Macbeth: William Shakespeare, Apuntes de Literatura inglesa

¡Descarga Macbeth: William Shakespeare y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura inglesa solo en Docsity! Unit 4: Macbeth, William Shakespeare 4.1. Key facts e Full title: The Tragedy of Macbeth e Author: William Shakespeare e Typeofwork: play e Genre: tragedy e Language: English e Time and place written: 1606 England e Date of first publication: First Folio edition, 1623 + Publisher: John Heminges and Henry Condell, two senior members of Shakespeare's theatrical company Tone: dark and ominous, suggestive of a world turned topsy-turvy by foul and unnatural crimes Setting (time): The Middle Ages, specifically the eleventh century Setting (place) various locations in Scotland; also England, briefly Protagonist: Macbeth + Major conflicts: the struggle within Macbeth between his ambition and his sense of right and wrong + the struggle between the murderous evil represented by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the best interests of the nation, represented by Malcom and Macduff. e Structure: O Rising action: Macbeth and Banquo's encounter with the witches initiates both conflicts. Lady Macbeth's speeches goad Macbeth into murdering Duncan and seizing the crown. O Climax: Macbeth's murder of Duncan in Act Il represents the point of no return, after which Macbeth is forced to continue butchering his subjects to avoid the consequences of his crime. O Falling action: Macbeth's increasingly brutal murders (of Duncan's servants, Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son) + Macbeth's second meeting with the witches + Macbeth's final confrontation with Macduff and the opposing armies. 4.2. Contexts 4.2.1. Shakespeare's England Audience watching Macbeth would recognise aspects of their own time and country. However, there is not historical accuracy. Images from every day experience and from the customs and preoccupations of Jacobean England would be reflected. Shakespeare may have written Macbeth as a tribute to King James | Stuart. 4.2.2. King James VI of Scotland and | of England Aspects in the play: %* King Jame's book Demonologie contains belief in witchcraft and practices which also appear in Macbeth. + King James claimed to be a direct descendant of Banquo. In Act IV the Witches show Macbeth a pageant of 8 kings who descend from Banquo, and James | would be the ninth king. % As a Protestant King, James | deplored Catholicism. The character of the Porter talks of an “equivocator”, who is though to refer to Henry Garnet, a Catholic priest who was involved in the Gunpowder Plot (1605). In the play “equivocation” is associated with evil and is practised by the Witches and their masters. %* A medal was struck to commemorate that the king had escaped the Gunpowder Plot. The medal shows a snake concealed by flowers. Lady Macbeth urges her husband into deceitful concealment: “look like th'innocent flower/But be the serpent under't”. Line 50 act Il sc ¡iii may refer to the Gunpowder plot : “dire combustion and confused events”. 4.2.3. Witchcraft King James believed that witches were conspiring against his person, and witchcraft became associated with treason. The king began a witch-hunt in Scotland that lasted many years. Witches were often though to have power over sexual performance, and King James wrote that Satan was the primary lover for witches. There are suggestions that Lady Macbeth has a mysterious, devil-inspired control over her husband's sexuality. The Witch's line “PI! do, P'II do, Pl do” (Act 1, sc iii) seems to suggest that her sexual assault on the sailor (or Macbeth) will drain him of potency. Besides, the English were fascinated by the occult: witches were thought to fly and bring darkness, fogs and storms. Each worked through her “familiar”: an animal, reptile or bid (the “Graymalkin” and “paddock” of the opening scene). Shakespeare uses such beliefs in his Witches' language and practices and shows the effects on Macbeth: - Hebecomes “rapt” in trance - Hesees visions - — Heis unable to pray - Eventually he claims “I have almost forgot the taste of fears” In 1604 Parliament passed a statute strengthening laws against witchcraft though King James relaxed his own persecution of witches. In the play Banquo refers to the Witches' ugliness: they are described as bearded and withered and as “the weyward sisters”. They could be considered as Fates, as supervisors rather than determiners of destiny. Shakespeare may have had doubts about how far he wanted the Witches to represent evil: the play suggests that he was far more deeply stirred by the dark solitude of Macbeth's mind than by the external appearance and procedures of the witches. 4.2.4, Women Patriarchal and misogynistic society of Jacobean England is reflected in this play: Shakespeare recalls the original sin when Lady Macbeth uses her sexual power over her husband and persuades him to evil. She uses the image of a serpent hiding beneath a flower to encourage him into a performance of deceitful welcome to Duncan. Such hypocrisy was ore associated with the woman than the man. In Macbeth Shakespeare depicts a warlike culture that is even more male-dominated. Lady Macbeth defies conventional and submissive female stereotyping: she combines stern resolve with feminine sexuality. Her sexuality is strange and paradoxical: she clearly has a strong hold over her husband but just before his arrival in Act l sc. V she urges the power of darkness to remove her womanly nature: Make thick my blood 2 Macbeth is a tragic hero because a grave error of judgment and his own ambition cause him to murder Duncan, leading the chaos, destruction and eventually his own death. A tragic hero is soon tempted to make a terrible mistake: Macbeth's mistake is letting his ambition blind him to the immorality of murdering Duncan. Where Macbeth is wrong is in his belief that he is especial, invincible and capable of getting away with things most ordinary men would not dare to attempt. lt remains an open question at the end of the play whether Macbeth could have done anything to avoid his fate: while he clearly acted of his own free will to kill Duncan, his choice was heavily influenced by the witches, or had he been married to a different woman he might never dreamed of becoming king. In this sense, his fate was unavoidable. Classic Greek tragedy relied heavily on fate and on the will of the gods, so there are supernatural links between Macbeth and Greek plays. 4.5. Is Lady Macbeth a villain or a victim? Lady Macbeth seems a very forceful and dominant personality, and we can assume that she is the villain or antagonist of the play. However, if we look more closely at the difference between who Lady Macbeth is and who she wants to be, we begin seeing a different side of Lady Macbeth, suggesting that she is not as villainous as we might have thought. Another contrast between what Lady Macbeth says she would do and what she actually does comes on the night of Duncan's murder: after Duncan's murder, Lady Macbeth's role is of comforter and protector of Macbeth, rather than instigator of murder, and her character becomes more sympathetic. The last time we see Lady Macbeth she is raving about blood on her hands, signalling that she is a victim of her husband and her own overwrought emotional state. While Lady. Macbeth is far from blameless for her role in inciting her husband to action, she ends the play a far more sympathetic character than she began. 