Macbeth (IGCSE English Literature) ACT 1
This is my note from roughly two years ago. I typed it from my book, so I suppose it is according to the original script. The literary devices column is based on my notes in the class, hopefully everyone can at least gain something from it.
As the file are too big, I had to split it according to acts. I included all the link below so it will be easier for your reference.
As the file are too big, I had to split it according to acts. I included all the link below so it will be easier for your reference.
Click here to access the other acts
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ACT
/ SCENE
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TEXT
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LITERARY
DEVICES
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Act 1,
Scene 1
SUMMARY
Thunder and lightning crash above a Scottish
moor. Three haggard old women, the witches, appear out of the storm. In
eerie, chanting tones, they make plans to meet again upon the heath, after
the battle, to confront Macbeth. As quickly as they arrive, they disappear.
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SCENE I. A desert place.
Thunder and lightning.
Enter three Witches
[Exeunt]
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1) Shakespeare uses the imagery
of “thunder and lightning”
as the three Witches enter
to suggest the tumult that is about to occur in Scotland.
2) The
sisters speak in rhymes in line 3-4.
3) They also speak in contradictions, including the "lost and won" line, and later in the scene, where they all sing together "fair is foul and foul is fair." Through these paradoxes, Shakespeare may be suggesting the deception and duplicity that will characterize the events of the play.
4) The
descriptors "foul" and "filthy" emphasize the evil of the
witches, as well as the mischief they will perpetrate.
5) Overall,
Shakespeare uses this scene to foreshadow the terrible events that are to come
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Act 1, scene 2
SUMMARY
At a military camp near his palace at Forres,
King Duncan of Scotland asks a wounded captain for news about the Scots’
battle with the Irish invaders, who are led by the rebel Macdonald. The
captain, who was wounded helping Duncan’s son Malcolm escape capture by the
Irish, replies that the Scottish generals Macbeth and Banquo fought with
great courage and violence. The captain then describes for Duncan how Macbeth
slew the traitorous Macdonald. As the captain is carried off to have his
wounds attended to, the thane of Ross, a Scottish nobleman, enters and tells
the king that the traitorous thane of Cawdor has been defeated and the army
of Norway repelled. Duncan decrees that the thane of Cawdor be put to death
and that Macbeth, the hero of the victorious army, be given Cawdor’s title.
Ross leaves to deliver the news to Macbeth.
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SCENE II. A camp near Forres.
The King’s
headquarters: alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALDBAIN, LENNOX, with
Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain
DUNCAN
What bloody man is
that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state.
MALCOLM
This is the captain
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it.
Captain
Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonald-- Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him--from the western isles Of kerns and galloglasses is supplied; And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak: For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name-- Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
DUNCAN
 Captain  As whence the sun 'gins his reflectionShipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had with valour arm'd Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage, With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men Began a fresh assault.
DUNCAN
Captain
Yes;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe: Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, Or memorise another Golgotha, I cannot tell. But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
DUNCAN
Exit Captain, attended
Enter ROSS
MALCOLM
LENNOX
From Fife, great king;
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky And fan our people cold. Norway himself, With terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict; Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof, Confronted him with self-comparisons, Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm. Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude, The victory fell on us.
That now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition: Nor would we deign him burial of his men Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
No more that thane of
Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth.
[Exeunt]
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1) Malcolm uses simile to reinforce the captain's bravery when he saves Malcolm.
Malcolm says "...like a good and
hardy soldier," (4) Although he is already a soldier anyway, Malcolm
has made this comparison to suggest that the captain has exceeded
expectations by going to great lengths to save Malcolm himself.
2) The captain makes use of simile when he makes a comparison
between the tired soldiers and
"two spent swimmers that do cling together," (8) suggesting
that the soldiers are more than merely tired, being confused and even
helpless
3) Simile
is also used when the captain extols Macbeth's virtues as he, "Like valor's minion, carved out his
passage..."(19) Macbeth is to be emulated, setting an example,
having learnt from "valor" itself.
