of the Scottish nobles with the English forces. In the fifth we see Macbeth reduced to the lowest pitch of misery by his forced inaction and by the news of his wife's death. The report of the moving wood which is brought to him in this scene opens his eyes to the "equivocation of the fiend," and the manner in which he receives it prepares us for his final outburst of defiance. The sixth scene brings the avengers before the walls of Dunsinane. The seventh, shows us Macbeth still clinging desperately to his last hope, that no man, born of woman, can harm him; but in the eighth even this hope is wrested from him, and he falls by the hand of the man he has most deeply wronged. The last scene, for there should be another, beginning at line 35 of the eighth scene, shows Malcolm in Macbeth's stronghold, "compassed by his kingdom's pearl," and points forward to a new era of peace and happiness in Scotland. At the beginning of this act Lady Macbeth who has apparently dropped out of the story is brought back upon the stage that we may see how she too pays the penalty of her crimes. The strong will that enabled her to defy her woman's nature has broken down utterly; left alone in her castle while Macbeth is in the field she broods by day over past crimes and future punishment, and at night wanders in uneasy sleep through the halls, betraying to all who hear her the deadly secrets of the past. In spite of the doctor's statement (lines 65-67), we feel that she is doomed, and we are prepared not only for the news of her death in scene v., but also for the report in the last scene that she died by her own hands. The most tragic part of her punishment is that she, who had sinned so deeply for her husband's sake, drifts away from him and dies in lonely isolation. 4. field. We must suppose that at this time Macbeth is in the field endeavouring to suppress the revolt of the Scotch nobles, alluded to in iv. 3. 182-185. 12, 13. do the effects of watching, perform the acts of waking hours. 13. slumbery agitation, activity of sleep. 16. The gentlewoman is afraid lest she should get into trouble by repeating Lady Macbeth's words. 22, 23. her very guise, exactly her habit. 27. 'tis her command. Note Lady Macbeth's terror of darkness. She who had invoked thick night to come and cover her deeds of blood dares not now be left alone in the dark. 29. sense, an old plural form. 32. accustomed. Note how Shakespeare impresses on us the fact that this scene is only one of a number. 39. Out, damned spot. Lady Macbeth imagines herself trying to wash the blood of Duncan from her hands. 40. to do't, to kill knows that this is the Duncan. She is living over again the night She thinks she hears the bell strike two, and signal for her husband to enter the king's 40. Hell is murky. These words reveal Lady Macbeth's brooding fear of the hereafter. They have no connection with the sentence that follows, for Macbeth never showed the slightest dread of future punishment. ... 44, 45. old man . . . him. She now fancies herself in Duncan's chamber, standing over the bed which streams with the blood of the murdered king. 47, 48. The thane of Fife now. Lady Macbeth had not been a party to the murder of Macduff's wife; but this crime of her husband's is another of the burdens on her conscience. The words in which she mentions Lady Macduff are thrown into the form of an old song. Perhaps she had heard the snatch of a lament sung for her husband's victims, and is now reproducing it in her sleep. 49, 50. No more o' that... starting. She now imagines herself back at the feast where Banquo's ghost had appeared. 57. Arabia, a land famous for its spices and perfumes. 58. little hand, one of the few allusions in the play to Lady Macbeth's personal appearance. 59, 60. sorely charged, heavy laden. 65. beyond my practice, outside of my experience. 68. Wash your hands. She now fancies herself speaking to her husband directly after the murder of Duncan. In the next line she recurs to the scene at the banquet. 79. Note the change to blank verse. The vivid realism of Lady Macbeth's broken utterances would have been impossible in metre,' and while she spoke in prose her hearers naturally used the same form. 79. Foul whisperings, terrible rumours. The doctor may have heard some such talk as that between Lennox and the Lord in iii. 6. If so his suspicions would be more than confirmed by what he has heard Lady Macbeth say. 79, 80. unnatural deeds troubles, deeds against nature (cf. ii. 4. 10, 11) give rise to abnormal evils in the body. 80. infected minds, guilty souls. 84. the means of all annoyance, anything by which she could harm herself. ACT V. SCENE II 2. His uncle Siward. In Holinshed, Siward appears as the father-in-law of Duncan, and so as the grandfather of Malcolm. 3. Revenges. This use of an abstract noun in the plural is frequent in Shakespeare when more than one person is affected by the quality or feeling denoted by the noun. 3. their dear causes, causes that affect them nearly. The meaning of the whole passage is: "the cause they have for revenge would rouse even a dead man to the fierce and bloody call to arms." II. Protest . . . manhood, first proclaim themselves men, i.e. by going on a campaign. 13. lesser, used here as an adverb. 15-16. buckle . . . rule, control his discontented party. As the next speaker shows Macbeth's followers are constantly revolting from him. 17. sticking on his hands, clinging to him. He can no longer attribute his murders to others, as he did that of Duncan to the princes and that of Banquo to Fleance. 18. faith-breach, disloyalty to Duncan. 19. in command, by reason of his command. So "in love" in the following lines. 23. to recoil and start, for breaking down (cf. iv. 3. 19) and bursting out in wild fits of passion. 28. in our country's purge, in the draught which is to purge our country. 30. the sovereign flower. Malcolm, who in line 28 has been spoken of as the doctor of the sick country, now becomes the "sovereign flower," which the nobles are ready to bedew with their blood. Beneath the usual meaning of "sovereign" lies, perhaps, the meaning, common enough in Shakespeare's day, medicinal, powerful to heal. ACT V. SCENE III Macbeth, who has been absent from the stage for some time, reappears in this scene. The student will note at once that he is in a different mood from that which characterized him in the earlier acts. He is no longer disturbed by "terrible dreams" and seeking to lull them by the perpetration of acts of violence. On the contrary, he relies so fully on the witches' prediction that not even the revolt of his thanes and the approach of the English army alarm him. Nevertheless he is restless, imperious, and gloomy. He has obtained all that he sought to win and is confident of the future, and yet he knows all happiness has gone out of his life. I. reports, of the revolt of his subjects. 5. all mortal consequences, the future of all men. 5. me, the indirect object of “pronounced." The line contains a feminine ending before the cæsura and a trisyllabic fourth foot. Scan: All mortal consequences || have pronounced me thus. Or it may, perhaps, be taken as an Alexandrine and scanned: All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus. 8. English epicures. The hardy Scotch despised the luxurious manners of their English neighbours. II. loon, fool, a characteristically Scottish term of abuse. 12. goose look, look of foolish fear. 20. behold. Macbeth interrupts his speech here to call Seyton again. Perhaps he would have added some such phrase as "these cowards around me." ... 20, 21. This push . . . now, this struggle, i.e. the approaching battle, will give me peace forever, or will at once push me from my throne. See Textual Notes, page 262. 22. way of life, course of life, or simply, life. 30. The unaccented syllable is wanting in the first foot of this line. 47. Throw physic, etc. doctor. If "physic" can do nothing, if the cure for such a sickness as Lady Macbeth's lies in the power of the patient only, Macbeth scorns the medical art. He, too, has been troubled by "thickcoming fancies," but he means to seek relief from them in action, not in a doctor's prescription. Macbeth turns impatiently from the 50. Come, sir. Probably addressed to the servant who is buckling on Macbeth's armour. 50, 51. cast The water, inspect the urine. This was an Elizabethan method of diagnosis. ... 52. purge healthy as before. 54. Pull't off. health, cure it so that the land would be as Another phrase addressed to the attendant. Macbeth's restlessness is shown in the way he orders his armour to |