4.6. Themes 4.6.1. The corrupting power of unchecked ambition The main theme of Macbeth is the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints. lt finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. + Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. + Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. In each case, ambition is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem is that once one decides to use violence to further one's quest for power it is difficult to stop. 4.6.2. The relationship between cruelty and masculinity Both Macbeth an Lady Macbeth equate masculinity with naked aggression, and whenever they converse about manhood, violence soon starts. Their understanding of manhood allows the political order depicted in the play to descend into chaos. Arguably, Macbeth traces the root of chaos and evil to women, which has led some critics to argue that this is Shakespeare's most misogynistic play. The aggression of the female characters is more striking because it goes against prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. The play does put forth a revised and less destructive definition of manhood: in the scene where Macduff learns of the murders of his wife and child, Malcolm consoles him by encouraging him to take the news in “manly” fashion, by seeking revenge upon Macbeth. Macduff answers that he has a mistaken understanding of masculinity. To Malcom's suggestion, “Dispute like a man”, Macduff replies “I shall do so, but | must also feel it as a man”. At the end of the play, Siward receives news of his son's death n¡rather than complacently. Malcom responds: “he's worth more sorrow than you have expressed/ And that 1'Il spend for him”. Malcom's comment shows that he has learned the lesson Macduff gave him on the sentient nature of true masculinity. 4.6.3. The difference between kingship and tyranny In the play, Duncan is always referred to as a “king”, while Macbeth soon becomes known as the “tyrant”. Malcom says “The king-becoming graces are justice, verity, temperance, stableness, bounty, perseverance, mercy and lowliness”. The mode king, then, offers the kingdom an embodiment of order and justice, but also comfort and affection, and the most important, the king must be loyal to Scotland above his own interest. Macbeth, by contrast, brings only chaos to Scotland - symbolised in the bad weather and bizarre supernatural events - and offers no real justice, only a habit of capriciously murdering those he sees as a threat. As the embodiment of tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that Scotland can have a true king once more. 4.6.4. Ambition Macbeth's true downfall is his own ambition. Lady Macbeth is as ambitious as her husband, encouraging him to commit murder to achieve their goals. Both Macbeths fail to see how their ambition makes them cross moral lines and will lead to their downfall. Macbeth's blind pursuit of power can be contrasted with other ambiguous characters in the play like Banquo: unlike Macbeth, Banquo's morality prevents him from pursuing his goal at any cost. At the end of the play Macbeth has achieved all he wanted, but has nothing. With his wife gone and no hope of producing a prince, Macbeth sees what his unchecked ambition has cost him: the loss of all he holds dear. 4.6.5. Guilt Macbeth's guilt about murdering his king, Duncan, and ordering the murder of his friend, Banquo, causes him to have guilty hallucinations. Lady Macbeth also hallucinates and eventually goes insane from guilt over her role in Duncan's death. The fact that both characters suffer torment as a result of their actions suggest neither Macbeth nor his wife are entirely cold-blooded. Their guilt prevents them from fully enjoying the power they craved: Lady Macbeth say “what's done/cannot be undone”, but her guilt continues to torment her. While Macbeth's guilt causes him to commit further murders in an attempt to cover up his initial crimes, Lady Macbeth's guilt drives her to insanity, and, finally, suicide. 4.6.6. Children The loss of children is a complex and intriguing theme in the play. There is a hint that the Macbeths might have also lost a child. For both Macbeth and Banquo children represent the idea of the continuation of a family line. Macduff mourns the children Macbeth ordered killed and uses their memory to spur him on to victory against their killer. Siward laments the loss of his son in the play's closing battle, but is proud to have fathered such a brave soldier who fought in a noble cause. 4.6.7. Chaos A sense of chaos and disorder runs through the play, and are suggested in many ways: + Nature is turned upside down after King's Duncan's murder + Blood runs through the story The theme of chaos is also related to that of time. 4.6.8. Order Every person and thing had a natural place, decided by God, and Macbeth's main crime is upsetting this natural order. He throws the political stability of Scotland into chaos and destroys his marriage and his own mental “order”. Besides, his wife goes mad, breaking the natural order when she commits suicide. 4.6.9. Time Macbeth is continually aware of time, and the midnight bell is the cue for Duncan's death. The future, with the question of the royal succession, obsesses Macbeth. 4.7. Imagery Macbeth is rich in imagery: vivid words and phrases that conjure up emotionally-charged pictures in the imagination. 4.7.1. Time Time is reduced to a “petty pace”, a mere succession of meaningless moments. Time acts as a linking cause and effect: moments of time cannot stand alone, they are connected to the past and the future. However, Macbeth wishes that the single act of murdering Duncan might have no consequences. 4.7.2. Clothes 4.7.3. Metaphors, personifications + Metaphors: Malcolm's mother self-denial is described as if “she died every day she lived” Act IV sc ¡ii + Personifications: the captain sees “Fortune” smiling on the rebel MacDonald, and Macbeth as Valours minion Act sc ii + Images stir the audience's imagination, deepened dramatic impact and provide insight into character. Some images are often repeated in varied ways and run through the play. 4.8. Motifs 4.8.1. Hallucinations Images of light are connected to a state of innocence and purity: light is a symbol of truth, openness and goodness. The Macbeths are creatures of the dark because darkness symbolises treachery, cruelty and evil. Towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth, overcome by guilt, fears the dark. Many of the scenes occur at night and the frequent images of darkness help create the sense of evil that pervades much of the play: O Let not light see my black and deep desires O Dark night strangles the travelling lamp O Come seeling night/Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day O Life's but a walking shadow 4.9.4, Nature Nature can be benign and productive: Duncan has “begun to plant” Macbeth and will labour to make him “full of growing”. Banquo speaks of returning a potential “harvest” to his king. In the play's last speech, Malcolm says there is much to do, which “would be planted newly with the time”. There are many references to creatures: Banquo and Duncan value the birds that seem to bring gentleness and peace to the battlements of Macbeth's castle. Lady Macduff speaks of the “poor wren” which fights courageously to defend her loved ones and against the owl. Nature can also threaten, there are some creatures which represent ferocity: + Rather than confront Banquo's ghost, Macbeth would prefer to confront a bear, rhinoceros or tiger. + Macduff compares a lustful man to a “vulture”. * In his dagger soliloquy, Macbeth thinks of the wolf as the appropriate sentinel for the personified “withered murder” + Macbeth's mind is full of scorpions and he is wary of snake which he had “scotch'd”, not killed. Evil takes over Scotland and it generates images of nature disturbed or reversed: O Use of “seeds”: look into the seed of time vs germen tumbling to chaos O Duncan's murder is a breach in nature, for ruins wasteful entrance. It is claimed that is horses ate each other and “A falcon, towering in her pride of place/was by a mousing owl hawld at and killed”. 