Macbeth Notes – Act IV
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Teacher Notes
Scene i
Summary – The witches prepare a magic potion with poisonous ingredients. When Macbeth enters he conjures them to tell him the truth. They call
forth embodiments of their master, Satan. The first apparition is an armed head who tells Macbeth to beware of Macduff. The second, a bloody child,
tells the king that he cannot be harmed by any man who was born of a woman. The third is a child carrying a tree who assures Macbeth that he will be
safe until the forest at Birnam comes to his castle. Macbeth is heartened by these prophecies, but when he demands to know if Banquo's descendents
will ever rule Scotland, the witches show him the figure of Banquo, followed by a line of eight future kings, all resembling the murdered Banquo. The
witches disappear, and Macbeth learns of Macduff's flight and orders Macduff's castle seized and his family slaughtered.
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The first 47 lines of this scene give us an inside look at the business of witchcraft. Look at the ingredients thrown into the
cauldron. Which ones take us beyond the world of the British Isles?
In my introductory remarks I mentioned the actors' superstition that bad things happened if you even said the name
"Macbeth" in a theater. This belief seems to have arisen because actors felt this particular sequence was so powerful, they
actually had evoked real spirits on the stage. In these lines Shakespeare has the witches begin locally and then extend their
evil globally. In the first three lines we are reminded of the witches' familiars: the brindled cat (remember "Graymalkin"),
the hedgepig or hedgehog, and the bird of prey, an owl or hawk named "Harpier." These familiars order the witches to start
making the charm for Macbeth. Remember that English witches avoided even numbers whenever possible, so here we have
"thrice and once" for four. The ingredients, thrown in by the First Witch, are the entrails of a toad that has sweltered under
a rock, not surprisingly, for 31 days. At line 10 the famous refrain of the witches' chant, "Double, double, toil and trouble; /
Fire burn and cauldron bubble," seems to modern audiences to be a comment on the working conditions of the witches: "This
is hard work, doubly hard, keeping this fire going and the cauldron bubbling." Actually, the word "toil" refers not to labor but
"entanglement," like a net made doubly strong to catch Macbeth's soul.
The Second Witch concentrates on things from the natural world, ingredients found around the English village: "fenny" snakes
from the swampy area or fen; the famous "Eye of newt and toe of frog" at line 14; and various body parts from other small
animals and birds. To a great extent what we customarily think of as the stuff witches throw in their pots, the stuff kids
have imagined every Halloween for centuries, comes from this passage right here lines 4 -- 19.
The Third Witch is the one with the really exotic ingredients, and these show how Shakespeare expanded the scope of evil in
this particular play to a global level, beyond the English village or the Scottish highlands. "Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf"
[line 22] are not things readily available in the English market. The "salt-sea shark" and the "liver of blaspheming Jew" were
more exotic. (Officially there were no Jews in England and hadn't been for several centuries.) The body parts collected by
the Third Witch include "Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips." In many parts of the Middle East punishment for certain crimes was
the removal of these facial features. Other exotic elements are the contents of a tiger's stomach at line 33 and the baboon's
blood at line 37. All these suggest that evil is something found everywhere in the world, and its power is available through
witchcraft.
The image of the "Finger of birth-strangled babe,/ Ditch-delivered by a drab" is particularly horrible in the scene it evokes.
Most scholars believe that the passage with Hecate at line 39 -- 43 is almost certainly added by someone other than
Shakespeare. At some time, early in the history of Macbeth, somebody thought that what the play needed at this point was
a song and dance called "Black Spirits." That seems very odd to us nowadays; I've never seen a production with this musical
interlude included. At line 44 Shakespeare has a marvelous line signaling the approach of Macbeth: "By the pricking of my
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thumbs,/ Something wicked this way comes." Macbeth isn't even a human here, just "something."
[Line 48-156] Review the rest of this scene. It will consist of three different "apparitions" arranged by the witches, each
with a prophecy for Macbeth. What's the connection between what Macbeth sees and what the apparition tells him?
