Macbeth: Act IV
Episode 42
Are you ready for some hyper-specific, seemingly innocuous, ultimately sinister prophecies? Then it's time for Act 4 of Macbeth! This week, Professor Pipes talks all things evil, gory, and feathered - that's right, feathered - as we near the end of this Shakespearean tragedy.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death, Murder, Murder of a Child
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes and this week we’ve reached the penultimate act of Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Act 4! Before we jump on in, let’s review the past several acts and murders.
Previously:
Previously in Macbeth, Macbeth heard from some witches that he would be king, so naturally, he killed the king, thus making the prophecy come true! Yay? He’s chosen as king, but - surprise surprise - he’s got problems. Dead King Duncan’s adult kids went into hiding, and a nobleman, Macduff, went off to see one of them in England because he was pretty suss about the king’s murder. Speaking of murder, Macbeth’s buddy Banquo had heard from the witches that his descendents would be kings, so Macbeth decided that obviously Banquo and his son, Fleance, must also be killed. Unfortunately for Macbeth, Fleance got away. Also unfortunately for him, Banquo the un-friendly ghost started haunting King Macbeth. And to top it all off, the witches decided to trick Macbeth into thinking he’s invincible the next time he comes around.
Plot Summary:
In Act 4, scene 1, “double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble”! That’s right, the witches are back and cookin’ up mischief! By the pricking of their thumbs, something wicked their way comes, and, sure enough, Macbeth enters, asking for more prophecies, and boy do they have some. First up, a disembodied head - wait a minute - how did you have a floating head on stage with no special effects!? Anyway, this head tells Macbeth to watch out for Macduff, which is no surprise to him. Next up, a bloody child tells Macbeth that “none of woman born” can harm Macbeth. Sounds good. Finally, a kid wearing a crown and holding a tree shows up. Again, I’ve got questions about that, but whatever. He tells Macbeth he won’t be defeated until Birnam Wood - a forest - marches to Dunsinane Hall. Anyone else imagining the Ent from Lord of the Rings? No, just me? Instead of the witches directly answering whether the descendants of Banquo will be kings, eight kings walk by, followed by the ghost of Banquo, who smiles and points at them. So, I guess that’s a yes. And then the witches - WHOOSH - disappear! Soon Lennox arrives and tells Macbeth that MacDuff has fled to England, so Macbeth hatches a new - and truly evil - plan. Raid his castle and kill his wife and children and anyone else related to him. Wow. That’s dark. I’ve got no jokes.
In Scene 2, we cut to Macduff’s castle. I’m sure noooothing can go wrong here. Lady Macduff and Ross are having a pretty heated conversation about Macduff fleeing. While Ross keeps repeating that Macduff may have his reasons, Lady Macduff is completely distraught, saying he’s a horrible good for nothing traitor who abandoned his family. You go, Lady Macduff! After warning her to be patient and calm, Ross eventually leaves, and Lady Macduff turns to her son asking what he will do now, since his father is dead. Ok, bit of a leap, but with all the murder going around, who can blame her for jumping to conclusions. Her son says he’ll get by with whatever he has, but she’s not satisfied and just keeps asking what will become of him now that his traitorous dad is gone or dead. Soon they’re interrupted by a messenger, who warns them to flee. Good call, random messenger. Lady Macduff doesn’t understand why, since she’s done nothing wrong, but before they could even pull up Ye Olde Expedia, murderers enter and call Macduff a traitor. Common opinion, apparently. When Macduff’s son calls them liars, they kill him. The scene ends with Lady Macduff running away and the murderers in hot pursuit. Again, super dark!
In Scene 3 we head on over to visit Macduff, who has recently arrived in England and is trying to convince Malcolm to return with him and overthrow Macbeth. Malcolm, though, has apparently learned from his dad’s mistakes and is not willing to just trust that Macduff isn’t going to, you know, kill him. To test his loyalty, Malcolm starts insulting himself, saying he would be a worse leader than Macbeth, escalating and escalating the evil claims until Macduff cries out, “O Scotland, Scotland!” and tells Malcolm he’s not even fit to live! He looks pretty fit to me… Malcolm is finally sure that Macduff is trustworthy, so he’s like psych and admits he was lying and also that he will be returning to Scotland with 10,000 warriors to overthrow the villainous Macbeth. Macduff is like, “Whaaaaaaat?” but his confused happiness is interrupted by a doctor who comes in to let Malcolm know that there’s a crew of sick people waiting to see the king. As the doctor heads out, Macduff asks what the illness is, and Malcolm says it’s called “the evil.” Ooookay… He also says that the English king has a healing touch that can cure illnesses. Hmm… sounds legit. Next, Ross arrives, saying that Scotland is doing pretty dang terribly. When Macduff asks about his family, Ross is basically like… “Mmmm they were at peace when I left…” Yeah, like rest in peace! Ross has come to beg Malcolm to return, since Macbeth is already preparing an army. When Malcolm reassures him that he’s coming home with his own army, Ross decides that now is as good a time as any to tell the truth and admit that Macduff’s whole family is dead. Macduff quickly goes through some of the stages of grief: denial, depression, and revenge! Oh wait - that’s not one of them. Well it is for these guys! Now off they go to prepare for war!
