Act IV, Scene iii. England. A room in the king's palace. Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF

Transcription

1 Act IV, Scene iii England. A room in the king's palace Enter and Let us seek out some desolate shade and there Weep our sad bosoms empty. Of this scene and the preceding one, the critic A. C. Bradley has said, "they have a technical value in helping to give the last stage of the action the form of a conflict between Macbeth and Macduff. But their chief function is of another kind. It is to touch the heart with a sense of beauty and pathos, to open the springs of love and tears." But Knights, another scholar, points out that the scenes echo "in different keys the theme of the false appearance, of doubt, and confusion," and "show the spreading evil... There is much more in the death of Young Macduff than pathos. The violation of the natural order is completed by the murder." Fletcher adds that the Macduff family members "are the chief representatives in the piece of the interests of loyalty and domestic affection, as opposed to those of the foulest treachery and ambition." Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword and, like good men, Bestride our downfall'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 dolor. "Hold fast the mortal sword" = grasp securely ("fast") the death-dealing sword (a sword of justice) "Bestride our downfall'n birthdom" = stand above (in defense of) our country of birth (our "birthdom"), which has suffered a downfall "New widows... new orphans" = "new" because their husbands and fathers have recently been slain "Like syllable of dolor" = a similar and sympathetic cry of sadness ("dolor") 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 lov'd 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 T' appease an angry god. I am not treacherous. "What I believe I'll wail" = I will express sorrow for what I believe to be true (the damage done to Scotland) "What know believe" = I will believe only what I know with certainty to be true "what I can redress, / As I shall find the time to friend, I will" = that which I can repair ("redress") I will repair when the time is favorable (is "to friend") "perchance" = possibly "whose sole name" = whose name alone "He hath not touch'd you yet" = Neither of these men know about the murders that have taken place in Fife, Note, then, the dramatic irony of Malcolm's statement. "I am young, but something / You may deserve of him through me" = although I am young, you may gain something from him by betraying me. Malcolm considers that Macduff may be here as a spy working for Macbeth and so acts cautiously (more cautiously than his father has acted). "lamb" = Malcolm refers to himself as a "lamb." The fact that Malcolm identifies himself as a lamb is the first suggestion in this scene that he functions in Macbeth as a Christ figure, Christ being traditionally spoken of as the "lamb of God" the innocent victim given in sacrifice. "T' appease" = to satisfy; to placate

2 But Macbeth is. A good and virtuous nature may recoil In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon. That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose. Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell. Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, Yet grace must still look so. "A good and virtuous nature may recoil / In an imperial charge" = The statement may be read in two ways one referring to Macduff, the other to Macbeth. Of Macduff: a person's good morals may turn away ("recoil") from him when he is forced to act at a king's command ("charge") Of Macbeth: a person's good morals may turn away from him when he takes on the authority ("charge") of a king "That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose" = whatever you are (one loyal to Macbeth or loyal to me) I cannot change ("transpose") by wishing (by "thoughts") "Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell" = angels are always ("still") bright, even though Lucifer, the brightest of angels, rebelled and was cast down ("fell") from heaven. Malcolm's allusion to Lucifer, who appeared (and appears) to be bright that is, to have assumed a shape of goodness is meant ostensibly to support his questioning of whether Macduff should be trusted or traduced. But the statement serves also to identify Macbeth with Satan himself not just with evil in general but with the very "father of lies." That Christ and Satan have now been alluded to in this scene (near the end of the play) sets us up for a symbolic Armageddon, a final confrontation between good and evil, metaphorically between Christ and Antichrist. (Recall that Shakespeare is a Christian, writing out of a Christian culture, and that his spiritual orientations and references, therefore, are most likely to be derived from the Bible and the Church.) "Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, / Yet grace must still (always) look so" = although foul beings will impersonate fair ones, the fair beings are no less fair than ever they were I have lost my hopes. Perchance even there where I did find my doubts. Why in that rawness left you wife and child Those precious motives, those strong knots of love Without leave-taking? I pray you, Let not my jealousies be your dishonors, But mine own safeties. You may be rightly just, Whatever I shall think. "Perchance even there where I did find my doubts" = maybe ("perchance") in the very place (of despair) where you lost your hopes, I found my cause to doubt you "Why in that rawness left you wife and child" = why did you leave your loved ones open to danger (in a state of "rawness") "knots of love" = ties of devotion "leave-taking" = saying goodbye "Let not my jealousies be your dishonors, / But mine own safeties" = do not suppose that my suspicions ("jealousies") are meant to disgrace ("dishonor") you; know that they are only for my own protection "rightly just" = genuinely honest "Whatever I shall think" = regardless of what I might guess to be true Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dare not check 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. "Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, / For goodness dare not check thee. Wear thou thy wrongs. / The title is affeer'd" = Speaking with heavy sarcasm, Macduff says in apostrophe to Macbeth, tyrant, be assured of your footing, because good people are afraid to stop ("check") you. Continue to wear your crimes (note the clothing motif), for your title is confirmed ("affeer'd" the word is a legal term, but note the pun with afeard, a variant of afraid; indeed, Macbeth's title is afeard by virtually everyone). "the rich East" = Asia, to which traders would travel in pursuit of expensive and exotic goods of all kinds "to boot" = in addition