Following this exchange Macbeth will press for full disclosure from the witches, and they will arrange what is called "The
Show of the Eight Kings" at line 112 when all the Stuart kings are paraded across the stage. Do you have any idea how this
particular passage was shown on stage?
When Macbeth enters he is doing much more than asking the witches for more information. He is confrontational and
combative. There is a desperate quality about him in this scene. At line 50 he "conjures" the witches, a powerful word that
meant calling forth the spirits that served Satan, the same process he assumes they use to predict his future: "by that which
you profess,/ Howe'er you come to know it, answer me." It is as if Macbeth, like Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, had already sold
his soul to the devil to learn his future. He then proclaims at line 52 his willingness to sacrifice all the processes of life,
death and regeneration in order to be satisfied: “Though you untie the winds and let them fight / Against the churches;
though the yesty waves / Confound and swallow navigation up; / Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down; /
Though castles topple on their warders' heads; / Though palaces and pyramids do slope / Their heads to their foundations;
though the treasure / Of nature's germens tumble all together, / Even till destruction sicken, answer me / To what I ask
you.”
Once again, Macbeth seems willing to risk anything, even universal destruction. We have the winds (remember the Scottish
witches' fondness for controlling the wind) fighting against the churches or organized religion. Then the waves generated by
the winds swallowing up all shipping ("navigation"), destroying trade. The grain ("corn") about to harvested is destroyed as
are the forests. Even the stone castles, the strongest architecture of that age, will collapse on their owners' heads, along
with the palaces, symbols of royal power, and the pyramids, the most massive structures known to mankind. We can
envision this horrendous storm, destroying more and more things in its path, until we get to the "treasure of nature's
germens," the seeds of life and regeneration. "Germens" here is a special word, suggesting the fundamental processes of
life. Even these will be tumbled together and destroyed. All of this verbal fury to emphasize that Macbeth wants answers.
Some scholars have suggested that Macbeth in this opening speech has in effect become the fourth witch in the play, willing
to accept eternal damnation.
In a way this idea that Macbeth has gone beyond the normal bounds of mortality in his willingness to dare damnation is
shown at line 64 when he agrees to confront the witches' masters face-to-face: "Call 'em; let me see 'em." Whatever form
these "masters" take, they are all representatives of Satan. You did not confront Satan unless you were very reckless.
The First Apparition appears, an armed head, and tells Macbeth to beware Macduff, the Thane of Fife, Macduff's ancestral
home. Macbeth thanks him and says he was going to get rid of Macduff anyway. But when Macbeth demands to know more,
the witches warn him of the rules: "He will not be commanded." The Second Apparition comes in the form of a bloody child
who assures Macbeth that he will never be defeated by anyone who was born of a woman. Macbeth realizes he doesn't have
to fear Macduff, obviously born of a woman, but he'll kill him anyway. At line 84, as if he were speaking directly to Macduff,
he says, "Thou shalt not live;/ That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,/ And sleep in spite of thunder." We get another hint
at Macbeth's sleep disorder, something in his dreams that will not allow him to sleep soundly. The Third Apparition appears,
a baby who wears a crown and carries a tree.
This one gives the most detailed prophecy of all at line 90: "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until/ Great Birnam Wood to
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high Dunsinane Hill/ Shall come against him." "Dunsinane" was the hill on which Macbeth's castle stood, and Birnam Wood
was a nearby forest. Macbeth gloats, "That will never be." There is no way a tree can get up and move. Therefore, he
concludes, he does not have to worry about rebellion and he will live a long life and die of natural causes.
