MACBETH

ACT 1 SCENE 1
The play takes place in Scotland. The scene opens with a desert place: three witches known as the
"Weird Sisters" meet to plan their next encounter with Macbeth, a Scottish general and the Thane of
Glamis. They agree to gather again at twilight upon a heath that Macbeth will cross on his way home
from the battle. The dialogue of the witches is a sort of chant.

The atmosphere is dark, worrying and full of equivocation which is one of the main themes of this
play. Some examples of equivocations in this scene are when the battle's lost and won and fair is
foul, and foul is fair. These ones are very important because they’re linked with the theme of
appearance vs reality.
● “When the battle's lost and won” underlines the ambiguosity of “Macbeth”. As the play
develops, we’ll see that each victory will lead to more losses and vice versa. For example,
Banquo will be assassinated but his progeny will become king of Scotland (while Macbeth
will win but eventually he will lose everything).
● “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” underlines the fact that nothing is what it seems. Over the
whole play, it will be difficult to distinguish the values between good and evil because what
is good is bad and what is bad is good. Even the witches that seem bad, they are not. In this
play, in fact, witches don't represent evil. Their image is not so negative: they’re not the
manifestation of evil, but rather tempting elements.

In line 2 the stress falls on the second syllable of each foot. In line 8 the stressed syllable in the third
foot is omitted. This forces us to pause in the middle of the line and so secures additional emphasis
for the closing word, "Macbeth":
● "There to meet with Macbeth" it's the first time we hear the name of Macbeth directly. This
kind of presentation suggests that these ministers of darkness are plotting against Macbeth
because they're the first who say his name.
● “Hurly-burly” represents the chaos against nature, symbolised by the political agitations of
the period in which the tragedy was written: the instability caused by the Gunpowder plot
(1605) against James I.

As quickly as they appeared, the witches disappear in the form of their familiars:
● The familiar of the First Witch takes the form of a cat.
● The familiar of the Second Witch takes the form of a toad (Paddock).
● The familiar of the Third Witch is not mentioned in the first act but in 4.1, it takes the form
of a “harpy”, a nasty creature in Greek mythology with the head and body of a woman and
the talons of a bird.
The desert place, the appearance of the witches, the chant prepare us for a drama in which a human
soul succumbs to the supernatural suggestion of evil alluded by the dark atmosphere (lightning,
thunder, rain).
ACT 1 SCENE 2
The scene is set in the king's camp near Forres, a little town in the north of Scotland. Forres is ninety
miles north of the county of Fife, in which Macbeth is supposed to be fighting, but Shakespeare, who
knew little about Scotland’s geography, writes that the noise of the battle can be heard nearby.
The phrase "alarum within," in the stage directions, in fact, indicates the noise of the battle.

As the play opens, Duncan (king of Scotland) learns by a bleeding captain about Macbeth's bravery in
a victorious battle against Macdonald — a Scot who sided with the Norwegians (traitor). This scene
describes in particular the attack made by Macbeth on the castle of Macdonald: Macbeth has killed
his enemy and planted his head on the battlements of the castle.
In this scene the hero is presented to us through the report of a captain/sergeant who describes him
as a brave and ruthless soldier who doesn’t hesitate to fight for his country and to kill traitors. This
connotation is very important since Macbeth will turn into the traitor.
When Angus and Ross (two Thanes) arrive to tell Duncan that the Thane of Cawdor has surrendered,
the king gladly hands over the Thane's title and all his lands to Macbeth. Ironically, though, he
replaces one traitor with a much worse traitor.

This scene is one of the most difficult parts of the play. Its diction and the irregularity of its metre
have induced some critics to condemn it as un-Shakespearean writing and to assign it to Thomas
Middleton. But there seems to be no good ground for this. The scene has probably been “cut” for
purposes of representation, and the high-flown language of the speakers is due, in part at least, to
their excitement. Each of them has come hot-foot from a field of the battle where he has seen a
glorious victory over the enemies of his country.
In the description of the battle we can find an alternance of:
❖ primitive images (line 20 “smoked with bloody execution”, line 24 “he unseam'd him from
the nave to the chaps”, lines 43-44 “except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds” “or
memorize another Golgotha”) that show Macbeth as a cruel person since he doesn’t kill his
enemy with honor.
❖ noble images associated with Macbeth as a valorous hero (line 19 “disdaining fortune, with
his brandish'd steel”, line 21 “like valour's minion”, line 31 “no sooner justice had with valour
arm'd” ).
❖ ambiguous images ( line 21 “carved out his passage”, line 39 “As sparrows eagles, or the
hare the lion”).