3 "withal" = altogether 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. "hands uplifted in my right" = support for me as the rightful claimant to the throne "gracious England" = Edward the Confessor (depicted in later lines as a holy king, said to be blessed with healing powers; symbolically, he is the antithesis of Macbeth) "goodly" = good-hearted "sundry" = various "By him that shall succeed" = by the king who follows after Macbeth (Malcolm himself) "What should he be?" = Whom do you mean? What should he be? 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 compar'd With my confineless harms. Not in the legions Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd In evils to top Macbeth. 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. "the particulars of vice so grafted" = the features of immorality ("vice") implanted ("grafted") in me "Esteem" = evaluate; regard "confineless harms" = boundless dangers "legions" = a legion was the principal unit of the Roman army, comprised of 3000 to 6000 soldiers "I grant him bloody, / Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, / Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin / That has a name" = I agree that he is murderous ("bloody"), lustful ("luxurious"), greedy ("avaricious"), false, deceitful, rash ("sudden"), hateful ("malicious"), having the taste ("smacking") of every conceivable sin "no bottom, none, / In my voluptuousness" = no limit to my lust "matrons" = mothers "cistern" = a large container for liquids "And my desire / All continent impediments would o'erbear / That did oppose my will" = my lust would overpower all forces of chastity ("continence") that would try to stop me (stand as "impediments") "such an one" = a man like this (me)

4 Boundless intemperance In nature is a tyranny. It hath been Th' 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 inclin'd. "intemperance" = lack of restraint. Observe the idea of correspondence between the individual and the social order. As a nation may struggle under a tyrant, so a person may suffer under a personal trait that will function like a tyrant in his or her body. This condition of correspondences (parallels) between levels of order within the total order is fundamental to the Great Chain of Being. "It hath been" = it has been the cause of "untimely" = premature. As we shall see, this word has a foreshadowing value. "convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty / And yet seem cold" = secretly exercise your desires in unrestricted fullness and still appear to be chaste "the time you may so hoodwink" = in this way ("so") you may deceive ("hoodwink") the age or the people ("the time" recall that this phrase is also used in Lady Macbeth's line "To beguile the time, / Look like the time") "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 inclin'd" = there are plenty of agreeable maidens in Scotland; surely you are not such a predator that you could consume the many women who would willingly dedicate themselves to you, knowing what your desires are "With this" = along with this (lustfulness of mine) With this there grows In my most ill-compos'd affection such A staunchless 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. "ill-compos'd affection" = corrupted nature "staunchless avarice" = unstoppable greed "were I king" = if I were king "cut off" = kill "his jewels and this other's house" = this man's jewels and this other man's house "And my more-having would be as a sauce / To make me hunger more" = and each of my acquisitions would only add to my desire for more "forge / Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal / Destroying them for wealth" = invent unrighteous objections against honest subjects just for the sake of acquiring their estates "with more pernicious root" = more evilly rooted (a weed more difficult to eradicate at the root than other weeds are) 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. "summer-seeming lust" = Macduff is making a distinction between two kinds of lust: sexual lust and lust for wealth. An idea commonly expressed in Shakespeare's time was that sexual lust is similar to summer (it is "summer-seeming" or seems like summer) in that it fades with the season itself and does not linger on into winter. But avarice the lust for wealth does last beyond the summer and into the winter. In this conceit (extended metaphor) summer and winter stand for phases (seasons) of life. So, in youth, the summer of a man's life, he may be sexually intemperate, but will not be so in old age, his winter. He may, however, be greedy for goods in both the summer and winter of his days. "it hath been / The sword of our slain kings" = it (greed) has led to the destruction of many kings "foisons to fill up your will / Of your mere own" = plentiful stores enough to satisfy your desire for wealth, which is in fact your own already "All these are portable, / With other graces weigh'd" = these (flaws your self-professed lust and greed) are bearable when counterbalanced with other virtues (moral qualities that you must have)