4.9.5, Disease - The Witches “fog and filthy air” - The First Witch will make the sailor “dwindle, peak and pine” and she puts “poisoned entrails” and “sweltered venom” in the cauldron. - Macbeth curses them “infected be the air whereon they ride” - Much of the sickness infects the mind: Lady Macbeth's sickness is more spiritual and psychological than physical - Macbeth describes his state of mind: “My seated heart knock at my ribs”; “the heat-oppressed brain” - Caithness describes Malcolm as “the medicine of the sickly weal”: the blood the invaders prepare to shed will purge away the sickness (= Macbeth) 10 4.10. Language and style 4.10.1 Language The language of the play is dense, matching its rapid action and the intense emotions of the main characters. The hero's struggles, doubts and decisions are presented in language full of ambiguity and uncertainty. There are many questions and unresolved antithesis: “not so happy, yet much happier, “this supernatural soliciting, cannot be ill, cannot be good”, “good sir, why do you start and seem to fear, things that do sound so fair?”. Certain words and phrases recur creating a sense of foreboding: “Blood”, “darkness”, “man”, “done, “time”. The techniques Shakespeare uses in his plays are meant to intensify dramatic effect and to create mood and character. 4.10.2. Style + antithesis The antithesis expresses a conflict. Is especially powerful in Macbeth as character is set against character and double-speaking is a major theme. The. Witches often speak antithetically: their antithesis “fair is foul, and foul is fair” is one of the play's dominant motifs. Macbeth also says “the equivocation of the fiend/ that lies like truth”. Antithesis may help a character to redefine what used to be familiar: Ross tells Macduff that Scotland cannot “be call'd our mother, but our grave”. % soliloquy Most of the soliloquies are spoken by Macbeth. His asides can also be considered soliloquies. All soliloquies show him exploring his state of mind: fear, guilt, confusion, uncertainty and despair. He chooses a path of self- destruction an experiences damnation whilst still alive. He uses an ambiguous language. Some of Macbeth's soliloquies are in: - — Actll: the dagger one - Actlllsci - Act V: the tomorrow one, where he shows his overwhelming despair - — Actlsc v: Lady Macbeth's most intense soliloquy «+ lists - The Witches” major scene (infernal recipe): Act IV, sc. | - List of antithesis on how alcohol disables sexual performance: “it makes him, and it mars him, it sets him on, and it takes him off, it persuades him, and disheartens him, makes him stand to, and not stand to”. - Obsession: Macbeth's impotence of violence against a dead man: nor steel, nor poison, malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, can touch him further”. - Macbeth's vices: “bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden, malicious, smacking, false...” % repetition and rhyme Macbeth explores the nature and practices of evil, which include parodies of religious ritual. 1 - Lady Macbeth's use of imperative: Come, thick night - Macbeth's visit to the witches: use of “though” to introduce each example of disorder - Witches repetition of three “hails” to Macbeth and Banquo in Act | sc i, followed by three paradoxes which compare him with Macbeth. They repeat the sequence of three in the more detailed prophecies in Act IV. - When the Witches conduct their ceremonies repetition works strongly in assonance, alliteration and rhyme: Double, double toil and trouble/Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. - Rhyme is used by the Witches in tetrameters (lines with a four-beat rhythm) for incantatory effects which conveys the ambivalence of horror and absurdity in their language. - — Rhymealso helps to close a scene or episode: sometimes the effect is ironic and ominous, as in the four rhyming words at the end of Act l, sc li: death, Macbeth, done, won. % verse and prose Blank verse: unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter, “and purge it to a sound and pristine health”, Act V sc. li, Most lines are “end-stopped”: each line making sense on its own, usually supported by decisive punctuation. By the time Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, end-stopping is less frequent. There is a greater use of “enjambment” (running on) where one line flows on to the next, with little or no pause: - — thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up - Thine own life's means! The 'tis most like - — Thesovereignty will fall upon Macbeth Shakespeare used the convention of iambic pentameter but he did not adhere to it slavishly. The Witches use tetrameter metre which helps to isolate them from the “normal” world, and their words have a playful and mocking quality. The tetrameters contribute to the Witches” rituals: The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about Thrice to thine and thrice to mine And thrice again, to make up nine Less than ten per cent of the play is in prose, and Shakespeare the theatrical convention of verse for high-born characters and important matters and prose for: - — Low-status characters, such as the Porter - Characters in a state of madness, as in Lady Macbeth's sleep-walking - Letters, as when Lady Macbeth reads about the Witches - Comedy, with the Porter and lady Macduff and her son There is a switch between verse and prose within a single episode: these changes mark a change in mood or fulfil a dramatic function: Macbeth's discussion with the Murderers and Lady Macduffs talk with her son. 12 their attention to Banquo, speaking in yet more riddles. They call Banquo “lesser than Macbeth, and greater,” and “not so happy, yet much happier”; then they tell him that he will never be king but that his children will sit upon the throne (1.3.63-65). Macbeth implores the witches to explain what they meant by calling him thane of Cawdor, but they vanish into thin air. In disbelief, Macbeth and Banquo discuss the strange encounter. Macbeth fixates on the details of the prophecy. “Your children shall be kings,” he says to his friend, to which Banquo responds: “You shall be king” (1.3.84). Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Ross and Angus, who have come to convey them to the king. Ross tells Macbeth that the king has made him thane of Cawdor, as the former thane is to be executed for treason. Macbeth, amazed that the witches' prophecy has come true, asks Banquo if he hopes his children will be kings. Banquo replies that devils often tell half-truths in order to “win us to our harm” (1.3.121). Macbeth ignores his companions and speaks to himself, ruminating upon the possibility that he might one day be king. He wonders whether the reign will simply fall to him or whether he will have to perform a dark deed in order to gain the crown. At last he shakes himself from his reverie and the group departs for Forres. As they leave, Macbeth whispers to Banquo that, at a later time, he would like to speak to him privately about what has transpired. Act 1, Scene 4 At the king's palace, Duncan hears reports of Cawdor's execution from his son Malcolm, who says that Cawdor died nobly, confessing freely and repenting of his crimes. Macbeth and Banquo enter with Ross and Angus. Duncan thanks the two generals profusely for their heroism in the battle, and they profess their loyalty and gratitude toward Duncan. Duncan announces his intention to name Malcolm the heir to his throne. Macbeth declares his joy but notes to himself that Malcolm now stands between him and the crown. Plans are made for Duncan to dine at Macbeth's castle that evening, and Macbeth goes on ahead of the royal party to inform his wife of the king's impending arrival. Analysis: Act 1, scenes 1-4 These scenes establish the play's dramatic premise—the witches' awakening of Macbeth's ambition—and present the main characters and their relationships. At the same time, the first three scenes establish a dark mood that permeates the entire play. The stage directions indicate that the play begins with a storm, and malignant supernatural forces immediately appear in the form of the three witches. From there, the action quickly shifts to a battlefield that is dominated by a sense of the grisliness and cruelty of war. In his description of Macbeth and Banquo's heroics, the captain dwells specifically on images of carnage: “he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops,” he says, describing Macbeth's slaying of Macdonwald (1.2.22). The bloody murders that fill the play are foreshadowed by the bloody victory that the Scots win over their enemies. Our initial impression of Macbeth, based on the captain's report of his valor and prowess in battle, is immediately complicated by Macbeth's obvious fixation upon the witches' prophecy. Macbeth is a noble and courageous warrior but his reaction to the witches' pronouncements emphasizes his great desire for power and prestige. Macbeth immediately realizes that the fulfillment of the prophecy may require conspiracy and murder on his part. He clearly allows himself to consider taking such actions, although he is by no means resolved to do so. His reaction to the prophecy displays a fundamental confusion and inactivity: instead of resolving to act on 15 the witches' claims, or simply dismissing them, Macbeth talks himself into a kind of thoughtful stupor as he tries to work out the situation for himself. In the following scene, Lady Macbeth will emerge and drive the hesitant Macbeth to act; she is the will propelling his achievements. Once Lady Macbeth hears of the witches' prophecy, Duncanss life is doomed. Macbeth contains some of Shakespeare's most vivid female characters. Lady Macbeth and the three witches are extremely wicked, but they are also stronger and more imposing than the men around them. The sinister witches cast the mood for the entire play. Their rhyming incantations stand out eerily amid the blank verse spoken by the other characters, and their grotesque figures of speech establish a lingering aura. Whenever they appear, the stage directions deliberately link them to unease and lurking chaos in the natural world by insisting on “Thunder” or “Thunder and lightning.” Shakespeare has the witches speak in language of contradiction. Their famous line “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” is a prominent example (1.1.10), but there are many others, such as their characterization of Banquo as “lesser than Macbeth, and greater” (1.3.63). Such speech adds to the play's sense of moral confusion by implying that nothing is quite what it seems. Interestingly, Macbeth's first line in the play is “So foul and fair a day | have not seen” (1.3.36). This line echoes the witches' words and establishes a connection between them and Macbeth. It also suggests that Macbeth is the focus of the drama's moral confusion. Act 1, scene 5 . . . 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. In Inverness, Macbeth's castle, Lady Macbeth reads to herself a letter she has received from Macbeth. The letter announces Macbeth's promotion to the thaneship of Cawdor and details his meeting with the witches. Lady Macbeth murmurs that she knows Macbeth is ambitious, but fears he is too full of “th” milk of human kindness” to take the steps necessary to make himself king (1.5.15). She resolves to convince her husband to do whatever is required to seize the crown. A messenger enters and informs Lady Macbeth that the king rides toward the castle, and that Macbeth is on his way as well. As she awaits her husband's arrival, she delivers a famous speech in which she begs, “you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty” (1.5.38-41). She resolves to put her natural femininity aside so that she can do the bloody deeds necessary to seize the crown. Macbeth enters, and he and his wife discuss the king's forthcoming visit. Macbeth tells his wife that Duncan plans to depart the next day, but Lady Macbeth declares that the king will never see tomorrow. She tells her husband to have patience and to leave the plan to her. Act 1, scene 6 Duncan, the Scottish lords, and their attendants arrive outside Macbeth's castle. Duncan praises the castle's pleasant environment, and he thanks Lady Macbeth, who has emerged to greet him, for her hospitality. She 16 replies that it is her duty to be hospitable since she and her husband owe so much to their king. Duncan then asks to be taken inside to Macbeth, whom he professes to love dearly. Act 1, scene 7 If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well ltwere done quickly... . . . He's here in double trust: First, as | 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. Inside the castle, as oboes play and servants set a table for the evening's feast, Macbeth paces by himself, pondering his idea of assassinating Duncan. He says that the deed would be easy if he could be certain that it would not set in motion a series of terrible consequences. He declares his willingness to risk eternal damnation but realizes that even on earth, bloody actions “return / To plague th'inventor” (1.7.9-10). He then considers the reasons why he ought not to kill Duncan: Macbeth is Duncan's kinsman, subject, and host; moreover, the king is universally admired as a virtuous ruler. Macbeth notes that these circumstances offer him nothing that he can use to motivate himself. He faces the fact that there is no reason to kill the king other than his own ambition, which he realizes is an unreliable guide. Lady Macbeth enters and tells her husband that the king has dined and that he has been asking for Macbeth. Macbeth declares that he no longer intends to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth, outraged, calls him a coward and questions his manhood: “When you durst do it,” she says, “then you were a man” (1.7.49). He asks her what will happen if they fail; she promises that as long as they are bold, they will be successful. Then she tells him her