Page 78 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

British Drama

Notes prevent “innocent sleep” from giving Macbeth respite from his tormented conscience. While he has
consigned Duncan to eternal rest, he himself lives now in eternal anxiety.
In addition to his troubled existence, Macbeth’s perturbed sleep can also be read as a metaphor for
the troubled state of the country. In Macbeth—as with many other Shakespearean plays—there is a
close and mirrored relationship between king and the country. In scene 4, for example, Ross reports
that “by the clock ‘tis day, / And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp”. This image of the
darkness strangling the light of day is a meteorological manifestation of the murder of Duncan; the
light of nature is suffocated just as Duncan’s life is extinguished. Victorian writer John Ruskin called
such mirroring of a character’s psychological state in inanimate natural objects “pathetic fallacy.”
In animate natural objects too, a similar mirroring occurs. The old man describes Duncan’s noble
horses eating each other and an owl eating a falcon—events that echo the slaughter of Duncan by
Macbeth. Thus the unnatural death of Duncan plunges the country into both physical and spiritual
turmoil.
The image of an owl hunting a falcon is part of a greater framework of symbolism surrounding
birds in the play. When Duncan approaches Inverness in Act 1, for example, he comments on the
martlets that he sees nesting on the castle walls. He takes this as a good sign—martlets are lucky
birds. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, mentions earlier in this scene that there are ravens croaking
on the battlements. She takes this as a harbinger of Duncan’s death. Duncan, the trusting optimist,
sees lucky birds, whereas Lady Macbeth sees ominous ones. One sign does not exclude the other:
for Duncan, “fair” becomes “foul” as the lucky martlets metamorphose into the deadly ravens.
In Act 2, characters discuss or see birds in almost every scene. While Lady Macbeth is waiting for
Macbeth to finish killing Duncan, for example, she hears an owl hooting and calls the owl a “fatal
bellman”—a bird whose call is like a bell tolling for Duncan’s death. The owl could also be “fatal”
as an instrument of Fate, just as Macbeth is in some ways an instrument of Fate through the
intervention of the Weird Sisters (keeping in mind that “wyrd” derives from the Old English word
for “fate”). In this respect, one observes a mirroring between Macbeth and the owl: both hunt at
night; the owl is observed killing a falcon, just as Macbeth kills Duncan.
Over the course of Macbeth, dreams, symbols, fantasy, and visions impinge upon the “real world.”
The witches’ fantastic prophecy is realized. The “dagger of the mind” points the way to a murder
committed with a real dagger. And in the Porter scene, the Porter imagining that he guards the gate
to Hell ironically creates a gate of “real” hell caused by regicide. When the Porter opens the gate for
the thanes, he mentions that he and his friends were out “carousing till the second cock”. This
statement calls to mind the cock that crows in the New Testament after Peter betrays Jesus by denying
knowledge of hims. In Macbeth, the betrayal occurs in a more active form as Macbeth murders
Duncan after the crows of the cock.

5.3 Act 3

5.3.1 Scenes 1-6

Scene 1
Alone at Macbeth’s court, Banquo voices his suspicions that Macbeth has killed Duncan in order to
fulfill the witches’ prophesies. He muses that perhaps the witches’ vision for his own future will
also be realized, but pushes the thought from his mind. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth enter to the
fanfare of trumpets, along with Lennox and Ross. Macbeth announces that he will hold a banquet in
the evening and that Banquo will be honored as chief guest. Banquo states that he must ride in the
afternoon but will return for the banquet. Macbeth tells him that Malcolm and Donalbain will not
confess to killing their father. After confirming that Fleance will accompany Banquo on his trip,
Macbeth wishes Banquo a safe ride.
Left alone, Macbeth summons the two murderers he has hired. While he waits for them, he voices
his greatest worry of the moment—that the witches’ prophecy will also come true for Banquo, making

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