Macbeth

Macbeth: Act One Scene One

Scene One is very short but extremely important because it sets the tone for the entire play. The scene opens with a dramatic storm, and three witches appear on stage. They are planning to meet again after a battle is finished. One witch says they will meet "upon the heath," an open, wild piece of land, and that they plan to meet with a man named Macbeth. The scene ends with all three witches chanting together: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." This famous line means that things which seem good may actually be evil, and things which seem evil may actually be good. This idea of appearances being deceiving will be a major theme throughout the entire play. The witches then disappear into the "fog and filthy air," which creates an atmosphere of mystery, darkness, and supernatural evil from the very beginning.

Scene Two takes place at a military camp in Scotland. King Duncan, the ruler of Scotland, is receiving a report from an injured and bloodied sergeant who has just come from the battlefield. The sergeant tells the king that at first the rebel forces seemed to be winning, but then the brave Scottish general Macbeth turned the tide of the battle. Macbeth fought ferociously and defeated the enemy forces. The sergeant is then helped away to receive medical treatment for his wounds.

Two Scottish noblemen, called thanes, meaning lords or nobles, arrive and bring more news. They inform King Duncan that the Thane of Cawdor, a Scottish nobleman and one of Duncan's trusted men, has betrayed Scotland by siding with the enemy. However, Macbeth fought against the traitor and defeated him as well. King Duncan is deeply grateful and orders the Thane of Cawdor to be executed for his treachery. He then announces that Macbeth will receive the Thane of Cawdor's title as a reward for his loyalty and bravery. The scene ends with the memorable line, "Cawdor's loss is Macbeth's gain," which shows how quickly fortune can change for people in positions of power.

Scene Three begins with the three witches reuniting on the heath during a thunderstorm. The first witch tells a story about a sailor's wife who refused to share her chestnuts, and as revenge, the witch plans to torment the woman's husband at sea. She says she will make him unable to sleep and will cause his ship to be tossed violently by storms, though she notes she cannot actually sink the ship. This short story is important because it shows how petty and cruel the witches can be, and it also demonstrates their power to cause suffering.

Macbeth and his fellow general Banquo then arrive on the heath. Banquo is immediately disturbed by the appearance of the witches, describing them as wild looking, withered, shrunken and dried up with age, and strange. He notes that they appear to be women, yet they have beards, making them seem unnatural and otherworldly. When Macbeth demands that the witches speak, they deliver three prophecies to him. The first witch calls him "Thane of Glamis," which is already his title. The second witch calls him "Thane of Cawdor," which surprises him because that title belongs to someone else. The third witch makes the most shocking prediction of all, telling him he "shalt be king hereafter." Macbeth appears startled and disturbed by the prophecies.

Banquo then asks the witches to speak to him as well. The witches tell Banquo that he will be "lesser than Macbeth, and greater," and "not so happy, yet much happier." Most importantly, they tell him that though he will not be king himself, his children will be kings. These prophecies are puzzling and contradictory, saying opposite things at once, which shows the tricky nature of the witches' words.

When Macbeth tries to demand more information from the witches, they suddenly vanish into thin air. Macbeth and Banquo are left to question whether they actually saw what they thought they saw, with Banquo wondering if they have eaten something called "the insane root," a plant believed to cause hallucinations, meaning visions of things that are not real.

Almost immediately after the witches disappear, two Scottish noblemen named Ross and Angus arrive with news from King Duncan. Ross tells Macbeth that the king is extremely pleased with his performance in battle and has decided to reward him with the title of Thane of Cawdor. This news is deeply shocking to Macbeth and Banquo, because the witches had just predicted exactly this. Banquo responds with the line, "What, can the devil speak true?" suggesting he is suspicious of the witches and worried about what their true intentions might be.

Macbeth, on the other hand, begins thinking deeply about the third prophecy, the one about becoming king. He speaks in an "aside," a theatrical term for when a character speaks their private thoughts out loud to the audience, while the other characters on stage cannot hear them. Macbeth's thoughts begin to drift toward the idea of murdering

King Duncan in order to become king. He calls this thought a "horrid image" that frightens him and makes his heart race. However, he also considers that perhaps destiny will simply make him king without any action on his part, telling himself that "chance may crown me without my stir." This shows that Macbeth is already tempted by the idea of becoming king but is not yet committed to doing anything about it. The scene ends with everyone agreeing to go and meet King Duncan together.

