to go ahead with the assassination, he says: False face must hide what the false heart doth know. (1.7.82) There's daggers in men's smiles. Donalbain 2.3.146 We must make our faces vizards to our hearts, disguising what they are. 3.2.34 Macbeth before Banquo's murder. Macbeths belief in his own invulnerability lasts until the closing moments of the play. This misapprehension, born of the witches prophecy, is perhaps the powerful example of the deceptiveness of appearances.

2.

Sleeplessness This theme is introduced in Act II. Banquo asks the merciful powers to restrain in [him] the cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in repose. 2.1.8 A few lines further on , Macbeth wishes him goodnight with the words, 'Good repose'. As he makes his way towards Duncan's chamber, he imagines one-half of the world asleep and 'wicked dreams [abusing] the curtained sleep'. It receives its clearest expression after Duncan's murder. Macbeth thinks he hears a voice crying 'Sleep no more, Macbeth hath murdered sleep', the innocent sleep...chief nourisherSt Andrew's College 2012

Conall Hamill

13

in life's feast. The powerful images with their associations of the restorative and the curative are an unusual aside at a moment of such crisis. Macbeth later says that he would like to solve the problem of Banquo and Fleance rather than sleep in the terrible affliction of these terrible dreams that shake [them] nightly...3.2.17-19 You lack the season of all natures, sleep. 3.4.141 Lady Macbeth One of the lords looks forward to Macbeth's defeat and the return of 'sleep to our nights'. Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking is a metaphor for the unnaturalness of her nature and her crime - unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles...5.1.78.

3.

Darkness Evil, blackness and darkness are closely identified in the play. The impending murder of Duncan is heralded by the croaking of the black raven. Much of the action takes place at night, including, of course, Duncan's murder. The following day, the Old Man and Ross marvel that it is dark even though it is daytime. 2.4.9 Banquo and Fleances murder is imagined in terms of darkness: Fleance must embrace the fate of that dark hour... 3.1.137 Banquo's murder takes place at night. Its dramatic importance is emphasised by the strong images in lines such as: Light thickens, and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood...night's black agents to their prey do rouse...3.2.50 The Banquet scene obviously takes place at night. The witches are 'secret, black, and midnight hags'.4.1.47

Clothing Clothing imagery recurs frequently in the play. Macbeth, when addressed as Thane of Cawdor by Ross, asks: Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?. Later in the same scene (1.3), Banquo explains Macbeths preoccupied air by saying that New honours come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould but with the aid of use. It is as if, from the outset, the audience is being conditioned to believe that position and honour do not suit Macbeth. Clothing is again alluded to in 1.7.33 good opinions of Duncan should be worn now in their newest gloss. Macbeth realises that he has committed an unnatural deed in murdering Duncan. He has murdered sleepsleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care Macduff, when speaking to Ross about Macbeths impending coronation, expresses the hope that the new regime will not be worse than the old one. He hopes that their old robes do not sit easier than [the]new. Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 14

4.

When Angus describes how things seem to be falling apart for Macbeth, he says now does he feel his title Hang loose upon him, like a giants robe Upon a dwarfish thief. (5.2.20-21)

5.

The Witches as projections of Macbeths mind

The witches are not exactly characters in the same way that Macbeth and Banquo are. We do not get to know them. They do not have names. They seem to represent a force of evil, the evil that is latent within all of us. It is as if they are projections of Macbeths own mind, embodiments of his innermost ambitions. They set the tone at the outset of the play: Fair is foul... They love ambiguity and ambivalence - their prophecies are in paradoxes e.g. lesser than Macbeth, and greater (1.2.65) They are sexually and morally ambiguous. Their bearded chins make them look masculine. They know more about what's going on than anyone else...they share the audience's point of view...they are Shakespeare's way of flattering King James who was fascinated by witches... Macbeth doesn't have sub-plots or digressions...the function of the witches is to confuse us and Macbeth... 6. Macbeths ambition pre-dates the action of the play Did Macbeth always have it in mind to seize power somehow? It seems certain. Why else would he start at the details of the witches prophecies, and why else would he say, when Ross tells him he is now the Thane of Cawdor, ...the greatest is behind? He sees their prophecies as happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme (1.3.128). He wonders why, if these events are good in themselves, he feels his hair rising on his head and his heart beating faster. He hopes that chance might crown him without [his] stir (1.3.143) as if he had previously contemplated taking some course of action. Most important, however, is his reaction to Duncan's announcement that Malcolm is to succeed him: that is a step on which I must fall down or else o'erleap for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires...(1.4.48-53) The futility of his ambition is broached in Act 5.2.23 when he refers to being surrounded by sycophants. That he is unable to draw pleasure from his position is underlined by the crude bullying of the servant who brings the news of the advancing English.