But Macbeth is not willing to let things go unanswered, and he remembers that conflicting prediction about the issue of
Banquo becoming rulers. He demands to know if it is true. When the witches warn him not to ask, he threatens them with
an eternal curse. As if by signal the magic cauldron disappears (through the trapdoor in the stage), and the royal sounds of
the hautboys which usually played at the entrance of a king sound out. As the witches depart and jeer at Macbeth's grief,
we get the "show of the eight kings." In the introduction to the play I talked about the longevity of the Stuart kings in
Scotland. They had been on the throne for eight generations, and Shakespeare shows these monarchs represented by eight
figures, dressed up to resemble Banquo, who also appears. To be technically accurate the next to the last figure should
have been the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, but Shakespeare discreetly uses more symbolic than realistic
representation, so as not to remind the audience what happened to King James' mother. Some scholars claim that the play
was first performed for King James at the palace on the occasion of a state visit by James' brother-in-law, the King of
Denmark.
The eight actors walk across the stage, and the last of the kings carries a "glass" or mirror at line 120, "Which shows me many
more, and some I see/ That twofold balls and triple scepters carry." This is probably a tribute to King James, the ruler of
what he hoped would become a united kingdom, represented by the balls (orbs of state) and scepters (showing dominion
over three kingdoms -- England, Scotland and Ireland). I like to think that the eight people who played the eight kings may
well have been drafted from members of the court, possibly the royal family. Furthermore, imagine the last of the eight
player kings coming out with a large mirror and standing before the real king who would have been seated right in front of
the middle of the stage.
The actor holds up the mirror so that it reflects the real king while Macbeth says that he can see many more descendants of
Banquo. There appear to be so many, Macbeth at line 117 cries out, "What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?"
"Doom" here is doomsday, the end of time, and it was the boast of the Stuarts that they would remain on the throne for that
long. Macbeth is horrified and realizes he has done all his evil for the benefit of Banquo's descendants. He questions the
First Witch who assures him what he has seen is the truth.
At this point, line 126, the witch says, in effect, "I'm sorry if it's upset you. How about a little song and dance to cheer you
up?" Like the song and dance at line 43 in this scene and to some extent Act III, scene 5 in the witches' haunt this passage
really feels unnecessary and inappropriate. However, it's the kind of thing that was often done as part of the court masque,
an aristocratic entertainment using music and dance to present short, allegorical situations. In some of his later plays
Shakespeare seems to include masque elements to appeal to more noble audiences.
Macbeth calls in Lennox who's been waiting outside and asks if he saw anybody leave. When Lennox says no, Macbeth curses
the witches at line 138: "Infected be the air on which they ride/ And damned all those that trust them." Remember that
description of the Scottish witches riding invisibly on the air and leaving some kind of pollution as evidence of their
presence. Ironically Macbeth, despite the curse, will continue to trust their prophecies. The news of Macduff's flight to
England doesn't surprise us. Macbeth swears at line 146: "From this moment/ The very firstlings of my heart shall be/ The
firstlings of my hand." No more agonizing over what to do, especially if it involves violence. He orders that Macduff's castle,
family and servants be seized and murdered. Macbeth's evil has now extended to women and children. At line 155 he adds,
"But no more sights!" as if he were through with the witches, even though he continues to act as if their prophecies are true.
Scene ii
Summary – At Macduff's castle his wife tries to tell her little boy that his father was a traitor and is now dead. After the boy trades wisecracks with his
mother, she is warned to flee her home with her children. Before she can, murderers employed by Macbeth enter and kill everyone.
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This scene is set at the castle of Macduff, involving his wife and young son. We have just heard Macbeth order their deaths,
and so this scene is filled with dramatic irony, as we know what is about to happen. The pace of the scene seems very
leisurely as Lady Macduff expresses her anger at her husband's flight to England and agonizes over whether she should flee
herself. In this scene which character provides some comic relief?
This scene provides a strange kind of comic relief, sandwiched between two solemn passages. Once again Shakespeare
shows us the consequences of Macbeth's actions on the wider world. The scene opens with Lady Macduff berating her
missing husband and her kinsman Ross defending Macduff, without knowing the specifics of his decision. Lady Macduff calls
his action "madness" at line 3 and observes, "When our actions do not/ Our fears do make us traitors." The implication here is
that she believes he fled for fear rather than any act of treason against Macbeth. When Ross argues that his wisdom might
have led him to escape from Scotland, Lady Macduff rejects the idea that it was wisdom to leave his wife and children in
danger. At line 9 she says he left because he lacks "the natural touch" (any affection for his family) and adds, "the poor
wren,/ The most diminutive of birds, will fight, her young ones in her nest, against the owl." Once again we get that
reminder of potential evil and supernatural threat in the figure of the owl. Ross describes how difficult conditions are in
Scotland now at line 18.