Characterization:
This act only briefly shows us our main character, Macbeth, and yet it demonstrates a continuing shift in his character. Generally, in the third act of a Shakespearean play, a decision is made that will determine the ending for the characters. Often, this means the main character makes a choice that will solidify whether there will be a comic or a tragic ending. In Act 3 we watched Macbeth fully descend into evil as he chose to murder his friend and his friend’s son to maintain his power, and we now see the snowball effect of this evil choice. When he learns that Macduff has fled to England, Macbeth makes another inarguably evil choice - one that will turn just about everyone against him, one that makes him so infamously evil that theater folk for centuries would deem his very name cursed. He decides to murder Macduff’s entire family, including his young, innocent children, along with everyone else connected to Macduff. Yep, probably his poor doggos, too. Macbeth is well past the point of no return.
Act 4 also gives us a closer look at Macduff, his family, and Malcolm. Macduff’s relationship with his wife juxtaposes that of Macbeth and his wife. While Lady Macduff insults her husband, angry that he has seemingly run away from his family, when push comes to shove and people come asking where he is, she has his back, saying, “I hope, in no place so unsanctified / Where such as thou mayst find him” or basically “hopefully nowhere so horrible that people like you are likely to find him.” Oooh sweet burn! Similarly, when Macduff’s son is told by the murderers that his father is a traitor, he calls them liars, and loses his life for it. Meanwhile, the virtuous natures of Macduff and Malcolm are shown in scene 3. Both are so concerned about the welfare of their country and fellow countrymen that Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty not to himself, but to Scotland, and Macduff passes this test. So while the act began with the evilest of evil people and plans, it ends with virtue and hope.
Analysis:
Before we head out, let’s talk themes and motifs. And we might as well start with Fate, just as the act does. You may recall that, in Act 3, the witches decided to mess with Macbeth by telling him prophecies that would give him a false sense of security, and in the first scene of this act, they do just that. They use some clever word play to convince Macbeth that he can’t be killed by anyone and won’t be defeated unless a forest suddenly gains sentience and starts marching toward the castle. Those things seem impossible, and we won’t understand exactly what kind of trick they are until the next act, so for right now let’s focus on the question that these prophecies bring up: is it fate? This is utterly complicated. The witches wanted to trick Macbeth to ruin him. This would imply that there are different possible futures for him, that his actions determine his future, rather than fate. The belief in the fate of these prophecies will manipulate him into falling victim to his own self-assurance and pride. However, the word play that the witches use will end up being exactly correct, suggesting that they do know precisely what will happen. Soooo… *shrug? Let’s complicate things further. Macbeth was perfectly satisfied to believe that his prophecy to become king was fate… so he killed the king to make it true. At the same time, he didn’t believe that the prophecy about Banquo’s descendants was unalterable fate. Macbeth thought he could overthrow this prophecy by killing Banquo and Fleance, so he’s upset when a new prophecy still shows future kings who are Banquo’s descendants. This would seem to indicate that fate does exist and that no matter what Macbeth does, this prophecy is bound to come true. But, then again, Macbeth doesn’t fully believe these new prophecies are fated since he decides to kill Macduff and his family, despite the fact that the witches implied that no one could defeat him.
Speaking of this evil deed, let’s talk about evil’s connection to Power and Ambition. I’ve previously mentioned Lord Acton’s statement that power tends to corrupt. He went on to say that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and it seems like that is precisely what happens in this act. Macbeth now has absolute power in Scotland as its king. However, he is still not satisfied. He doesn’t want anyone questioning him, undermining him, or plotting against him. He wants to be king forever! This leads him to slaughter innocent women and children. He’s no longer just killing people in his way; he’s killing anyone even remotely related to anyone perceived to be against him. Evil is no longer a side effect of ambitious ploys for power, but the direct result of power itself. However, this is not always the case, as evidenced by the English king. He and Macbeth have similar levels of power, but while Macbeth’s desire to maintain his power has led to evil deeds all over the place, the English king maintains his power through his benevolence and kindness. He literally has the power to heal the plague known as “the evil” simply through his words and touch. Like Duncan, it is implied that this king was chosen by God. We’ve already seen that Macbeth’s reign throws the laws of nature into chaos, implying that his reign was not chosen by god and was instead the result of disloyalty and the evil pursuit of power.
