GCSE Macbeth Act 4

Macbeth

Scene 2

p 69 and 70

Lady Macduff is presented as a loving mother - a structural antithesis (opposite) of Lady Macbeth who displays no maternal instincts

LADY MACDUFF

Sirrah, your father's dead;

And what will you do now? How will you live?

SON

As birds do, mother.

LADY MACDUFF

What, with worms and flies?

SON

With what I get, I mean; and so do they.

LADY MACDUFF

Poor bird! thou'ldst never fear the net nor lime,

SON

Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for.

My father is not dead, for all your saying.

LADY MACDUFF

Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for a father?

SON

Nay, how will you do for a husband?

LADY MACDUFF

Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.

SON

Then you'll buy 'em to sell again.

Lady Macduff is a foil to Lady Macbeth

p 69

LADY MACDUFF

Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes,

His mansion and his titles in a place

From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;

He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,

The most diminutive of birds, will fight

Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.

All is the fear and nothing is the love;

As little is the wisdom, where the flight

So runs against all reason.

Summary:

Lady Macduff's metaphor suggests that in the animal kingdom even small birds (wrens) protect their nests against birds of prey

Macduff fled to England leaving his family (= nest) vulnerable

'The owl' refers to Macbeth - a structural deja vu reminding us of Act 2 Scene 4 where Duncan was 'the falcon' and Macbeth 'the mousing owl'

Scene 3

Macduff left for England to get help from King Edward and Malcolm (Duncan's son) who is hiding there.

Lady Macduff is left on her own with the children.

Macbeth dispatches Murderers to slaughter Lady Macduff and her children. Macbeth now outsources all the contract killings.

p 71

LADY MACDUFF

Whither should I fly?

I have done no harm. But I remember now

I am in this earthly world; where to do harm

Is often laudable, to do good sometime

Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas,

Do I put up that womanly defence,

To say I have done no harm?

[Enter Murderers]

What are these faces?

Lady Macduff is again a foil to Lady Macbeth as she is virtuous (good) yet punished with death

Macbeth's villainy is escalating from slaughtering of his male enemies to murder of women and children

Second Apparition

p 65

SECOND APPARITION

Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn

The power of man, for none of woman born

Shall harm Macbeth.

p 72

Macduff WILL harm Macbeth as Macduff's mother had a C-section - Macduff is technically not 'born of woman'

Macduff's son challenges the murderer to protect his father's honour and is killed

p 67

Lennox did not see the witches - structural parallel with Banquo's ghost only being visible to Macbeth

FIRST MURDERER

Where is your husband?

LADY MACDUFF

I hope, in no place so unsanctified

Where such as thou mayst find him.

FIRST MURDERER

He's a traitor.

SON

Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!

FIRST MURDERER

What, you egg!

[Stabbing him]

Young fry of treachery!

SON

He has kill'd me, mother:

Run away, I pray you!

[Dies]

[Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying 'Murder!' Exeunt Murderers, following her]

Third Apparition

LENNOX

What's your grace's will?

MACBETH

Saw you the weird sisters?

LENNOX

No, my lord.

MACBETH

Came they not by you?

LENNOX

No, indeed, my lord.

MACBETH

Infected be the air whereon they ride;

And damn'd all those that trust them! I did hear

The galloping of horse: who was't came by?

LENNOX

'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word

Macduff is fled to England.

MACBETH

Fled to England!

LENNOX

Ay, my good lord.

p 65/66

Paradox - Macbeth claims that the witches should not be trusted yet he follows their prophecies

Structural contrast - Macbeth failed to kill the sons of his other enemies (Malcolm, Donalbain, Fleance)

Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until

Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill

Shall come against him.

Act 4

Summary:

Macbeth is reassured that he won't be defeated until the local woods move up to his castle, which would be an unnatural phenomenon.

Macbeth forgets previous extreme phenomena (solar eclipse, earthquake, cannibalism)

Macbeth asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him.

To answer his questions, the witches summon evil spirits - three horrible apparitions - each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth’s fears.

p 74

p 68

Colour juxtaposition is used to suggest that Macbeth is not as evil as Malcolm is pretending to be

Metaphor for Macbeth's decision to be impulsive and irrational - he won't think twice before acting

MALCOLM

It is myself I mean: in whom I know

All the particulars of vice so grafted

That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth

Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state

Esteem him as a lamb, being compared

With my confineless harms.

MACDUFF

Not in the legions

Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd

In evils to top Macbeth.

MACBETH

Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits:

The flighty purpose never is o'ertook

Unless the deed go with it; from this moment

The very firstlings of my heart shall be

The firstlings of my hand. And even now,

To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:

The castle of Macduff I will surprise;

Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword

His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls

That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;

This deed I'll do before this purpose cool.

But no more sights! - Where are these gentlemen?

Come, bring me where they are.

Structural contrast: Macbeth is now likened to 'a lamb'

Shall Banquo's issue ever reign in this kingdom?

Macbeth wants Macduff's whole family killed and obliterated.

Structural contrast with Malcolm and Donalbain (Duncan's sons) and Fleance (Banquo's son) alive and posing a threat.

