twelfth night Act 3 Scene 1 Olivia's Garden summary and analysis

Act III: Scene 1

Summary                                       

Viola, disguised as Cesario, has come to plead Orsino's case with Olivia and is now sitting in Olivia's garden, chatting with Feste, Olivia's jester. They play an innocent game of verbal sparring. Their wit is inconsequential, but Cesario cuts it off suddenly, for he tells Feste that while it is pleasant to "dally nicely" with words in harmless punning matches, such duels of wit can easily turn into games of bawdy, "wanton" double entendres. Cesario reminds Feste that Feste is, after all, Olivia's "fool" (another term for jester, but here it is intended to also carry a literal connotation). Feste easily parries Cesario's gentle reprimand. The Lady Olivia, he tells Cesario, has no fool; in fact, she will have no fool "till she be married." Indeed, he is not her fool; he is her "corrupter of words." Again, he bests Cesario's own keen wit, while being as "subservient" as possible to the handsome young man; and in this connection, one should note that in this scene, Feste's etiquette of status is ever-present; he prefaces almost every verbal parry between the two with the polite "Sir." Yet there is a good spirit of camaraderie in this scene between the two people. In fact, Feste would enjoy their sparring even more, he says, if Cesario were older and wiser and more worldly; he remarks that it is time that Jove sent Cesario a beard. Viola, forgetting herself momentarily, confesses that she is "almost sick for one" — and then she realizes what she was about to say: she is literally almost sick for the love of a man, which of course she can't hope to have as long as she is disguised as a man herself.

At this point, Feste goes in to announce to Olivia that Cesario awaits her in the garden, and while Feste is gone, Viola soliloquizes on the nature of "playing the fool." She recognizes Feste's intelligence; it takes a mature sensitivity to deal with the varying temperaments and moods of one's superiors while attempting to soothe and entertain them. A jester's wit must be just witty enough; he must tread a thin nimble-witted line, without overstepping social bounds. "Playing the fool," being a jester, Viola says, is "a wise man's art."

While Cesario is waiting, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew enter and joke with Cesario, but whereas Cesario and Feste entertained the audience with high comedy, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew indulge in low comedy. Like everyone else (with the exception of Malvolio), both men are quite impressed with Cesario, especially Sir Andrew, and much of their joking focuses on their attempting to mimic Cesario's manners. Summing up Cesario, Sir Andrew comments, "That youth's a rare courtier."

Olivia and Maria enter, and Olivia quickly dismisses Maria, Uncle Toby, and Sir Andrew so that she can be alone with Cesario. Immediately, she asks for Cesario's hand and then for his name. When he answers her that he is her servant, she protests: he is Orsino's servant. But, Cesario reminds Olivia, because he is Orsino's servant, and because his master is her servant (because of his love for her), therefore, he himself is her servant. Olivia is distracted by such logic and such talk of Orsino. All of her thoughts are on Cesario, and she would like him to think only of her; as for Orsino, she would prefer that his mind would be absolutely blank rather than filled with thoughts of her. She never wants to hear about Orsino again — or his "suit" (his wooing). She would much prefer that Cesario would present his own "suit" to her — that is, to woo her on his own behalf.

She confesses that the ruse of the forgotten ring and her sending Malvolio after Cesario was only an excuse; she simply wanted any excuse to have Cesario return to her. She desperately wants to hear words of love from him; she begs him to speak. But all Cesario can reply is that he pities her. Olivia accepts Cesario's rejection with a certain dignity, but she certainly accepts it with undisguised disappointment. How much better for her, she says, if her heart had cast her before "a lion" (a nobleman) rather than before "a wolf" (a servant). She then tells Cesario not to be afraid; she will not press him any further for love that he cannot give. Yet she cannot but envy the lucky woman who finally will "harvest" this youth.