P/s : Simile
and the other devices used in this scene contribute to the intense situation
which is developing.
4) Personification - "And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, showed like a rebel's whore; but at all's too weak" (14-15). Shakespeare personifies fortune, giving it human-like attributes of quarrelling and smiling. The emotions ascribed to Fortune portray 'him' to be contrary, leaving the reader to understand that not only does fate have a role in the play, but also shows itself to be fickle
5) This scene exhibits many classic
examples of figurative language,
and one of the most masterful literary devices in the passage can be found in
one of the Sergeant's rich similes (25-28)
6) Imagery - "For brave Macbeth...disdaining
fortune, with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution"
(16-18). Shakespeare uses
descriptive details that appeal to the audience's emotions and
imaginations. Duncan's captain
describes Macbeth as "disdaining
fortune," which later proves to be ironic since one of Macbeth's
tragic flaws is his ambition. The
description of Macbeth's sword as an instrument of execution foreshadows
later murderous events in the play.
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Act
1, scene 3
SUMMARY
On
the heath near the battlefield, thunder rolls and the three witches appear.
One says that she has just come from “[k]illing swine” and another describes
the revenge she has planned upon a sailor whose wife refused to share her
chestnuts. Suddenly a drum beats, and the third witch cries that Macbeth is
coming. Macbeth and Banquo, on their way to the king’s court at Forres, come
upon the witches and shrink in horror at the sight of the old women. Banquo
asks whether they are mortal, noting that they don’t seem to be “inhabitants
o’ th’ earth” (1.3.39). He also wonders whether they are really women, since
they seem to have beards like men. The witches hail Macbeth as thane of
Glamis (his original title) and as thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is baffled by
this second title, as he has not yet heard of King Duncan’s decision. The
witches also declare that Macbeth will be king one day. Stunned and
intrigued, Macbeth presses the witches for more information, but they have
turned 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.
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SCENE III. A heath near Forres.
The heath: thunder.
Enter the three Witches
First Witch
Where hast thou been,
sister?
Second Witch
Killing swine.
Third Witch
Sister, where thou?
First Witch
A sailor's wife had
chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd. 'Give me,' quoth I. 'Aroint thee, witch,' the rump-fed runnion cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'th’Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
Second Witch
I'll give thee a wind.
First Witch
Thou'rt kind.
Third Witch
And I another.
First Witch
I myself have all the
other,
And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I'th’shipman's card. I’ll drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his pent-house lid; He shall live a man forbid: Weary sennights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak and pine: Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tost’d. Look what I have.
Second Witch
Show me, show me.
First Witch
Here I have a pilot's
thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
Drum within
Third Witch
A drum, a drum;
Macbeth doth come.
ALL
The weird sisters,
hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about: Thrice to thine and thrice to mine And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace! the charm's wound up.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO
MACBETH
So foul and fair a day
I have not seen.
BANQUO
How far is't called to
Forres? What are these,
So wither'd and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on't?-Live you, or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.
MACBETH
Speak, if you can:
what are you?
First Witch
All hail, Macbeth,
hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth,
hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth,
thou shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you
start and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I'th’name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favours nor your hate.
First Witch
Hail!
Second Witch
Hail!
Third Witch
Hail!
First Witch
Lesser than Macbeth,
and greater.
Second Witch
Not so happy, yet much
happier.
Third Witch
Thou shalt get kings,
though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
First Witch
Banquo and Macbeth,
all hail!
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect
speakers, tell me more:
By Finel's death I know I am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence, or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
Witches vanish
BANQUO
The earth hath
bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH
Into the air; and what
seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!
BANQUO
Were such things here
as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner?
MACBETH
Your children shall be
kings.
BANQUO
You shall be king.
MACBETH
And thane of Cawdor
too: went it not so?
BANQUO
To th’selfsame tune
and words. Who's here?