7. Lady Macbeth's resemblance to a witch/inhuman creature There is a curious symmetry to the development of Macbeth and Lady Macbeths characters. As Macbeth grows in confidence, his wife declines in strength. The early Lady Macbeth is purposeful; the later character seems to be suffering from dementia. However, the overriding impression left on the reader is that she is imbued with evil. Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 15

This may be seen most strikingly in her soliloquy: The raven himself...the blanket of the dark to cry 'Hold, hold!'(1.5.39-54) In all, she uses me or my ten times in fifteen lines. This creates a sense of determination and power. She enslaves herself to the forces of evil. She is manipulative of her husband. It is she who first states bluntly their intention to kill Duncan Never shall sun that morrow see (1.5.61) Her ruthlessness is vividly expressed in the lines: I have given suck, and know how tender 'tis...(1.7.54) - she would be prepared to kill her own child to get what she wants. It is she who formulates the details of the killing and the framing of the chamberlains. (1.7.62-70) It is she who drugs their possets. When Macbeth is too afraid to return to Duncan's chamber with the daggers, it is his wife who takes them and further volunteers to smear blood over the faces of the chamberlains. 2.2.54-57 After the Banquet Scene she virtually disappears from the play. Her sleepwalking is an indication of the disruptive effect on the psyche of committing evil. 8. Lady Macbeth's manipulation of her husband This begins in earnest in 1.7.34 with her accusation of cowardice. Hazlitt, the nineteenth century essayist and critic is a little too lenient with her when he wrote: The magnitude of her resolution almost covers the magnitude of her guilt. She is a great bad woman, whom we hate, but whom we fear more than we hate She is only wicked to gain a great end; and is perhaps more distinguished by her commending presence of mind and inexorable self-will, which do not suffer her to be diverted from a bad purpose, when once formed, by weak and womanly regrets, than by the hardness of her heart or want of natural affections. The impression which her lofty determination of character makes on the mind of Macbeth is well described where he exclaims,"Bring forth men children only;For thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males!" 9. Macbeth's descent into evil It is only after Duncan's assassination that Macbeth takes the initiative in doing evil. He takes it upon himself to kill the two chamberlains in order to pre-empt awkward questions. The plan to kill Banquo and Fleance is conceived solely by him and this is swiftly followed by a decision to deal with Macduff. He seems to draw strength from doing evil and says proudly to his wife: Things bad begun make themselves strong by ill...3.2.55 He resigns himself to evil with the lines: I am in blood steeped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er...3.4.137 It is a few lines after this that we first hear criticism of Macbeth 3.6.22; Lennox refers to Macduff's failure to attend 'the tyrant's feast'. The word 'tyrant' is repeated only four lines later by another speaker and more than ten times before the end of Act 5.

Again, in Act 5 we see Macbeth acknowledging his capacity for evil and the distance that separates him from the Macbeth of the early part of the play: I have almost forgot the taste of fear... I have supped full with horrors; direness, familiar to my slaughterous Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 16

thoughts, cannot once start. 5.1.13. The emptiness of ambition, and of life, is the focus of Macbeth's speech upon hearing of his wife's death. The image of the frazzled actor whipping himself into a passion over a worthless script conveys powerfully the futility of all his strivings. He grows in resolve as the play proceeds. A significant moment is when he swears an oath to himself to act as quickly as possible on his ideas...'be it thought and done...4.1.149.The hesitancy of the old Macbeth has disappeared completely. In the conversation betweeen Malcolm and Macduff, we learn that Scotland is suffering heavily under Macbeth's tyranny: Each new morn new widows howl, new orphans cry...4.3.5

10. The instruments of darkness plotting against mankind. ...oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness, win us with trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence (1.3.124) Lady Macbeth is of the opinion that fate and metaphysical aid are conspiring to crown her husband (1.5.31) Macbeth Contradictory personality - he harbours black and deep desires but would like to be king without [his] stir. His wife thinks he is too full of the milk of human kindness...not without ambition, but without the illness (evil) should attend it. This schizophrenic quality is again seen is his soliloquy If it were done when tis done...(1.7.1-28) Macbeth would like to get it over with quickly but he hesitates because of his fear of 'evenhanded justice' forcing him to drink his own poison. Immediately after Duncan's murder, Macbeth appears to express regret: Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst! 2.2.74 ...Two overlapping world views seem to exist at the same time, the world of order and duty on the one hand and the self-made world of men like Macbeth on the other...Macbeth's flaw is the easiest of all to name. It is ambition: he tells us so himself...Shakespeare goes to a lot of trouble to make the murder motiveless...Macbeth is merely a tool of his wife... Banquo from A.C. Bradleys Shakespeares Tragedies At first he stands in contrast with Macbeth as an innocent man with a guilty...but this contrast diminishes as the play proceeds...he is the victim of the Witches more than Macbeth is. He is brave, loyal and fierce in battle just as Macbeth is but is content to receive the mere thanks of Duncan at the start of the play while Macbeth receives the title of Thane of Cawdor. He is suspicious that the witches could be the 'instruments of darkness' and does not display any signs of ambition. It is only after his arrival with Duncan at Macbeth's castle that his sky begins to darken...as he appears with Fleance he is oppressed by dark thoughts...he asks the merciful powers to restrain in him the cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in repose. Later he tells Macbeth that he has dreamt of the three weird sisters...the poison has begun to work...his lines to Macbeth So I lose Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 17