Cesario makes ready to go, then he pauses; he asks Olivia one last time if she has any words for Orsino. She begs Cesario to linger: "Stay," she entreats him, and "prithee, tell me what thou think'st of me." Cesario and Olivia both confess ambiguously that they are not what they seem, and then Olivia can stand no more. She ends Cesario's adroit evasions of her questions with a passionate declaration of love:

I love thee, so, that maugre [despite] all thy pride, 
    Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide. (148-49)

Despite this beautiful and spontaneous declaration of love, Cesario of course cannot encourage Olivia, even as a gesture of friendship. He must, in order to maintain his disguise, reject her declarations of love. He tells her, therefore, in the plainest way he can, that he has but "one heart" and that he has given it to "no woman" — nor shall any woman be the "mistress" of that heart, "save I alone." Thus he must bid Olivia adieu; nevermore will he come to speak of his master's love for her. In desperation, Olivia pleads with Cesario: "Come again"; perhaps his heart may yet change and perhaps he may yet come to love her.

Analysis

This scene continues from Act II, Scene 4, when Duke Orsino was preparing to send Cesario on another mission to Olivia. We should still be aware that the scenes have been alternating between the romantic plots and the subplots concerning the gulling of Malvolio. Thus, after the hilarious scene at the end of Act II, Act III opens in Olivia's garden, but the scene is light and jovial because Cesario has just encountered Olivia's clown, Feste. Together, they delight the audience by turning one another's sentences inside out, demonstrating that each has a finely honed wit.

With the entrance of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, the punning is continued but, more important, Sir Andrew is able to take note of the manner in which Cesario (Viola) addresses Olivia, which will later give rise to the pretended duel between the two.

After Olivia dismisses everyone in order to be alone with the young messenger, she immediately and desperately wants to hear words of love from Cesario, but all that he can say is that he pities her. Olivia then shows herself to be very much like Duke Orsino — that is, she is as changeable as the duke is. At first, she tells Cesario, "I will not have you." Then as Cesario is about to leave, Olivia cannot quite dismiss him before she finds out what he thinks of her: "Stay, I prithee, tell me what thou think'st of me." There follows, then, a series of speeches which serve to remind the audience of the importance and the complications issuing from the fact that everyone is in some sort of disguise:

Viola: That you do think you are not what you are. [That is, that you think that you are in love with a man and you are mistaken.]

Olivia: If I think so, I think the same of you. [If I think lower of myself, I think the same of you; i.e., that you are a nobleman in disguise.]

Viola: Then think you right: I am not what I am. [She is a girl, not a boy.]

Olivia: I would you were as I would have you be. [That is, she wishes that Cesario were a man in love with her.]

After further exchanges, Olivia makes a passionate declaration of love for Cesario:

Cesario, by the roses of the spring,
By maidhood, honour, truth and everything . . . 
I love thee so . . . 
Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide. (146-49)

Despite this beautiful and spontaneous (and completely unsought) declaration of love, Cesario cannot surrender or explain to Olivia without revealing the disguise; but in refusing her, "he" is guilty in her eyes of wanton cruelty. Lady Olivia is now reduced to the same state as Orsino in this scene. She is pleading for love and is rejected.

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Macbeth Act 5, Scene 7: Another part of the field summary and analysis

Act V: Scene 7

Summary

In a scene that foreshadows the final destruction of a tyrant in single combat, Macbeth is challenged by the courageous son of Siward. Immediately afterwards, Macduff is seen eagerly seeking out the man who was responsible for the murder of his family. Lastly, it is announced that Macbeth's forces have surrendered Dunsinane castle. But the business is not yet finished.

 Analysis

The image of paralysis that ended Scene 5 is picked up immediately in Macbeth's image of himself as a baited bear. He is like a captured wild animal, furious yet unable to move: "They have tied me to a stake: I cannot fly." All he can do is to await his destiny. When a single figure enters, Macbeth must wonder, half-doubtful, whether his nemesis has arrived in the form of young Siward. The fight itself is preceded by a combat of words in which Siward appropriately taunts Macbeth with the words "devil" and "lie," words that have particular significance for his opponent. Macbeth's replies spur Siward into courageous but futile action. Before his exit, Macbeth gloats over the corpse of his assailant, with one final mockery: "Thou wast born of woman."

With ironic timing, the man who was not born of woman now takes Siward's place on the battlefield stage. The darkly vengeful figure of Macduff speaks of his obligation to the souls of his dead family: Revenge must be his and his alone if he is to escape his personal feelings of guilt at having abandoned his family.

