Act Four: Macbeth Reading Journal

Scene I:

Lines 1-38 show the most horrific and gothic scenes in the play because the witches are engrossed in an ugly ritual (emphasised by the chants and hellish language). They throw in repulsing ingredients to make a sickening brew. Macbeth is obsessed with one thought: the desire to know the future. He appeals to the witches to answer him, irrespective of the appalling consequences that it might bring about and even if the result is the destruction of the world – ‘Though castles topple… Though palaces and pyramids do slope’. His language is also like that of the witches. He starts one of his speeches by saying ‘I conjure you’. It’s as if he is trying to displace the power of the witches onto himself.

The witches show Macbeth the apparitions and let him hear his future. However, he disregards the reassurances and still swears to kill Macduff. It gets you questioning the witches’ motives. Do they want to help him? Or are they just pushing destiny along, knowing how Macbeth would react to the apparitions, and making sure that what is meant to happen will happen? The procession of the eight kings and Banquo is makes the reader quite sceptic as to Shakespeare’s meaning. It could be a warning that many more would rule England and Macbeth’s reign isn’t going to last forever.

In Macbeth’s soliloquy, he shows a great sense of urgency and his brutal first instincts is to kill innocent people and children as to reassure himself that Macduff or anyone related to him will not interfere with his position as king. The depth of his brutality seems to heighten every time after he has an encounter with the witches.

Scene II:

There is an apparent change of scene from Macbeth’s violent thoughts to the innocence that surrounds Macduff’s castle and his family. The son creates a jolly atmosphere and he jokes around about quite serious things such as his father’s flight. Lady Macduff says – ‘our fears do make us traitors’ referring to her husband. However, this is more appropriate for Macbeth’s behaviour. It just emphasises his secrecy and corruption. The blame is put on the people who actually haven’t done anything wrong.

The son’s playfulness has glimpses of dangerous times – traps for the innocent and widespread treachery. He says – ‘the liars and swearers are fools because there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang them up’. The connotation of evil taking over the good is shown in his sudden death. From a very relaxed teasing atmosphere to a horrific murder, Macbeth also shows his sudden change from good to evil with this deed. The murders aren’t usually staged but I think it is actually shown on this scene to emphasise the height of Macbeth’s evilness.

However, despite Macbeth’s reign of terror, some glimmer of goodness still flicker in Scotland. The messenger was willing to risk his life to warn the Macduffs. It shows how there is still hope for good to recover again. Also, the fact that the son tells his mother to ‘Run away, I pray you’, shows how there are still some people around willing to try and save the innocent, even if their own life is already in jeaopardy.

Scene III:

Macduff urges Malcolm to defend Scotland, which is suffering under Macbeth’s tyranny. At first, Malcolm voices his suspicions that Macduff is Macbeth’s agent and he does this by testing his sincerity for the country. He claims that his vices exceed Macbeth’s – ‘bloody’, ‘avaricious’, ‘deceitful’, and many more. Macduff however doesn’t find a problem with Malcolm saying that he is ‘luxurious’ by saying – ‘We have willing dames enough’, suggesting that more women will be willing to prostitute themselves to a king. Macduff’s dismissal of lust as an unimportant quality in a leader emphasises how men were like in Shakespeare’s time.

Macduff couldn’t take any more of Malcolm’s self condemnation and rejects him as unfit to live. This is when Malcolm dismisses his suspicions. Once they talk over Macbeth’s reign, they personify ‘Evil’, which greatly highlights its invasion over Scotland. Ross even describes the country as a country ‘almost afraid to know itself’. Ross knows what happened to Macduff’s family but lies first before actually revealing the bad news. Why does he delay?