Act I, Scene vii. A room in Macbeth's castle

Transcription

1 "sewer" = The word is derived from the French essayeur, and it referred originally to one who tasted from each dish to prove that there was no poison in it. Afterwards, essayeur (in English, sewer) was applied to the chief servant, who directed the placing of the dishes on the table. Act I, Scene vii A room in Macbeth's castle Hautboys and torches. Enter and pass over the stage a sewer and divers servants with dishes and service. Then enter "divers" = diverse; various If we consider that the setting of this scene is a supper, that a holy king is at table, and that a disloyal subject who is thinking of betraying his king is one among the company (or, for the moment, apart from the group, as, on-stage, Macbeth would be in order to deliver the "if it were done" soliloquy), then we may be reminded of a similar famous supper the Last Supper, from which Judas, the betrayer, departed early to see about "dispatching" Jesus. Christians, who take as literal history the biblical account of the Last Supper, might wonder if Judas reasoned through, in his mind, a course of thought wholly (not "holily") similar to Macbeth's. If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If th' assassination Could trammel up the consequence and catch With his surcease success that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here. But here upon this bank and shoal of time We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here, that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice Commends the ingredience of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. "If it were done... jump the life to come" = The opening lines of this soliloquy a rapid gush of thought might be paraphrased so: If there were no after-effects ("if it were done") to follow the assassination once it had been accomplished ("when it were done"), then it would be good ("'twere well") for me to act as a quickly as possible. Ah, if only, in killing Duncan, all the possible negative outcomes could be prevented (if I could "trammel up the consequence" catch the consequences in a net) and I could, through his death ("his surcease"), be successful ("catch success")! If only the killing blow might be all there is to the deed ("be the be-all and the end-all") now ("here") and only now ("but here"), in this earthly world ("upon this bank and shoal of time") then I would be willing to risk ("jump") what might happen in the next world ("the life to come"). In effect, Macbeth is trying to convince himself that if he could get away with the assassination and not be caught by earthly justice, then the earthly reward for his action might justify the later risk of divine justice to follow in the afterlife. But what follows on the heels of this thought is Macbeth's reminder to himself that even earthly justice (let alone divine justice, which surely would be too terrible to tell) always manages to catch up with evildoers. As he says... "We still have judgment here" = we are always ("still") convicted in this world The universe, being a place where what goes around comes around, will always see to it that... "even-handed justice / Commends the ingredience of our poison'd chalice / To our own lips" = natural law (which is a law of balances) ensures that the poisoned cup we offer (commend) to others is a cup we will be forced to drink from too With Macbeth's emphasis on the experience of being caught and punished for misdeeds comes a good opportunity to introduce the idea of culpability a synonym for which is responsibility. It is related to the word culprit the actor of a crime. Culpability is a concept that emerges often in tragic dramas (not just those of Shakespeare), where those dramas are the products of cultures whose belief is in a universe that is indeed a designed, ordered, balanced structure informed by a present and active divinity a godly intelligence and power. One essential feature of such a universe is interconnection. Each apparently separate piece and phenomenon in the universe is tied to, or at one with, all other pieces and phenomena in the universe. This means, therefore, that no one can act without his or her action registering its effect throughout the whole of the universe (what some call the "butterfly effect"). No one acts and nothing happens in isolation. With this idea in hand, we may say that everyone has a share in everyone else's nature and action, that everyone is culpable. In a sense, everything that you do, I do, and everything I do, you do, because we are, according to the universal design, at one. Tragic dramatists (along with other artists of all stripes and many scientists too, as it turns out) are constantly at pains to remind us of this believing, perhaps with good reason, that we have a bad habit of forgetting it, or perhaps because, foolishly, we choose to forget it. In the actions that they put on stage before us, playwrights (with some exceptions) would not have us simply sit back as though detached from that action. They would see us participate in it which is to say, with our imaginations and sympathies so completely engaged that we can feel ourselves doing, along with the characters, everything that those supposedly pretend people up there are doing, and feeling all their feelings, and thinking all their thoughts all the fair and all the foul. This is the foundation of the grand motif of culpability.

2 He's here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu'd, against The deep damnation of his taking-off, And pity, like a naked newborn babe Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubins hors'd Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other. "He's here in double trust" = Duncan has two reasons to trust me (one, because I am a subject of his kingdom; two, because he is a guest in my home) "borne his faculties so meek" = exercised ("borne") his royal powers ("faculties") so humbly (meekly) "clear in his great office" = free ("clear") from guilt or stain in doing his important job "his virtues / Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu'd, against / The deep damnation of his taking-off" = his moral qualities ("virtues") will, in the voice of angels, loud and clear as trumpets, declare that his destruction ("taking-off") was profoundly damnable "like a naked newborn babe / Striding the blast" = It is difficult to picture how a newborn child could bestride (straddle or stand above) anything. And it is not exactly clear what the infant is meant in the image to be "striding" perhaps (and probably) the "blast" of a storm (being the more usual use, in Shakespeare, of "blast" as a noun) or the storm (a more particular and metaphoric storm) of terror and disgust resulting from the assassination of Duncan or the trumpet-like blast of angel voices referred to in the preceding image. In any case, it is an image of an infant in crisis. And images of abused or threatened children, which fit with the idea of ruined innocence, are motivic in Macbeth. "heaven's cherubins hors'd / Upon the sightless couriers of the air" = angels riding on wild horses that take the form of powerful winds "And pity, like a naked newborn babe / Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubins hors'd / Upon the sightless couriers of the air, / Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye / That tears shall drown the wind" = The whole passage might be paraphrased thus: Pity itself which will be seen as a tender baby in crisis, or as heaven's highest angels (the cherubim) riding on the winds shall blow news of the crime into everyone's eyes, until so many tears will be shed that the winds themselves shall be drowned. "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on the other" = I have no power ("spur") to make this horse (the intention to kill Duncan) run. I have only ambition that takes the form of a rider who leaps (vaults) onto his horse and winds up falling off the other side. This somewhat comic image of Macbeth as a clumsy horseman contrasts with Duncan's earlier image of Macbeth as a skilled rider (seen in the lines "And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him / To his home before us"). In Act I, Scene, iii, Macbeth had a chance to end the play early by considering that becoming king might occur "without [his] stir." And he has another chance to end the play now, having convinced himself, in the course of this soliloquy, not to obey his deadly impulse. But pat, she comes Lady Macbeth enters to lead him back onto the path of regicide. We should not, however, blame Lady Macbeth exclusively. If she is capable of, and culpable in, counseling Macbeth to do the "bloody business," that does not absolve Macbeth of culpability for his action. He has free will, after all, and the power, therefore, to resist her demands. And if he concedes to her demands, he does so by free will also. Enter LADY How now? What news? LADY He has almost supp'd. Why have you left the chamber? "supp'd" = eaten

3 Hath he ask'd for me? LADY Know you not he has? We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honor'd me of late, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon. LADY Was the hope drunk, Wherein you dress'd yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valor As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would," Like the poor cat i' th' adage? "of late" = recently "bought / Golden opinions of" = earned respect from "Which would be worn now in their newest gloss" = which I want to wear now, while they are still shiny "Was the hope drunk, / Wherein you dress'd yourself?" = Was the hope you felt (at the prospect of kingship) merely a thing in you that was drunk? Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both apply the clothing motif but to different purposes. "And wakes it now to look so green and pale / At what it did so freely?" = And does your recently intoxicated hope wake this morning with a hangover, regretting its wild behavior of the night before? Here again is the motif of intoxication, which we have seen once in Banquo's asking Macbeth (following their encounter with the witches) about the possibility of their having eaten of the "insane root." Lady Macbeth speaks about the intoxication that comes of alcohol which, however thrilling it may be in the moment, is normally followed by discomfort in the form of regret or of being otherwise disabled. The state of intoxication itself is an apt metaphor for both the idea of fair being foul and of ambition as a destructive force. This is because alcohol occasions, at first, feelings of pleasure and release, of clarity and confidence, but thereafter causes feelings of heaviness and tension, of muddled thought and sapped strength. Incidentally, it is worth noting that the word intoxication is derived from the word toxin, which means poison. Note, then, that apart from whatever other effects this play achieves, it offers the idea that unchecked ambition is poisonous. "From this time / Such I account thy love" = from today forward, this is how I will value your love (as a feeling that began in excited drunkenness, then devolved to a hangover of regret) "Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valor / As thou art in desire?" = Are you afraid ("afeard") to act with a degree of courage that would match your desire? "Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life / And live a coward in thine own esteem?" = Do you want the very object that you value ("that thou esteem'st") as the greatest possible decoration of your life (the crown of Scotland) but wind up merely valuing yourself as a coward? "wait upon" = follow behind. In this sense, "I dare not" will follow behind, and have the deciding word, after "I would" (I wish to have). "adage" = popular expression. The adage to which Lady Macbeth refers is this: "The cat loves fish, but fears to wet its paws." Lady Macbeth's strategy is pointed and effective. She attacks Macbeth with the weapon she knows will prove most potent against her warrior husband. She accuses him of being cowardly. Prithee, peace! I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none. "Prithee" = an abbreviated form of the phrase "I pray thee" (I ask you; I demand) "peace" = be silent "that may become a man" = that is appropriate to a man (that is, to an honorable man)