Describing the surrender of Macbeth's castle, Old Siward (who at this point is ignorant of the heroic self-sacrifice of his son) explains that Macbeth's troops surrendered the castle with little resistance — "gently." Perhaps the audience recalls the "gentle" King Duncan, who, on his fateful visit to Macbeth's castle at Inverness in Act I, Scene 6, commented on the sweet air which surrounded it. Here, we feel that a weight has been lifted: the air will shortly "smell wooingly" once more.

Glossary

bruited (22) announced

rendered (22) surrendered

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Macbeth Act 5, Scene 6: Dunsinane. Before the castle summary and analysis

Act V: Scene 6

 

Summary

Malcolm and his troops have reached Dunsinane under the "leafy screens" of the branches, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the apparitions: Birnam wood has come to Dunsinane.

Analysis

The strong sense of movement and of impending threat is generated throughout Act V by the swift alternation of scenes. This, the briefest of all the scenes, at a mere ten lines in length, enables the audience to follow the advancing forces of Malcolm and England virtually to the walls of Dunsinane castle.

Two lines are worth commenting on: First, Malcolm announces that Siward, his "worthy uncle" shall lead the first battle, while Macduff and he complete the encounter "According to our order." The phrasing of this, with the implication that Siward is to be revered for his age and experience, establishes very strongly the idea of propriety and orderliness in Malcolm's army, in contrast with the comparative lawlessness and lovelessness of Macbeth's regime.

The second point occurs in the stirring final couplet, in which the trumpets sounding the advance are referred to as "harbingers of blood and death"; a harbinger is a sign of what is to come, a precursor of Destiny or Fate.

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Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5: Dunsinane. Within the castle summary and analysis

Act V: Scene 5

 

Summary

Now fully armed, Macbeth confidently turns all his scorn on the advancing armies, only to find his brave rhetoric interrupted by an offstage shriek. The queen is dead — whether by her own hand is not made clear — and Macbeth is left to contemplate a lonely future of endless tomorrows "signifying nothing." Yet another blow comes with the announcement that Birnam Wood appears to have uprooted itself and is even now advancing towards Dunsinane. Again Macbeth recalls the prophecies of Act IV, sure of, but still wishing to deny, their powerful truth.

Analysis

This scene, like Scene 3, starts with a bold imperative: "Hang out our banners on the outward walls." Macbeth's speech is warlike and defiant, his strength mirrored in that of the castle and men who surround him; his curse on the enemy vivid and graphic in its use of metaphor: "Here let them lie / Till famine and the ague (disease) eat them up . . . " (3-5). But the curse is empty rhetoric: In his play Troilus and Cressida, written two or three years earlier, Shakespeare had written that man's ambitious appetite for power, once it has preyed on everything in its path, can eat up only itself. Power-seeking tyrants tend toward self-destruction; if this curse falls on anyone, it's likely to be the curser.

At this point, Macbeth hears a heart-stopping scream. While a servant is dispatched to find the cause, Macbeth confesses in a brief soliloquy that such noises no longer have the power to frighten him. The audience recalls other noises: the owl-shriek that Lady Macbeth heard during Duncan's murder; the voice that Macbeth heard crying "Macbeth shall sleep no more!" and the fateful knocking at the door, all in Act II, Scene 2. But in a phrase that calls to mind the banquet scene (Act III, Scene 4), Macbeth admits that he has "supp'd full with horrors" and that his familiarity with slaughter means that such sounds can no longer amaze him.

The report of Lady Macbeth's death perhaps comes as no surprise, either to Macbeth or to Shakespeare's audience. The word "hereafter" recalls the "hereafter" of the Witches' first prophecy; their "hereafter" was the future that Macbeth was to inherit as king. But the word also refers, ironically, to the heavenly "hereafter," which Macbeth seems intent on denying for himself. In the hands of a sensitive actor or director, this exact word is what triggers the poetic outpouring on the nature of Time, which follows it.

The famous lines "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" have a resigned, almost wistful tone to them, occasioned not only by the death of his wife but also by Macbeth's entire loss of purpose. Although there is perhaps an underlying bitterness at lost opportunity in the words "petty," "fools," "frets" and "idiot," for a man who has received such desperate news, this is not a desperate speech. In fact, compared with some of Macbeth's earlier "set pieces," its rhetoric is controlled, its metaphors precise: Time is like a path to "dusty death," and our lives are as "brief" as a candle. We are like shadows, or actors, on the stage of life. Again, the question occurs, as it did in Act I, Scene 7: How can a man who is capable of such poetic thought act as he does?