Enter ROSS and ANGUS
ROSS
The king hath happily
receiv’d, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine or his: silenced with that, In viewing o'er the rest o'th’selfsame day, He finds thee in the stout Norwegian ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as hail Came post with post; and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, And pour'd them down before him.
ANGUS
We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks; Only to herald thee into his sight, Not pay thee.
ROSS
And, for an earnest of
a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor: In which addition, hail, most worthy thane! For it is thine.
BANQUO
What, can the devil
speak true?
MACBETH
The thane of Cawdor
lives: why do you dress me
In borrow'd robes?
ANGUS
Who was the thane
lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined With those of Norway, or did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not; But treasons capital, confess'd and proved, Have overthrown him.
MACBETH
[Aside] Glamis, and
thane of Cawdor!
The greatest is behind.
To ROSS and ANGUS
Thanks for your pains.
To BANQUO
Do you not hope your
children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me Promised no less to them?
BANQUO
That trusted home
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence. Cousins, a word, I pray you.
MACBETH
[Aside] Two truths are
told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen.
Aside
Cannot be ill, cannot
be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor: If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is But what is not.
BANQUO
Look, how our
partner's rapt.
MACBETH
[Aside] If chance will
have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
BANQUO
New horrors come upon
him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould But with the aid of use.
MACBETH
[Aside] Come what come
may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
BANQUO
Worthy Macbeth, we
stay upon your leisure.
MACBETH
Give me your favour:
my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains Are register'd where every day I turn The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. Think upon what hath chanced, and, at more time, The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other.
BANQUO
Very gladly.
MACBETH
Till then, enough.
Come, friends.
Exeunt
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1) "I will drain him dry as hay"
(18). This line uses simile,
comparing the dryness to that of hay. The witch uses 'hay' in her comparison,
something natural and common to the audience, which provides an interesting
juxtaposition to the otherworldly strangeness of the sisters.
2) "So
foul and fair a day I have not seen" (37). Macbeth uses alliteration with the repeating
consonant sounds which make the words sound similar, but the actual meaning
of the words creates a vivid contrast.
This idea of contrast becomes a theme throughout Macbeth, that outward
appearance does not always suggest inward motive.
3) "Into the air; and what seemed corporeal,
melted, As breath into the wind" (81-82). Macbeth uses simile to compare the witches'
disappearance to breathe evaporating in the wind. The comparison is an interesting one,
because Macbeth and Banquo use the natural world (bubbles, water, breath) to explain
an unnatural occurrence. This supports
Shakespeare's developing theme of contrasting outer appearance with what is
on the inside.
4) Shakespeare
uses personification, “the insane root...takes the reason
prisoner" (84-85). As Macbeth will abandon all reason and Lady
Macbeth will go insane, using personification here and giving human
characteristics to the insane root and to reason strengthens the conflicting
circumstances of a day that is both foul and fair and it forewarns the
audience that things are going to change.
5) Chance is
also personified in this scene and
this is very significant because of Macbeth's reliance on the witches. The
audience wonders whether Macbeth will allow time and circumstance to take
effect so that "Chance may crown
me, Without my stir" (143).
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Act 1, scene 4
SUMMARY
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
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SCENE IV. Forres. The palace.
The King’s
headquarters. Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALDBAIN, LENNOX, and
Attendants
DUNCAN
Is execution done on
Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd?
MALCOLM
My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke With one that saw him die: who did report That very frankly he confess'd his treasons, Implored your highness' pardon and set  forthA deep repentance: nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it; he died  As one that had been studied in his deathTo throw away the dearest thing he owed, As 'twere a careless trifle.
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.
Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS
O worthiest cousin!
The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me: thou art so far before That swiftest wing of recompense is slow To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved, That the proportion both of thanks and payment Might have been mine! only I have left to say, More is thy due than more than all can pay.
MACBETH
The service and the
loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part Is to receive our duties; and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should, by doing every thing Safe toward your love and honour.
DUNCAN
Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo, That hast no less deserved, nor must be known No less to have done so, let me enfold thee And hold thee to my heart.
