Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1 - the forms and utterances of the three apparitions

Macbeth

Please see the bottom of the page for full explanatory notes and helpful resources.

ACT IV SCENE I	A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
[Thunder. Enter the three Witches]
First Witch	Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
Second Witch	Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.
Third Witch	Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.
First Witch	Round about the cauldron go;
	In the poison'd entrails throw.
	Toad, that under cold stone
	Days and nights has thirty-one
	Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
	Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL	Double, double toil and trouble;	10
	Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch	Fillet of a fenny snake,
	In the cauldron boil and bake;
	Eye of newt and toe of frog,
	Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
	Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
	Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
	For a charm of powerful trouble,
	Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL	Double, double toil and trouble;	20
	Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch	Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
	Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
	Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
	Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
	Liver of blaspheming Jew,
	Gall of goat, and slips of yew
	Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
	Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
	Finger of birth-strangled babe	30
	Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
	Make the gruel thick and slab:
	Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
	For the ingredients of our cauldron.
ALL	Double, double toil and trouble;
	Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch	Cool it with a baboon's blood,
	Then the charm is firm and good.
[Enter HECATE to the other three Witches]
HECATE	O well done! I commend your pains;
	And every one shall share i' the gains;	40
	And now about the cauldron sing,
	Live elves and fairies in a ring,
	Enchanting all that you put in.
[Music and a song: 'Black spirits,' &c]
[HECATE retires]
Second Witch	By the pricking of my thumbs,
	Something wicked this way comes.
	Open, locks,
	Whoever knocks!
[Enter MACBETH]
MACBETH	How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
	What is't you do?
ALL	A deed without a name.
MACBETH	I conjure you, by that which you profess,	50
	Howe'er you come to know it, answer me:
	Though you untie the winds and let them fight
	Against the churches; though the yesty waves
	Confound and swallow navigation up;
	Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down;
	Though castles topple on their warders' heads;
	Though palaces and pyramids do slope
	Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
	Of nature's germens tumble all together,
	Even till destruction sicken; answer me	60
	To what I ask you.
First Witch	Speak.
Second Witch	Demand.
Third Witch	We'll answer.
First Witch	Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths,
	Or from our masters?
MACBETH	Call 'em; let me see 'em.
First Witch	Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten
	Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten
	From the murderer's gibbet throw
	Into the flame.
ALL	Come, high or low;
	Thyself and office deftly show!
[Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head]
MACBETH	Tell me, thou unknown power,--
First Witch	He knows thy thought:
	Hear his speech, but say thou nought.	70
First Apparition	Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;
	Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.
[Descends]
MACBETH	Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;
	Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one
	word more,--
First Witch	He will not be commanded: here's another,
	More potent than the first.
[Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child]
Second Apparition	Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
MACBETH	Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee.
Second Apparition	Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
	The power of man, for none of woman born	80
	Shall harm Macbeth.
[Descends]
MACBETH	Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?
	But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
	And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
	That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,
	And sleep in spite of thunder.
[ Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand ]
	What is this
	That rises like the issue of a king,
	And wears upon his baby-brow the round
	And top of sovereignty?
ALL	Listen, but speak not to't.
Third Apparition	Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care	90
	Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
	Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
	Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
	Shall come against him.
[Descends]
MACBETH	That will never be
	Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
	Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good!
	Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood
	Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth
	Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
	To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart	100
	Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art
	Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever
	Reign in this kingdom?
ALL	Seek to know no more.
MACBETH	I will be satisfied: deny me this,
	And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.
	Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?
[Hautboys]
First Witch	Show!
Second Witch	Show!
Third Witch	Show!
ALL	Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;	110
	Come like shadows, so depart!
[ A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following ]
MACBETH	Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!
	Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair,
	Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
	A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
	Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
	What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
	Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more:
	And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
	Which shows me many more; and some I see	120
	That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:
	Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true;
	For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
	And points at them for his.
[Apparitions vanish]
	What, is this so?
First Witch	Ay, sir, all this is so: but why
	Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?
	Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,
	And show the best of our delights:
	I'll charm the air to give a sound,
	While you perform your antic round:	130
	That this great king may kindly say,
	Our duties did his welcome pay.
[ Music. The witches dance and then vanish, with HECATE ]
MACBETH	Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour
	Stand aye accursed in the calendar!
	Come in, without there!
[Enter LENNOX]
LENNOX	What's your grace's will?
MACBETH	Saw you the weird sisters?
LENNOX	No, my lord.
MACBETH	Came they not by you?
LENNOX	No, indeed, my lord.
MACBETH	Infected be the air whereon they ride;
	And damn'd all those that trust them! I did hear
	The galloping of horse: who was't came by?	140
LENNOX	'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word
	Macduff is fled to England.
MACBETH	Fled to England!
LENNOX	Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH	Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits:
	The flighty purpose never is o'ertook
	Unless the deed go with it; from this moment
	The very firstlings of my heart shall be
	The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
	To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
	The castle of Macduff I will surprise;	150
	Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword
	His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
	That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
	This deed I'll do before this purpose cool.
	But no more sights!--Where are these gentlemen?
	Come, bring me where they are.
[Exeunt]