Scene Four, presented as a summary, takes place at King Duncan's castle. Duncan receives confirmation that the traitorous Thane of Cawdor has been executed. When Macbeth arrives, Duncan praises him warmly and expresses deep gratitude for his loyalty and bravery. Macbeth replies modestly, saying he was simply doing his duty.

However, the mood shifts significantly when Duncan makes an important announcement. He declares that his son Malcolm will be his successor, meaning Malcolm will become king after Duncan dies, and gives him the title Prince of Cumberland. This is extremely significant for Macbeth, because it means that even if something were to happen to Duncan, Malcolm would become king, not Macbeth. Macbeth realizes that Malcolm now stands between him and the throne.

Duncan announces that everyone will travel to Macbeth's castle to celebrate. Macbeth rides ahead to prepare, but as he leaves, he speaks privately to himself about his "black and deep desires." He asks the stars to "hide their fires," meaning he wants darkness to cover his dark thoughts, so that no one can see what he is truly thinking. He is beginning to consider that the only way to become king is to take drastic and terrible action. This moment marks a significant turning point in Macbeth's character. Scene Five

Scene Five takes place at Macbeth's castle, where Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband. In the letter, Macbeth describes his encounter with the witches and their prophecies, including the prediction that he will be king. He addresses Lady Macbeth as his "dearest partner of greatness," which shows that he sees her as an equal and wants her to share in the glory that may come.

After reading the letter, Lady Macbeth immediately begins analyzing her husband's character. She is worried that Macbeth is "too full o' the milk of human kindness,"

meaning too compassionate, gentle, and decent, to do what is necessary to seize the throne. She believes he has ambition but lacks the ruthlessness, willingness to be cruel without feeling guilt, needed to act on it. She decides that she must "pour her spirits into his ear," meaning she will use her influence over him to push him toward taking violent action.

When a messenger arrives and tells Lady Macbeth that King Duncan is coming to their castle that very night, she immediately sees this as an opportunity. She begins speaking in dark, powerful language, calling on evil spirits to "unsex" her (meaning she wants them to remove all her feminine qualities like compassion and tenderness) and fill her with cruelty. She asks for darkness to cover the deed she is planning so that neither she nor heaven will have to witness what she intends to do. This speech reveals that Lady Macbeth is in many ways more coldly ambitious and ruthless than her husband at this point in the play.

When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth greets him with great excitement. When he tells her that Duncan will be leaving the next day, she responds ominously that the king will not live to see the next morning's sun. She advises Macbeth to appear completely innocent and welcoming on the surface, using the famous image of looking "like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" (meaning he should seem harmless but be hiding deadly intentions). She tells him to leave all the planning to her, and Macbeth, still uncertain, simply says they will talk more about it later.

Scene six, presented as a summary, shows King Duncan arriving at Macbeth's castle. Duncan comments pleasantly on how nice the castle seems, completely unaware of the danger he is in. Lady Macbeth greets him warmly, showering him with compliments and words of loyalty. She tells him that everything she has is at his service. Duncan is charmed by her welcome. The dramatic irony (when the audience knows something the characters do not) here is very powerful, because the audience knows what Lady Macbeth is truly planning, while Duncan suspects absolutely nothing.

Scene seven is one of the most important scenes in Act one. It opens with Macbeth alone, speaking a long "aside" (private thoughts shared with the audience) in which he tries to reason through whether or not to murder Duncan. He first considers whether the murder could be done quickly and cleanly, with no consequences. He immediately concludes that it cannot, because violent actions have a way of coming back to punish those who commit them. He says "bloody instructions return to plague the inventor," meaning that when you teach others to commit violence, you invite violence back upon yourself. He then lists three powerful reasons why he should not kill Duncan. First, Duncan is his kinsman (relative) and his king, and loyalty to both demands that he protect him, not harm him. Second, Macbeth is Duncan's host, and a host's duty is to protect his guest, not become the guest's murderer. Third, Duncan is a genuinely good and humble king whose virtues (good qualities) are so strong that his murder would cause outrage throughout the entire kingdom. Macbeth concludes that his only reason for wanting to kill Duncan is personal ambition, which he compares to a horse that tries to jump too high and falls on the other side. This suggests that unchecked ambition leads to one's own destruction. When Lady Macbeth enters and asks why he has left the banquet (feast), Macbeth tells her plainly that he does not want to go through with the plan. He says that Duncan has recently honored him and that he wants to enjoy his new reputation rather than risk everything.

