Ep03 Act 1 Scene 7

Hello and welcome to this episode of Understanding Macbeth. My name is Gemma Nemeth and in this podcast we go through some of the key scenes from the play. Translating the language, identifying literary techniques and useful quotes and analysing the characters, structure and themes of the play in order to help you prepare for your exams. If you want to access additional episodes and other exclusive content you can find more information about the full online Macbeth course at www.advancedacademic.co.uk/MacbethHyphenCourse and if you listen until the end of today's episode you will get a discount code for 20% off. Now let's get started with today's episode. Act 1 - Scene 7 - Scene 7 is set inside Macbeth's castle and starts with him giving us saliliquy which will go through a few lines at a time. Macbeth starts off by saying, "If it were done when it is done, then it will well done quickly." Meaning that if it's true that it'll all be over and sorted once done can be dead then it'd be best to kill him as soon as possible. Bear in mind how we ended scene 6. The audience would go straight from Duncan saying how much he values in trust Macbeth to hear in this scene Macbeth contemplating Duncan's murder. Quite a contrast. Macbeth then says, "If the assassination could tremble up the consequence and catch with his sessess success, that but this blow might be the be all and end all." Him Macbeth is concerned about the potential consequences and so he is saying that perhaps the assassination would tremble up, prevent those consequences and instead Duncan's sessess, his death, would result in success and then the whole situation will be over. We also get some lovely sibilance in there with sessess and success which gives a couple of effects so firstly it creates that hissing sound with the sessess when spoken aloud which sounds quite sinister because of the associations we have with Serpent's and Evil. It also creates a slight sort of whispering sound which acts as a reminder to the audience of the secrecy and the deceit that's going on here. Macbeth then says, "Here upon this bank and soul of time we'd jump the life to come." Notice that he's now using the majestic plural which was previously only used by Duncan. He's referring to himself as we. Perhaps this is the resting that he's already seeing himself as the king. Here he's using a metaphor to refer to the present life as if he's currently standing in a river and then he says he'd be happy to give up the life to come so he's willing to sacrifice the chance of life after death in order to get what he wants in this life because of course according to Christian teaching he will not go to heaven if he commits the murder. However Macbeth points out that there would also be potential consequences for his actions even in this life when he says we still have judgement here and then he goes on to point out that if you teach bloody instruction that is if you act violently then it can encourage others to act violently towards you which for shadows the later events of the play as this is of course what ends up happening to Macbeth. He carries on this point saying that because justice is impartial and treats everyone the same everyone has to drink from the same poisoned chalice that they give to others. The poison chalice is a metaphor for our decisions and our actions in the way we live our life and how that can come back to haunt us. Macbeth then starts to detail some other reasons that he shouldn't commit the murder. He says of Duncan that he's here in double trust first as I am his kinsman and his subject strong both against the deed then as his host who should against his murder or shut the door not bare the knife myself. He's saying that there are two aspects of his position that mean he should not kill Duncan firstly because if it's due to duty to be loyal to Duncan as one of his subjects and secondly because as his host Macbeth's responsibility should be to look after and protect Duncan not seek to cause him harm. He then talks about what a good king Duncan is and how this makes it even harder to think of murdering him. He says this Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office that his virtues will plead like angels trumpet-tunged against the deep damnation of his taking off. This means that Duncan has been so humble when exercising his kingly powers he's been such an honourable king that it will feel as if all his good qualities are almost pleading with Macbeth not to murder him. That quote his virtues will plead like angels is an example of both personification and simile because of the comparison of the virtues being like angels and also because virtues can't literally plead that's something that humans do so it's personifying Duncan's virtues. So this is an excellent quote to use if you're writing about Duncan as a character or the theme of kingship as Macbeth is praising him so highly for the way that he doesn't abuse his power and the way that he's managed to stay humble and honourable as a king which contrasts sharply to the kind of king that Macbeth will be later in the play. We already have a contrast here too using the religious language with Duncan's virtues being like angels and the potential murder leading to Macbeth's deep damnation. So something good and pure when referring to Duncan but reference to hell and damnation for Macbeth for considering the murder. You could bring in some context here regarding the divine right of kings obviously in