The times are cruel because we do not know from day to day which acts are loyal and which treasonous, when we believe
every rumor because we are afraid. We do not even know what we fear but are tossed about as if we were on a stormy sea.
Given Macbeth's violent actions and capricious behavior, we can see how living under his reign creates a sense of confused
dread.
The comic relief starts when Ross leaves and Macduff's wife tells her son that his father is dead at line 30. The little kid,
who is very precocious, doesn't believe it, and reassures his mother that he can live on scrapes like the poor birds.
His mother worries at line 34 that he is too innocent to survive long in the world, an ironic realization in light of what is
about to happen to him. When she reiterates that his father is dead and asks, "How wilt thou do for a father," he counters,
"Nay, how will you do for a husband?" When Lady Macduff flippantly says she can buy twenty husbands, the clever lad
responds at line 41, "Then you'll buy 'em to sell again," the suggestion that his mother will sell out any new husband. The
boy then asks if his father is a traitor, probably because that would be the crime Macduff would be charged with. When his
mother explains that traitors lie and swear and must be hanged, the boy asks who will hang the traitors. Lady Macduff
answers "the honest men." The kid's best one-liner is at line 54: "Then the liars and swearers are fools; for there are liars and
swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang up them." When Mom persists in acting as if her husband were dead, the
boy says at line 59, "If he were dead, you'd weep for him. If you would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a
new father," implying she had a boyfriend on the side.
The last twemty lines in this scene are the low point as far as Macbeth's evil is concerned. In this scene we do see the
murder of the little boy who, after cracking wise about whether his father was a traitor, stands up for Dad's honor, calling
the murderer a "shag-eared villain" and pays the price. The undoubtedly grotesque death of Lady Macduff takes place off
stage. The messenger at line 63 complements Ross' earlier appearance, but here there is no hesitation in the warning or the
urgency. At line 67 he advises, “Be not found here: hence, with your little ones. / To fright you thus, methinks I am too
savage; / To do worse to you were fell cruelty, / Which is too nigh your person.”
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However, Lady Macduff doesn't take the advice and flee. Instead she complains that she has done no harm and therefore
should not have to run away. The murderers come in within eight lines and do the deed. It's probably the same guys who
killed Banquo, and one of them calls the boy "Young fry [spawn] of treachery!" It's very unusual in a Shakespearean tragedy
to have the person furnishing the comic relief be murdered in the same scene. The fact that it's an innocent child and a
helpless woman makes it all the worse.
Scene iii
Summary – In England Malcolm welcomes Macduff, who urges him to lead an army back to Scotland as soon as possible. Malcolm seems reluctant,
however, and tells Macduff that Macbeth has sent agents to try and entrap him. When Macduff continues to advise him to act, Malcolm confesses that
he would not be much of an improvement over Macbeth because he is greedy, lustful and lacks all the virtues which kings should have. When Macduff
despairs for his country, Malcolm finally admits that he was testing his loyalty. He tells Macduff the invading force of Scottish refugees and English
soldiers will soon leave for Scotland. Ross arrives and reluctantly tells Macduff of the slaughter of his family. Malcolm urges Macduff to use his personal
loss as further motive to destroy Macbeth, and the grieving father swears he will personally kill Macbeth.
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This long scene develops several points in the plot. We see Malcolm welcome Macduff into exile. We see the development
of a strategy for the liberation of Scotland. There's some interesting historical trivia about the king of England at that time,
Edward the Confessor. The scene ends with Macduff learning about the slaughter of his family. Review the first 100 lines
and determine why Malcolm tells Macduff what kind of king he would make.
In the opening lines Malcolm welcomes the newest political refugee, Macduff, and invites him to grieve for their country.