Macbeth's musings on this topic are cut dead by still another message, which reports what the audience already knows, the fulfillment of the second prophecy, the movement of the woods. Once again, Macbeth's response is both angry and reflective: "I . . . begin to doubt th'equivocation of the fiend — / That lies like truth . . . " (42-44).

To the servant, he must hotly deny the truth he has been told — to keep his public appearance and satisfy his own doubt — but he must also secretly accept the truth of the prophecy, even if logic persuades him that a moving wood is a lie. It is an understandably human reaction to such a paradoxical problem that Macbeth admits that he is literally stuck — "There is no flying hence, nor tarrying here" (48) — or, in his words from Act III, Scene 4, "Returning were as tedious as go o'er." On a psychological as well as a military level, Macbeth can neither move forward nor backward, neither advance nor retreat.

In this case, and with his gaze firmly fixed on the universe as a whole, Macbeth can only call, like King Lear, on the elements themselves: "Come wind, blow wrack!" he cries. It is the bold cry of a hopeless man.

Glossary

ague (4) disease

forc'd (5) reinforced

fell of hair (11) the hair on my flesh

treatise (12) tale

sooth (40) truthfully

estate of things (40) the physical frame of the universe

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Macbeth Act 5, Scene 4: Country near Birnam wood summary and analysis

Act V: Scene 4

 

Summary

The English and rebel Scottish armies, under the leadership of Malcolm, meet at Birnam Wood. With military foresight, Malcolm orders each soldier to cut a branch and carry it in front of him as camouflage "to shadow the numbers of our host" — that is, to conceal the actual size of the advancing army.

Analysis

Malcolm's hope "That chambers (bedrooms) will be safe" in the future recalls both the location of King Duncan's murder and the motif of sleeplessness that runs through the play. Menteth's assured response — "We doubt it nothing" — is in heavy contrast to the "saucy doubts and fears" that have shaken Macbeth since even before the killing of Duncan and which will return to haunt him in subsequent scenes.

The order to each soldier to "hew . . . down a bough" as a leafy camouflage is taken direct from Holinshed's Chronicles; the aim is not to hide the advancing army but to confuse Macbeth as to the exact number of soldiers. Although Malcolm does not know it, his trick will not only fulfil the second of the prophecies of Act IV, Scene 1, but it will also play upon exactly the equivocation that has troubled Macbeth's mind since he first remarked (in Act I, Scene 3) that "nothing is but what is not."

In both Act V, Scene 2 and here, Macbeth's command over his few remaining followers is said to be based on constraint, not loyalty. His heartlessness is thus contrasted with the genuine feelings of loyalty which, it is implied, are felt towards Malcolm. In Act IV, Scene 3, Malcolm announced that Macbeth, like a rotten fruit, was "ripe for shaking"; now, according to Siward, "The time approaches," and in a final couplet adds "Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate / But certain issue strokes must arbitrate . . . " (19-20). Once more, the impression is that the time for guesswork is over; certainty, and the assurance of goodness, must inevitably triumph over Macbeth's lack of it.

Glossary

constrained things (13) conscripts

just . . . event (14) righteous criticism awaits the outcome

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Macbeth Act 5, Scene 3 Dunsinane A room in the castle summary and analysis

Act V: Scene 3

Summary

Macbeth dismisses reports of invasion by trusting to the prophecies of the apparitions, which seemed to promise him invincibility in battle. When a servant enters to announce the approach of a huge army, Macbeth appears momentarily to lose courage and then angrily spurns his servant and orders his armor to be put on. The Doctor, whose news concerning Lady Macbeth is just as grim, is treated with similar contempt.

Analysis

Macbeth's tone is typically brazen. The reports he has heard can have no consequence, given the prophecies of the three apparitions of Act IV, Scene 1. Throughout this scene, any doubts he may have are quelled by his bold imperatives: "Bring me no more reports," "Fly, false thanes," and more. We see a man completely self-assured, a "confident tyrant," as Siward calls him in the subsequent scene. These angry words do much to assert his own manhood, in contrast to the cowardice he perceives in others — not only his servant, whom he calls "cream-faced" and "lily-livered," but also the rebel soldiers, whom he insultingly refers to as "epicures" (that is, self-indulgent and lazy).