Christianity any murder as a sin but it was particularly terrible to kill a king because according to the divine right of kings the monarch was ordained by God they were chosen to be king or queen before their birth and they were God's representatives on earth. Macbeth says that pity for Duncan was spread through the kingdom and affect all people who hear the news. It shall blow the horrid deed in every eye that tears shall drown the wind. This is lovely metaphorical language from Shakespeare again. Notice how much of this soliloquy is written in figurative language there are several similes metaphors and instances of personification too so plenty of terminology to discuss in your writing. This particular quote helps to emphasise Duncan's popularity among his people by expressing how sorely misty would be if Macbeth carried out the murder. Macbeth ends this soliloquy by talking about ambition, one of the key themes of the play. He says "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which overlips itself and falls on the other." So here Shakespeare is using an extended metaphor of a horse to portray Macbeth's ambition. Asperr is a device on the heel of a rider's boot that urges the horse forward. So Macbeth is saying that he has no incentive or motive for the murder other than his ambition. But that ambition can be like a horse that tries to jump too far and falls down. You can get carried away with it and it can lead to disaster. This is a good quote to use to talk about the nature of ambition and also Macbeth's character development, as ambition is his Hamasha or Fatal Floor which eventually causes his downfall. Lady Macbeth then enters and Macbeth tells her that "we will proceed no further in this business. He has honoured me of late and I have brought golden opinions from all sorts of people which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon." So he's telling Lady Macbeth that he has decided they will not go ahead with the murder because Duncan has honoured Macbeth with new titles and this is given people a good opinion of him which he wants to be able to keep and enjoy while they're new and not throw them away so soon after receiving them. Notice again that the titles are talked about like clothes. He says his honours should be worn now in their newest gloss. So again we have that clothing symbolism that's repeated throughout the play. This is when Lady Macbeth starts her manipulation. She says it is as if Macbeth was drunk when he was so hopeful before and it's like he went to bed and woke up sober and so afraid of what he was going to do. Notice the repeated questioning as if she's really trying to go to him into action. She accuses him of being so green and pale, giving the impression of someone who is sickly and weak. She then asks, "Are thou a fear to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?" She's asking, "Is he scared to be the same in his actions as he is in his desires and thoughts?" Notice that she uses the word "vallor" which is a very positive abstract noun that has been associated with Macbeth as a character so far in the play because he's so brave. So she's now questioning a core aspect of his identity and what people respect him for, his bravery. And she's associating the positive quality of valor with the act of killing the king so that hopefully Macbeth will come to associate the two as well and feel better about going through with the plan. She then patronises Macbeth by using the simile of him being like the poor cat in the adage. An adage is a bit like a proverb, a short statement or story that expresses a truth or a moral. The particular adage she's referring to is the cat would eat fish but will not wet her feet. So in the same way that the cat wants the fish but is afraid to get wet to getting the fish, Macbeth wants the crown. but is afraid of the potential consequences of going after it. The adjective 'poor' in particular makes this really patronising because it's as if 'McBeth is to be pitied for being so cowardly.' McBeth tells her to stop and says, 'I dare to all that may become a man who dares to do more is none.' Meaning that he is brave enough to do everything a proper man should do, but a person who does more is not a man. I.e. a person who could commit this murder would not be a man at all. This is an interesting quote to examine when looking at gender roles in the play, as so far McBeth has been praised for being brave and violent, but here he's saying that this isn't everything it means to be a man, suggesting that perhaps being honourable and humble and trustworthy make you more of a man than being aggressive does. Lady McBeth now becomes very angry and accuses McBeth of getting her hopes up and not sticking to what he said he would do. As part of her manipulation, she starts to emasculate McBeth by saying, 'When you do it, then you were a man, and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more than man.' She says that when McBeth dared to think of plotting Duncan's murder, then he was a real man. And if he went ahead with the plan and carried out the murder, he would be even more of a man than he was before. So the implication of course is that now he doesn't want to carry it out, he's not a real man, so she's deliberately attacking his pride and trying to go to him and to change his mind. She then says, 'I have given suck and know how tender it is 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 the brains out, had I so swarmed as you have done to this.' This