Act I: Scene 5
Summary
At Macbeth's
home, the castle of Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband
concerning his meeting with the Witches. She is immediately aware of the
significance of their prophetic words and, on being informed that King Duncan
will be paying a royal visit to Inverness, makes up her mind to carry out the
murder of the king in order to hasten the prophecy. In doing so, she suggests
that her husband is weak — he contains too much of "the milk of human
kindness." When Macbeth arrives from the court of Duncan, bearing news of
the king's forthcoming visit, his wife makes her plans clear to him.
Analysis
The letter,
read alone on stage by Lady Macbeth, reiterates the Witches' prophecy of Act I.
Significantly, in his letter, Macbeth says nothing of their prophecy to Banquo;
perhaps he is already afraid of its implications. Equally significantly, he
sets up Lady Macbeth as his "dearest partner of greatness." She will
indeed become his partner in crime, but much more than that: Apart from the
fatal blow itself, she will be responsible for controlling Macbeth's passions
and — to an extent — his actions.
Immediately
after she finishes the letter, Lady Macbeth's mind goes to work. Her words
"shalt be" uncannily reflect those of the Witches' prophecy. At this
point, Lady Macbeth herself has virtually become an agent of Fate, just like
the Weird Sisters. But immediately her thoughts turn to possible failings in
her husband. He is "too full of the milk of human kindness" to commit
murder; he would be great, he would have a high position, he would wrongly win
that position, but in each case, some other aspect of his character would not.
In this case, she says, there is only one solution. She must "pour [her]
spirits in thine ear." Any member of Shakespeare's audience who had seen
his play Hamlet four years previously would be more than aware of the significance
of this line, for in that play the good King Claudius is murdered by poison
administered through the ear. The scene is rapidly becoming darker.
Lady Macbeth
is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. The fact that we
meet her alone on stage means that we are privy to her innermost thoughts,
which are filled with the imagery of death and destruction. And when she
speaks, in her next soliloquy, of her "fell purpose," her intentions
are described in the most grotesque and frightening terms. First she bids the
spirits to literally deprive her of her femininity, to thicken her blood, and
to stop her ability to weep. Next, she prays that those same evil spirits
should suckle her, converting what should be her nourishing mother's milk to
"gall" (bitterness). Lastly, she calls upon the night itself to hide
her actions in a "blanket" of darkness. It is no coincidence that
these last words reflect those of Macbeth in the previous scene: Shakespeare is
creating a strong verbal bond between husband and wife that will continue
throughout the play.
When Macbeth
enters his castle, his wife greets him in a way that again recalls the words of
the Witches; in particular the words "all-hail" and
"hereafter" chill the audience, for they are the exact words spoken to
Macbeth by the Witches. The dialogue that follows their initial encounter is
fast, urgent, and disturbing. Shakespeare uses half-line breaks to intensify
the drama of the moment, each "partner in crime" picking up the
rhythm of the other's speech:
M: My dearest
love,
Duncan comes
here tonight.
LM: And when
goes hence?
M: Tomorrow,
as he purposes.
LM: Oh, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Shakespeare
uses the same technique immediately after the murder.
In the lines
that follow, Lady Macbeth uses several significant metaphors of concealment:
Macbeth's face is like "a book, where men / May read strange matters"
(63-64); then, in a brilliantly ironic reference to the Genesis story,
"Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under it"
(66-67). The apparent paradise promised by the Witches is soon to become a
hell. An important psychological point is also made: Lady Macbeth herself does
not hide her feelings in the same way that Macbeth does. She is not rapt in
wonderment, simply practical. The last line of the scene, "Leave all the
rest to me," is quite modern in its tone. With this blunt and chilling
imperative, Lady Macbeth completes her transformation from woman to man. From
now on, she plays on the reversal of roles; she has adopted the role of "man
of action," forcing her husband into the more passive role of accomplice.
Glossary
lose the dues
(12) miss the reward
hie thee
hither (25) come here quickly
chastise (27)
beat off, chase away
golden round
(28) the crown (kingship)
metaphysical
(29) supernatural
effect and it
(47) the result and the plan
favour (72)
complexion
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