Macbeth Act IV Analysis

*Click on the individual image to access the website based upon the author's work

Macbeth

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Macbeth Newsletter

Resources:

Bibliography

Summary
-By Xi Cao & Hang Chun Ke

Summary for Act IV, Scene1, 2, and 3

In Act IV, Scene 1, because of the emergence of Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth decided to revisit the Three Sisters about his future. The witches called up three apparitions to predict it. These apparitions told Macbeth that there would be no one to emulate him, “...for none woman born shall high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him” (Act IV, scene1) Macbeth was pleased about this prophecy. However, when he saw eight kings and all of them resembled Banquo, he perceived that his nightmare would soon come true. Considering that Banquo’s descendants would be the kings of Scotland after him, killing Malcolm and Banquo’s son became the only way for Macbeth to sustain his progeny’s throne. In Act IV, Lady Macbeth’s powerful personality began to disintegrate, leaving Macbeth increasingly alone. Macbeth supplanted his wife and became a murderer. It was contradicted with the meek personality Macbeth had display in the beginning of the play. This time, the ambition had made Macbeth become blind of morality and decency. He would annihilate anyone who prevented his way to the kingship.

In Act IV, Scene 2, Macbeth took action to prevent Macduff's threat toward him. Macbeth killed Lady Macduff and her son. When Lord Ross told this calamity to Macduff, the flame of enmity pervaded his mind. Macduff swore that he will try his best to kill this demon, "Within my sword's length set him./ If he 'scape, heaven forgive him too." In this scene, Macbeth became benumbed for killing people, he even kill the people, i.e., Lady Macduff and her son, these two were not Macbeth's political opponent and Macbeth wanted to kill them only because he wanted find out Macduff.

Go To The Top

Act IV Glossary

brinded: brindled, striped
hedge-pig: hedgehog
harpier: perhaps the Third Witche’s familiar
howlet:   owlet, smalll owl
birth-strangled: i.e., killed as soon as born
drab: whore
thick and slab: viscous
chaudron: entrails
bladed cron:   wheat not yet fully ripe
warders’:   watchmen’s
nature’s germens:   the seeds from which everything springs
sicken:   becomes nauseated
sweaten:   sweated
armed head: a helmeted head
chafes:   becomes irritated
mortal custom:   a normal death
eight kings:   eight kings os Scotland, including James VI (a supposed descendant of Banqup), who in 1603 also became James I of England
other:   i.e., second
twofold:   double (signifying England and Scotland)
sprites: spirits
antic round: fantastic dance
aye:   forever
without there: i.e., you who are outside
anticipat’st: prevents, forestails
the flighty purpose…with it: i.e., purposes are so fleeting that they escape unlwss accompanied by acts that fulfill them
our fears do make us traitors: perhaps, fear, leading to his flight, makes him a traitor
coz: cousin, kinswoman
school: control
the firs o’th season:   the violent disturbances in climate
for thee:   for a child
swears and lies: Lady Macduff defines a traitor as one who swears an oath of loyalty to a sovereign and then breaks it; the oath, then is a lie. Her son seems to take "swearing and lying" as general use of profanity and failing to tell the truth
in your state of honor I am perfect: I know you well as a noble lady
do worse: i.e., physically abuse you
which is too nigh: i.e., such savage cruelty is all too near
mortal: deadly
like syllable:   the same sound
honest: honorable
and wisdom:   i.e., and consider it wisdom
recoll/ In an imperial charge:   the general sense is "give way under pressure frm a king." The image is that of a gune, loaded, or charged, with powder and shot, recoiling upon itself.
The brightest:   i.e., Lucifer, brightest of the angel, cast from
more suffer:   shall suffer more
succeed:   i.e., succeed to the throne
particulars: various kinds
luxurious:   lecherous
continent:   chaste; also, restraining
will:   lust, carnal appetite
convey…plenty:   secretly conduct your pleasures on a large scale
cold:   chaste; or , indifferent
affection: disposition
stanchless: insatiable
his jewels:   the jewels of one subjecy
the sword…kings:   i.e., the cause of the death of our slain kings
folsons: plentiful supplies
of your mere own:   from your royal property alone
with…weighed: balanced against other qualities that are virtuous
as:   such as
lowliness:   humility
confound:   destroy
untitled:   i.e., unentitled, usurping
interdiction: i.e., censure
mine own detraction: my detraction of myself
unknown to woman: i.e., am a virgin
warlike:   equipped for battle
forth:   i.e., out of his private rooms
stay: await
convinces…art:   conquers the efforts of science
presetly: immediately
the evil:   i.e., scrofula, or "the king’s evil," so-called becaouse the king was thought to have the power to heal it with his touch
strangely visited: i.e., afflicted by this strange-disease
mere:   total, utter
virtue:   power
betimes: soon
relation: report
out:   i.e., in arms, in rebellion
doff:   put off, get rid of
surprised:   captured without warning
quarry: heap
pull…brows:   a conventional gesture of deep sorrow
hell-kite: evil bird of prey
intermission: delay
our…leave:   we lack nothing now except to take leave (of the king)
put on: perhaps, take upon themselves: instruments: perhaps, instruments of war
dispute: fight against