Lady Macbeth responds with a fierce and withering (deeply cutting and harsh) attack on his courage and manhood. She accuses him of being a coward, comparing him to a cat in an old saying who wanted fish but was afraid to get its paws wet. She tells him that he was a man when he first proposed this plan, and that going through with it would make him even more of a man. She even goes so far as to say that she would have smashed her own baby's head against a wall if she had sworn to do something the way Macbeth has sworn to become king. This is one of the most shocking lines in the play, and it shows just how completely Lady Macbeth has committed herself to this course of action. When Macbeth asks nervously what will happen if they fail, Lady Macbeth dismisses his fear and lays out a detailed plan. She will get Duncan's two personal guards (chamberlains) drunk so that they fall into a deep, heavy sleep. Then Macbeth can murder the unguarded Duncan, and they will smear the sleeping guards with blood and use the guards' own daggers as the weapons, making it appear that the guards committed the murder. Macbeth is deeply impressed by her boldness and cold cleverness. He completes his reversal and agrees to go through with the plan. The scene ends with Macbeth saying "False face must hide what the false heart doth know," meaning that he must wear a mask of innocence to hide the murderous intentions in his heart. This line echoes back to the witches' opening words about fair being foul and foul being fair, showing that Macbeth has now fully embraced the world of deception and darkness.

Act two Notes Scene one Scene one begins in the dark hallways of Macbeth's castle late at night. Banquo and his son Fleance are walking through the castle when they unexpectedly run into Macbeth. Banquo mentions that he has been dreaming about the three witches, and he tells Macbeth that the witches have "shown some truth" to him, referring to the fact that Macbeth has already received the title of Thane of Cawdor, just as the witches predicted. Macbeth responds somewhat dishonestly, saying that he has not been thinking about the witches at all, even though the audience knows this is untrue. He suggests they talk about the matter more at a later time. Banquo agrees but makes an important statement, saying he will only participate in things that keep his "conscience clean," meaning he will not do anything that compromises his honor or morality. This is a significant contrast to Macbeth, who is about to do something deeply immoral. Banquo's refusal to involve himself in anything dishonest shows that he is a man of integrity (strong moral principles), which makes him very different from Macbeth at this point in the play.

After Banquo and Fleance leave, Macbeth dismisses his servant and is left completely alone in the dark. What follows is one of the most famous monologues (a long speech delivered by one character alone on stage) in all of Shakespeare's work. Macbeth suddenly sees a vision of a dagger floating in the air in front of him, its handle pointing toward his hand as if inviting him to grab it. He reaches out to take hold of it but grasps nothing. He questions whether the dagger is real or a hallucination (something seen by the mind that does not actually exist), describing it as "a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain." The word "heat-oppressed" suggests that his brain is overheated with anxiety, guilt, and dark thoughts. The vision of the dagger is deeply significant because it represents Macbeth's tortured mental state on the edge of committing murder. He is so consumed by thoughts of killing Duncan that his mind is literally creating images of the weapon he plans to use.

As Macbeth continues speaking, he notices that the blade of the vision-dagger becomes covered in "gouts" (drops or splashes) of blood, which was not there before. He tells himself that there is no actual dagger, that it is simply the "bloody business" (meaning the murder he is about to commit) that is creating these visions in his mind. He then describes the nighttime world around him as a place where nature seems dead, where evil dreams torment sleeping people, and where witchcraft is active and dangerous. He compares himself to "withered murder," moving silently and ghostlike toward his terrible goal. He even asks the ground beneath his feet not to make noise as he walks, so that no one will hear him coming.

A bell rings, which is a signal from Lady Macbeth that everything is ready. Macbeth takes this as his cue to move forward, saying "I go, and it is done." His final lines in this scene are chilling. He tells Duncan not to hear the bell, because it is a "knell" (the ringing of a bell to announce a death) that is calling him either to heaven or to hell. Then Macbeth exits to commit the murder, crossing the point of no return. Scene Two

Scene Two takes place almost immediately after the murder. Lady Macbeth enters alone, speaking with a kind of dark excitement. She says that the same wine that made Duncan's guards drunk has given her boldness and courage. She mentions hearing an owl shriek, which she describes as "the fatal bellman" (in old times, a bellman would ring a bell outside the cell of someone condemned to death, giving them their final warning before execution) . She also confirms that she has drugged the guards' "possets" (a warm, spiced drink similar to hot milk mixed with alcohol) so deeply that they are hovering between life and death in their heavy sleep.