Macduff urges Malcolm to act to free Scotland from suffering: "Each new morn/ New widows howl, new orphans cry."
Malcolm expresses doubt about Macduff's intentions and suggests the possibility that Macduff may seek to offer him, "a weak,
poor, innocent lamb" [line 16] to Macbeth, "an angry god." He questions why Macduff left his wife and children, "Those strong
knots of love" [line 27] back in Scotland.
Without answering Malcolm's suspicions, Macduff offers to leave: "I would not be the villain thou think'st/ For the whole
space that's in the tyrant's grasp" [lines 35 --36]. Malcolm acknowledges that he has offers of help from England to
overthrow Macbeth but fears that should he assume the throne after Macbeth's death, Scotland would be in worse shape
because “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.” Yes, it's the Clinton syndrome in ancient Scotland. Malcolm points out that
Macbeth may be preferable to such a ruler.
Macduff agrees at line 66 that "Boundless intemperance/ In nature is a tyranny." But goes on to add that political power, as
Henry Kissinger observed, is an aphrodisiac and that Malcolm, as king, will find more women willing to sleep with him than
he can possibly take advantage of.
Now Malcolm reveals that it's not just physical lust which motivates him; he has a "staunchless avarice" [line 78] that would
lead him to "forge/ Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,/ Destroying them for wealth" [lines82 -- 84]. This is a more
serious problem than lust, admits Macduff, but nevertheless Scotland has riches enough to satisfy the greediest of kings.
Now, at line 91, referring to the graces needed by a king, Malcolm makes the most devastating confession of all: “But I have
none: the king-becoming graces, / As justice, verity, temp'rance, 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.”
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Malcolm goes through the whole checklist of virtues the monarch was supposed to possess and declares he has none. In an
echo of "the milk of human kindness" back in Act I, here Malcolm pours the milk into hell. That does it! Macduff cannot find
some way of excusing this moral failure in Malcolm.
Observing that the prince must have been a disappointment to his parents, Macduff declares at line 112 that "These evils
thou repeat'st upon thyself/ Hath banished me from Scotland. O my breast,/ Thy hope ends here." Macduff cannot support
the return of such a monster to the throne of Scotland, and so he will never see his country again.
Of course, all of this has been a trick by Malcolm to test Macduff. He has wanted to determine what Macduff's motives were
in seeking to join the campaign against Macbeth, and Macduff's "noble passion" at these false admissions demonstrated his
goodness. Malcolm has learned that hard way not to be too trusting. At line 117 he explains, “Devilish Macbeth, / By many
of these trains hath sought to win me / Into his power; and modest wisdom plucks me / From over-credulous haste.”
We see in this passage that Malcolm will be a wiser ruler than his father, that he has learned not to be too trusting.
Remember back in Act I, scene 4 where King Duncan lamented that there was "no art/ To find the mind's construction in the
face." Duncan's son has had to figure out the art of discovering the mind's construction. Macbeth's previous efforts to trick
Malcolm are referred here to "trains," a word which your notes tell you means "plots or tricks." In addition, "train" was what
the fuse of an explosive device was called, one more example of those references to the Gunpowder Plot. Malcolm now
denies all the allegations he had made against himself earlier. He places himself at Macduff's direction and pledges himself
to save his poor country, with the help of an English army commanded by Old Siward.
We now get a strange interlude at lines 139 -- 159 in which a doctor comes in and describes to Malcolm how the English king,
Edward the Confessor, passes among a group of wretched souls suffering from scrofula, a skin disease you can think of as
something like leprosy. Anyway, Edward would touch these poor people and his touch, because he was the rightful king,
would cure their condition. From that point on throughout English history the rightful king possessed the royal touch and
could cure scrofula, right down to the time of James I. When James became king, and his royal advisors announced, "Time
to go out and touch the lepers, your majesty!" he resisted. No one wants to go out and touch people with terrible skin
conditions. But then his advisors pointed out that if he wanted to be taken as the rightful king, he needed to do this one
little job. So James sucked it up and went among the lepers. Now this passage makes no sense; it adds nothing to the plot
or character development. I've never seen it included in any stage production. However, if we keep in mind for whom the
play was originally written and performed, its inclusion does make sense as still one more tribute to King James.