Go To The Top
        Thanks for Macbeth, published by Folger Shakespeare Library providing the resources

Famous Quotes From Macbeth Act IV

"Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble."
                                        -By the Weird Sisters (Act IV, Scene 1)

"I’ll make assurance double sure…"
                                        -By Macbeth (Act IV, Scene 1)

"Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell."
                                        -By Malcolm (Act IV, Scene 3)

"At one fell swoop?"
                                        -By Macduff (Act IV, Scene 3)

Go To The Top

Creative Writings

-By Xi Cao

1) A Diary from Macduff

2) Examples and Interpretations of Ten Literary Elements from Macbeth

Go To The Top

1) A Diary from Macduff

March 12, 1603
England
Cloudy Day

Country First or Family First?

I feel ambivalent for my family and my country. These two things are all paramount in my lifetime. I can’t determine which one is more significant for me. Right now I am tearing into two parts, one for my wife and son, one for my citizens. When I faced to my family I can’t forget my suffering citizens under the despot-Macbeth. When I faced my country, my decorous wife and arch, bright son would appear in my suppressed mind.

Oh, god! Please help me, let me become two identical individuals, one for my "big menage," one for my "small home". But my hope did not come true. I am lacerating with myself incessantly. I choose my country indubitably, there were hundreds of thousands people waiting me to rescue them from the hell. Sorry! My wife and son, I need to carry my mission on, I know my leaving will put you in danger, so raise your fortitude and plucky spirit, wait for you husband and father come back to stay with you forever...

Go To The Top

2) Examples and Interpretations of Ten Literary Elements from Macbeth

Literary Elements	Examples	Interpretations	From (Text)
Metaphor	"Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown and put a barren scepter in my grip."	On my head they placed a sterile crown and in my hand I hold a seedless scepter.	Act III, Scene 1 Line 62 to 63
Irony	"Duncan is in his grave; after life’s fitful fever he sleeps well, treason has done his worst; nor steel, nor poison…nothing can touch him anymore."	Duncan is in his grave. After an eventful life he sleeps peacefully. Treason has done its worst. Neither sword, nor poison, nor revolutions in this land, nor foreign foes can touch him now.	Act III, Scene 2 Line 24 to 28
Hyperbole	"With twenty trenched gashes on his head, the least a death to nature."	Lying in a ditch with twenty trench-like gashes in his head. Even the least of them would have been fatal.	Act III, Scene 4 Line 27 to 28
Simile	"Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, the armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger."	Approach me like a Russian bear, a horned rhinoceros or a fierce tiger.	Act III, Scene 4 Line 101 to 102
Personification	"Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak."	Gravestones have been move, and trees to speak.	Act III, Scene 4 Line 124
Rhythm	"And the crow makes wing to the rooky wood; good things of day begin to droop and drowse…thoy marvel’st at my words, but hold thee still. Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill."	The good things of the day begin to droop and feel drowsy while the night’s black agents prepare to hunt their prey. You marvel at my words! But there’s more: ‘Things with a bad beginning only get stronger with more of the same.	Act III, Scene 2 Line 54 to 58
Figurative speech	"Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave…"	When his tyranny has bent you to the grave…	Act III, Scene 1 Line 90
Symbolic	"I am in blood stepped in so far that…"	I am in the river of blood…	Act III, Scene 5 Line 137 to 138
Repetition	"O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!"	Treachery! Run, Fleance, run, run, run.	Act III, Scene 3 Line 22
Image	"We have scorched the snake, not killed it. She’ll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice remains in danger of her former tooth…"	We scorched the snake, but didn’t kill it. It will come back and give us its requital.	Act III, Scene 2 Line 15 to 17

Go To The Top

Critical Analysis

-By Xi Cao

Critical Analysis- Supernatural power or ambition that dominates Macbeth's decisions?