● “O valiant cousin” (line 26): according to Holinshed chronicles, we know that Macbeth was
Duncan’s first cousin.
● The transformation in the weather that we read at line 27-28 reflects the transformation of
our hero from the savior of his country to the enemy.
● At line 30 we also read “Mark, king of Scotland, mark”: these words are a warning from the
captain for king Duncan, who must pay attention because something bad is going to happen
upon his eyes.
 ● At line 39 “As sparrows (Duncan) eagles (Macbeth and Banquo), or the hare (Duncan) the
lion (Macbeth and Banquo)”: it’s parallelism that compares the intrinsic corruption of
Macbeth is represented by the use of wild animals (eagles, lion), and the innocence of
Duncan is represented by the sparrow and the hare.

ACT 1 SCENE 3
The Witches meet on a dark heath to await Macbeth. In the first thirty-seven lines of the scene, the
witches recount to each other the evil deeds in which they have been engaged since their last
meeting: the first one says she has been killing pigs while another talks about how she plans to take
revenge on a woman who refused to share chestnuts with her.
It’s worth noting that these deeds are pretty and vulgar, but just as every good deed — even the
giving of a cup of cold water, — is a blessed thing, so every evil deed — even the killing of swine —
is a delight to the powers of evil.

This conversation, moreover, serves to identify the "weird sisters" of the play with the familiar
witches of Elizabethan superstition. From their stories, we can deduce that the three witches are
very vindictive.

The Tiger is the name of the ship on which the husband of the woman is. It’s not, by chance, the
reference to the name of a wild animal as we have already seen. A real ship called “Tiger'' sailed for
Aleppo in Syria in 1583. The same ship, later, sailed from England to Japan on the 5th of december of
1604. And finally came back to England on the 27th of June in 1606. The calm the ship spent away (5
december 1604 - 27 giugno 1606) correspond to the threat in line 22: “Weary se'n nights nine times
nine”. This is another historical reference which informs us when Shakespeare wrote the play.
“Sleep shall neither night nor day” announces the future of Macbeth. In fact, also Macbeth, like the
Tiger’s pilot, will lose sleep (a sort of punishment for Duncan’s murder).

Last but not least, the importance of this scene is the fact that the witches don’t have any power on
life and death (so they’re not the cause of Duncan’s death), but they desire to cause evil whenever
possible.

The revenge on the pilot is not at all proportional to what his wife did to offend the witches. The
scene where Macbeth enters is opened by thunder and witches such as the first time we heard his
name. From line 37 to line 39 we read “Thrice to thine and thrice to mine and thrice again, to make
up nine. Peace! the charm's wound up” which supports the fact, on the contrary, that the witches
can be the origin of the idea of assassination.
Macbeth arrives with Banquo repeating the witches paradoxical phrase “So foul and fair day I have
not seen”: fair might refer to the victory, while foul to the bad weather or also to the archip of the
battle. Then, they come across the witches, and are horrified at the sight of them. Banquo is the
first to address the witches: wonders if the witches are from another planet, or even real, because
they look very old. He’s not even sure if they're women because of their beards.
The first physical description of the witches is made by Banquo because he’s not involved in the
world represented by the witches, so he is able to describe them objectively.

The witches address Macbeth as:

★ Thane of Glamis
★ Thane of Cawdor
★ King of the Scots
This greeting seems to frighten Macbeth.

He is too stunned to speak and thus Banquo asks the Witches if there are some predictions for him.
The persistence of Banquo comes from his ambition: he would like to have some predictions too.
This fact underlines a hint of ambition in Banquo — according to Shakespeare, ambition is the cause
of Macbeth’s fall.
They tell him he will be "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater" and "Not so happy, yet much happier".
They also tell Banquo that even though he will never himself be king, he will be the father of a line
of kings (third prediction). According to Holinshed Chronicles, the royal house of Stuarts sprang from
Banquo’s son.

Then the Witches disappear into the darkness despite the insistence of Macbeth who wants
insistently to know more about his destiny. Note the different way in which the sudden vanishing of
the witches affects Banquo and Macbeth. The former is only surprised, the latter regrets that they
did not remain to tell him more.
● “Speak, I charge you” (line 77): difference between Macbeth and Banquo (normal curiosity).
● “reason prisoner”: this expression surpasses the direct meaning and suggests a main course
of the tragedy: the theme of the natural order of things, which will be broken after
Duncan’s death, in fact reversal of values, passion and madness will win over reason.