plan: while Duncan sleeps, she will give his chamberlains wine to make them drunk, and then she and Macbeth can slip in and murder Duncan. They will smear the blood of Duncan on the sleeping chamberlains to cast the guilt upon them. Astonished at the brilliance and daring of her plan, Macbeth tells his wife that her “undaunted mettle” makes him hope that she will only give birth to male children (1.7.73). He then agrees to proceed with the murder. Analysis: Act 1, scenes 5-7 These scenes are dominated by Lady Macbeth, who is probably the most memorable character in the play. Her violent, blistering soliloquies in Act 1, scenes 5 and 7, testify to her strength of will, which completely eclipses that of her husband. She is well aware of the discrepancy between their respective resolves and understands that she will have to manipulate her husband into acting on the witches' prophecy. Her soliloquy in Act 1, scene 5, begins the play's exploration of gender roles, particularly of the value and nature of masculinity. In the soliloquy, she spurns her feminine characteristics, crying out “unsex me here” and wishing that the milk in her breasts would be exchanged for “gall” so that she could murder Duncan herself. These remarks manifest Lady Macbeth's belief that manhood is defined by murder. When, in Act 1, scene 7, her husband is hesitant to murder Duncan, she goads him by questioning his manhood and by implicitly comparing his willingness to carry through 17 sort of conspiratorial plans in mind. The appearance of Fleance, Banquo's son, serves as a reminder of the witches' prediction that Banquo's children will sit on the throne of Scotland. We realize that if Macbeth succeeds in the murder of Duncan, he will be driven to still more violence before his crown is secure, and Fleance will be in immediate and mortal danger. Act 2 is singularly concerned with the murder of Duncan. But Shakespeare here relies on a technique that he uses throughout Macbeth to help sustain the play's incredibly rapid tempo of development: elision. We see the scenes leading up to the murder and the scenes immediately following it, but the deed itself does not appear onstage. Duncan's bedchamber becomes a sort of hidden sanctum into which the characters disappear and from which they emerge powerfully changed. This technique of not allowing us to see the actual murder, which persists throughout Macbeth, may have been borrowed from the classical Greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles. In these plays, violent acts abound but are kept offstage, made to seem more terrible by the power of suggestion. The effect on Lady Macbeth of her trip into Duncan's bedroom is particularly striking. She claims that she would have killed Duncan herself except that he resembled her father sleeping. This is the first time Lady Macbeth shows herself to be at all vulnerable. Her comparison of Duncan to her father suggests that despite her desire for power and her harsh chastisement of Macbeth, she sees her king as an authority figure to whom she must be loyal. Macbeth's trepidation about the murder is echoed by several portentous sounds and visions, the famous hallucinatory dagger being the most striking. The dagger ¡is the first in a series of guilt-inspired hallucinations that Macbeth and his wife experience. The murder is also marked by the ringing of the bell and the knocking at the gate, both of which have fascinated audiences. The knocking occurs four times with a sort of ritualistic regularity. lt conveys the heavy sense of the inevitable, as if the gates must eventually open to admit doom. The knocking seems particularly ironic after we realize that Macduff, who kills Macbeth at the end of the play, is its source. Macbeth's eventual death does indeed stand embodied at the gate. The motif of blood, established in the accounts of Macbeth's and Banquo's battlefield exploits, recurs here in Macbeth's anguished sense that there is blood on his hands that cannot be washed clean. For now, Lady Macbeth remains the voice of calculating reason, as she tells him that the blood can be washed away with a little water. But, as Lady Macbeth eventually realizes, the guilt that the blood symbolizes needs more than water to be cleansed away. Her hallucinations later in the play, in which she washes her hands obsessively, lend irony to her insistence here that “[a] little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.65). Act 2, scene 3 A porter stumbles through the hallway to answer the knocking, grumbling comically about the noise and mocking whoever is on the other side of the door. He compares himself to a porter at the gates of hell and asks, “Who's there, i' th' name of Beelzebub?” (2.3.3). Macduff and Lennox enter, and Macduff complains about the porter's slow response to his knock. The porter says that he was up late carousing and rambles on humorously about the effects of alcohol, which he says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and urination. He adds that drink also “provokes and unprovokes” lechery—it inclines one to be lustful but takes away the ability to have sex (2.3.27). Macbeth enters, and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, saying that Duncan asked to see him early that 20 morning. In short, clipped sentences, Macbeth says that Duncan is still asleep. He offers to take Macduff to the king. As Macduff enters the king's chamber, Lennox describes the storms that raged the previous night, asserting that he cannot remember anything like it in all his years. With a cry of “O horror, horror, horror!” Macduff comes running from the room, shouting that the king has been murdered (2.3.59). Macbeth and Lennox rush in to look, while Lady Macbeth appears and expresses her horror that such a deed could be done under her roof. General chaos ensues as the other nobles and their servants come streaming in. As Macbeth and Lennox emerge from the bedroom, Malcolm and Donalbain arrive on the scene. They are told that their father has been killed, most likely by his chamberlains, who were found with bloody daggers. Macbeth declares that in his rage he has killed the chamberlains. Macduff seems suspicious of these new deaths, which Macbeth explains by saying that his fury at Duncan's death was so powerful that he could not restrain himself. Lady Macbeth suddenly faints, and both Macduff and Banquo call for someone to attend to her. Malcolm and Donalbain whisper to each other that they are not safe, since whoever killed their father will probably try to kill them next. Lady Macbeth is taken away, while Banquo and Macbeth rally the lords to meet and discuss the murder. Duncan's sons resolve to flee the court. Malcolm declares that he will go south to England, and Donalbain will hasten to Ireland. Act 2, scene 4 Ross, a thane, walks outside the castle with an old man. They discuss the strange and ominous happenings of the past few days: it is daytime, but dark outside; last Tuesday, an owl killed a falcon; and Duncan's beautiful, well-trained horses behaved wildly and ate one another. Macduff emerges from the castle and tells Ross that Macbeth has been made king by the other lords, and that he now rides to Scone to be crowned. Macduff adds that the chamberlains seem the most likely murderers, and that they may have been paid off by someone to kill Duncan. Suspicion has now fallen on the two princes, Malcolm and