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Words of wonder 1234/24/2023 A specific parallel with the murder scene occurs when Macbeth accuses his wife of being able to "keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, / When mine is blanched (whitened) with fear" (116-117). Once more she upbraids her husband for his apparent lack of manhood. Unlike Macbeth, she cannot see the ghost, and her tone is typically pragmatic and down-to-earth: "When all's done, / You look but on a stool." She appears to want to calm his rages, but anger simmers beneath her conciliatory words. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, remains constant in her judgement. This alternating structure adds strongly to the impression of Macbeth's loss of control. Three times Macbeth sees the ghost, and three times he appears to recover his senses. Indeed, the entire structure of this scene shows a man swinging from one state of mind to another, recalling the structure of the earlier dagger speech. Each time the ghost vanishes, Macbeth's relief is recorded in softer, more lyrical expression: "Can such things be / And overcome us like a summer's cloud, / Without our special wonder?" (112-114). In contrast to the urgent horror of Macbeth's addresses to the gruesome apparition are moments of comparative calm. The ghost, so hideous that it would "appall the devil," appears to have risen from a grave or a "charnel-house." Macbeth cannot understand why what is dead should "be alive again," when its bones should "be marrowless" and its blood "cold." Finally, he challenges the all-too-real apparition to "dare me to the desert with thy sword." Instead of Macbeth sitting "in the midst," dispensing his largesse as he would wish, his throne has been usurped by the bloody apparition of his former friend. The rich banquet, a symbol of great orderliness and generosity, now becomes a hellish parody of itself. Now, though, something altogether more terrifying holds him down and prevents him from moving: In the very place reserved for him at the table, Macbeth sees, or thinks he sees, the spirit of the assassinated Banquo. For example, these words foreshadow the point in Act V, Scene 7 when, recognizing that he is physically trapped by the advancing English army, Macbeth cries out, "They have tied me to a stake, I cannot fly" (flee). The imagery of confinement and constraint plays an increasing part in his language from now on. The alliteration of the hard c sounds reveals Macbeth's sense of constraint, in contrast to the freedom which he claims to have enjoyed previously. This confidence is about to desert Macbeth, however, as his dark secret comes back to greet him in the form of the First Murderer.Īt first, Macbeth is pleased with the murderer, telling him he is "the best," "the nonpareil" (without equal) moreover, Macbeth's own supposed invincibility is shown when he says that he feels "as broad and general as the casing air," but on hearing the unwelcome news that Fleance escaped his treachery, Macbeth's language abruptly changes: "But now I am cabin'd, cribbed, confin'd, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears" (25-26). Once again, the Macbeths act with suspicious confidence. As in Act I, Scene 6, Lady Macbeth's words of introduction disguise her true feelings. Degree, or rank order, has been effectively perverted by Macbeth by his killing of the king and his usurpation of the throne. Both sides are not even, because Banquo is missing. Macbeth's words and phrases to the thanes, such as "You know your own degrees" and "Both sides are even: here I'll sit i'th'midst" suggest a renewal of order and symmetry in Scotland, yet the audience knows that this is not the case. To ascertain his future with greater certainty, he makes clear his intention to visit the Weird Sisters once more. But Macbeth's paranoid mind is already on to the next murder, that of Macduff. Lady Macbeth invites the thanes to depart and, once alone, tries one last time to soothe her husband. As with the ethereal dagger, the ghost of Banquo appears to come and go, propelling Macbeth into alternating fits of courage and despair. As he raises a toast to his absent friend, he imagines he sees the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth recomposes himself and returns to the table. Immediately prior to the feast, one of the murderers appears at a side door and reveals to Macbeth the truth about the mission: their success in the killing of Banquo and their failure to murder Fleance. At Forres, Macbeth and his wife welcome the thanes of Scotland to the banquet.
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