Once alone, Macbeth and Banquo pretend not to believe anything the Weird Sisters have said, but
in secret they cannot help thinking that there is a little truth to the witches’ words.
Ross and Angus arrive to inform Macbeth that Duncan has appointed him Thane of Cawdor. The
fact that this announcement is given by Ross and not by the king underlines that Macbeth is nothing
more than a subject. Moreover he greets Macbeth with “hail Thane of Cawdor” which recollects not
only the witches, but also the “hail” with his negative connotation and his power of destruction.

Banquo and Macbeth speak. Banquo is really objective and warns Macbeth of the danger of the
witches, instruments of darkness, who often flatter men with truths to put them on the wrong path.
● “This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good”: antithesis and equivocation.
● “if good, why do I yield to that suggestion” this sentence shows us Macbeth struggling with
his conscience.
● “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”: proof that Macbeth had
already thought about Duncan’s murder. The word “murder” represent the birth of evil in
his soul.
At this point, the question is:
● “Did the witches activate an idea that had already crossed Macbeth’s mind?”
The witches didn’t mention murder at all. Moreover they don’t have any power on life and
death, they merely greet Macbeth as king. It’s Macbeth himself who hailed this suggestion
and who entertains the thought of murder. Macbeth started being afraid and shocked
because it’s as if the witches had been reading his secret thoughts.
● “Or did they put the thought of murder into his mind for the first time?”
If we want to embrace this second thesis, we should defend it by saying that although they
didn’t mention murder, the witches plant the idea in him by supernatural means: after all,
they are linked and connected with evil, and the’re probably spelling (line 33-37). However
their power is not unlimited.

Banquo is suspicious about the witches’ prophecy. Moreover the expression “free hearts” suggests
that he has already started to counsel his faults in public.
Macbeth and Banquo are stunned by the turn of events, realizing that the Witches told the truth.
Macbeth can’t think of anything but the witches’ prophecy.

● “nothing is but what is not”: antithesis and equivocation.

● “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir”: this sentence is
very important. After talking about murder, he seems to take a step back but this is fake.
Macbeth decides to leave everything to fate and this is exactly the proof that evil is
growing inside him and ambition is corrupting his soul and his mind. If it wasn’t like that,
Macbeth wouldn’t let chance decide for himself. The same concept is taken up when
Macbeth says “come what may come” → THEME OF APPEARANCE VS REALITY
● “Like our strange garments , cleave not to their mould but with the aid of use”
● “My dull brain was wrought with things forgotten” (line 150): this is the second proof that
evil is growing inside him. He's lying to Banquo, his best friend. The corrupting effects of
ambition have already begun in Macbeth’s mind. He’s thinking about becoming king so he’s
projected toward his future.

ACT 1 SCENE 4
Macbeth and Banquo reach King Duncan's castle and Duncan praises Macbeth for his loyalty and
valor. He also embraces Banquo and thanks him for his courage during the rebellion. He announces
that he has decided to visit Macbeth's castle at Inverness, and that he has chosen his son, Malcolm,
to be the Prince of Cumberland and the next king of Scotland. Macbeth proposes that he leaves
early for his castle to make sure everything is perfect for the King's arrival, and Duncan happily
approves.
These incidences contribute directly to the perpetuation of the crime: Duncan proclaims his son
Malcom as his heir to the throne and this endangers the ascendance of Macbeth to the throne.
Moreover the invitation of Duncan at Inverness offers to Macbeth the opportunity to realise his
crime.
ACT 1 SCENE 5
The scene opens in a room in Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Lady Macbeth is reading a letter sent by
her husband, reporting all the strange events he has witnessed. The letter allows us to learn
something else about the character of Macbeth.
First of all, we can notice that the letter is written in prose: the register has changed (low
characters).

The letter is about Macbeth’s meeting with the witches and the predictions. We heard the name of
Macbeth in the first scene during the dialogue between the witches. In the same way we knew
about Lady Macbeth reading the letter. So the first entrance of Lady Macbeth can be compared to
the entrance of her husband.

By reading the letter, we understand that this letter is more important for the things that are being
unsaid instead of what it is said: Macbeth has neglected to tell his wife that Banquo’s son will be the
successors to the throne.
Lady Macbeth is able to read her husband's silence: she immediately understands the situation and
she decides to go on accepting the consequences in front of which her husband stopped. We learn
her position when she says “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet
do I fear thy nature”.