Macbeth, from a venerable hero of Scotland to a notorious villain, does supernatural power, or Macbeth’s ambition dominates his decision? In fact they both make effects, as well as other factors.

Supernatural power "insinuated" Macbeth to approach his goal. At the beginning, Macbeth met the Weird Sisters; their prophecy, which declared that he would become the King of Cawdor, roused his sunken aspiration of becoming a king. At this moment, supernatural power let Macbeth’s ambition triumphs his probity in order to make he achieves his mandated regality venomously. When Macbeth nominated two of his murders to kill Banquo, there was third murderer appeared to help the two murderers to kill Banquo. This third murder was considered as supernatural power, which helped Macbeth achieved his contemplative murdering.

The witches led Macbeth to a tragic road, it was architected by The Three Witches, but also by Macbeth's own aspiration of the kingship. Macbeth’s ambition was the most significant fact that made him a contemptible villain. It took away his fame and destructed his reputation. If he has no ambition to become a king, he would be apathetic about the kingship and considered the Three Witches’s prophecy as a blather or gibberish. However, Macbeth had the ambition, it was hid for many years. His status was the second highest in the country, Macbeth wanted to be first highest person because of his remarkable contribution as a general. The Three Witches’ augury made Macbeth’s ambition unequivocal and it gave him an excuse for his betrayal. The prophecy pushed Macbeth to act cruelly to kill people who hamper his progress of being a king.

There is another crucial factor predominates Macbeth’s decision, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was an atrocious woman. In some considerations, Lady Macbeth was more ambitious that her husband. When she perceived the Macbeth would be the King of Cawdor, she decided she would try any way possible to accomplish the prophecy. Macbeth, in other hand, emphasized his wife’s thought. When he planned to give up his sinful killing, Lady Macbeth would consider him as a coward. In the early of the scenes, Macbeth is a puppet of Lady Macbeth in order to get her a higher position.

Go To The Top

Interpretations

-By Xi Cao

1) Interpretation of Macbeth's soliloquy from Act Two, Scene 1. ("Is this dagger which i see before me...Words to the heat of the deeds too cold breath gives")

2) Interpretation of Macbeth's soliloquy from Act Three, Scene 1. ("To be thus is nothing But to be safely thus...Rather than so, come fate into the list and champion me to the utterance! Who is there!")

Go To The Top

1) Interpretate Macbeth's soliloquy from Act Two, Scene 1. ("Is this dagger which i see before me...Words to the heat of the deeds too cold breath gives")

Soliloquy (From the Text)

Interpretation

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

I can’t grab the dagger but I still see it there. It is so realistic in my mind which I could feel the sharpness of it. It can be see but can’t be touched. Is the dagger just an illusory, fictitious image in my tumultuous mind? No, no, no, the dagger is palpable; it is just as palpable as the dagger I now draw from my sheath. It is an auxiliary weapon I was going to use in order to help me to accomplish my goal and ambition in the future. My eyes are being ridiculed! Or are they worth more than my other senses combined. It is still there! Now the dagger is spattered and smelted in my sanguinary soul. The crimson,bloody business that fills my mind is making me see this. Half of the people are sleeping, wicked dreams control the deep, sinister willing of man. Witches sacrifice their offering to Hecate. Howling wolves tell murderers now is the time and serenade Tarquin as he stalks his prey. The earth mustn’t hear my footsteps now, even the stones mustn’t be allowed to betray my whereabouts. No one can see through the vicious dagger beneath my pretension of devoted heart. Nothing must detract from the deed. Now is the time! The time take the power that god mandates to me. All this talk only prolongs his life. It is a confidence between me and my benumbed, callous heart. How words cool the heat of the moment!"

Go To The Top

2) Interpretation of Macbeth's soliloquy from Act Three, Scene 1. ("To be thus is nothing But to be safely thus...Rather than so, come fate into the list and champion me to the utterance! Who is there!")

Soliloquy (From the Text)	Interpretation
To be thus is nothing; But to be safely thus.	To be simply king is not enough for me, I must make my regality fixed.
Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;	We must be vigilant of Banquo, he is a plucky man filled with fidelity
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety.	He is a gallant man with acumen, this avoids him to be a foolhardy person.
There is none but he Whose being I do fear: and, under him, My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said, Mark Antony's was by Caesar.	He is the only one I fear. I will be hampered if I stay together with Banquo. Mark Antony felt the same way when he met Caesar just as my feeling when I met Banquo.
He chid the sisters When first they put the name of king upon me, And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like They hail'd him father to a line of kings:	When the Weird Sisters first said I would be king Banquo chided them and insisted they foretell his future. Then like prophets they hailed him father of a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding.	I am wearing a sterile crown and holding a barren sceptre, these all meant that I wouldn’t have posterity to carry on my regality after I die.
If 't be so, For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd	If that is to be so, then it has been for Banquo that I've murdered a gracious king and haunted myself.
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace Only for them;	I do this entire vicious thing for Banquo’s descendants?
and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!	I've succumbed to the temptations of Satan for Banquo and his sons! No!
Rather than so, come fate into the list. And champion me to the utterance! Who's there!	Rather than that I will challenge Fate to the death! I will protect my position and receive greatest harvest from my assiduous effort.

Go To The Top

Questions and Analysis
-By Juan Guerrero

Part 1) How does the play Macbeth fit in with the term’s theme of illusion and reality, blindness and sight? (Plato’s Allegory of the Den, Sophocles: Oedipus Trilogy, The road not taken) Please reflect on insights you have gained…or not…this semester.

The play Macbeth as the other plays and stories read throughout the term, relate closely to the theme of illusion and reality in which all of them use apparitions and sights to explain their main idea. For example Plato’s Allegory of the Den reflects the idea of how people sometimes can be blinded by reality. Then there’s a point where someone gets to see how the real world is and it can sometimes have a great impact on him and on those who he tells.
In Oedipus Rex: Trilogy you can see how its characters try to escape fate, but sooner or later fate will reach up to you and surprise you. This is what was proven in the play when Oedipus tried to escape from what the Oracle at Delphi had told him, but later on he found himself caught up in what was supposed to be his destiny yet ending his life in the way the gods had decided.
After all the plays read in class, it has changed me a lot in which it has made me think on how the world really is and how it does relate to the information given. Now thanks to Ms. Shore and how she has taught me I see things how they really are, because sometimes as a human you are “blinded” by something and you need that extra touch to make you realize the truth. I am thankful for this and to say the truth I enjoyed the class a lot, it has made me mature more than what I was and given me a new way to reflect on life and things. I will leave school with this knowledge and to be totally honest I hope I get to use this information for my future life, thanks Ms. Shore.

Go To The Top

Part 2) Fill in the right names:

In the story of Macbeth, Malcolm enters the play as a heroic fighter who defends the Scottish King Duncan against his Norwegian foe who is being aided by that traitorous Scottish Thane Macdonwald. Macbeth gains another thanedom as a reward for his military successes but assumes it is gotten through the supernatural help of The Three Witches. Macbeth is pushed by Lady Macbeth to become a traitor himself. The slain king’s sons run off in well deserved fear Malcolm to England and Donalbain to Ireland. As an example of the brutal tyranny of King Macbeth, we witness the tragic murders of Lady Macduff and their sons. It is only when Macbeth faces off with his nemesis Fleance who fights for the rightful king, Malcolm, that Macbeth falls.

Go To The Top

Part 3) Pick any 3 of the following quotations. Who said it? To whom? Give act, scene, and line. What does it reveal about the character who is speaking?

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
By: Witches
To: Themselves
Here the witches are talking themselves about where to meet Macbeth and tell him part of his future.

“Is this the dagger, which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?”
By: Macbeth
To: Lady Macbeth
Here after Macbeth has committed the murder of King Duncan he sees this dagger which represents the action he has done.

“Come you spirits that tend on mortal thought, unsex me here”
By: Lady Macbeth
To: Herself
Here Lady Macbeth talks to herself and sounds crazy when she starts planning the death of King Duncan by using her own husband for the murder.
Go To The Top

Bibliography:

The background image is based on the flowing source:

http://www.american-pictures.com/genealogy/descent/photos/Macbeth.2.jpg

The images on Macbeth Newspaper are based on the flowing source:

http://www.bencelstudios.com/images/Artwork/king.jpg
http://ishtarg.cdemusic.org/macbeth/Banquo-2.jpg
http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/T/T00/T00733_9.jpg
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/macbeth.jpg
http://x5452.landeck-manor.de/026_022.jpghttp://www.notfallseelsorge.de/Bilder/Funeral%20%20Judge%2005.jpg

Go To The Top