The last part of the scene (lines 160 -- 240) shows the arrival of Ross with the devastating news of the murder of Macduff's
family. The last person Ross wanted to see was Macduff to whom he'll have to break the news. At first Ross is very general
in his report about conditions back home at line 164: “Alas, poor country! / Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot / Be
called our mother but our grave, where nothing / But who knows nothing is once seen to smile: / Where sighs and groans,
and shrieks that rent the air, / Are made, not marked; where violent sorrow seems / A modern ecstasy. The dead man's
knell / Is there scarce asked for who, and the good men's lives / Expire before the flowers in their caps, / Dying or ere they
sicken.”
There are some perceptive observations here. Fear is so rampant the whole country is afraid to know itself. Think of the
thanes after the banquet from hell; how much did they really want to know about Macbeth's hallucinations? The only people
who can smile are those who are totally ignorant. No one asks about screams or shrieks, and sorrow seems perfectly
ordinary. Even good men die without any notice, unable to outlive the flowers in their caps. At line 176 Macduff asks about
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his wife and children, and Ross says at line 179 with great dramatic irony for the audience, "They were well at peace when I
did leave 'em."
Ross urges Malcolm to return to Scotland where his presence will arouse the people, both men and women, to rebel against
Macbeth. The prince tells him of the army being raised by Old Siward. Finally, at line 193 Ross announces that he has
terrible news to tell: "But I have words/ That would be howled out in the desert air,/ Where hearing would not latch them."
Macduff already suspects that Ross has something awful to tell him and asks if the message pertains to everyone or just him
in particular. Ross finally has to tell Macduff the truth at line 204.
Throughout the play many people receive news of the death of family, friends and associates. As these things go, this one is
pretty gentle, although "savagely slaughtered" is fairly graphic. However, Ross' reluctance to relate any details is presented
in an interesting fashion. He calls the victims a "quarry of murdered deer": "quarry" was a technical term from hunting to
designate the bodies of all the game killed in the hunt, as if this were a sport. Furthermore, we have one of those serious
puns that Shakespeare is famous for -- the play on "deer" and "dear." If Ross were to tell Macduff the details, they would kill
him.
When we recall the passage back in Act II, scene 3, when Macduff announced the news of Duncan's death in that formal
language stripped of real emotion, the contrast with this passage is remarkable. At first Macduff says nothing; instead we
get a description from Malcolm of him pulling his hat down on his head, expressing his grief non-verbally.
Then we get these poignant, short questions, as if he were in the first stage of grieving, that of denial:
My children too?
[line 212]
My wife killed too?
[line 214]
All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O, hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
[lines 220 - 222]
This pattern of repetition is very effective in conveying the tremendous grief Macduff feels and also the guilt: "And I must be
from thence" [line 212]. Back in Act III, scene 3, Shakespeare did not want the audience to feel the grief of others over the
death of Duncan because we had already experienced it vicariously. Here, however, Shakespeare does want us to feel
Macduff's grief fully to help propel us to his bloody act of revenge in the final scene.
Malcolm immediately wants to politicize Macduff's grief, to make it the emotional cause for the liberation campaign. At line
213 he urges Macduff, "Let's make us med'cines of our great revenge/ To cure this deadly grief." At line 223 he advises, "Let
grief/ Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it." Macduff's initial response to Malcolm's urging revenge is the simple
but chilling, "He [Macbeth] has no children" [line 216]. Later he says when Malcolm urges him to "dispute" his grief, "I shall
do so,/ But I must also feel it as a man" [line 220]. Finally Macduff says he will seek out "this fiend of Scotland" for his
revenge. He, Malcolm and Ross leave to lead the invasion. As Malcolm says at line 237, "Macbeth/ Is ripe for shaking."