Lady Macbeth is ecstatic and she fixes her mind on obtaining the throne for Macbeth by any means
necessary. But Lady Macbeth knows that her husband has a weakness. Lady Macbeth feels that he is
simply "too full o' the milk of human kindness" to kill King Duncan (“catch the nearest way”).
According to his wife, Macbeth is a member of humankind: he desires the death of Duncan but he is
not ready/prepared to kill his cousin.

Macbeth’s portrait is detailed: he is a man who has the seed of evil, but he also has some qualities
which make hard the development of evil in his heart.
The repetition of “wouldst” confounds. The speech is clotted and alliterations are tongue-twisting.
Shakespeare uses rhymed and four stresses lines for the chant of the witches. The language of the
witches is not so clotted and disrupted as the language used in this scene.

Extreme lucidity in looking into her husband's soul and also the lucidity shown by the woman in
weighing up his qualities. The analytical nature of the language represents the confidence she
demonstrates in showing the way to follow.

Imperial theme: Lady Macbeth wants the power more for her husband than for herself.
They are linked by a deep bond that will decrease as the seed of evil grows up in their souls.
When a messenger arrives with word that Duncan plans to visit Inverness, she’s overjoyed that the
opportunity to murder the King has presented itself so soon.
After the messenger's exit: it is the second monologue told by Lady Macbeth. The musical and the
ritual elements make the darkness fall on the word and on Earth. Even the raven, a natural element,
seems to take part in the crime of Duncan, in fact he looks horrified. In the second monologue we
find several invocations:
❖ The first one is “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!”.
She asks the spirits to be unsexed which means deprived of her female side (associated with
values like kindness, tenderness and compassion), because she fears that her femininity will
prevent her from helping Macbeth to kill Duncan.
Being unsexed doesn’t mean she’s rejecting her femininity, she doesn’t want to become a
man: she becomes a woman devoid of sentimentality that makes her an inhuman being.
❖ The second one is “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!”.
Only after she has flung off the sign of her feminility, she can use the word “murder”. In fact,
shortly after her request, she refers to the spirits by calling them “murdering ministers”.
❖ Last but not least, she asks the spirits to be shrouded in darkness so that she cannot see the
wound inflicted by the dagger.

● “O, never shall the sun that morrow see!” → AMBIGUITY

● “Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters”

Macbeth arrives at the castle and Lady Macbeth is ready to tempt him to join her in murder. She
subtly hints at her intentions: "Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower/But be the
serpent under it. He that's coming/Must be provided for..." — “Provide” means that they must kill
Duncan but also welcome the king, a host.
Macbeth dodges the matter at hand and sheepishly tells her that they will speak further on the
subject. Lady Macbeth confidently assures him, "Leave all the rest to me".

Macbeth is a play about the inner world of human psychology: Macbeth appears to be a loyal
Thane but secretly he plans revenge, Lady Macbeth appears to be a gentle woman but she wants to
be unsexed and swears committing bloody deeds. Further signs: nightmares, hallucinations.
ACT 1 SCENE 6
King Duncan arrives at Inverness. He and his lords marvel at the beauty of Macbeth’s castle. Lady
Macbeth greets them, telling him that he can rest and relax safely within the castle walls.
❖ Firstly, we may note the irony of this scene is the way Duncan and Banquo see the castle as
a place of peace "pleasant seat", while inside Macbeth is planning for the murder. Note the
natural and easy way in which the king is introduced. He is at peace with himself and all
mankind. Banquo seems to have caught the king's mood, and answers him in the same tone.
❖ Secondly, the effective character contrasts between the gentle, unsuspicious courtesy of
the king, and the feigned humility and hypocritical welcome of Lady Macbeth. Nowhere in
the play does she appear so repulsive as here where she is leading Duncan on to his death,
with speeches of mock loyalty, obedience and gratitude for the king’s favour. The
compliment (lines 11-14) is somewhat formal but undoubtedly sincere.
❖ Compare the impression that is given here of the castle (beautiful situation, nesting
martlets, "delicate air") with the totally different impression given in Lennox's speech (ii. 3.)
with its fierce storms, strange screams of death, and its gloomy and long-delayed dawn (ii.
4.). In both scenes, the natural surroundings reflect the temper of men's minds.
The martlet is a bird known for building its nest near holy places. Here his meaning is ironic.
In this case the martlet is an extra-verbal irony for Shakespeare’s audience because the
martlet was also at that time a slang word for someone easily deceived.
The martlet is everywhere in the castle, so, consequently, also deception will be
everywhere.