4 "break this enterprise" = reveal this project. We should remember (and so should Lady Macbeth) that Macbeth did not, in his letter, "break [an] enterprise" to her, at least not in the portion that we heard her reading. And had Shakespeare wanted us to know that the decision to act originates with Macbeth, not with his wife, he certainly would have planted that information. No, rather we see that Lady Macbeth has been the one to "break this enterprise" to Macbeth. So far, Macbeth has done no more than encounter temptation. He has not yet yielded to it. Perhaps if Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth was actually the one to propose the assassination, it is again a case of her eagerness to see the "future in the instant." "durst" = dared LADY What beast was't, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man. And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. If we should fail LADY We fail. But screw your courage to the sticking-place And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey Soundly invite him his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only. When, in swinish sleep, Their drenched natures lie as in a death, "Nor time nor place / Did then adhere, and yet you would make both" = neither the time nor the place was suitable for the action before (they did not "adhere" or fit with the possibility of acting), but you wished that they were "They have made themselves, and that their fitness now / Does unmake you" = the time and the place do now "adhere" (you have the opportunity to act), but that condition weakens your will (makes you less than a man) "I have given suck" = I have nursed a baby. We do not know whether Lady Macbeth has had children before or she is lying now, but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, we learn later, have no children at present. "had I so sworn as you / Have done to this" = if I had sworn a promise and then broken it the way you have done As images of abused infants go, they don't come more horrific than this the picture of a mother smashing her baby's brains out. Here, too, is an example of the motif of Lady Macbeth as a demonic parody of motherhood, a woman who has been thoroughly "unsexed." "If we should fail " = Macbeth does not complete the statement or question he begins. And whether actors playing the scene should choose to have Macbeth thwart his own thought or to have Lady Macbeth thwart it for him will make for a lively discussion. In either case, Macbeth does seem to be giving in to his lady's persuasion. "But screw your courage to the sticking-place" = Lady Macbeth's metaphor, by which she encourages her husband to prepare his resolve, has two possible derivations. It may refer to screwing tightly ("to the sticking-place") a tuning peg on a stringed instrument (say, a lute or a viol). Or it may refer to a soldier's screwing to its "sticking-place" the cord of his crossbow. "chamberlains" = guards posted at the door of a king's bedchamber "wassail" = merry-making "convince" = overpower "That memory, the warder of the brain, / Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason / A limbeck only" = The old anatomists divided the brain into three areas, the hindmost of which was thought to contain memory. Memory, the guardian ("warder") of the brain (comparable to the relationship of the chamberlains to Duncan), warns the reason against attack (which, ironically, appears to have happened to Macbeth, given that he had, until Lady Macbeth's entrance, successfully reasoned with himself to forgo the assassination of Duncan). And when converted by intoxication (the wine) and/or high emotion (the wassailing) into a fume of smoke, it fills the brain, the receptacle ("receipt") of reason, which then becomes like an alembic ("limbeck"), a vessel for undistilled (non-purified) liquids. "in swinish sleep" = while sleeping like hogs "their drenched natures" = with their normal consciousness submerged and incapacitated. A pun appears in this phase, for the word drench, a verb meaning to soak, was also used in Shakespeare's time as a noun that referred to a dose of medicine given to an animal. In reference to the chamberlains, they would be the animals (the swine) that Lady Macbeth may dose. And, as it turns out, she will dose (drug) them with the wine she will cheerfully serve them as a "nightcap." For a cup of wine alone would not be enough to incapacitate them sufficiently for Macbeth to enter the bedchamber and kill Duncan.

5 What cannot you and I perform upon The unguarded Duncan? What not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell? Bring forth men-children only! For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd, When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber and us'd their very daggers, That they have done't? LADY Who dares receive it other, As we shall make our griefs and clamor roar Upon his death? I am settl'd and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know. Exeunt "What not put upon / His spongy officers" = what cannot we make these drunken ("spongy") guards ("officers") appear to be guilty of (to wit, the murder of the one they were supposed to be guarding) "quell" = murder. This archaic word for murder is also the root of the word kill. "Bring forth men children only" = you should be the mother of males only "For thy undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males" = for the strong and courageous ("undaunted" one who cannot be daunted, or frightened) substance of which you are made (your "mettle") would not allow you to create females (who are thought of as soft creatures) "receiv'd" = interpreted (by those who witness the after-effect of the murder) "Who dares receive it other" = who would offer a different interpretation "clamor" = noisy shouting (in this case, sorrowful wailing) "As we shall make our griefs and clamor roar / Upon his death" = for we will make a mighty show of sadness at his death. Observe that the plan is not complete without a false face to go along with it. Simply framing the chamberlains would be insufficient. To direct any possible suspicion away from themselves, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will definitely have to "look like the time," by appearing to be as grief-stricken as everyone else. "I am settl'd and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat" = I am resolved (have decided to act) and will address every part ("agent") of my body (my "corporal" self) towards this fearsome task