Page 88 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

British Drama

Notes 13. Which of the following statements about Lady Macbeth is not correct?
(a) Lady Macbeth’s dissolution is swift
(b) Lady Macbeth’s language is choppy
(c) As Macbeth’s power grows, Lady Macbeth’s has also grows
(d) Her state of mind changes.

Fill in the blanks:
14. As the act 4 opens, the witches carry on the theme of ......... and equivocation.
15. Another form of doubling or equivocation is found in the theme of .......... , masks,
and disguises.
16. Until Act 5, Macbeth has been tormented with visions and .......... while Lady Macbeth
has derided him for his weakness.
17. In her sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth plays out the theme of .......... and cleansing.

State whether the following statements are true or false:
18. On a historical note, it is generally thought the eighth king holds up a mirror in
order to pander to James I.
19. While planning Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth counsels Macbeth to look like the
innocent flower.
20. One moral of the story is that the course of fate can be changed.

5.6 Summary

• On a heath in Scotland, three witches, the Weird Sisters, wait to meet Macbeth amidst thunder
and lightning.
• The conversation of three witches 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”.
• The Scottish army is at war with the Norwegian army. Duncan, king of Scotland, meets a
captain returning from battle.
• 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”.
• 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.
• 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” - to murder Duncan and assure the completion of the witches’ prophesy.
• Duncan arrives at Inverness with Banquo and exchanges pleasantries with Lady Macbeth.
• Alone on stage, Macbeth agonizes over whether to kill Duncan, recognizing the act of
murdering the king as a terrible sin.
• The play figures equivocation as one of its most important themes, just as the Porter in Act 2
extemporizes about the sin of equivocation.
• 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.
Just as their words are confusing, it is unclear as to whether the witches merely predict or
actually affect the future.

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