ACT 1 SCENE 7
This is perhaps the most important single scene of the play. Here, for the last time, we see Macbeth
as a free man, still capable of choosing between good and evil.
Macbeth is alone on stage and he agonizes whether or not to kill Duncan: he recognises that the act
of murdering is a terrible sin. He struggles in particular with the idea of murdering a man who is a
relative and who loves and trusts him. He would like the king's murder to be over and regrets the
fact that he possesses “vaulting ambition" without the ruthlessness to ensure the attainment of his
goals.

This is another part of the theme of the corruption of nature which lies in the compression of time
that occurs throughout the act:
● Compression of time: The weird sisters accept the natural course of time and bring the
future into the present.
● When Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter, she states “Th[ese] letters have transported
me beyond / This ignorant present, and I feel now / The future in the instant".
● When Macbeth vacillates over whether or not to kill Duncan, he wants to live into the
future.
 The present troubles Macbeth’s conscience that he would want to be transported in the
future. In this soliloquy, there’s a parallelism: as the equivocation twists the meaning of the
words, Macbeth’s murder’s desire twists the meaning of time.

In this passage, where the wild emotions of Macbeth's mind are struggling for utterance, one
metaphor crowds upon and displaces another: "Pity" is first personified as a newborn infant, naked
and miserable, such as would appeal to the sympathy of all men;
Then this infant bestrides the wind for a charger to carry the news of Duncan's murder throughout
the world. This figure of a messenger seated upon the wind calls up a confused memory of a verse of
the Bible (Psalms, xviii. 10.) to Macbeth's mind, and his imagination embodies pity as an angel
riding on the wind.

The simile is used to present Duncan as a victim, but it creates an artificial language to prepare the
audience for that part of the play in which the Macbeths will get crazy.

From now on, the couple’s interactions start to be interrupted. Macbeth has decided not to kill
Duncan as the latter has recently rewarded him. Macbeth's reputation is at a high point. Why risk
losing it?
This is one of the most important moment according to those who sustain that the origins of the
idea was at the couple, but Lady Macbeth always appears determined to proceed in this business,
while Macbeth is not so decisive about commiting a murder.
At the same time it’s as there’s a lack of motivation to carry out his diabolical scheme, we can’t say
that there’s a lack of values tho, because Macbeth has some doubts.
Macbeth does not have a good reason to kill but he doesn’t have many reasons not to kill him. He
hangs in the balance. In this moment Macbeth is able to catch the audience.

● Emotional blackmail by Lady Macbeth: Lady Macbeth plays upon his emotions, calling him a
coward and accusing him of not loving her.
● “When you durst do it, then you were a man”: another reference to the male quality in
being decisive that can be proved by killing Duncan.
● “The poor cat in the adage”: is the cat which wanted to catch and eat a fish but didn't want
to get it.
● “You would make both, you wanted to force time and place into accordance with your
plan for the murder”: it’s highly characteristic of Macbeth that his first plan for murdering
Duncan was rash and unsuitable. As the report of his deeds in battle shows, he was a
headstrong and an impetuous warrior. His wife, on the other hand, has a cold and
determined nature; she waited for a good opportunity and then struck home. Observe that
it is her, not Macbeth, who plans the details of the treacherous murder.
● “Had I so sworn as you Have done to this”: it's false. Macbeth has never sworn to kill
Duncan but he is so completely dominated by her that he is unable to correct her. So he
changes his mind.
ACT 2 SCENE 1
The second act is devoted wholly to the murder of Duncan. There is practically no time interval
between this and the preceding act.

It begins after midnight (we know that because Banquo says “she goes down at twelve”) on the day
of the king's arrival at Inverness, with a scene devoted to the preliminaries of the murder, and
closes later in the following day with a scene telling us the immediate consequences of the deed,
the flight of the princes and the elect.