5 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. O Scotland! Scotland! "the king-becoming graces" = the virtues most fitting for kings (and, as it turns out, for all people) to wear Verity (honesty) Temperance (moderation) Stableness (reliability) Bounty (generosity) Perseverance (endurance) Mercy (compassion) Lowliness (humbleness) Devotion (commitment to ideals) Patience Courage Fortitude (strength) "no relish of" = no taste for "but abound / In the division of each several crime / Acting it many ways" = but am abundant with variations on every kind of crime that can be committed, and I perform each one in several forms "had I power" = if I had the power (of the throne) "I should" = I would "concord" = harmony "confound" = thwart; corrupt If such a one be fit to govern, speak. I am as I have spoken. Fit to govern! No, not to live. O nation miserable! With an untitl'd 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 accurs'd, 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 liv'd. Fare thee well! These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself Have banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast, Thy hope ends here! "untitl'd" = un-entitled "bloody-sceptr'd" = for the kingly scepter he carries is soaked, metaphorically, in the blood of those he has unjustly killed "When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, / Since that the truest issue of thy throne / By his own interdiction stands accurs'd, / And does blaspheme his breed? = (Scotland), how will you ever be healed, considering that the one most entitled to rule (the firstborn "issue" of Duncan), stands accused and "accurs'd" (note the difference) by himself of being unworthy to rule (he delivers his own "interdiction") and, in being unworthy, is a blasphemous (unholy; God-cursing) flaw in his own family line? "upon her knees" = at prayer "Died" = died to the world (set her heart on spiritual store, not on worldly wealth) "repeat'st upon thyself" = accuse yourself of "breast" = bosom; heart Macduff has made a valiant effort to reconcile his conscience to the selfprofessed faults of Malcolm. But he cannot do it. Apparently Malcolm is far too flawed devilishly flawed! And the discovery of this is altogether too much for him to bear. In his despair, then, Macduff begins to depart the English court...