In the dialogue with the servant, Macbeth orders him to "prick his cheeks" in order to "put colour" back in his face, an ironic reminder of the earlier color symbolism when Macbeth was accused by his wife of having a white heart, as opposed to her own red hands. Another imperative — "Give me my armour" — has to be repeated when Macbeth's armourer, Seyton, initially refuses to do so. Similarly, when the Doctor confesses that he has been unable to cure Lady Macbeth's madness, Macbeth mocks his ability, challenging him to "Throw physic (medicine) to the dogs."

But there is also another Macbeth, who admits to being "sick at heart" and who feels he has entered the season of the "yellow leaf," that is, literally, the fall of his own reputation; and who, in a further moment of self-realization, recognizes the sickness of his own land: "If thou could'st, Doctor, cast / The water of my land, find her disease, / And purge it to a sound and pristine health / I would applaud thee to the very echo / That should applaud again" (50-54).

Earlier, referring to his wife's sickness, Macbeth has questioned the doctor's ability to remove from her those thoughts and feelings "Which weigh upon the heart." The Doctor's response: "Therein the patient must minister to himself" is particularly interesting. Where we expect "herself," Shakespeare instead uses the masculine pronoun, referring to a patient of either sex, particularly in proverbial statements such as this one. The suggestion is that Macbeth, too, must find the cure to his own disease. Macbeth's military preparation, which the Doctor says he has heard about, is unlikely to be any more effective than a medicinal preparation or remedy which he might prescribe for the sick nation of Scotland.

Glossary

English epicures (8) the self-indulgent English

sway (9) command

goose (12) cowardly

sere (23) dry

fain (28) rather

skirr (35) scour

oblivious (43) that brings oblivion

physic (47) medicine

cast the water (50) examine the urine (here, used metaphorically)

rhubarb . . . drug (55) purgatives

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Macbeth Act 4, Scene 1: A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron summary and analysis

Act IV: Scene 1

Summary

Macbeth returns to the Weird Sisters and boldly demands to be shown a series of apparitions that tell his future. The first apparition is the disembodied head of a warrior who seems to warn Macbeth of a bloody revenge at the hands of Macduff. The second is a blood-covered child who comforts Macbeth with the news that he cannot be killed by any man "of woman born." The third is a child wearing a crown, who promises that Macbeth cannot lose in battle until Birnam wood physically moves toward his stronghold at Dunsinane.

Encouraged by the news of such impossibilities, Macbeth asks, "Shall Banquo's issue ever reign in this kingdom?" The Witches present an image of a ghostly procession of future kings, led by Banquo. All this serves only to enrage Macbeth, who, trusting in his own pride, reveals in an aside to the audience his determination to slaughter the family of Macduff.

Analysis

This scene can be roughly divided into three: the Witches' casting of a spell; the supernatural answers to Macbeth's demands; and Macbeth's return to the cold world of political and social reality. The scene's structure deliberately recalls the opening scenes of the play. Once more, Macbeth's destiny is in question. Once more, he receives three prophecies. Once more, he is left on his own to decide how best to interpret those prophecies. And once more he fails to understand that Fate is inevitable, however he chooses to act.

The Witches' charm is fantastic: Its ingredients, thrown into a bubbling cauldron, are all poisonous. Moreover, these ingredients are all the entrails or body parts of loathed animals or human beings, which, taken together, can be interpreted as making a complete monster: tongue, leg, liver, lips, scales, teeth, and so on. The strong implication is that Macbeth himself is no longer a complete human being; he himself has become a half-man, half-monster, a kind of chimera.

Macbeth arrives at the Witches' lair with extraordinary boldness, knocking at the entrance in a way that ironically recalls the entry of Macduff into Macbeth's castle in Act II, Scene 3. When he "conjures" the Witches to answer him, his language is uncompromising: He matches their power with a powerful curse of his own, demanding to have an answer even if it requires the unleashing of all the elements of air, water, and earth; even if all the universe — natural or manmade — "tumble" into ruin. His most defiant act, by far, is to desire to hear the prophecy of his future not from the Witches, who are themselves only "mediums" of the supernatural, but from their "masters," that is, the controlling Fates.