The first scene falls into three parts:

★ The dialogue between Banquo and his son:
Strangely, Banquo feels something strange and on his way to bed he is accompanied by his
son with a torch and he hands over to Fleance his sword and probably his dagger (“take
thee that too”). But why? They’re actually supposed to be in a friendly and safe house. →
QUITE STRANGE
Now Banquo is able to look at the prophecy objectively. Probably Banquo is reminding
himself of the witches’ prophecy because he‘s restless. In a way, he must restrain himself
from the course thoughts that tempt him in his sleep. He desires also to stay awake.
Banquo's reason for wishing to remain awake is given in the next lines. On the night before
this, he had dreamt of the witches, and their prophecy had seemed to him, in his sleep, a
temptation to evil. This explains his prayer to heaven to restrain "the cursed thoughts".
Shakespeare, no doubt, means us to contrast the two figures who appear in this scene, both
tried by the same temptation, Banquo is praying against its power over even his hours of
sleep, Macbeth is awake and he’s watching to turn its suggestions into deeds (reality,
murder).
★ The dialogue between Macbeth and Banquo:
Banquo gives Macbeth a diamond from Duncan for Lady Macbeth to thank her for the
hospitality. Macbeth is unprepared.
★ The soliloquy of Macbeth before the murder:
He’s laid in the inner court of Macbeth's castle, from which there was easy access to the
bedchambers by means of the gallery that surrounded the court. Path of Macbeth to
sovereignty.
In this soliloquy Macbeth has visions for the first time. The hallucinations are clear signs of
the corruption of his mind. He’s going to get mad and he’s having visions which are not
exactly supernatural elements.
“Is this a dagger I see before me” → theme of hallucinations caused by a sense of guilt:
● The dagger that Macbeth seems to see is not ghostly or supernatural so much as the
manifestation of the inner struggle that Macbeth is feeling while he contemplates
the regicide.
● We will meet Macbeth having a vision of a ghostly boy after he kills Duncan.
 ● Then after Banquo's death, he will see his ghost in a vision (act 3).
All the supernatural elements are often read as psychological rather than ghostly occurrences.

The hallucinations:
“Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost”
We have many images linked with witchcraft and a lot of alliterations and consonances with the
sound d, r, w.
Macbeth then prays to Earth not to move even a stone because even a simple noise could distract
him from performing the evil deed.

And the witches? Are they real or are they hallucinations? Someone says that the witches could be
voices of his ambition, while someone else doesn’t agree because also Banquo sees the ministers of
darkness and he hears them speak.
Hecate is one of the many names of Diana. She was regarded as the goddess and the queen of the
witches. That’s why the witches are doing a spell for her. Shakespeare pronounces these words with
two syllables: “He-cate and this is the spell”. They're preparing her sacrificial victim.

ACT 2 SCENE 2
There is really no change of scene here. Lady Macbeth enters the courtyard as Macbeth leaves it and
waits there for his return from Duncan's chamber.
Her soliloquy fills up the time during which the murder is performed and the dialogue with her
husband on his return carries us on till the knocking at the gate shows that the day is dawning and
the inmates of the castle awaking.
So this scene is used to show the time passing and to hide to the audience the performing of the
murder.

Lady Macbeth has fortified herself with a draught of wine against the strain of these terrible hours,
and this is another proof of her physical weakness (1st time).

The owl's cry was, then and long afterward, considered an omen of death. She’s linking the owl as a
fatal bellman to the killing of Duncan.
Lady Macbeth thinks for a moment that someone has surprised his husband in killing Duncan.

● “Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done't”: she couldn’t kill Duncan
herself because he reminds her of her father. We learn that she was so courageous to kill
Duncan but the king reminds her of her father.
 This reference to her father is one of the few traces of womanly feelings. It’s genuinely
Shakespearean to show that even in Lady Macbeth there’s a piece of humanity → SENSIBLE
SHAKESPEAREAN TOUCH

● The phrase "God bless us" was used as a charm against witchcraft and the devil. Macbeth,
who has sold himself to evil, cannot say amen to this prayer. He’s cut off from the comfort
of religion.
These physical inabilities to speak can be also caused by Macbeth’s doubts which are
paralyzing him. It’s as if the inner world of the psyche invades the psychical word.
● “will make us mad”: there is a dreadful irony in these words— they both will get mad,
Macbeth is half mad already, and before the play closes Lady Macbeth's mind breaks down
utterly.
● “Macbeth kills sleep”: he kills Duncan, an innocent man in the moment of sleep.
● “Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall
sleep no more”: he has consigned Duncan in an eternal rest and now he’s forced to live in an
eternal anxiety and torment → Metaphor for the troubled state of the country, because the
King is always a symbol of his country (this is the period of Gunpowder).
● Donalbain, the second son of Duncan, here is mentioned for the first time.
 IMPOSSIBLE INTERVIEW
INTERVIEWER: Hello everyone, welcome back to Travelling in the Past. I’m Saida El Mohriri and
today we have here with us a special guest. Please give a warm welcome to Mr. William
Shakespeare!
Good morning Mr. Shakespeare, it’s such a pleasure to have you here. Today I have the honour to
ask you some questions about one of your plays and masterpieces: Macbeth.