6 ... but PSYCH! Malcolm now reveals that all he has just said about himself has been a lie that he has told, out of necessity, in order to test Macduff's loyalty to the true Scotland and commensurate rejection of a false Scotland under Macbeth's tyranny. He declares that the passion Macduff shows for his country is proof that he is no spy and that he truly wishes to reclaim Scotland for the good. Macduff, this noble passion, Child of integrity, hath from my soul Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts To thy good truth and honor. 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. My first false speaking Was this upon myself. What I am truly, Is thine and my poor country's to command Whither, indeed, before thy here-approach, Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men, Already at a point, was setting forth. Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness Be like our warranted quarrel! Why are you silent? Such welcome and unwelcome things at once, 'Tis hard to reconcile. In Malcolm's exercise of "false speaking," Shakespeare presents two key ideas: One (again) is the motif of culpability, that belief that all humans, by virtue of their shared humanness, are responsible for every badly done deed that is committed ("for all have sinned"). The other idea is that of the Christ figure, a character in a tragedy (where the tragedy is founded in Christian culture; however, a similar condition can be identified also in the tragedies of ancient Greece, a non-christian culture) who represents the agency of restoration. He (or she) is one who redeems a world that has descended into hell. Moreover, this "redeemer" is an innocent (well, as much of an innocent as an ordinarily culpable human being can be) who willingly takes on "the sins of the world" and offers himself as the "sacrificial lamb" that will take the blame for all the crimes of all people for all time. This, according to Christian theology, is the action of Jesus Christ. And it is symbolically the action of Malcolm when he describes himself as one "grafted," even-handedly, with the opposite of the king-becoming graces. "Child of integrity" = born from a noble heart "By many of these trains" = using such schemes "modest wisdom plucks me / From over-credulous haste" = cautiousness saves me from believing too easily (being "over-credulous") and too quickly "But God above / Deal between thee and me" = let God now bless our friendship and our joint affairs "to thy direction" = as subject to your advice "Unspeak mine own detraction" = take back the foul things I have said about myself "abjure / The taints and blames I laid upon myself / For strangers to my nature" = reject ("abjure" claim no association with) the corruptions and crimes of which I have accused myself, declaring now that they are foreign to me "Unknown to woman" = a virgin "was forsworn" = committed perjury (lying while under oath to tell the truth) "Scarcely coveted what was mine own" = have hardly desired my own property (let alone desired other people's property) "broke my faith" = acted disloyally "my first false speaking / Was this upon myself" = the first lie I ever told was in these statements I made about my sinful nature. Consider, though, that according to the concept of culpability, which sees everyone as bearing responsibility for all crimes, Malcolm's "false speaking" might be viewed as justified and true a kind of holy equivocation (the phrase "holy equivocation" being an oxymoron that speaks again of fair and foul as bound up in each other). "Whither, indeed, before thy here-approach / Old Siward, with tenthousand warlike men, / Already at a point, was setting forth" = toward which ("whither" Scotland), even before your arriving here, Old Siward, with ten-thousand soldiers prepared ("at a point"), was about to journey "Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness / Be like our warranted quarrel" = now we'll go together, and may the chance of our success ("goodness" good fortune) be equivalent to the goodness (the "warranted" or justified quality) of our cause ("quarrel" with Macbeth) "Such welcome and unwelcome things at once, / 'Tis hard to reconcile" = For the moment, Macduff is flummoxed. He needs a moment to properly sort out all of this unexpected information the flush of fouls followed by the flood of fairs!

7 Enter a DOCTOR Well, more anon. Comes the king forth, I pray you? 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. "wretched" = sick; suffering "stay" = wait for "Their malady convinces / The great assay of art" = their sickness ("malady") thwarts the concerted attempt ("great assay") of physicians (who practice the "art" of medicine) to cure it "Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand" = (because) heaven has given his hand such holiness ("sanctity") Exit DOCTOR I thank you, doctor. "presently amend" = immediately heal What's the disease he means? '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. "my here-remain" = my being here "solicits" = calls for help. Observe again the idea of invocation (invitation) of spiritual energies. In the earlier cases of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it is foul invocation. In the case of Edward the Confessor, it is fair invocation. "Himself best knows" = only he knows "visited" = afflicted "swoln" = swollen "mere" = complete "Hanging a golden stamp about their necks" = According to legend, Edward would cure "the Evil" by hanging around the neck of the patient a medal stamped with the figure of St. Michael. "'tis spoken, / To the succeeding royalty he leaves / The healing benediction" = it is said that he will pass on this power of healing and blessing (the "benediction") to the rulers who will follow in his line (the "succeeding royalty") "strange virtue" = mysterious power "sundry blessings hang about his throne / That speak him full of grace" = various ("sundry") other gifts are connected to his authority, which indicate that he is ("speak him") blessed by God Enter See, who comes here? My countryman, but yet I know him not.