Macduff disagrees: Macbeth is more evil than Satan

Motif of hell associated with Macbeth

p 65

p 74

• Eight kings are escorted by Banquo
• The eighth king holds a mirror in which Macbeth sees even more kings
• James I was believed to have descended from Banquo
• Shakespeare paid a tribute to his patron James I

Vice No 1: Sex Addiction

First Apparition:

An armed head warns Macbeth to 'Beware Macduff'

p 74

Hypothetical scenario No 1: Malcolm enumerates how he would ravish Scottish women to feed his sex addiction

MALCOLM

I grant him bloody,

Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,

Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin

That has a name: but there's no bottom, none,

In my voluptuousness: your wives, your daughters,

Your matrons and your maids, could not fill up

The cistern of my lust, and my desire

All continent impediments would o'erbear

That did oppose my will: better Macbeth

Than such an one to reign.

MACDUFF

Boundless intemperance

In nature is a tyranny; it hath been

The untimely emptying of the happy throne

And fall of many kings. But fear not yet

To take upon you what is yours: you may

Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty,

And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink.

We have willing dames enough: there cannot be

That vulture in you, to devour so many

As will to greatness dedicate themselves,

Finding it so inclined.

MALCOLM

Be not offended:

I speak not as in absolute fear of you.

I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;

It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash

Is added to her wounds: I think withal

There would be hands uplifted in my right;

And here from gracious England have I offer

Of goodly thousands: but, for all this,

When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head,

Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country

Shall have more vices than it had before,

More suffer and more sundry ways than ever,

By him that shall succeed.

Macduff is Macbeth's nemesis

Malcolm is pretending to be evil: if he defeated Macbeth and took over, Scotland would suffer even more

Macduff is concerned but reassures Malcolm that there are many female volunteers to satisfy his needs

p 66

• Test Part 1 PASSED: Malcolm is satisfied: Macduff genuinely cares about Scotland.
• Test Part 2: Malcolm is going to pretend that he would be a terrible king - worse than Macbeth. He wants to see Macduff's reaction.

Macbeth's question challenges the witches' prophecy in Act 1

MACBETH

Yet my heart

Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art

Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever

Reign in this kingdom?

ALL

Seek to know no more.

MACBETH

I will be satisfied: deny me this,

And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.

Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?

[Cauldron descends. Hautboys]

First Witch

Show!

Second Witch

Show!

Third Witch

Show!

ALL

Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;

Come like shadows, so depart!

A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following

Bad King

Good King

p 75

Vice No 2: Insatiable Greed

Edward the Confessor

Macbeth

thaumaturgic powers - cures scrofula

Hypothetical scenario No 2:

If Malcolm became king, he would rob his subjects of their possessions

destroys his kingdom: 'It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash is added to her wounds'

MALCOLM

With this there grows

In my most ill-composed affection such

A stanchless avarice that, were I king,

I should cut off the nobles for their lands,

Desire his jewels and this other's house:

And my more-having would be as a sauce

To make me hunger more; that I should forge

Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,

Destroying them for wealth.

MACDUFF

This avarice

Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root

Than summer-seeming lust, and it hath been

The sword of our slain kings: yet do not fear;

Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will.

Of your mere own: all these are portable,

With other graces weigh'd.

victim of prophecies

gift of prophecy

p 72 and 73

Macduff is even more worried but reassures Malcolm that Scotland's riches will satisfy his greed

has no successors ('fruitless crown')

MALCOLM

What I believe I'll wail,

What know believe, and what I can redress,

As I shall find the time to friend, I will.

What you have spoke, it may be so perchance.

This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,

Was once thought honest: you have loved him well.

He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young;

but something

You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom

To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb

To appease an angry god.

can pass the gift to his successors

Malcolm doesn't trust Macduff because:

1. Macbeth used to be trustworthy and then killed his father Duncan

2. Macduff is still alive - maybe he is Macbeth's secret ally

King Edward remains off stage - such ideals are at a remove from the reality the characters have to live in

In this metaphor Macbeth is 'an angry god' and Malcolm is 'a lamb' to be sacrificed

p 73

Personification: Scotland is compared to an injured person - a victim of Macbeth's poor kingship

MACDUFF

Bleed, bleed, poor country!

Great tyranny! lay thou thy basis sure,

For goodness dare not cheque thee: wear thou

thy wrongs;

The title is affeer'd! Fare thee well, lord:

I would not be the villain that thou think'st

For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp,

And the rich East to boot.

MALCOLM

Be not offended:

I speak not as in absolute fear of you.

I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;

It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash

Is added to her wounds

Act 4 Scene 3 in a

p 75

Vice No 3: No noble attributes whatsoever: he fancies a good apocalypse

Enumeration of positive qualities - Malcolm claims he doesn't possess any

p 75

So, would I make a decent king?

MALCOLM

But I have none: the king-becoming graces,

As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,

Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,

Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,

I have no relish of them, but abound

In the division of each several crime,

Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should

Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,

Uproar the universal peace, confound

All unity on earth.

MACDUFF

O Scotland, Scotland!