SHAKESPEARE: Thank you, it’s my pleasure.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. Shakespeare, it’s ironic how Macbeth went from killing a traitor to becoming
one, isn’t it?

SHAKESPEARE: Yes, it surely is. As the play opens, Duncan, King of Scots, learns by a bleeding captain
about Macbeth's bravery in a victorious battle against Macdonald — a Scot who sided with the
Norwegians. This scene describes in particular the attack made by Macbeth on the castle of
Macdonald: Macbeth has killed his enemy and planted his head on the battlements of the castle,
which is ironic because he himself will suffer the same fate.
In this scene the hero is presented to us through the report of a captain who describes him as a
brave and ruthless soldier who doesn’t hesitate to fight for his country and to kill traitors. This
connotation is very important since Macbeth will turn into the traitor. Furthermore, the
transformation of our hero from the saviour of his country to the enemy is reflected in the
transformation of the weather.
In addition, when the King gladly hands over the Thane of Cawdor's title and all his lands to
Macbeth, he ironically replaces one traitor with a much worse traitor.

INTERVIEWER: Interesting! Can you explain how differently Banquo and Macbeth react in front of
the prophecies?

SHAKESPEARE: Sure, when they come across the witches, they are both horrified at the sight of
them. This meeting seems to frighten Macbeth so much that he can’t speak, so the first physical
description of them is made by Banquo because he’s not involved in the world represented by the
witches, and that’s why he's able to describe them objectively.
Note the different way in which the sudden vanishing of the witches into the darkness affects
Banquo and Macbeth: the first one is only surprised, but the other one regrets that they don’t stay
to tell him more.
As we know, both Macbeth and Banquo pretend not to believe anything that the Weird Sisters have
said, but in secret they cannot help thinking that there is a little truth to the witches’ words. Banquo
is really objective and suspicious about the prophecies, and that’s the reason why he warns Macbeth
of the danger of the witches, instruments of darkness, who often flatter men with truths to put them
on the wrong path.
But when they realize that the Witches have told the truth, they are so stunned that they can’t think
of anything else. However, even though they’re tried by the same temptation, Banquo is praying
against its power over even his hours of sleep, instead Macbeth is waiting to turn its evil plan into
reality.

INTERVIEWER: Did the witches activate an idea that had already crossed Macbeth’s mind? Or did
they put the thought of murder into his mind for the first time?

SHAKESPEARE: Well, you can interpret it in both ways. If we want to embrace the first thesis, we
should defend it by saying that the witches didn’t mention murder at all. Moreover, they don’t have
any power on life and death, they merely greet Macbeth as king. It’s Macbeth himself who hailed
this suggestion and who entertains the thought of murder. So, Macbeth started being afraid and
shocked because it’s as if the witches had been reading his secret thoughts.
If we want to embrace the second thesis, we should defend it by saying that although they didn’t
mention murder, the witches plant the idea in him by supernatural means: after all, these ministers
of darkness are linked and connected with evil, and the’re probably spelling and plotting against
Macbeth. However, their power is not unlimited.

INTERVIEWER: What are the clear signs of the corruption of Macbeth’s mind?

SHAKESPEARE: In the first place, after talking about murder, he seems to take a step back and to
leave everything to fate. This is exactly one of the proofs that evil is growing inside him and ambition
is corrupting his soul and his mind, because if it wasn’t like that, Macbeth wouldn’t let fate decide
for himself. Furthermore, he's lying to Banquo, his best friend.
As you know, Macbeth is a play about the inner world of human psychology. Infact Macbeth appears
to be a loyal Thane, but secretly he plans an atrocious crime, which will be followed by nightmares
and hallucinations.
The hallucinations are clear signs of the corruption of his mind and they’re caused by a sense of guilt:
he’s having visions while he contemplates the regicide, after he kills Duncan and after Banquo's
death. However, we cannot consider them exactly as supernatural elements.
In addition, Macbeth, who has sold himself to evil, cannot say “amen” to his prayers. He’s cut off
from the comfort of religion. This physical inability to speak can be also caused by Macbeth’s doubts
which are paralysing him. It’s as if the inner world of the psyche invades the psychical word.

INTERVIEWER: How does Lady Macbeth push Macbeth to commit King Duncan’s murder?