Donalbain, because they have fled the scene. Macduff returns to his home at Fife, and Ross departs for Scone to see the new king's coronation. Analysis, Act 2, scenes 3-4 After the bloody imagery and dark tone of the previous two scenes, the porter's comedy comes as a jarring change of tone. His good-natured joking with Macduff breaks up the mounting tension of the play and also comments obliquely on its themes. Unlike all the characters of noble birth, who speak in iambic verse, the porter speaks in prose. His relaxed language seems to signal that his words and his role are less important than those of the other characters, but in his merry banter the porter hits on many truths. His description of the confusion and lust provoked by alcohol caricatures Macbeth's moral confusion and lust for power. Moreover, his remarks about the ineffective lechery inspired by drink eerily echo Lady Macbeth's sexual taunting of Macbeth about his ability to carry out his resolutions. The porter's joke that the door of Inverness is like hell's gate ¡is ironic, given the cruel and bloody events that are taking place within the castle. When he cries, “Who's there, i' th' name of Beelzebub [the devil]?” the analogy between hell and Inverness becomes even stronger (2.3.3). Instead of receiving a welcome and a blessing when they step into Macbeth's castle, guests are warned that they are putting themselves in the hands of the devil. 21 Now that Lady Macbeth's machinations have wrought their result, Lady Macbeth begins to recede from center stage and Macbeth takes her place as the most compelling character in the play. The clipped, halting sentences with which Macbeth speaks to Macduff and Lennox indicate his troubled mind and trepidation about the impending discovery of Duncan's body. For example, while Lennox offers a lengthy speech about the wild weather of the previous night, Macbeth's only response is a terse “'Twas a rough night” (2.3.57). And when Lennox asks Macbeth, “Goes the King hence today?” Macbeth almost gives away his knowledge that Duncan is dead (2.3.49). “He does,” answers Macbeth, before he realizes that his answer is incriminating and changes it to: “[H]Je did appoint so” (2.3.49). Once Duncan's body is discovered, it is as though a switch has been flipped within Macbeth. He springs into action with a clear eye toward his purpose, seizing control of the nobles and becoming King of Scotland. Interestingly, Shakespeare does not show us the scene in which Macbeth is made king. Just as he denied us the scene of Duncan's murder, he now skips over its most direct consequence, Macbeth's election. The news is conveyed secondhand through the characters of Ross, Macduff, and the old man. Although Macbeth seems to gain confidence as Act 2, scene 3, progresses, other characters subtly cast suspicion on him. When Malcolm asks about his father's killer, Lennox replies, “Those of his chamber, as it seemed, had done't” (2.3.98). Lennox's insertion of “as ¡it seemed” highlights the suspect nature of the crime scene's appearance. Banquo, also, expresses his wariness of Macbeth's argument that the chamberlains were the murderers. He says: “let us meet / And question this most bloody piece of work, / To know it further” (2.3.123- 125). By far, though, the most distrusting character is Macduff, who, up until this point in the play, has been a fairly unobtrusive character. He asks Macbeth why he killed the chamberlains, and later expresses his suspicion to Ross and the old man. His decision to return home to Fife rather than travel to Scone to see Macbeth's coronation is an open display of opposition. Thus, in a few swift strokes, the play establishes Macduff as Macbeth's eventual nemesis. Malcolm, of course, is the rightful king, but he lacks Macduff's initiative and sense of purpose, a fact illustrated by his willingness to flee rather than assert his royal rights. In order to regain the throne, he will need the aid of the more assertive Macduff—and it is Macduff, not Malcolm, who assumes the responsibility for Macbeth's death. The conversation between Ross and the old man at the beginning of Act 2, scene 4, tells the audience about a number of unnatural occurrences in the weather and the behavior of animals, which cast a menacing shadow over Macbeth's ascension to the throne. In Shakespeare's tragedies (Julius Caesar, King Lear, and Hamlet, in particular), terrible supernatural occurrences often betoken wicked behavior on the part of the characters and tragic consequences for the state. The storms that accompany the witches' appearances and Duncan's murder are more than mere atmospheric disturbances; they are symbols of the connection between moral, natural, and political developments in the universe of Shakespeare's plays. By killing Duncan, Macbeth unleashes a kind of primal chaos upon the realm of Scotland, in which the old order of benevolent king and loyal subjects is replaced by a darker relationship between a tyrant and his victims. Act 3, scene 1 22 doorway. Macbeth speaks to him for a moment, learning that Banquo is dead and that Fleance has escaped. The news of Fleance's escape angers Macbeth—if only Fleance had died, he muses, his throne would have been secure. Instead, “the worm that's fled / Hath nature that in time will venom breed” (3.4.28-29). Returning to his guests, Macbeth goes to sit at the head of the royal table but finds Banquo's ghost sitting in his chair. Horror-struck, Macbeth speaks to the ghost, which is invisible to the rest of the company. Lady Macbeth makes excuses for her husband, saying that he occasionally has such “visions” and that the guests should simply ignore his behavior. Then she speaks to Macbeth, questioning his manhood and urging him to snap out of his trance. The ghost disappears, and Macbeth recovers, telling his company: “I have a strange infirmity which is nothing / To those that know me” (3.4.85-86). As he offers a toast to company, however, Banquo's specter reappears and shocks Macbeth into further reckless outbursts. Continuing to make excuses for her husband, Lady Macbeth sends the alarmed guests out of the room as the ghost vanishes again. Macbeth mutters that “blood will have blood” and tells Lady Macbeth that he has heard from a servant-spy that Macduff intends to keep away from court, behavior that verges on treason (3.4.121). He says that he will visit the witches again tomorrow in the hopes of learning more about the future and about who may be plotting against him. He resolves to do whatever is necessary to keep his throne, declaring: “I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should | wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er” (3.4.135-137). Lady Macbeth says that he needs sleep, and they retire to their bed. Act 3, scene 5 Upon the stormy heath, the witches meet with Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Hecate scolds them for meddling in the business of Macbeth without consulting her but declares that she will take over as supervisor of the mischief. She says that when Macbeth comes the next day, as they know he will, they must summon visions and spirits whose messages will fill him with a false sense of security and “draw him on to his confusion” (3.5.29). Hecate vanishes, and the witches go to prepare their charms. Act 3, scene 6 That night, somewhere in Scotland, Lennox walks with another lord, discussing what has happened to