Macduff no longer pretends: Malcolm does not deserve to LIVE let alone rule Scotland

Hypothetical scenario No 3:

Metaphor for an apocalypse that Malcolm would like to unleash

MALCOLM

If such a one be fit to govern, speak:

I am as I have spoken.

MACDUFF

Fit to govern!

No, not to live. O nation miserable,

With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,

When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,

Since that the truest issue of thy throne

By his own interdiction stands accursed,

And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father

Was a most sainted king: the queen that bore thee,

Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,

Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!

These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself

Have banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast,

Thy hope ends here!

• Malcolm, who found refuge in England, meets with Macduff.
• Can Malcolm trust Macduff?
• What if he is Macbeth's spy? There's daggers in men's smiles after all..

Contrast between Malcolm and his parents: positive imagery describing Duncan and his late wife as religious

p 72

p 80 and 81

MALCOLM

Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there

Weep our sad bosoms empty.

MACDUFF

Let us rather

Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men

Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom: each new morn

New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows

Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds

As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out

Like syllable of dolour.

Malcolm is passive and emotional while Macduff wants to fight Macbeth and save Scotland

Structural contrast with the opening of the scene

MALCOLM

Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief

Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.

MACDUFF

O, I could play the woman with mine eyes

And braggart with my tongue! But, gentle heavens,

Cut short all intermission; front to front

Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;

Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape,

Heaven forgive him too!

MALCOLM

This tune goes manly.

Come, go we to the king; our power is ready;

Our lack is nothing but our leave; Macbeth

Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above

Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may:

The night is long that never finds the day.

Chremamorphism: Macbeth is likened to a fruit tree - ready to be robbed of his fruit (crown)

The Royal Touch

p 76

• a form of laying of kings' hands on their subjects with the intent to cure them of various diseases and conditions.
• the thaumaturgic touch was most commonly applied to people suffering from scrofula or the King's Evil
• the disease rarely resulted in death and often went into remission on its own, giving the impression that the monarch's touch cured it

Malcolm has retracted all of his lies - he's not

• a sex addict
• a greedy thief
• planning to end universal peace for a juicy apocalypse

Malcolm confirms that King Edward has offered him 10,000 soldiers led by Siward ready to invade Scotland

A doctor arrives to announce that patients are there to see King Edward

p 78

MALCOLM

Macduff, this noble passion,

Child of integrity, hath from my soul

Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts

To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth

By many of these trains hath sought to win me

Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me

From over-credulous haste: but God above

Deal between thee and me! for even now

I put myself to thy direction, and

Unspeak mine own detraction, here abjure

The taints and blames I laid upon myself,

For strangers to my nature. I am yet

Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,

Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,

At no time broke my faith, would not betray

The devil to his fellow and delight

No less in truth than life

Juxtaposition of motherhood and death - Scotland is no longer a motherland

Shakespeare borrowed these ideas from Basilikon Doron

MACDUFF

Stands Scotland where it did?

ROSS

Alas, poor country!

Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot

Be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing,

But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile;

Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air

Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems

A modern ecstasy; the dead man's knell

Is there scarce ask'd for who; and good men's lives

Expire before the flowers in their caps,

Dying or ere they sicken.

Malcolm retracts (takes back) his lies and claims that he's

• a virgin
• not envious of possessions of others
• religious

‘an instruction manual’ on government written by James I for his son. 

Part 1: Be a good Christian

Part 2: Don't be a tyrant, know your subjects, have experienced military leaders and choose a rich wife who's the same religion as you. She shouldn't meddle with politics but focus on her domestic duties.

Part 3: Eat a lot of meat, sleep a lot but don't drink

Enumeration of suffering in Scotland

p 77

• Ross arrives from Scotland bearing bad news
• Ross can't bring himself to tell Macduff that his whole family was slaughtered by Macbeth's assassins

p 80

Zoomorphism: Macbeth is a bird of prey while Macduff's family is likened to vulnerable birds

Structural contrast between

• King Edward's hands - healing thaumaturgic qualities
• Macbeth's 'hangman's hands' covered in blood

Role reversal: Malcolm now encourages Macduff to be proactive and fight Macbeth

MACDUFF

He has no children. All my pretty ones?

Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?

What, all my pretty chickens and their dam

At one fell swoop?

MALCOLM

Dispute it like a man.

MACDUFF

I shall do so;

But I must also feel it as a man:

I cannot but remember such things were,

That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,

And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,

They were all struck for thee! naught that I am,

Not for their own demerits, but for mine,

Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!

Doctor

Ay, sir; there are a crew of wretched souls

That stay his cure: their malady convinces

The great assay of art; but at his touch -

Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand -

They presently amend.

MALCOLM

I thank you, doctor.

Exit Doctor

MACDUFF

What's the disease he means?

MALCOLM

'Tis call'd the evil:

A most miraculous work in this good king;

Which often, since my here-remain in England,

I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven,

Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people,

All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,

The mere despair of surgery, he cures,

Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,

Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis spoken,

To the succeeding royalty he leaves

The healing benediction. With this strange virtue,

He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,

And sundry blessings hang about his throne,

That speak him full of grace.

Scene 1