Our next theme, Gender, is a bit less present in this act, probably because we don’t see any interactions between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, but there are still a couple things I should point out. In Scene 3, when Macduff learns that his family has been murdered, Malcolm advises Macduff to get his revenge, saying, “Dispute it like a man,” suggesting that this is the manly response to grief. Malcolm responds, “I shall do so, / But I must also feel it as a man,” maintaining that strong emotions are also an element of manhood. Yay Macduff! Oh wait, then he says, “Oh, I could play the woman with mine eyes” meaning he could weep and weep like a lady, but has to stop… Dang it, Macduff, just when I thought you were cool! When Macduff vows revenge, Malcolm responds, “This tune goes manly.” Interestingly, we see more traditional gender norms in these more heroic characters, whereas Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, though villains, demonstrate a much more complicated (and honestly more realistic) understanding of the complexities of gender.
Next up, let’s talk about Appearance versus Reality. This act has a lot of talk about liars, and even some talk from liars, beginning with the first scene. The witches aren’t outright lying, but their intent is absolutely to trick Macbeth into a false sense of security. Based on the prophecies they provide, it would appear that Macbeth is perfectly safe, totally un-killable, but we will soon see that this is far from the truth. In the next scene, Lady Macduff and her son discuss whether Macduff is a traitor, for he appears to have abandoned his family, while in actuality he has gone off in an attempt to save them and the rest of the country. In this case, secrecy is supposed to be helpful, but, as we soon see, even this small deception still leads to death and destruction. Macduff’s son comments on the prevalence of liars, saying that, “there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang up them,” meaning that the liars of the world far outnumber the honest. True! Or is it a lie? Meanwhile, Malcolm has clearly learned from his father’s blind trust, saying, “That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose. / Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.” In other words, he’s not sure he can trust Macduff, since he could be a lying murderer, like Macbeth. Interestingly, while pointing out the dangers of trusting appearances, he himself lies as a way to test Macduff’s allegiance.
Finally, I need to talk about the Birds motif before we fly off. A little birdy told me that there’s been a decent amount of bird talk throughout the play, which is partly used to demonstrate the social order. It can also foreshadow events to come. For instance, in the first act, Macbeth’s power as a fighter was compared to an eagle defeating sparrows. Later, Duncan thought the Macbeth castle would be a great place to stay because of all the birds nesting around the castle, foreshadowing his upcoming death at the hands of that “eagle.” Then, after Duncan is killed, one of the indications that the natural world is in chaos is the fact that an owl killed a falcon. Owls were often considered symbolic, indicating terrible omens, and the “owl” Macbeth has now killed the “falcon” Duncan, leading to some pretty terrible stuff and meaning that the social order, as well as the natural order, is in disarray. Now, Act 4 takes this bird motif to the next level, with our feathered friends being mentioned in every scene. Speaking of ominous owls, the witches concoct their potion with lots of animal parts, including a“lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing.” As we know, they’re creating visions to trick Macbeth, leading him to his demise. Then in scene 2 Lady Macduff talks about her husband’s abandonment, saying, “For the poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.” She is frustrated that her husband has chosen to run away, rather than fight against possible danger, in this case the “owl” of Macbeth, since even small birds will stay to protect and defend their families. Later, she turns to her son, asking what he will do now that his father is gone, to which he responds, “As birds do, Mother.” Sure enough, he is right. Like the wren facing the owl, the young boy defends his father even in the face of murderers, who kill him while calling him an “egg,” thus continuing this analogy. When Macduff hears about his family’s deaths in the third and final scene, he says, “O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam At one fell swoop?” In this case Macbeth is called by the name of yet another bird of prey, in this case a kite, which has attacked and killed his vulnerable and innocent family, the flightless chickens at home in their coop. All this bird talk makes it clear what type of person Macbeth is – one who preys on the weak and the innocent in pursuit of power. But guess what, Macbeth! Birds of a feather flock together and Malcolm and Macduff are coming for you!
Food for Thought:
Before I fly off for the day, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought. Consider these questions as you head into the final act of the play.
First, Macbeth clearly chooses to believe some prophecies, but not others. What does this demonstrate about his character?
Second, in what ways are Macduff and his wife foils for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?
Third, what might the apparitions symbolize? Why do they each appear and act the way that they do?
Fourth, what is the purpose of the introduction of the English king? Why might Shakespeare have chosen to describe him as he did?
Finally, at what times do appearance and reality actually align in this play? What might this demonstrate?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. Now go forth, read a bunch, and be good people.