Next: Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 2
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Explanatory Notes for Act 4, Scene 1
From Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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The interest in this act centres around Macbeth's relation to Macduff, who has been already pointed out as his sole opponent among the Scottish nobles. In the first scene, Macbeth is warned against him by name and resolves to put him to death; in the second, assassins, who have come too late to find him in his castle, massacre by Macbeth's orders his entire household; in the third we find him in England stirring up Malcolm to war against the tyrant, receiving the terrible news of the slaughter of his wife and children, and vowing revenge upon their murderer. We see less of Macbeth in this act than in any other, but we see enough to show us how, by this time, he has wholly given himself over to evil.

The difference between the Macbeth whom the witches waylaid and the Macbeth who seeks them out has been already pointed out. Even more terrible is the difference between the Macbeth who was "too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way," and the Macbeth who orders the massacre of Macduff's wife and children. The wanton cruelty of this crime, by which Macbeth has absolutely nothing to gain, marks the lowest point of his fall.

At the close of the act, we join with Macduff in thinking of him as "this fiend of Scotland," and look forward eagerly to the punishment that is about to be meted out to him. It will be shown later on with what art the poet contrives to regain for him a certain portion of our sympathy.

The witches who know that Macbeth is coming to consult them are revealed in a cavern preparing their enchantments. We may suppose that the caldron with all its horrible ingredients was necessary to call up the apparitions which the witches mean to show Macbeth. The student should note carefully the forms and utterances of these apparitions, and consider in what way their words confirm Macbeth in his evil purposes, and embolden him against repentance.

The speeches of the witches are thrown into the same trochaic metre that they have employed on their former appearances. The difference between this and the light iambic metre in which Hecate speaks, is one of the main reasons for rejecting that character as the interpolation of another poet than Shakespeare.

Please click here for detailed explanatory notes for the Witches' Chants (4.1.1-47) and analysis.

50. conjure, adjure. The accent is on the first syllable. The whole speech is very characteristic of the desperate recklessness of Macbeth. He is determined to have an answer from the witches, no matter what storms their enchantments raise, and no matter what destruction of life and property results.

50. profess, make claim to know.

53. yesty, frothy, like yeast.

54. navigation, ships.

55. bladed corn, corn in the green ear.

55. lodged, beaten down.

57. pyramids, towers, or steeples.

59. germens, seeds of life.

63. our masters, the evil spirits, whom the witches serve and who presently take shape as the three apparitions.

64. eaten. According to an old Scotch law a sow who ate her pigs was to be stoned to death as a monster.

65. nine farrow, litter of nine.

67. high or low, great spirit or small.

68. deftly, fitly.

68. The "armed," i.e. helmeted, head represents Macbeth's own head which was destined to be cut off by Macduff. The bloody child represents Macduff, who had been ripped from his mother's womb. Note the concealed meaning in the witch's statement that this apparition is more potent than the first.