is a very graphic passage where Lady McBeth states that 'She knows the feelings of love and tenderness that come with nursing a baby, but despite that, she would dash its brains out, if that is what she had sworn to McBeth she would do.' So here she's using a very extreme example to say that she would keep any promise that she made to McBeth, no matter how hard it was to carry out, and that he should therefore keep his promises to her in the same way. The fact that Lady McBeth says she has had the experience of nursing a baby suggests that she and McBeth may have had a child together in the past that has since died. Indeed, the 2015 film adaptation starts with the funeral of the McBeth child, and this is interesting to consider because it might give their characters some more depth and offer up other possible motives for their actions in the play. For example, here is Lady McBeth deliberately bringing up a deceased child as part of her plan to emotionally blackmail McBeth. These lines seem quite shocking for anyone to say, but for a contemporary audience they would have seemed even more so. As women were supposed to be more gentle and caring and strongly maternal, to hear a female character say that she would do this to a baby would subvert or go against the audience's expectations of what a woman at the time should be like. McBeth then asks, "If we should fail?" Notice how many lines McBeth has in this section compared to how many Lady McBeth has. Lady McBeth has definitely dominated the scene since she entered, with McBeth only speaking a few lines. This helps to show that he has been won over by what Lady McBeth is saying, she's having a really strong influence over him. She assures him that if he is brave, then they won't fail in their plan. She tells McBeth of her plan to get Duncan's tendons so drunk that they fall unconscious, leaving them free to do what they want to Duncan. Notice that Lady McBeth still says, "What cannot you and I perform upon the unguarded Duncan, as if she still intends to help carry out the murder?" She then says they can make it seem as though the attendance were the ones who committed the murder. McBeth then says, "Bring forth men's children only, for thy undaunted metal should compose nothing but males." There are a couple of interpretations for what McBeth is saying here. Firstly, it was considered more desirable to have male children if you were Aristocracy or if you had any kind of title, because only male children could be as. Perhaps part of what McBeth means here is that now that he is starting to be convinced by Lady McBeth that they should commit the murder, is that if he's going to be king, he will need male children to be his as. So maybe it's showing that he's getting convinced by her and that he's all sort of thinking ahead already about being king. Additionally, it seems to be a criticism of Lady McBeth, so emphasising what he sees as the more masculine aspects of her personality, suggesting that she's not gentle or compassionate enough to raise a girl. Undaunted metal refers to her spirit or her fearlessness, which is interesting because McBeth has been repeatedly referred to as brave, and he's been highly praised for it. But when he says this to Lady McBeth, it's probably intended as an insult, because the suggestion is that it is unbecoming for a woman to have such characteristics and to be so fierce. He then agrees, albeit questioningly, with Lady McBeth's plan to blame Duncan's murder on the attendance, saying that surely people will believe it was them if they use their daggers and then cover them with the blood. So now we're really starting to get into the symbolism of blood that is going to be so prevalent throughout the play, symbolising guilt. Because it runs throughout the play, we can call it a motif, or a strand of imagery. Lady McBeth assures McBeth that everyone will believe them, because the griefs and clamour they will put on will convince people of how shocked and upset they are about the murder. We then get a key decisive moment from McBeth when he says, "I am settled," meaning "I am decided." He says he will "bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat," which means that he is going to gear himself up and build up his physical faculties to be able to carry out the murder. The scene then ends with a rhyming couplet from McBeth, away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know. Mock here means deceive, so he's telling Lady McBeth to act with fairest show, so to be gracious and a welcoming hostess. And then the last line is a great one for the themes of deception and secrecy and appearance versus reality, because McBeth is saying that they should mask their internal thoughts and feelings behind a false face, so they need to control their appearance to disguise the reality of their intentions in order to deceive people. Thank you for listening to Understanding McBeth. I hope this was helpful for you in deepening your understanding of the play and getting you ready for your exams. If you want to access additional episodes and other exclusive content, you can find more information about the full online McBeth course at www.advanceacademic.co.uk/mockbeth-course. And as a podcast listener, you can get 20% off any of the course packages by quoting the code McBethPod. That's M-A-C-B-E-T-H-P-O-D. You can also reach out to me there about private tuition, revision support, and my practice paper marking service. Until next time, goodbye and happy studying!