8 My ever-gentle cousin, welcome hither. I know him now. Good God, betimes remove The means that makes us strangers! "betimes" = quickly "The means that makes us strangers" = the circumstances ("means") that force us to be removed from each other "Stands Scotland where it did?" = Is Scotland as it was? Sir, amen. Stands Scotland where it did? 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 whom, and good men's lives Expire before the flowers in their caps, Dying or ere they sicken. O, relation Too nice and yet too true! What's the newest grief? That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker. Each minute teems a new one. "Almost afraid to know itself" = This again is an expression of the idea of correspondence between the individual and the social order. We have seen examples of individuals becoming strangers to themselves when their behavior is unnatural. The same condition is here applied to an entire nation. "where nothing, / But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile" = where only those who know nothing about what is going on (being, in fact, no one) are ever seen smiling "rend" = tear "made, not mark'd" = cried out, but are not paid attention to (not "mark'd" because they have become the norm) "modern ecstasy" = common emotion "knell" = funeral bell "good men's lives / Expire before the flowers in their caps, / Dying or ere they sicken" = good men die before the flowers that decorate their caps can wilt; they die before ("ere") they can grow sick (as people ordinarily do in the usual course of aging) "relation" = account; description "Too nice" = utterly exact "too true" = for it is so painful to hear "That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker. / Each minute teems a new one" = a sad story that, being one hour old, causes the teller to be hissed at (because it is so out of date), for every minute is stuffed with ("teems") a new grief Why, well. And all my children? How does my wife? As we shortly discover, one reason that Ross comes here is to deliver news that Macduff's castle has been "surprised," his family slain which, in the case of a Ross who is played as an agent of Macbeth's deadly regime and who might even be one of the murderers himself, would be a truly perverse task. With this knowledge in hand, we can see as equivocal Ross' answers to Macduff's questions regarding Lady Macduff and their children. He says that they are "well" and "at peace." On one level, of course, this is a lie, but it is also true in the sense that they are "well" and "at peace" in their afterlife rest. And if Ross is played as a good and loyal Scot, then we can hardly blame him for being indirect. After all, one who feels any natural compassion could not easily say to his friend, Sorry, sir, but your wife and children have all been killed.

9 Well too. The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace? No, they were well at peace when I did leave 'em. Be not a niggard of your speech. How goes't? When I came hither to transport the tidings, Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumor Of many worthy fellows that were out, Which was to my belief witness'd the rather, For that I saw the tyrant's power afoot. Now is the time of help. Your eye in Scotland Would create soldiers, make our women fight, To doff their dire distresses. "Be not a niggard of your speech" = don't be a miser ("niggard") in your words (by keeping them all to yourself) "came hither to transport the tidings, / Which I have heavily borne" = came here ("hither") to bring news ("tidings"), news that I've carried sadly ("heavily"). In spite of all his words following these lines, Ross yet remains a "niggard of [his] speech." He speaks of other news, news of an expected sort and the sort easy to report this, presumably, because he is still steeling himself to deliver the dreadful news from Fife. "there ran a rumor / Of many worthy fellows" = the word was given by many trustworthy comrades "Which was to my belief wtiness'd the rather" = a rumor that instead ("the rather") I confirmed as true when I saw the proof of it "For that I saw the tyrant's power afoot" = because I saw Macbeth's forces readied for battle "Your eye in Scotland" = your presence in Scotland. Here Ross addresses Malcolm. He could, perhaps, be just as well addressing Macduff as one who could also inspire people to rise up against Macbeth, but still, one supposes, Ross finds it difficult to meet Macduff's eye, considering the news he has yet to tell. "doff" = remove (as clothing is removed) "dire" = fearsome Be't their comfort, We are coming thither. Gracious England hath Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men. An older and a better soldier none That Christendom gives out. Would I could answer This comfort with the like. But I have words That would be howl'd out in the desert air, Where hearing should not latch them. What concern they? The general cause? Or is it a fee-grief Due to some single breast? "Be't their comfort, / We are coming thither" = let it be their comfort to know that we are coming there ("thither") "Christendom" = all nations collectively where Christianity is the dominant religion "Would I could answer / This comfort with the like" = I wish that I could reply to this comforting news with equally comforting news "That would be" = that should be "latch" = catch; detect "fee-grief / Due to some single breast" = private sorrow intended for one heart "No mind that's honest / But in it shares some woe" = no good person (who is naturally compassionate) would fail to be saddened to learn of it

