|
READ THIS
Scene 4, a very short scene, takes us to Malcolm's forces gathered near Birnam Wood.
Scene 5 is back at Dunsinane where Macbeth appears confident. Then comes the news that Lady
Macbeth has committed suicide.
This is followed by more disturbing news: Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane!
MACBETH'S FINAL EQUIVOCATION
The story has come full circle.
The play started with the Thane of Cawdor proving to be a traitor to Scotland for which he was executed
and his head was presumably mounted on a stake.
The play ends with the new Thane of Cawdor proving to be a traitor to Scotland and his head too would
be mounted on a stake.
In-between we have witnessed Macbeth becoming the victim of the ultimate equivocation. First, the
witches made prophecies to him which were truths, half-truths or even possible truths.
Had Macbeth -- like Banquo -- not acted upon them but simply let events take their course, it is
possible that the prophecies might have reached fulfilment without his lifting a finger.
Even Macbeth himself came to a similar conclusion but allowed himself to fall prey to Lady Macbeth, who
persuaded him to take the shortest route.
Finding himself embarking upon a path of habitual murder, Macbeth returned to the witches to check on
his fear for Macduff. Yet Macbeth already knew that Macduff was his greatest threat.
Nevertheless he allowed the witches to deceive him once more by their equivocation. Fear Macduff --
but have no fear till great Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane. And fear no-one born of a woman.
These prophecies gave Macbeth false hope. Ultimately Macduff was his greatest fear -- and perhaps
also the greater warrior.
The final shock for Macbeth, of course, was probably to witness the real Porter of Hell's gate coming to
claim him!
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
|
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
SCENE 4:
Comment on this action of chopping branches from the trees with regard to the witches' prophecy to
Macbeth. (4)
[Need help?]
The witches deceived Macbeth by telling half-truths. In this case, he was told never to be afraid until Great
Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane.
Macbeth understood the prophecy literally -- although by now he should have come to some idea of the
witches' equivocation.
He is soon, however, to learn this the hard way when he witnesses a wood coming to Dunsinane, each
branch carried in the hand of a soldier in order to disguise numbers.
|
SCENE 5:
"The cry is still 'They come'. Our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn. Here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up.
Were they not forced with those that should be ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home."
- What reason does Macbeth provide for his decision to wait out a siege rather than attack the invaders
man to man and sword to sword? (2)
[Need help?]
Macbeth's opening statement, "The cry is still 'They come' " suggests to the audience that the body
count of the enemy is so great -- and yet still more are arriving.
The old medieval castles were built with thick, high stone walls so as to resist a siege where the enemy
was encamped outside the walls and tried to starve the defenders out.
The defenders, on the other hand, waited patiently within the walls -- sometimes for months for the
enemy to get tired and give up the attack. Often they poured boiling water and oil onto anyone who tried
to scale the walls.
Macbeth explains that half of the invading force consists of his own deserters ("Were they not forced
with those that should be ours") otherwise their numbers would have been equal and he could have
attacked them.
As it was, he was hopelessly outnumbered and so a lengthy siege was his only chance.
|
There is a sudden cry of women in the castle.
- What are they crying about? (2)
[Need help?]
Lady Macbeth has just died, probably having committed suicide by leaping from a high place.
|
"I have almost forgot the taste of fear.
The time has been, my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek."
- Why does does Macbeth no longer feel fear? (2)
[Need help?]
Remember the murder of Duncan? Both Macbeth and Lady M. were terrified at the noises of the night,
and the former saw visions of ghostly daggers. And what about his seeing the ghost of Banquo?
Macbeth has now become so corrupted with murder, however, that it no longer plays on his mind. Fear
means nothing to him any more.
|
- Is Macbeth disturbed to hear the news of the death of Lady Macbeth? (4)
[Need help?]
He is certainly disturbed by his wife's death but he appears to join it with all the other world sorrows which
are currently afflicting him -- the desertions, the disintegration of his kingdom, the failure of all his hopes
and dreams.
He is currently becoming thoroughly depressed and Lady Macbeth's death merely fits into that greater
fabric of distress.
|
"As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move."
- Comment on Macbeth's reaction to the news that Birnam Wood is moving. (6)
[Need help?]
Macbeth is first incredulous. He calls the messenger, "Liar and slave!" and warns him that he will
be hanged if his message is false.
On the other hand, he fears that, if the message be true, then all hope is lost.
He also realises that, if the witches' prophecy has indeed come true, there is no point in waiting out a siege
within the castle. He might as well get it over by going out to fight.
|
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
Till the last syllable of recorded time."
- Comment on the meaning of these words. What do they show of Macbeth's
mood? (6)
[Need help?]
It would seem that the disintegration of all Macbeth's plans allows no further place for enjoying the present
("Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow").
It is always tomorrow for which he is planning, never resting today and enjoying life.
Macbeth says too that life has become a drudge ("this petty pace") and yet he is forced to live every
agony of it without exception ("to the last syllable of recorded time").
|
"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."
- Comment on the FOUR different images of life used by Macbeth. (8)
[Need help?]
- "Life is like a candle": The candle's flame is dim, casting little light, flickering in the wind and
is quickly extinguished.
- "Life is like a walking shadow": There is no substance in the shadow; it merely points to
another greater existence which causes the shadow.
- "Life is like a bit actor on a stage": The bit actor takes the small parts which are of no
consequence and, once he has played his little role, he disappears and does not return. (Note how
Macbeth no longer sees himself in the lead role!)
- "Life is like a mediocre story": There is no substance to the mediocre story created by the really
bad storyteller -- it is just full of noise and action but has nothing of significance by way of a plot.
|
- Why does Macbeth remain confident even when it is clear that all is now lost? (6)
[Need help?]
Macbeth doesn't really remain confident, does he? He realises too late that the witches have told him a
prophecy which he misinterpreted. This is therefore the end, so he might as well go out fighting.
There is just one glimmer of hope though: the final prophecy about his never being defeated except to
someone not born of a woman. But even that hope has now become such a slender one.
|
|