none in seeking to augment it, but still keep my bosom franchised and allegiance clear... indicate that he guesses that Macbeth wants to drag him into some evil plan...His reaction at the news of Duncan's death - he says almost nothing except we must question this most bloody piece of work to know it further i.e. we must look into this - shows that he guesses the truth straight away. However he does nothing and he says nothing. When next we see him , on the last day of his life, we find that he has yielded to evil...conquered by the Witches and his own ambition. Despite knowing about the prophecies he stays quiet...presumably he goes to Scone to see Macbeth enthroned...he is to be the chief guest at the Banquet and his soliloquy tells us why: Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all As the weird women promised, and, I fear, Thou play'dst most foully for't: yet it was said.... and he goes on to imply that if the prophecies have come true for Macbeth , then they will come true for him as long as he stays quiet. But hush! no more. This last line is possibly Banquo promising to keep these dangerous thoughts to himself.

Conall Hamill

St Andrew's College 2012

18

Conall Hamill

St Andrew's College 2012

19

THE HIGHLIGHTSand some quotations1. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: 2. For brave Macbeth--with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, 3. valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! 4. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. 5. First Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! Second Witch All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! Third Witch All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! 6. BANQUO: Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? 7. 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 In deepest consequence. 8. MACBETH [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir. 9. DUNCAN There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust. 10. MACBETH [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. 11. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it 12. The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold! 13. LADY MACBETH O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't. He that's coming Must be provided for: and you shall put This Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012 20

night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 14. MACBETH We will speak further. LADY MACBETH Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear: Leave all the rest to me. [Exeunt] 15. Then enter MACBETH] MACBETH If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other. 16. From this time Such I account thy love. 17. When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. 18. I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. 19. MACBETH Bring forth men-children only; For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. 20. Hark! I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done't. 21. MACBETH But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' Stuck in my throat. 22. Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them; and smear The sleepy grooms with blood. MACBETH I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not. LADY MACBETH Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt. [Exit. Knocking within] 23. There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood, The nearer bloody. 24. [Enter BANQUO] BANQUO Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and, I fear, Thou play'dst most foully for't: yet it was said It should not stand in thy posterity, But that myself should be the root and father Of many kings. If there come truth from them-- As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine-- Why,Conall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

21

by the verities on thee made good, May they not be my oracles as well, And set me up in hope? But hush! no more. 25. To be thus is nothing; But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares; And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety. There is none but he Whose being I do fear: and, under him, My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said, Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters When first they put the name of king upon me, And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like They hail'd him father to a line of kings: Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so, For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd; Put rancours in the vessel of my peace Only for them; and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! 26. MACBETH O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. 27. LADY MACBETH What's to be done? MACBETH Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And with thy bloody and invisible hand Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; While night's black agents to their preys do rouse. Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still; Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. 28. MACBETH How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person At our great bidding? LADY MACBETH Did you send to him, sir? MACBETH I hear it by the way; but I will send: There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, And betimes I will, to the weird sisters: More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good, All causes shall give way: I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er: 29. First Apparition Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough. [Descends] MACBETH Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks; Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one word more,-- First Witch He will not be commanded: here's another, More potent than the first. [Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child] Second Apparition Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! MACBETH Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee. Second Apparition Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends] MACBETH Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? But yet I'll make assurance double sure, And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, And sleep in spite of thunder. [Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand] What is this That rises like the issue of a king, And wears upon his baby-brow the round And top of sovereignty? ALL Listen, but speak not to't. Third Apparition Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him. 30. LENNOX 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word Macduff is fled to England. MACBETH Fled to England! LENNOX Ay, my good lord. MACBETH Time, thouConall Hamill St Andrew's College 2012

22

anticipatest my dread exploits: The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it; from this moment The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; This deed I'll do before this purpose cool. 31. LADY MACBETH Out, damned spot! out, I say 32. I have lived long enough: my way of life Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf; And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but, in their stead, Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. 33. SEYTON The queen, my lord, is dead. MACBETH She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! 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. [Enter a Messenger] 34. Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. Messenger Gracious my lord, I should report that which I say I saw, But know not how to do it. MACBETH Well, say, sir. Messenger As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, The wood began to move. MACBETH Liar and slave! Messenger Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so: Within this three mile may you see it coming; I say, a moving grove. MACBETH If thou speak'st false, 35. MACBETH Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them 36. I bear a charmed life, which must not yield, To one of woman born. MACDUFF Despair thy charm; And let the angel whom thou still hast served Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripp'd. MACBETH Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cow'd my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends no more believed, That palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee. MACDUFF Then yield thee, coward, And live to be the show and gaze o' the time: We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, Painted on a pole, and underwrit, 'Here may you see the tyrant.' MACBETH I will not yield, To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, And to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!' 37this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen

Conall Hamill

St Andrew's College 2012

23