BANQUO
There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
DUNCAN
My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, And you whose places are the nearest, know We will establish our estate upon Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine On all deservers. From hence to Inverness, And bind us further to you.
MACBETH
The rest is labour,
which is not used for you:
I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful The hearing of my wife with your approach; So humbly take my leave.
DUNCAN
My worthy Cawdor!
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.
Exit
DUNCAN
True, worthy Banquo;
he is full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed; It is a banquet to me. Let's after him, Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome: It is a peerless kinsman.
[Flourish. Exeunt]
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1) "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face: He
was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust" (12-15). In this quote, Duncan uses a building metaphor. Using the comparison of
"construction," Duncan relates knowing the mind of a man to being
able to read his face. He speaks of
building trust, but the reality is that Duncan speaks of a man who betrayed
him. He could not rely on outward appearance alone.
2) The simile in line 9-11, a comparison of two unalike things using
like or as, compares the nobleman, just as he was about to be executed, to
someone who has practiced how to throw away his most valued possession as
though it were nothing. In other words, then, the thane died with some
dignity and honour, without histrionics or drama.
3) "I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full
of growing" (28-29). Duncan
uses a planting metaphor to
describe the ways that he will encourage and help his kinsmen be
successful. The metaphor also extends
to how Banquo will grow in Duncan's heart.
Banquo responds, still buying into Duncan's comparison, that "the
harvest is your own" (34). The
idea of harvest, crops, and planting suggests growth and development,
emotionally and socially for Banquo as well as Duncan.
4) Macbeth also joins in with metaphor of his own as he compares
the Prince of Cumberland to a "step
on which I must fall down, or else o'er leap" (48-49). This comparison reveals that Macbeth
sees the prince as an obstacle which must be overcome, foreshadowing
Macbeth's ambitious desire to reach the throne.
5) Personification - Macbeth commands the stars to "hide your fires," so they would
not see his "black and deep desires." (50-52) Macbeth's address
to the stars reveals his true intent, in an aside to the audience. The stars also symbolize fate.
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Act 1,
Scene 5
SUMMARY
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 attendant 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.
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SCENE V. Inverness. Macbeth's castle.
Enter LADY MACBETH,
reading a letter
LADY MACBETH
[Reads]'They met me in the day of success: and I have
learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.' 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: what thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis, That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown'd withal.
Enter an Attendant
What is your tidings?
Attendant
The king comes here
to-night.
LADY MACBETH
Thou'rt mad to say it:
Is not thy master with him? Who, were't so, Would have inform'd for preparation.
Attendant
So please you, it is
true: our thane is coming:
One of my fellows had the speed of him, Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more Than would make up his message.
LADY MACBETH
Give him tending;
He brings great news.
Exit Attendant
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!'
Enter MACBETH
Great Glamis; worthy
Cawdor!
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant.
MACBETH
My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
LADY MACBETH
And when goes hence?
MACBETH
To-morrow, as he
purposes.
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 night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
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]
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1) Lady Macbeth
uses personification in referring
to "the raven himself is hoarse
that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan" (39-40). Besides giving the raven given human
qualities, Lady Macbeth also ascribes to him a prophetic voice; this type of
bird was often thought to be a harbinger of doom. She transfers her own feelings to the bird,
such as her desire for Duncan's death.
2) Lady
Macbeth employs personification
again later in her speech with the wish that her "keen knife see not the wound it makes" (51). Her thoughts are of murder. She gives human
qualities to the murder weapon, but she is really speaking to herself in an
attempt to stay her resolve to carry out the foul deed.
3) Metaphors - Lady
Macbeth says that she wants to "pour
my spirits in thine ear," (25) referring to her desire to fill her
husband with evil thoughts, comparing them to spirits.
4) Alliteration - Lady
Macbeth says, "Give solely
sovereign sway and masterdom." (69) Alliteration involves the
repetition of initial sounds of words and makes the scene sound more poetic.