Macbeth's demand is answered by a sequence of apparitions. Unlike the dagger and Banquo's ghost, these supernatural visions cannot be simply the workings of Macbeth's "heat-oppress'd brain." They are definitely summoned by the Witches. Once again, the audience is required to assess the extent to which Macbeth is responsible for his own actions. What is certain is Macbeth's response to each prophetic apparition: He appears to be super-confident, even flippant, in his replies. There is little fear or respect, for example, in his reply to the First Apparition: "Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks." And his punning reply to the Second Apparition's "Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth" — "Had I three ears, I'd hear thee" — displays a comic arrogance.

Apart from the first, all the apparitions, including the fourth and final one of a procession of future kings, contain children. The juxtaposition of children (pictures of innocence) and images of death, warfare, and blood, is dramatic and terrifying, but especially so for Macbeth: For a man who has no offspring, the image of children can only fill him with hatred and loathing.

Having rejected as impossible the second two prophecies, Macbeth asks for one last favor. The result appalls him, drawing all strength from him and reducing his earlier courage. The children who appear in this procession are the children of Fleance. The reflected light of their golden crowns "does sear (cut into) mine eye-balls" and causes his eyes to jump from their sockets. The climax to Macbeth's reaction occurs in the line "What! will the line (of inheritance) stretch out to the crack of doom?" in which he finally realizes the possibility of an entirely Macbethless future.

In a scene rich with special effects — thunder, ghosts and (possibly flying) Witches — Shakespeare adds a final visual stroke: The eighth child-king carries a mirror that reflects the faces of many more such kings. The effect of infinite regression can be achieved by looking at a mirror while holding a smaller mirror in your hand in which the reflection is reflected.

The Witches confirm the inevitability of what Macbeth has seen: "Ay sir, all this is so." There can be no equivocation, no argument, with Fate.

Emerging into the cold light of day, Macbeth seems immediately to forget the final prophecy, as he returns to the practicalities of what is increasingly a battle for his own political survival. On being informed that Macduff has fled to England, he announces his intention to wreak a terrible revenge on Macduff's wife and children.

Glossary

brinded (1) streaked

fenny (12) living in the marshes

howlet (17) young owl

yesty (53) frothing

lodg'd (55) beaten down

germens (59) seeds

farrow (65) litter of pigs

harp'd (74) guessed

impress (95) force

mortal custom (100) usual lifespan

crack of doom (117) Day of Judgment

antic round (130) mad dance

this great King (131) possibly a reference to James I (the king in Shakespeare's audience)

flighty . . . with it (145) Unless acted upon immediately intentions may be overtaken by time.

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Macbeth Act 4, Scene 3: England Before the King's palace summary and analysis

Act IV: Scene 3

Summary

In England, Duncan's son Malcolm tests the loyalty of his newest recruit, Macduff. By demeaning his own nobility and professing himself to be a greater tyrant than Macbeth, Malcolm hopes to goad Macduff into an open display of his loyalties. This attempt at reverse psychology has its desired effect. Macduff is thrown into a fit of anger against the "untitled tyrant" Macbeth, and Malcolm enlists his help in the struggle. When Ross appears with news of the slaughter of Macduff's family, Macduff is finally convinced not only to engage in the rebel army but also to take personal revenge upon Macbeth. This scene also includes a passage in which it is reported that England's king, Edward the Confessor, has provided more than political aid to Malcolm; he has been healing the sick by supernatural means.

Analysis

This scene develops further the important issues of loyalty and courage found in the preceding scene, and it is structured in two halves: the first concerns the testing of Macduff's loyalty by Malcolm; the second evokes the great passion of Macduff in the face of terrible grief and his sworn revenge on Macbeth.

It is helpful to think of this scene as a job interview. Malcolm begins by suggesting that Macduff may be prepared to betray him as "a sacrifice" to his previous leader, Macbeth. Macduff passes this stage of the interview by boldly announcing, "I am not treacherous." Still, Malcolm persists: Men may look as bright as angels on the outside but still harbor secret feelings within. Why, he asks, did Macduff desert his wife and children? At this point, Macduff nearly fails the test: He cannot believe that Malcolm is so short-sighted not to realize that his interests lie in defending not only his family but the whole nation of Scotland.