74. harp'd, touched.

78. Had I ... hear thee, if I had more ears than I have, I'd listen to you with all of them; a figurative way of saying that Macbeth is listening with eager attention.

83. double, used here as an adverb.

84. take a bond of fate. "Fate" is probably used here in the sense of "Death." Macbeth intends to kill Macduff, and by so doing he will obtain a "bond," a sure pledge, from Death that Macduff will never harm him. Thus he will be doubly sure, first by the prediction just uttered, next by Macduff's death.

86. sleep in spite of thunder. Macbeth has already complained of his restless sleeplessness. It is natural to suppose that a stormy night, recalling to him the terrors of the night in which he murdered Duncan, would still further heighten his distress. But he thinks that if he can get rid of his last fear by killing Macduff, he will be able to rest again.

86. The third apparition represents young Malcolm; the tree represents Birnam wood.

88, 89. round And top, the crown and highest attainment.

93. Birnam wood, a forest twelve miles from Dunsinane. In this line "Dunsinane" is accented on the second syllable, elsewhere in the play on the first.

95. impress, force into service.

96. bodements, predictions.

97. Rebellious head, an army of rebels.

98. our high-placed Macbeth. The phrase seems rather awkward, coming from Macbeth himself. Possibly "our" has something of the force of the royal "We" in it. "High-placed" is thought by Dr. Liddell to refer to Macbeth's situation on Dunsinane hill.

99. the lease of nature the allotted span.

100. mortal custom, the custom of mortality, i.e. death.

106. noise, music.

111. Eight King, the eight sovereigns of the Scottish house of Stuart, from Robert II to James VI, inclusive. According to Holinshed, this house traced its descent back to Banquo.

118. I'll see, I wish to see.

119. a glass, a magic glass by means of which one could foresee the future. The eighth king who bears the glass is James VI of Scotland, ruling in England as James I when this play was written. Shakespeare meant to pay him a compliment by declaring that many of his descendants should reign. The present king of England is descended on the mother's side from James I.

121. balls, the golden orb carried by the monarch at his coronation. James was twice crowned, once in Scotland, and once in England.

121. treble sceptres, indicating the official title of the English monarchs from James I to George III, viz.: "King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland."

122. A syllable is wanting in the third foot. Its place is supplied by the pause after Macbeth's ejaculation, "Horrible sight!"

123. blood-bolter'd, with hair matted with blood.

124. What, is this so? These words, and the following lines to 132, inclusive, are almost certainly interpolated. Macbeth has just said, "I see 'tis true," and it is therefore out of keeping for him to ask the witches, "is this so?" The metre of the witch's speech is like that of Hecate in iii. 5, and unlike that which Shakespeare uses for the witches, and the suggestion of the witch that she and her sisters cheer up Macbeth by a dance, is too absurd to need discussion. The passage is one of the spectacular interpolations with which the reviser sought to increase the drawing power of Macbeth.

132. Our duties ... pay, our dutiful service (shown in the dance) gave him a welcome; an awkward and un-Shakespearean line.

134. Stand ... calendar, became a day marked in the calendar as one of ill omen.

127. sprites, spirits.

130. antic, fantastic, grotesque.

135. Enter Lennox. Lennox, we must imagine, had accompanied Macbeth on his visit to the witches, but had been left outside the cave. There is a distinct significance in the fact that the lord who, in the preceding scene, had called Macbeth a tyrant, appears here as his confidential companion. In spite of his spies Macbeth did not know how his nobles hated him.

139. damn'd all those that trust them, Macbeth does not realize that he is pronouncing judgment on himself, for, in spite of the show of the kings, he still trusts in the predictions of the witches.

144. anticipatest, preventest.

145. flightly, fleeting.

147. firstlings, first offsprings.

153. trace him in his line, his relatives.

155. sights, apparitions.

155. no more sights. Macbeth has had more than enough of the witches and their apparitions.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co., 1904. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth_4_1.html >.

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