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Macduff is met at the castle door by a drunken porter who talks of it having been a most unruly night.
Macduff then goes to awaken the king and returns with the horrific news that Duncan has been murdered.
Suspicion falls on everyone, while Lady Macbeth appears to faint under the strain. The king's two sons
decide to flee.
THE THEME OF BLOOD
Blood is one of the major themes of Macbeth. How many times can you find the mention of blood?
"What bloody man is that?" asks King Duncan when the captain comes to tell of Macbeth's heroics.
Macbeth's sword "smoked with bloody execution", the captain tells the king. Then the captain tells
them that Macbeth caused the enemy to "bathe in reeking wounds" so as to "memorize another
Golgotha".
Macbeth sees a ghostly dagger leading him to Duncan's chamber, its blade covered with "gouts of
blood".
After the murder, Macbeth asks in anguish whether "all great Neptune's ocean [could] wash this blood
clean from [his] hand".
Lady Macbeth returns the bloody daggers and states that, "if he do bleed [she would] gild the faces of
the grooms withal".
She returns "with hands of your colour" but she is "ashamed to wear a heart so white".
After Banquo's murder, Macbeth comments that he was "in blood stepped in so far, that, should [he]
wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er".
And then the ever-strong Lady Macbeth is overcome by the memories of Duncan's blood. She walks in
her sleep and is forever looking for water to wash her hands.
Even then the smell of blood remains strong on them.
How many other examples can you find where blood is mentioned in the play? Note them. Count them.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
If you were producing this play on stage, from which point would you have the porter appear?
Why? (4)
[Need help?]
The Elizabethan theatre had a main stage projecting out into the audience, and then a smaller inner stage
set at the back. There would also be a balcony, used for that famous Romeo and Juliet dialogue.
The main audience would assemble in the open space in front of the main stage, while the covered stalls
-- reserved for the more important people -- formed a double-storeyed semi-circle. The entire theatre
therefore formed a circle.
It was very much an open-air production. Gestures to the sky would therefore refer to "heaven".
Gestures to the stage below would refer to "hell".
Beneath the stage was the place to store the props and this was generally known as "hell". There
was a trap-door to "hell" in the centre of the stage.
It would have caused a laugh had the porter popped his head out of this trap door, and then proclaim
himself to be "porter of hell gate".
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The porter's speech centres on equivocation, which is a major theme in the play.
- What does the Porter mean by equivocation? (4)
[Need help?]
It would appear that the porter is making satirical comments about the Jesuit order which believed in
equivocation in order to survive in a dangerous political / religious environment, i.e. they would say things
which could be interpreted in several different ways.
On the other hand, is not the porter referring to Macbeth who is equivocating, i.e. appearing to be innocent
while at the same time he is a murderer?
And the witches themselves were equivocators: they made statements which could have several different
meanings.
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Macduff did not attend the celebrations of the previous night but arrives only in time to awaken the king.
Why is this so? (4)
[Need help?]
Does Macduff attend any of the celebrations in the entire play?
Indeed, he boycotts Macbeth's coronation at Scone and is not at the banquet where Banquo's ghost
appears.
It would seem that there is antipathy between Macduff and Macbeth right from the start, and this is
perhaps hinted at by the King in Act 1, Scene 2.
Macduff is willing enough to appear at Macbeth's castle to awaken the king because that is his duty, but
he is never there to celebrate with Macbeth.
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"The labour we delight in physics pain."
- What does Macbeth mean? Comment on the irony of these words. (4)
[Need help?]
Macbeth pretends that he has been a loyal host to the king, an onerous task but nevertheless one which
has given him great joy.
The irony, however, is that he has not been loyal at all but has murdered Duncan while the king was
asleep in his castle.
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"The night has been unruly."
- What does the unruliness of nature tell us about the events of the night? (5)
[Need help?]
Nature was always considered pure and innocent whereas evil deeds of people would cause a disturbance
in nature. If nature were disturbed, therefore, one could look to humankind for the cause.
Comets and shooting stars heralded news of major consequence. Look at the biblical story in the New
Testament of the Magi following the bright star as the herald to the birth of a great king.
When Lennox reports strange events during the night, he therefore reflects on the magical / mystical link
between the murder of a king and the disturbance of nature.
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"Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence
The life o' the building!
Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon."
- Comment on the religious or classical imagery in Macduff's exclamations. (5)
[Need help?]
Consider the following words: "sacrilegious murder"; the "Lord's anointed temple"; a
"new Gorgon".
These words are rich in biblical and classical symbolism.
The body, according to the apostle Paul, is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
This, according to Christian theology, is true of all people but, in Elizabethan times, it would have been
more particularly true of kings and queens. To murder a king, therefore, is to commit a sacrilege: to
commit a crime against the Holy Spirit.
A Gorgon, on the other hand, was a Greek mythological creature who could turn a person to stone merely
by looking at it. Such, says Macduff, is the horror of Duncan's murder.
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Analyse Lady Macbeth's reaction to the news of Duncan's murder. (5)
[Need help?]
Lady Macbeth has two reactions.
Her "What, in our house?" indicates a callous self-centredness? There is no sign of shock, no
indication of horror. How would you interpret this if you were an onlooker?
On the other hand, her sudden fainting would seem to be an attempt to cover up for Macbeth's gaff of
murdering the grooms and thereby bringing suspicion on himself.
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What is Macbeth's apparent reaction to the murder? (5)
[Need help?]
There are two ways of looking at this.
His response is very poetic which could indicate a remarkable poetic nature in Macbeth in the face of a
major crisis.
On the other hand, would someone who should be in a state of shock show such remarkable poetic
ability? Indeed, if you were an onlooker, what would you think about Macbeth's very poetic speech?
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If you were Macduff, would you believe Macbeth's excuse for killing the attendants? Why not? (10)
[Need help?]
Macduff is set up almost from the beginning of the play as a powerful rival to Macbeth. Indeed, he himself
would probably desire to be the next king.
There is evidence that perhaps Duncan distrusted the power of Macduff, seeing him as a threat. If this
is true, then Macduff would surely distrust any statement that Macbeth offered.
Why on earth would Macbeth wish to kill the attendants? Lady Macbeth had set them up well enough:
they were drunk, covered in the king's blood, held in their hands the very daggers that seemed to have
been used in killing the king.
Law courts in those days seldom listened to the grievances of the poor. The attendants would have been
tried and hanged without opportunity to defend themselves.
Macbeth's action must surely point to a desperate fear: he was the murderer and he did not wish the
attendants to confess anything under torture. Indeed, they would certainly have been tortured.
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Why does Lady Macbeth faint? Consider from all angles. (6)
[Need help?]
Women in those days knew how to faint at precisely the right time, such as when a male expressed a
vulgarity in her presence.
The attendants would therefore not necessarily believe that her faint was much more than a public
gesture.
Consider too that Macbeth has just committed a major gaff in murdering the two groomsmen. Why should
they be killed? His reaction therefore points fingers at himself.
Is Lady Macbeth's fainting therefore not an attempt to attract attention away from her husband's dreadful
error?
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