Act III: Scenes
IV - VI
Plot summary.
There is a banquet with some nobles. Macbeth finds out from a murderer that Banquo was killed but Fleance escaped. Macbeth is disturbed by the news of Fleance, but is happy that Banquo is killed. He says,
- "There the grown serpent lies [Banquo]; the worm [Fleance] that's fled
- Hath nature that in time will venom breed" (lines 30 - 31).
In other words, he's worried that Fleance will still fulfil the prophecy.
Macbeth is told by Lady Macbeth to make a toast for his assembled guests. The speech is interrupted by the appearance of Banquo's ghost. Macbeth rants and raves strange things that confuse and worry his guests,
- "Prithee, see there!
- Behold! Look! Lo! How say you?" (lines 69 - 70.)
The guests don't see what Macbeth is talking to. Lady Macbeth calms the group down, telling them that Macbeth is just sick. She eventually evicts the crowd before Macbeth says something too incriminating.
Is the ghost real or imaginary? Imaginary. As said earlier, Macbeth is talking to air, raving, having gone partly insane. The ghost is a hallucination brought forth from his guilt. Remember that he sent his best friend to his grave. No one else sees the ghost, giving the image even less credibility.
After the nobles have dispersed, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he has put spies by Macduff's castle and that he noticed that Macduff didn't attend the banquet. Will this turn into the new struggle between light and dark? He also says,
- "I will, to the weird sister:
- More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know
- By the worst means the worst" (lines 134 - 136).
Lady Macbeth says an ironical statement at the end: "You lack the season of all nature, sleep" (line 142). Macbeth really needs peace, but he can't relax because he feels that his power is threatened.
Questions
1. Whose ghost appears, and how many times?
2. How does Macbeth respond to this, and what is Lady Macbeth’s reaction?
3. What is suggested about Macbeth’s state of mind by the appearance of the ghost?
4. How do you think an audience would respond to the appearance of a ghost in this way?
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Plot summary.
The point of this scene seems to be that the Witches will make Macbeth feel secure, and his sense of security will lead him to destruction.
This scene and part of Act IV, Scene 1, permit the Witches to sing songs, which undoubtedly heightened the interest the Witches held for the audience. These songs are from a play, The Witch, by Shakespeare's contemporary, Thomas Middleton. Because the company used the songs from Middleton's play, some critics think that Middleton also wrote the insertions for this play. However, a number of scholars who know Middleton's work well are inclined to think otherwise.
Questions 1. The commentator says that the witches make Macbeth feel secure in this part of the play. How is this achieved?BACK
Plot summary.
Lennox and an unnamed lord enter. Apparently, they are either in the midst of a conversation or they have previously discussed matters. For Lennox says that in his "former speeches" he has said what the lord had been thinking. Lennox then becomes obviously ironic. Macbeth pitied Duncan, and Duncan died. Banquo stayed out too late; it is possible to say that Fleance killed him because Fleance ran away. One must also think how terrible it was for Malcolm and Donalbain to kill their father. This made Macbeth so very unhappy that in religious anger he killed the murderers. He was wise to do it, too, for it would have made anyone angry to hear them deny the deed. Lennox thinks, therefore, that Macbeth has managed things well. And he also believes that if Malcolm, Donalbain, and Fleance were in Scotland, they should know what it is to kill a father.
Lennox now changes the subject. He has heard that Macduff is not in the king's good graces because he has spoken "broad words," that is, Macduff has spoken too obviously - of course, too obviously against the king; and because he did not appear at the "tyrant's feast" (Macbeth's banquet). He wishes to know whether the lord can tell him where Macduff is.
The lord replies that
- "The son of Duncan,
- From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
- Lives in the English court...."
The lord must be talking about Malcolm, because we know that Malcolm said that he was going to England; and because we know that with Duncan's death, Malcolm should be on the throne. The lord then says that Malcolm lives at the English court of "the most pious Edward" (Edward the Confessor) who treats Malcolm very well. Macduff has gone there to ask Edward to encourage Siward, the Earl of Northumberland, to help Malcolm in an undertaking to overthrow Macbeth. This undertaking (if successful) would once more
- "Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
- Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives . . . ."
The report of all this has prompted Macbeth's sending for Macduff. Macbeth sent for him, continues the lord, but Macduff replied in a definite negative. When Macduff thus answered the messenger looked threateningly at him. Lennox says that Macduff should be cautious enough to retain a distance. He hopes that Macduff does well in England so that:
Questions
- "a swift blessing
- May soon return to this our suffering country
- Under a hand accursed."
1. Summarise the political situation as we gather it from this scene - be specific about where the key political players are at the moment.
2. What attitude does Lennox seem to have to events, and how does he express it?