As in Ross' speech in Act IV, Scene 2, the context of this entire scene has been set in terms of the country as a whole: Macduff explains to Malcolm that "Each new morn . . . new sorrows / Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds / As if it felt with Scotland"(4-7). Later, Macduff cries out "O Scotland, Scotland . . . O nation miserable!" Macbeth's motivation in murdering Duncan may have been personal, but its effects have become very much public.

Malcolm's next move is a daring piece of reverse psychology: He claims that as a future king, he himself will be even more malicious and barbarous than Macbeth. To understand this scene, the audience must be aware from the start that Malcolm is lying when he suggests that he possesses no virtues, no nobility, no honor, and no qualities of kingship.

Macduff's response to this suggestion is at first cautious. His speech beginning with the words "Boundless intemperance in nature is a tyranny . . . " has a diplomatic tone. Macduff argues, probably against his better judgment, that certain human sins are forgivable, even in a king. Even avarice, the sinful desire for wealth, is "portable" when balanced against the good qualities of kingship. "But I have none," replies Malcolm, listing exactly those qualities which he does have and which, of course, Macbeth lacks. At this point, Macduff snaps. He cannot endure the thought that the country might have to undergo another reign even more vicious than Macbeth's. Seeing Macduff's clearly emotional response, Malcolm relents, revealing as fake the self-portrait he has previously given.

The next 20 lines may appear curious to a modern audience, for two reasons: first, because they were probably added as a flattering direct address to King James I, for whom the play was performed; and second because of what they reveal about the miraculous healing powers ascribed to his forebear, Edward the Confessor. According to legend, Edward had been able to cure scrofula, or the King's Evil, a glandular inflammation, simply by touching the diseased patient. But the passage is dramatically ironic as well: The king of England is shown to be a monarch of genuine goodness and to use the supernatural for beneficial purposes. Coming almost immediately after Macbeth's visit to the Witches, this contrast is made even more clear. Moreover, the speech introduces us to the choric (or commentating) figure of the Doctor, who speaks of disease but is powerless to cure the more severe, mental affliction of Lady Macbeth in the subsequent scene.

When Ross enters, his report consolidates this idea of disease. According to him, the entire country is "teeming" with illness: He reveals that "sighs, and groans, and shrieks . . . rent the air" and that "good men's lives expire before the flowers in their caps, / Dying or ere they sicken" (168-173). However, the worst news is for the ears of Macduff alone. In a piece of dialogue heavy with emotion, Ross relates the story of the murder of Lady Macduff and her little children. His speech wavers, as he tries to avoid telling Macduff the truth.

On hearing the news about his family, Macduff's reaction is understandable. Shakespeare gives him an implied stage direction in Malcolm's line "What man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows," which suggests that Macduff must cover his face to prevent any unmanly show of grief. But Malcolm suggests that Macduff's tears should become "medicines . . . / To cure this deadly grief." Macduff, however, feels he can only blame himself. With ironic reference to his wife's words of the previous scene, he alludes to his "poor chickens," slaughtered by the "fell swoop" of a bird of prey. The emotional impact of this scene reaches its climax in Macduff's response when Malcolm tells him to "[d]ispute it like a man": "I shall do so / But I must also feel it as a man."

From this moment onwards, Macduff becomes the stereotypical avenging hero. It was he who first discovered the murder of Duncan, having arrived, Christ-like, at the gates of hell in Act II, Scene 3. Now he must take on himself the personal act of revenge. The scene is set for the final act.

Glossary

to friend (10) auspicious

recoil in an imperial charge (20) recoil (like a cannon) when under royal orders (from Macbeth)

jealousies (29) suspicions

afeer'd (34) confirmed

rich East to boot (37) all the wealth of the Orient as well

grafted (51) embedded

spacious plenty (71) at will

summer-seeming (86) youthful

foisons (88) abundance

interdiction (107) accusation

trains (118) tricks

detraction (123) self-accusation

convinces . . . art (143) defeats all the attempts of (medical) skill

stamp (153) coin

eye (186) command

latch (195) catch

fee-grief . . . breast (196) a personal sorrow

quarry . . . deer (206) carnage of these dead creatures

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