10 No mind that's honest But in it shares some woe, though the main part Pertains to you alone. If it be mine, Keep it not from me. Quickly let me have it. Let not your ears despise my tongue forever, Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound That ever yet they heard. Hum! I guess at it. Your castle is surpris'd, your wife and babes Savagely slaughter'd. To relate the manner, Were, on the quarry of these murder'd deer, To add the death of you. Merciful heaven! What, man, ne'er pull your hat upon your brows. Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break. My children too? Wife, children, servants, all That could be found. My wife kill'd too? And I must be from thence! "the manner" = the way in which the murders were carried out "quarry" = animals preyed upon "Were... To add the death of you" = would kill you too "ne'er pull your hat upon your brows" = No stage direction is given to indicate Macduff's physical response, but Malcolm's line suggests that Macduff's first reaction is not to speak at all. It is rather to cover his face with his hat. Or it can be simply that he covers his face with his hands (similar to covering the top of the head with a hat). "Whispers" = whispers to "o'er-fraught" = overloaded (with grief) "bids it break" = urges it to break "And I must be from thence!" = And I had to be away from there! I have said. Be comforted. Let's make us medicines of our great revenge, To cure this deadly grief. 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? "He has no children" = Exactly what or whom Macduff refers to is unclear. But here are three possibilities: 1) he refers to Malcolm, who if he had children would not immediately suggest revenge as a cure for grief; 2) he refers to Macbeth, on whom he cannot take eye-for-eye revenge because Macbeth has no children of his own; 3) he refers to Macbeth, who would never have killed children if he had known what it is to love a child of his own. "kite" = a bird of prey "dam" = mother "fell swoop" = cruel stroke ("swoop" can refer to the plunging and snatching carried out by the predatory bird, or it can be a variant of sweepstake, the action of taking a set of objects all at once)

11 Dispute it like a man. 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! "Dispute" = challenge "Naught" = wicked "Not for their own demerits, but for mine, / Fell slaughter on their souls" = not for their faults ("demerits") but for mine has this cruel ("fell") murder been done to them. Alternately, not for their faults but for mine did this murder fall on them Note a strong use of the culpability motif. "whetstone" = stone on which a blade can be whetted (sharpened) Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart. Enrage it. 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! 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. Exeunt "Be this the whetstone of your sword... Enrage it" = let this action by Macbeth be the cause of your preparation for war against him "braggart" = boaster "I could play the woman with mine eyes / And braggart with my tongue" = I could act the part of a woman by weeping, and I could act the braggart by talking tough "Cut short all intermission" = make brief the interval (from this moment until the moment in which he confronts Macbeth). In Macduff's desire to enact justice immediately, we see the time motif at work in the same way that it works in Lady Macbeth's desire to see "the future in the instant" and in Macbeth's desire to make the "firstlings of [his] heart" the "firstlings of [his] hand." "'scape" = escape "power" = army "Our lack is nothing but our leave" = the only thing we lack is the king's permission to take our leave "ripe for shaking" = Malcolm compares Macbeth to fruit that has ripened on the branch and needs only the shaking of the tree to be dislodged and fall. Later, Macbeth will use the "ripeness" metaphor to describe his station in life. "the powers above / Put on their instruments" = let the spirits of goodness arm themselves. Once more, we see an invocation of goodness in one's efforts to shape a fair, creative "fate" (as opposed to a foully destructive one, as in the case of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth).