macbeth act 1 scene 5 analysis essay

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Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 5

At Macbeth 's home, the castle of Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband concerning his meeting with the Witches. She is immediately aware of the significance of their prophetic words and, on being informed that King Duncan will be paying a royal visit to Inverness, makes up her mind to carry out the murder of the king in order to hasten the prophecy. In doing so, she suggests that her husband is weak — he contains too much of "the milk of human kindness." When Macbeth arrives from the court of Duncan, bearing news of the king's forthcoming visit, his wife makes her plans clear to him.

The letter, read alone on stage by Lady Macbeth, reiterates the Witches' prophecy of Act I. Significantly, in his letter, Macbeth says nothing of their prophecy to Banquo ; perhaps he is already afraid of its implications. Equally significantly, he sets up Lady Macbeth as his "dearest partner of greatness." She will indeed become his partner in crime, but much more than that: Apart from the fatal blow itself, she will be responsible for controlling Macbeth's passions and — to an extent — his actions.

Immediately after she finishes the letter, Lady Macbeth's mind goes to work. Her words "shalt be" uncannily reflect those of the Witches' prophecy. At this point, Lady Macbeth herself has virtually become an agent of Fate, just like the Weird Sisters. But immediately her thoughts turn to possible failings in her husband. He is "too full of the milk of human kindness" to commit murder; he would be great, he would have a high position, he would wrongly win that position, but in each case, some other aspect of his character would not . In this case, she says, there is only one solution. She must "pour [her] spirits in thine ear." Any member of Shakespeare 's audience who had seen his play Hamlet four years previously would be more than aware of the significance of this line, for in that play the good King Claudius is murdered by poison administered through the ear. The scene is rapidly becoming darker.

Lady Macbeth is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. The fact that we meet her alone on stage means that we are privy to her innermost thoughts, which are filled with the imagery of death and destruction. And when she speaks, in her next soliloquy, of her "fell purpose," her intentions are described in the most grotesque and frightening terms. First she bids the spirits to literally deprive her of her femininity, to thicken her blood, and to stop her ability to weep. Next, she prays that those same evil spirits should suckle her, converting what should be her nourishing mother's milk to "gall" (bitterness). Lastly, she calls upon the night itself to hide her actions in a "blanket" of darkness. It is no coincidence that these last words reflect those of Macbeth in the previous scene: Shakespeare is creating a strong verbal bond between husband and wife that will continue throughout the play.

When Macbeth enters his castle, his wife greets him in a way that again recalls the words of the Witches; in particular the words "all-hail" and "hereafter" chill the audience, for they are the exact words spoken to Macbeth by the Witches. The dialogue that follows their initial encounter is fast, urgent, and disturbing. Shakespeare uses half-line breaks to intensify the drama of the moment, each "partner in crime" picking up the rhythm of the other's speech:

M: My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight.

LM: And when goes hence?

M: Tomorrow, as he purposes.

LM: Oh, never Shall sun that morrow see!

Shakespeare uses the same technique immediately after the murder.

In the lines that follow, Lady Macbeth uses several significant metaphors of concealment: Macbeth's face is like "a book, where men / May read strange matters" (63-64); then, in a brilliantly ironic reference to the Genesis story, "Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under it" (66-67). The apparent paradise promised by the Witches is soon to become a hell. An important psychological point is also made: Lady Macbeth herself does not hide her feelings in the same way that Macbeth does. She is not rapt in wonderment, simply practical. The last line of the scene, "Leave all the rest to me," is quite modern in its tone. With this blunt and chilling imperative, Lady Macbeth completes her transformation from woman to man. From now on, she plays on the reversal of roles; she has adopted the role of "man of action," forcing her husband into the more passive role of accomplice.

lose the dues (12) miss the reward

hie thee hither (25) come here quickly

chastise (27) beat off, chase away

golden round (28) the crown (kingship)

metaphysical (29) supernatural

effect and it (47) the result and the plan

favour (72) complexion

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Macbeth - Act 1, scene 5

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Act 1, scene 5.

Lady Macbeth reads her husband’s letter about his meeting the witches. She fears that Macbeth lacks the ruthlessness he needs to kill Duncan and fulfill the witches’ second prophecy. When she learns that Duncan is coming to visit, she calls upon supernatural agents to fill her with cruelty. Macbeth arrives, and Lady Macbeth tells him that she will take charge of the preparations for Duncan’s visit and for his murder.

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Macbeth: Act 1, Scene 5 – Summary & Analysis

In Iverness, the castle of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband that details the events that have occurred so far in the play, his new title and the meeting with the witches. While reading, Lady Macbeth remarks that while her husband is ambitious he is too full of ‘th’ milk of human kindness’ to do what is necessary to realize his ambitions, and plans to convince him to undertake the required actions. A messenger announces Macbeth is close to arrival and Lady Macbeth begs ‘you spirits/ That tend of mortal thought, unsex me here,/ And fill me from the crown to the toe too-full/ Of direst cruelty’, planning to abandon her natural femininity so as to be able to commit the bloody actions needed for Macbeth to attain the kingship. Macbeth then enters and tells his wife Duncan will stay the night, but Lady Macbeth responds that the king will not see tomorrow; she tells her husband to be patient and leave matters to her.

Our first view of Lady Macbeth raises various questions concerning not only her character but also the marriage between she and Macbeth. They are polar opposites; Macbeth is indecisive concerning the act of regicide despite it offering him the chance to realize his ambition, while Lady Macbeth is decisive and considers nothing except forcing her husband to realize his ambition. While it may be argued that she is a loyal and caring wife for doing so it is difficult not to criticize her here, as her decisiveness and plan to help her husband reveal an evil nature. She admits fearing Macbeth’s nature as it ‘is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way’ and her plan to convince him presents her as corrupting; it is possible to sympathize with Macbeth later in the play as her plans and words suggest he is corrupted by his wife into acting in an underhanded manner. She plans to ‘pour spirits in ear’ which suggests she will corrupt him unknowingly, which may be a reference to another Shakespeare play, Hamlet, when King Hamlet was killed while asleep as Claudius poured poison in his ear; the mention of ear may suggest that the person acted upon has no control or ability to stop the action. If she has her way, she will transform Macbeth from an ‘innocent flower’ to ‘serpent’, the epitome of corruption, which makes it difficult to consider Lady Macbeth as a supporting wife. She realizes that she has to manipulate and control her husband so as to achieve his and her aims.

Points of note

The issue of gender/ sex comes to light here. Lady Macbeth plans to help Macbeth but can only do so by removing her femininity and losing feminine compassion, ‘remorse’; this is the reason for her plea to ‘unsex me here’, so she can be cold and ruthless enough to convince her husband to kill the king. This may suggest why the Weird Sisters have beards; do they need some masculine trait so as to be ruthless enough to be part of an act such as murder or regicide?

The natural order has already been disturbed, evidenced by Lady Macbeth’s remark that ‘Thy letters have transported me beyond/ This ignorant present, and I feel now the future in the instant’. The future she refers to is the world when Macbeth becomes king and immorality reigns; this has already begun as two of the play’s principal characters plot to kill the king.

Lady Macbeth reveals herself as another character aware of deception and its role in the world as she instructs Macbeth to ‘bear welcome in your eye but be the serpent under’t’ when Duncan arrives. This does lessen some of the criticism towards Lady Macbeth as Macbeth has already shown himself to be able to deceive, as he presented himself as loyal to the king in the previous scene while still considering his ambition to be king, which would involve killing Duncan.

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Macbeth - Act 1, Scene 5 Summary & Analysis

Act 1, Scene 5 Summary

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Macbeth Shakescleare Translation

Macbeth Translation Act 1, Scene 5

LADY MACBETH enters, reading a letter.

LADY MACBETH

[reading] “They met me in the day of success, and I have learned by the perfectest report they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the king, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail, king that shalt be!’ This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.” Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’ld’st have, great Glamis, That which cries, “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it, And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal.

[Reading] “The witches met me on my day of victory, and I have since learned for certain that they have supernatural knowledge. When I tried frantically to question them further, they vanished into the air. While I stood amazed at the strangeness of all of this, messengers from the king arrived and greeted me as “Thane of Cawdor,” which is exactly what the weird sisters had called me before then hailing me as 'the future king!’ M y dearest partner in greatness,  I wanted to tell you this news, so that you would not be ignorant of the greatness promised to us and therefore be unable to celebrate. Keep it close to your heart, and farewell.” [She puts down the letter] You are Thane of Glamis, and Cawdor, and you will be the king just as you were promised. Yet I worry about your character. You are too full of the milk of human kindness to take the shortest route to power. You want to be powerful, and you don’t lack ambition—but you don’t have the nastiness required to truly go for it. You hope to become great by acting with virtue and goodness. You don’t want to lie or cheat, yet you want to win what Great Thane of Glamis, you want to have something, but you’re too frightened to do it. Get yourself home, so I can whisper in your ear and criticize you so that you cease to be affected by everything that’s keeping you from taking the crown—which fate and magic both seem to want you to have.

A SERVANT enters.

What is your tidings?

What’s your news?

The king comes here tonight.

The king is coming here tonight.

Everything you need for every book you read.

Thou ‘rt mad to say it. Is not thy master with him, who, were ’t so, Would have informed for preparation?

You’re crazy to think that. Isn’t my lord Macbeth with the king? If what you say is true, Macbeth would have sent word so I could prepare?

So please you, it is true: our thane is coming. One of my fellows had the speed of him, Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more Than would make up his message.

I beg your pardon, but it’s true: our lord is coming. One of my fellow servants raced ahead of him, and was so out of breath that he almost couldn’t tell me his message.

Give him tending. He brings great news.

Take care him. He brings great news.

The SERVANT exits.

The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark To cry “Hold, hold!”

The messenger croaks the announcement of Duncan’s fatal arrival to my castle, just like a raven would croak out a warning. Come on, you spirits that aid thoughts of murder: remove my womanhood and fill me up from head to toe with terrible cruelty! Thicken my blood. Block my veins from all feelings of regret, so that no natural feelings of guilt or doubt can sway me from my dark desires, or prevent me from accomplishing them! Demons of murder, come to me from wherever you hide yourselves as you wait to aid and abet corrupt and evil feelings, and turn my mother’s milk into bitter acid. Come, thick night—wrapped in the darkest smoke of hell—so that my sharp knife can’t see the wound it makes, and heaven can’t peek through the darkness and cry: “Stop! Stop!”

MACBETH enters.

Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter, Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant.

Great Thane of Glamis and noble Thane of Cawdor, you’ll be greater than both when you become king. Your letter has transported me beyond the present moment and all its ignorance of what will come, so that I now feel like the future is here now.

My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight.

My dearest love, Duncan will be here tonight.

And when goes hence?

And when does he leave?

Tomorrow, as he purposes.

Tomorrow, according to his plans.

O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under ’t. He that’s coming Must be provided for; and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch, Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

That will never happen. My thane, your face betrays your troubled thoughts, so that others can read it like a book. To deceive all others, you have to look exactly as they do. When you greet the king, do so completely: with your eyes, hands, and words. Look like an innocent flower, but be the snake that hides beneath it. The king must be taken care of. Allow me to manage everything tonight, because the events of this night will bring us sole mastery and power for all our nights and days to come.

We will speak further.

We’ll speak about this further.

Only look up clear. To alter favor ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me.

Keep your head up and look calm. If your expression changes it will arouse suspicion. Leave all the rest to me.

by William Shakespeare

Macbeth summary and analysis of act 1, act 1, scene 1.

On a heath in Scotland, three witches, the Weird Sisters, wait to meet Macbeth amidst thunder and lightning. Their conversation is filled with paradox and equivocation: they say that they will meet Macbeth "when the battle's lost and won" and when "fair is foul and foul is fair" (10).

Act 1, Scene 2

The Scottish army is at war with the Norwegian army. Duncan, king of Scotland, meets a captain returning from battle. The captain informs them of Macbeth and Banquo's bravery in battle. He also describes Macbeth's attack on the castle of the treacherous Macdonald, in which Macbeth triumphed and planted Macdonald’s head on the battlements of the castle. The Thanes of Ross and Angus enter with the news that the Thane of Cawdor has sided with Norway. Duncan decides to execute the disloyal thane and give the title of Cawdor to Macbeth.

Act 1, Scene 3

The Weird Sisters meet on the heath and wait for Macbeth. He arrives with Banquo, repeating the witches' paradoxical phrase by stating "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (36). The witches hail him as "Thane of Glamis" (his present title), "Thane of Cawdor" (the title he will soon receive officially), and "king hereafter" (46-48). Their greeting startles and seems to frighten Macbeth. When Banquo questions the witches as to who they are, they greet him with the phrases "Lesser than Macbeth and greater," "Not so happy, yet much happier," and a man who "shall get kings, though [he] be none" (63-65).

When Macbeth questions them further, the witches vanish into thin air. Almost as soon as they disappear, Ross and Angus appear with the news that the king has granted Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth and Banquo step aside to discuss this news; Banquo is of the opinion that the title of Thane of Cawdor might "enkindle" Macbeth to seek the crown as well (119). Macbeth questions why such happy news causes his "seated heart [to] knock at [his] ribs / Against the use of nature," and his thoughts turn immediately and with terror to murdering the king in order to fulfill the witches' second prophesy (135-36). When Ross and Angus notice Macbeth's distraught state, Banquo dismisses it as Macbeth's unfamiliarity with his new title.

Act 1, Scene 4

Duncan demands to know whether the former Thane of Cawdor has been executed. His son Malcolm assures him that he has witnessed the former Thane’s becoming death. While Duncan muses about the fact that he placed "absolute trust" in the treacherous Thane, Macbeth enters. Duncan thanks Macbeth and Banquo for their loyalty and bravery. He consequently announces his decision to make his son Malcolm the heir to the throne of Scotland (something that would not have happened automatically, since his position was elected and not inherited). Duncan then states that he plans to visit Macbeth at his home in Inverness. Macbeth leaves to prepare his home for the royal visit, pondering the stumbling block of Malcolm that now hinders his ascension to the throne. The king follows with Banquo.

Act 1, Scene 5

At Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth that describes his meeting with the witches. She fears that his nature is not ruthless enough-- he's "too full o' th' milk of human kindness” (15)—to murder Duncan and assure the completion of the witches' prophesy. He has ambition enough, she claims, but lacks the gumption to act on it. She then implores him to hurry home so that she can "pour [her] spirits in [his] ear" (24)—in other words, goad him on to the murder he must commit. When a messenger arrives with the news that Duncan is coming, Lady Macbeth calls on the heavenly powers to "unsex me here" and fill her with cruelty, taking from her all natural womanly compassion (39). When Macbeth arrives, she greets him as Glamis and Cawdor and urges him to "look like the innocent flower, / but be the serpent under’t" (63-64). She then says that she will make all the preparations for the king's visit and subsequent murder.

Act 1, Scene 6

Duncan arrives at Inverness with Banquo and exchanges pleasantries with Lady Macbeth. The king inquires after Macbeth's whereabouts and she offers to bring him to where Macbeth awaits.

Act 1, Scene 7

Alone on stage, Macbeth agonizes over whether to kill Duncan, recognizing the act of murdering the king as a terrible sin. He struggles in particular with the idea of murdering a man—a relative, no less—who trusts and loves him. He would like the king's murder to be over and regrets the fact that he possesses “vaulting ambition" without the ruthlessness to ensure the attainment of his goals (27).

As Lady Macbeth enters, Macbeth tells her that he "will proceed no further in this business" (31). But Lady Macbeth taunts him for his fears and ambivalence, telling him he will only be a man when he carries out the murder. She states that she herself would go so far as to take her own nursing baby and dash its brains if necessary. She counsels him to "screw [his] courage to the sticking place" and details the way they will murder the king (60). They will wait until he falls asleep, she says, and thereafter intoxicate his bodyguards with drink. This will allow them to murder Duncan and lay the blame on the two drunken bodyguards. Macbeth is astonished by her cruelty but resigns to follow through with her plans.

Fate, Prophecy, and Equivocation

Just as the Porter in Act 2 extemporizes about the sin of equivocation, the play figures equivocation as one of its most important themes. Starting from the Weird Sisters' first words that open the play, audiences quickly ascertain that things are not what they seem. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the word "equivocation" has two different meanings—both of which are applicable to this play. The first is:

“The using (a word) in more than one sense; ambiguity or uncertainty of meaning in words; also . . . misapprehension arising from the ambiguity of terms.”

This definition as simple verbal ambiguity is the one that audiences are most familiar with—and one that plays an important role in the play. The Porter’s speech on equivocation in Act 2, however, refers to a more active type of equivocation. The second definition in the OED: reads:

The use of words or expressions that are susceptible of a double signification, with a view to mislead; esp. the expression of a virtual falsehood in the form of a proposition which (in order to satisfy the speaker's conscience) is verbally true.

This kind of equivocation is similar to lying; it is intentionally designed to mislead and confuse.

The intentional ambiguity of terms is what we see in the prophesies of the Weird Sisters. Their speech is full of paradox and confusion, starting with their first assertion that "fair is foul and foul is fair" (I i 10). The witches' prophesies are intentionally ambiguous. The alliteration and rhymed couplets in which they speak also contributes to the effect of instability and confusion in their words. For many readers, more than one reading is required to grasp a sense of what the witches mean. It is not surprising, therefore, that these "imperfect speakers" can easily bedazzle and confuse Macbeth throughout the course of the play (I iii 68).

Just as their words are confusing, it is unclear as to whether the witches merely predict or actually effect the future. Banquo fears, for example, that the witches' words will "enkindle [Macbeth] unto the crown"—in other words, that they will awaken in Macbeth an ambition that is already latent in him (I iii 119). His fears seem well-founded: as soon as the witches mention the crown, Macbeth's thoughts turn to murder. The witches’ power is thus one of prophecy, but prophecy through suggestion. For Macbeth, the witches can be understood as representing the final impetus that drive him to his pre-determined end. The prophecy is in this sense self-fulfilling.

The oracular sisters are in fact connected etymologically to the Fates of Greek mythology. The word "weird" derives from the Old English word "wyrd," meaning "fate." And not all fate is self-fulfilling. In Banquo's case, in contrast to Macbeth’s, the witches seem only to predict the future. For unlike Macbeth, Banquo does not act on the witches' prediction that he will father kings—and yet the witches' prophesy still comes true. The role of the weird sisters in the story, therefore, is difficult to define or determine. Are they agents of fate or a motivating force? And why do they suddenly disappear from the play in the third act?

The ambiguity of the Weird Sisters reflects a greater theme of doubling, mirrors, and schism between inner and outer worlds that permeates the work as a whole. Throughout the play, characters, scenes, and ideas are doubled. As Duncan muses about the treachery of the Thane of Cawdor at the beginning of the play, for example, Macbeth enters the scene:

KING DUNCAN: There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust. Enter MACBETH, BANQUP, ROSS, and ANGUS. To MACBETH: O worthiest cousin, The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me! (I iv 11-16)

The dramatic irony of Duncan’s trust is realized only later in the play. Similarly, the captain in Scene 2 makes a battle report that becomes in effect a prophecy:

For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name!— Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour’s minion Carved out his passage till he faced the slave, Which ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell to him Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements. (I i16-23)

The passage can be interpreted as follows: Macbeth “disdains fortune” by disregarding the natural course of action and becomes king through a “bloody execution” of Duncan; Macduff, who was born from a Caesarian section (his mother being “unseamed. . . from the nave to th’chops”) and who “ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell” decapitates Macbeth and hangs his head up in public.

As in all Shakespearean plays, mirroring among characters serves to heighten their differences. Thus Macbeth, the young, valiant, cruel traitor/king has a foil in Duncan, the old, venerable, peaceable, and trusting king. Lady Macbeth, who casts off her femininity and claims to feel no qualms about killing her own children, is doubled in Lady Macduff, who is a model of a good mother and wife. Banquo's failure to act on the witches' prophesy is mirrored in Macbeth's drive to realize all that the witches foresee.

Similarly, much of the play is also concerned with the relation between contrasting inner and outer worlds. Beginning with the equivocal prophecies of the Weird Sisters, appearances seldom align with reality. Lady Macbeth, for example, tells her husband to "look like the innocent flower, / but be the serpent under’t" (63-64). Macbeth appears to be a loyal Thane, but secretly plans revenge. Lady Macbeth appears to be a gentle woman but vows to be "unsexed" and swears on committing bloody deeds. Macbeth is also a play about the inner world of human psychology, as will be illustrated in later acts through nightmares and guilt-ridden hallucinations. Such contrast between "being" and "seeming" serves as another illustration of equivocation.

The Macbeths and The Corruption of Nature

One of the most ambiguous aspects of the play is the character of Macbeth himself. Unlike other Shakespearean villains like Iago or Richard III , Macbeth is not entirely committed to his evil actions. When he swears to commit suicide, he must overcome an enormous resistance from his conscience. At the same time, he sees as his own biggest flaw not a lack of moral values but rather a lack of motivation to carry out his diabolical schemes. In this he resembles Hamlet, who soliloquizes numerous times about his inaction. But unlike Hamlet, Macbeth does not have a good reason to kill, nor is the man he kills evil—far from it. And finally, while Macbeth becomes increasingly devoted to murderous actions, his soliloquies are so full of eloquent speech and pathos that it is not difficult to sympathize with him. Thus at the heart of the play lies a tangle of uncertainty.

If Macbeth is indecisive, Lady Macbeth is just the opposite—a character with such a single vision and drive for advancement that she brings about her own demise. And yet her very ruthlessness brings about another form of ambiguity, for in swearing to help Macbeth realize the Weird Sisters' prophecy, she must cast off her femininity. In a speech at the beginning of Scene 5, she calls on the spirits of the air to take away her womanhood:

Come you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up th'access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th'effect and it. (I v 38-45)

Lady Macbeth sees "remorse" as one of the names for feminine compassion—of which she must rid herself. Thus she must be "unsexed." This does not mean, however, that in rejecting her femininity she becomes manly. Instead, she becomes a woman devoid of the sexual characteristics and sentimentality that make her a woman. She becomes entirely unnatural and inhuman. Like the supernatural Weird Sisters with their beards, Lady Macbeth becomes something that does not fit into the natural world.

The corruption of nature is a theme that surfaces and resurfaces in the same act. When Duncan greets Macbeth, for example, he states that he has “begun to plant thee and will labor / to make thee full of growing" (I iv 28-29). Following the metaphor of the future as lying in the “seeds of time,” Macbeth is compared to a plant that Duncan will look after (I iii 56). By murdering Duncan, then, Macbeth perverts nature by severing himself effectively from the very "root" that feeds him. For this reason, perhaps, the thought of murdering Duncan causes Macbeth's heart to "knock at [his] ribs / Against the use of nature" (I iii 135-36). Just as the Weird Sisters pervert the normal course of nature by telling their prophecy, Macbeth upsets the course of nature by his regicide.

Reflecting the disruption of nature, the dialogue between Macbeth and Lady in the scene following the murder becomes heavy, graceless, and almost syncopated. Lady Macbeth, for example, says:

What thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'd'st have, great Glamis, That which cries "Thus thou must do," if thou have it, And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishest should be undone. (I v 28-23).

The repetition of the phrase "thou wouldst," in all its permutations, confounds the flow of speech. The speech is clotted with accents, tangling meter and scansion, and the alliteration is almost tongue-twisting, slowing the rhythm of the words. Just as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have corrupted nature, the language Shakespeare uses in these scenes disrupts the flow of his usually smoothly iambic meter.

Yet another part of the theme of corruption of nature lies in the compression of time that occurs throughout the act. When Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter, she states: Th[ese] letters have transported me beyond / This ignorant present, and I feel now / The future in the instant" (I v 54-56). By telling the future to Macbeth and Banquo, the Weird Sisters upset the natural course of time and bring the future to the present. Thus when Macbeth vacillates over whether or not to kill Duncan, he wants to leap into the future: "If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well / It were done quickly" (I vii 1-2). He wants the murder to be over quickly—indeed so quickly that it is over before the audience even registers it. Just as equivocation twists the meaning of words, Macbeth's murderous desires twist the meaning of time.

Thus beginning with the Weird Sisters, equivocation in all its permutations is threaded throughout the fabric of the first act. Over the course of the play, the breach between the worlds of reality and illusion that is the core of equivocation grows ever wider.

Macbeth Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Macbeth is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3 questions

What is significant about the first words that Macbeth speaks in the play?

A motif or recurring idea in the play is equivocation. There is the balance of the dark and the light, the good and the bad. Macbeth's first line reflects this. It...

What news took the wind out of Macbeth's invincibility?

Macbeth rethinks his invincibility when MacDuff tells him that he was torn from his mother's womb.

Did Banquo believe Ghosts? Why?

I'm sorry, are you asking if Banquo believed in ghosts? Based upon act and scene?

Study Guide for Macbeth

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Essays for Macbeth

Macbeth essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

• Serpentine Imagery in Shakespeare's Macbeth
• Macbeth's Evolution
• Jumping the Life to Come
• Deceptive Appearances in Macbeth
• Unity in Shakespeare's Tragedies

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E-Text of Macbeth

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Macbeth Act 1, scene 5 Analysis.

Act 1, scene 5 Analysis Coursework

At Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth telling of his meeting with the witches. She fears that his nature is not ruthless enough, is "too full o' th' milk of human kindness," to murder Duncan and assure the completion of the witches' prophesy. He has ambition enough, she claims, but lacks the gumption to act on it. She then implores him to hurry home so that she can "pour [her] spirits in [his] ear," in other words, goad him on to the murder he must commit. When a messenger arrives with the news that Duncan is coming, Lady Macbeth calls on the heavenly powers to "unsex me here" and fill her with cruelty, taking from her all natural womanly compassion. When Macbeth arrives, she greets him as Glamis and Cawdor and urges him to "look like th'innocent flower, / but be the serpent under Œt," and states that she will make all the preparations for the king's visit and subsequent murder.

If Macbeth is indecisive, Lady Macbeth is just the opposite  a character with such a single vision and drive for advancement that she cannot help but bring about her own demise. And yet her very ruthlessness is another form of ambiguity, for in swearing to help Macbeth realize the Weird Sisters' prophecy, she must cast off her femininity. In a speech at the beginning of scene five, she calls on the spirits of the air to take away her womanhood:

This is a preview of the whole essay

Come you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up th'access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th'effect and it. Come to my woman's breasts And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers (I.v 47-55).

Lady Macbeth sees "remorse" and "peace" as feminine virtues, and in order to void herself of such compassion she must be "unsexed." That she sees femininity as soft and kind is evident in the fact that she calls the waffling Macbeth womanish, telling him that only when he has murdered Duncan will he be a man. And whereas she wants to turn her mother's milk into "gall," she complains that Macbeth is "too full o' th' milk of human kindness" (I.v 17). Later she reinforces the rejection of her femininity by claiming that she would go so far as to cast off all of the motherly sentiments that go along with it:

I have given suck, and know How tender Œtis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed its brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this (I.vii 61-67).

However, this does not mean that in rejecting her femininity she becomes a man. Instead she becomes a woman devoid of the sexual characteristics and sentimentality that make her a woman. She becomes entirely unnatural and inhuman. Like the supernatural Weird Sisters with their beards, Lady Macbeth becomes something that does not fit into the natural world.

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• Subject English

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Macbeth Light and Darkness Analysis

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