the kingdom. Banquo's murder has been officially blamed on Fleance, who has fled. Nevertheless, both men suspect Macbeth, whom they call a “tyrant,” in the murders of Duncan and Banquo. The lord tells Lennox that Macduff has gone to England, where he will join Malcolm in pleading with England's King Edward for aid. News of these plots has prompted Macbeth to prepare for war. Lennox and the lord express their hope that Malcolm and Macduff will be successful and that their actions can save Scotland from Macbeth. Analysis, Act 3, scenes 4-6 Throughout Macbeth, as in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, the supernatural and the unnatural appear in grotesque form as harbingers of wickedness, moral corruption, and downfall. Here, the appearance of Banquo's silent ghost, the reappearance of the witches, and the introduction of the goddess Hecate all symbolize the corruption of Scotland's political and moral health. In place of the dramatization of Macbeth's acts of despotism, 25 Shakespeare uses the scenes involving supernatural elements to increase the audience's sense of foreboding and ill omen. When Macbeth's political transgressions are revealed, Scotland's dire situation immediately registers, because the transgressions of state have been predicted by the disturbances in nature. In Macbeth's moral landscape, loyalty, honor, and virtue serve either as weak or nonexistent constraints against ambition and the lust for power. In the physical landscape that surrounds him, the normal rules of nature serve as weak constraints against the grotesqueries of the witches and the horrific ghost of Banquo. The banquet is simultaneously the high point of Macbeth's reign and the beginning of his downfall. Macbeth's bizarre behavior puzzles and disturbs his subjects, confirming their impression that he is mentally troubled. Despite the tentativeness and guilt she displayed in the previous scene, Lady Macbeth here appears surefooted and stronger than her husband, but even her attempts to explain away her husband's “hallucination” are ineffective when paired with the evidence of his behavior. The contrast between this scene and the one in which Duncan's body was discovered is striking—whereas Macbeth was once cold-blooded and surefooted, he now allows his anxieties and visions to get the best of him. It is unclear whether Banquo's ghost really sits in Macbeth's chair or whether the spirit's presence is only a hallucination inspired by guilt. Macbeth, of course, is thick with supernatural events and characters, so there is no reason to discount the possibility that a ghost actually stalks the halls. Some of the apparitions that appear in the play, such as the floating dagger in Act 2, scene 1, and the unwashable blood that Lady Macbeth perceives on her hands in Act 4, appear to be more psychological than supernatural in origin, but even this is uncertain. These recurring apparitions or hallucinations reflect the sense of metaphysical dread that consumes the royal couple as they feel the fateful force of their deeds coming back to haunt them. Given the role that Banquo's character plays in Macbeth, it is appropriate that he and not Duncan should haunt Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo heard the witches' prophecies and entertained ambitions. But, unlike Macbeth, Banquo took no criminal action. His actions stand as a rebuke to Macbeth's behavior and represent a path not taken, one in which ambition need not beget bloodshed. In Holinshed's Chronicles, the history that served as the source for Shakespeare's Macbeth, Banquo was Macbeth's accomplice in Duncan's murder. Shakespeare most likely changed Banquo's role from villain to moral pillar because Shakespeare's patron, King James | of England, was believed to be Banquo's descendant. Shakespeare also portrays the historical figure of King Edward the Confessor, to whom Malcolm and Macduff have gone to receive help combating Macbeth. Edward is presented as the complete opposite of the evil, corrupt Macbeth. By including mention of England and Scotland's cooperation in the play, Shakespeare emphasizes that the bond between the two countries, renewed in his time by James's kingship, is a long- standing one. At the same time, the fact that Macbeth's opposition coalesces in England is at once a suggestion that Scotland has become too thoroughly corrupted to resist Macbeth and a self-congratulatory nod to Shakespeare's English audience. Act 4, scene 1 26 In a dark cavern, a bubbling cauldron hisses and spits, and the three witches suddenly appear onstage. They circle the cauldron, chanting spells and adding bizarre ingredients to their stew—"“eye of newt and toe of frog, / Wool of bat and tongue of dog” (4.1.14-15). Hecate materializes and compliments the witches on their work. One of the witches then chants: “By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes” (4.1.61- 62). In fulfillment of the witch's prediction, Macbeth enters. He asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. To answer his questions, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth's fears. First, a floating head warns him to beware Macduff; Macbeth says that he has already guessed as much. Then a bloody child appears and tells him that “none of woman born / shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.96-97). Next, a crowned child holding a tree tells him that he is safe until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. Finally, a procession of eight crowned kings walks by, the last carrying a mirror. Banquo's ghost walks at the end of the line. Macbeth demands to know the meaning of this final vision, but the witches perform a mad dance and then vanish. Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth resolves to send murderers to capture Macduff's castle and to kill Macduff's wife and children. Act 4, scene 2 At Macduff's castle, Lady Macduff accosts Ross, demanding to know why her husband has fled. She feels betrayed. Ross insists that she trust her husband's judgment and then regretfully departs. Once he is gone, Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is dead, but the little boy perceptively argues that he is not. Suddenly, a messenger hurries in, warning Lady Macduff that she is in danger and urging her to flee. Lady Macduff protests, arguing that she has done no wrong. A group of murderers then enters. When one of them denounces Macduff, Macduff's son calls the murderer a liar, and the murderer stabs him. Lady Macduff turns and runs, and the pack of killers chases after her. Act 4, scene 3 Outside King Edward's palace, Malcolm speaks with Macduff, telling him that he does not trust him since he has left his family in Scotland and may be secretly working for Macbeth. To determine whether Macduff is trustworthy, Malcolm rambles on about his own vices. He admits that he wonders whether he is fit to be king, since he claims to be lustful, greedy, and violent. At first, Macduff politely disagrees with his future king, but eventually Macduff cannot keep himself from crying out, “O Scotland, Scotland!” (4.3.101). Macduff's loyalty to Scotland leads him to agree that Malcolm is not fit to govern Scotland and perhaps not even to live. In giving voice to his disparagement, Macduff has passed Malcolm's test of loyalty. Malcolm then retracts the lies he has put forth about his supposed shortcomings and embraces Macduff as an ally. A doctor appears briefly and mentions that a “crew of wretched souls” waits for King Edward so they may be cured (4.3.142). When the doctor leaves, Malcolm explains to Macduff that King Edward has a miraculous power to cure disease. Ross enters. He has just arrived from Scotland, and tells Macduff that his wife and children are well. He urges Malcolm to return to his country, listing the woes that have befallen Scotland since Macbeth took the crown. Malcolm says that he will return with ten thousand soldiers lent him by the English king. Then, breaking down, Ross confesses to Macduff that Macbeth has murdered his wife and children. Macduff is crushed with grief. Malcolm urges him to turn his grief to anger, and Macduff assures him that he will inflict revenge upon Macbeth. 