SHAKESPEARE: Lady Macbeth fixes her mind on obtaining the throne for Macbeth by any means
necessary. She wants the power more for her husband than for herself, in fact they are linked by a
deep bond that will decrease as the seed of evil grows up in their souls.
However, Lady Macbeth knows that her husband has a weakness, she feels that he is simply "too full
o' the milk of human kindness" to kill King Duncan. In addition, Macbeth has never sworn to kill his
King, but she plays upon his emotions, calling him a coward and accusing him of not loving her. And,
eventually, completely dominated by her, he changes his mind.
Observe that it’s her, not Macbeth, who plans the details of the treacherous murder. Because he
was a headstrong and impetuous warrior, while she has a cold and determined nature.
As we already said, Macbeth is a play about the inner world of human psychology. In fact, Lady
Macbeth appears to be a gentle woman, but in reality she wants to be unsexed and swears
committing bloody deeds. She asks the spirits to be unsexed, which means being deprived of her
female side associated with values like kindness, tenderness and compassion, because she fears that
her femininity will prevent her from helping Macbeth to kill Duncan.
Being unsexed doesn’t mean that she’s rejecting her femininity, she doesn’t want to become a man:
she becomes a woman devoid of sentimentality that makes her an inhuman being. In fact, only after
she has flung off the sign of her femininity, she can use the word “murder”.
So, in your opinion, who’s the one to blame for King Duncan’s murder?

INTERVIEW: What are the differences between the Macbeths and the Macduffs?

SHAKESPEARE: The Macbeths are linked by a deep bond that will decrease as the seed of evil grows
up in their souls. In fact, at the beginning of the play they truly care about each other, so much that
Lady Macbeth fixes her mind on obtaining the throne for Macbeth by any means necessary. But,
after Duncan’s murder, their relationship falls apart and they almost switch roles: Macbeth becomes
ambitious and ruthless while his wife is overtaken by guilt, which will eventually lead her to suicide.
It’s interesting how Macbeth isn’t even concerned about his wife’s suicide, he doesn’t care at all.
On the other hand, Macduff is devastated by his family’s death and, thus, he wants to kill Macbeth
for revenge. During the atrocious murder of his family, Macduff is in England and, therefore, he and
his wife never appear in a scene together. Moments before their death, his wife, while talking to her
son, explains that Macduff left them unprotected to go to England, without even telling them why,
and thus she describes him as a traitor, to him and to his King.

INTERVIEWER: Mr. Shakespeare, which advice would you give to the men of my age to help them
overcome this period of instability and distrust towards people, Institutions and future?

SHAKESPEARE: Well, the only thing that I can tell you, from my personal experience, is that every
period of crisis is followed by a period of greatness and magnificence. So, you have to be strong,
patient and hopeful, because little by little things change and get better. I know you will surely
overcome this period of instability and distrust. A brighter future is waiting for you!

INTERVIEWER: I would love to thank you, Mr. Shakespeare, it was an honour to have you here with
us today.
 THESIS
Who’s the one to blame for King Duncan’s murder? Macbeth, Lady Macbeth or the witches?
Well, I maintain that there's more than one culprit, because if there weren’t Lady Macbeth and the
witches, probably Macbeth wouldn’t have killed Duncan.
In fact, Lady Macbeth fixes her mind on obtaining the throne for Macbeth by any means necessary.
However, she knows that her husband has a weakness, she feels that he is simply "too full o' the
milk of human kindness" to kill King Duncan. But she plays upon his emotions, calling him a coward
and accusing him of not loving her. And, eventually, completely dominated by her, he changes his
mind.
Observe that it’s her, not Macbeth, who plans the details of the treacherous murder.
But who put the thought of murder into Macbeth’s mind in the first place? Although the witches
didn’t mention murder, they plant the idea of it in him by supernatural means: after all, these
ministers of darkness are linked and connected with evil, and the’re probably spelling and plotting
against Macbeth.
So, is Macbeth innocent? No, he’s not. Because the witches don’t have any power on life and death,
so it’s Macbeth himself who hailed this suggestion and who entertains the thought of murder.
Macbeth started being afraid and shocked because it’s as if the witches had been reading his secret
thoughts. Moreover, even though Banquo and Macbeth are tried by the same temptation, the first
one is praying against its power over even his hours of sleep, instead the second one is waiting to
turn its evil plan into reality.
In conclusion, even though Macbeth is the one who actually killed Duncan, he’s not the only one to
blame because Lady Macbeth and the witches also contributed to Duncan’s murder. So, I believe
that everyone is guilty.