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Act 1,
Scene 6
SUMMARY
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 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.
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SCENE VI. Before Macbeth's castle.
Inverness: approaching
Macbeth’s castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALDBAIN,
BANQUO, LENNOX, MACDUFF, ROSS, ANGUS, and Attendants
DUNCAN
  This castle hath a pleasant seat; the airNimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses.
BANQUO
  This guest of summer,The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle: Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed, The air is delicate.
Enter LADY MACBETH
DUNCAN
See, see, our honour'd
hostess!
The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains, And thank us for your trouble.
LADY MACBETH
All our service
In every point twice done and then done double Were poor and single business to contend Against those honours deep and broad wherewith Your majesty loads our house: for those of old, And the late dignities heap'd up to them, We rest your hermits.
DUNCAN
Where's the thane of
Cawdor?
We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose To be his purveyor: but he rides well; And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, We are your guest to-night.
LADY MACBETH
Your servants ever
Have theirs, themselves and what is theirs, in compt, To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, Still to return your own.
DUNCAN
Give me your hand;
Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly, And shall continue our graces towards him. By your leave, hostess.
[Exeunt]
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1)
Duncan uses a riding jargon as he asks after Macbeth, saying "we coursed him at the heels,"(22) meaning they rode
closely behind him.
2) Thinking that Macbeth rode quickly, he compares Macbeth's love "sharp as his spur"(24) which
helped him home. This simile suggests that Macbeth's great
love for his home was the driving force behind his fast pace.
3) The first irony is in Duncan's description of the setting. From the very first, Duncan misreads the scene, line 1-3.
"Pleasant," "sweet" and
"gentle" are ironic terms in this context: the castle will be the
opposite of that to Duncan.
4) (9-10) Later, we will come to understand the irony of these words. The castle will
become anything but "delicate" towards him and not all the sweet
scents of the Orient will mask the stench of blood that haunts the grounds
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Act 1,
Scene 7
SUMMARY
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.
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SCENE VII. Macbeth's castle.
Hautboys and torches.
Enter a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service, and pass over the
stage. 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 virtuesWill 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.
Enter LADY MACBETH
How now! what news?
LADY MACBETH
He has almost supp'd:
why have you left the chamber?
MACBETH
Hath he ask'd for me?
LADY MACBETH
Know you not he has?
MACBETH
We will proceed no further
in this business:
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon.
LADY MACBETH
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' Like the poor cat i' the adage?
MACBETH
Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.
LADY MACBETH
What beast was't,
then,
That made you break this enterprise to me? 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. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. 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.
MACBETH
If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep-- Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep Their drenched natures lie as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell?
MACBETH
Bring forth
men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. Will it not be received, When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber and used their very daggers, That they have done't?
LADY MACBETH
Who dares receive it
other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar Upon his death?
MACBETH
I am settled, and bend
up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Exeunt
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1) Macbeth employs a metaphor
when he compares the murder of Duncan to a "poisoned chalice" that could be returned to his own
lips (11). He fears that once he has committed the murder of a king, he could
put the idea into other people's heads, and then they could come for him.
2) She also uses a simile
to compare her husband and his cowardliness to "the poor cat i'th'adage" who lets "'I dare not' wait upon 'I would'"
(1.7.49, 1.7.48). She says that he is
like the old cat in the story who always says "I can't" or "I'd
better not" after he says "I
want to."
3) Later, in pondering Duncans' virtues, Macbeth uses a simile to compare the strength of
the king's character to angels, line 18-20. Macbeth worries that Duncan's attributes are so great, as Duncan
has been such a virtuous leader, that his legacy as a humble and generous
king will speak for him, even after his death, like angels playing trumpets
to signal the foulness of his murder and ultimately reveal Macbeth as his
murderer.
4) The phrase "Like
angels trumpet-tongued" (19) also begins a strong allusion to Christian beliefs with
references to Heaven, cherubin, and
"couriers of the air" (23).
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