27 Act 5, scene 5 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. Within the castle, Macbeth blusteringly orders that banners be hung and boasts that his castle will repel the enemy. A woman's cry is heard, and Seyton appears to tell Macbeth that the queen is dead. Shocked, Macbeth speaks numbly about the passage of time and declares famously that life is “a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing” (5.5.25-27). A messenger enters with astonishing news: the trees of Birnam Wood are advancing toward Dunsinane. Enraged and terrified, Macbeth recalls the prophecy that said he could not die till Birnam Wood moved to Dunsinane. Resignedly, he declares that he is tired of the sun and that at least he will die fighting. Act 5, scene 6 Outside the castle, the battle commences. Malcolm orders the English soldiers to throw down their boughs and draw their swords. Act 5, scene 7 On the battlefield, Macbeth strikes those around him vigorously, insolent because no man born of woman can harm him. He slays Lord Siward's son and disappears in the fray. Act 5, scene 8 Macduff emerges and searches the chaos frantically for Macbeth, whom he longs to cut down personally. He dives again into the battle. Act 5, scene 9 Malcolm and Siward emerge and enter the castle. Act 5, scene 10 Elsewhere on the battlefield, Macbeth at last encounters Macduff. They fight, and when Macbeth insists that he is invincible because of the witches' prophecy, Macduff tells Macbeth that he was not of woman born, but rather “from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped” (5.10.15-16). Macbeth suddenly fears for his life, but he declares that he will not surrender “[t]o kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, / And to be baited with the rabble's curse” (5.10.28-29). They exit fighting. 30 Act 5, scene 11 Malcolm and Siward walk together in the castle, which they have now effectively captured. Ross tells Siward that his son is dead. Macduff emerges with Macbeth's head in his hand and proclaims Malcolm King of Scotland. Malcolm declares that all his thanes will be made earls, according to the English system of peerage. They will be the first such lords in Scottish history. Cursing Macbeth and his “fiend-like” queen, Malcolm calls all those around him his friends and invites them all to see him crowned at Scone (5.11.35). Analysis,Act 5, scenes 1-11 The rapid tempo of the play's development accelerates into breakneck frenzy in Act 5, as the relatively long scenes of previous acts are replaced by a flurry of short takes, each of which furthers the action toward its violent conclusion on the battlefield outside Dunsinane Castle. We see the army's and Malcolm's preparation for battle, the fulfillment of the witches' prophecies, and the demises of both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth, her icy nerves shattered by the weight of guilt and paranoia, gives way to sleepwalking and a delusional belief that her hands are stained with blood. “Out, damned spot,” she cries in one of the play's most famous lines, and adds, “[W]ho would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (5.1.30, 33-34). Her belief that nothing can wash away the blood is, of course, an ironic and painful reversal of her earlier claim to Macbeth that “[a] little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.65). Macbeth, too, is unable to sleep. His and Lady Macbeth's sleeplessness was foreshadowed by Macbeth's hallucination at the moment of the murder, when he believed that a voice cried out “Macbeth does murder sleep” (2.2.34). Like Duncan's death and Macbeth's ascension to the kingship, Lady Macbeth's suicide does not take place onstage; it is merely reported. Macbeth seems numb in response to the news of his wife's death, which seems surprising, especially given the great love he appears to have borne for his wife. Yet, his indifferent response reflects the despair that has seized him as he realizes that what has come to seem the game of life ¡is almost up. Indeed, Macbeth's speech following his wife's death is one of the most famous expressions of despair in all of literature. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,” he says grimly, 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. (5.5.18-27) These words reflect Macbeth's feeling of hopelessness, of course, but they have a self-justifying streak as well — for if life is “full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing,” then Macbeth's crimes, too, are meaningless rather than evil. 31 Additionally, the speech's insistence that “[llife's .. . a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage” can be read as a dark and somewhat subversive commentary on the relationship between the audience and the play. After all, Macbeth is just a player on an English stage, and his statement undercuts the suspension of disbelief that the audience must maintain in order to enter the action of the play. If we take Macbeth's statement as expressing Shakespeare's own perspective on the theater, then the entire play can be seen as being “full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.” Admittedly, it seems unlikely that the playwright would have put his own perspective on the stage in the mouth of a despairing, desperate murderer. Still, Macbeth's words remind us of the essential theatricality of the action—that the lengthy soliloquies, offstage deaths, and poetic speeches are not meant to capture reality but to reinterpret it in order to evoke a certain emotional response from the audience. Despite the pure nihilism of this speech, Macbeth seems to fluctuate between despair and ridiculous bravado, making his own dissolution rougher and more complex than that of his wife. Lured into a false sense of security by the final prophecies of the witches, he gives way to boastfulness and a kind of self-destructive arrogance. When the battle begins, Macbeth clings, against all apparent evidence, to the notion that he will not be harmed because he is protected by the prophecy—although whether he really believes it at this stage, or is merely hanging on to the last thread of hope he has left, is debatable. Macbeth ceased to be a sympathetic hero once he made the decision to kill Duncan, but by the end of the play he has become so morally repulsive that his death comes as a powerful relief. Ambition and bloodlust must be checked by virtue for order and form to be restored to the sound and fury of human existence. Only with Malcolm's victory and assumption of the crown can Scotland, and the play itself, be saved from the chaos engendered by Macbeth. 32