When Macbeth calls out from offstage, Lady Macbeth panics briefly, worrying that something has gone wrong. She reveals in this moment a surprisingly human vulnerability, admitting that she could not kill Duncan herself because he reminded her of her own father as he slept. This is a crack in her cold exterior, showing that she is not completely without feeling, even if she tries very hard to suppress (hold down and hide) those feelings.

Macbeth enters with his hands dripping in blood and still carrying the daggers he used in the murder. He is deeply shaken and speaks in short, broken sentences, suggesting that he is in a state of shock and psychological distress (extreme mental and emotional suffering) . He tells Lady Macbeth that he heard Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, sleeping in a nearby room. One of them laughed in his sleep and the other cried out "Murder!" They woke each other up briefly, said their prayers, and fell back to sleep. The detail about their prayers is very troubling to Macbeth, because when they said "God bless us," he could not bring himself to say "Amen" (a word meaning agreement or approval, commonly used at the end of prayers) . He is deeply disturbed by this, feeling that he has cut himself off from God's grace (divine blessing and forgiveness) by committing this terrible act.

Lady Macbeth tries to calm him down, telling him not to think so deeply about what has happened, warning that overthinking it will drive them both mad. However, Macbeth cannot stop. He says he heard a voice crying out "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!" He goes on to describe sleep in beautiful and poetic terms, calling it "the death of each day's life" and "balm of hurt minds," meaning that sleep is the thing that heals and restores the human mind and body. By murdering Duncan while he slept, Macbeth feels he has destroyed his own ability to ever find peace or rest again.

Lady Macbeth tries to pull him back to practical reality. She notices that he has made a catastrophic mistake in bringing the daggers away from the murder scene. The daggers need to be left with the sleeping guards so that the guards will appear to be the killers. She tells him to go back and return the daggers, and to smear the guards' faces with Duncan's blood. Macbeth absolutely refuses, saying he cannot bear to look at what he has done again.

Lady Macbeth, showing her characteristic cold practicality (the ability to think clearly and logically even in a crisis), takes the daggers herself and goes back to the murder scene. While she is gone, Macbeth hears a loud knocking at the castle gate and becomes terrified, saying that every sound now frightens him. He stares at his bloody hands in horror and says that not even all the water in Neptune's ocean (Neptune being the Roman god of the sea) could wash the blood clean from his hands. Instead, he believes his hands would turn the entire green ocean red. This is a powerful metaphor (a comparison that does not use the word "like" or "as") for how deeply guilty and permanently stained he feels.

Lady Macbeth returns, her own hands now covered in blood. She tells Macbeth that her hands are the same color as his, but she is ashamed of him for having "a heart so white," meaning a heart that is pale with fear and cowardice. She believes that simply washing their hands with water will remove all evidence of the deed and that everything will be fine. She urges him to put on his nightgown so that if anyone sees them, it will look like they were simply woken from sleep by the noise, rather than having been awake and active. The contrast between Lady Macbeth's practical confidence and Macbeth's emotional collapse is very striking here. He ends the scene with a heartbreaking line, wishing that the knocking at the gate could somehow wake Duncan from the dead.

Scene Three

Scene Three opens with one of the most famous and dramatically surprising moments in all of Shakespeare's work. Immediately after the intense horror of the murder in the previous scene, the knocking at the gate that so terrified Macbeth is revealed to be coming from Macduff and Lennox, who have arrived at the castle on King Duncan's orders. But before they are let in, Shakespeare gives the audience an extended comic interlude (a humorous scene inserted between more serious dramatic moments to provide relief and contrast) through the character of the Porter.

The Porter is a minor character who serves as the castle's doorkeeper, and he has been drinking heavily through the night. As he stumbles toward the gate in response to the persistent knocking, he delivers a lengthy comic monologue (a long speech delivered by one character) in which he pretends to be the gatekeeper of hell itself, imagining that he is admitting various sinners into the underworld. He calls out "Who's there, in the name of Beelzebub?" (Beelzebub being another name for the devil) and then imagines admitting a farmer who hoarded crops expecting prices to rise but hanged himself when prices fell instead. He then imagines admitting an "equivocator" (someone who deliberately uses ambiguous or misleading language to avoid telling the direct truth while technically not lying outright) who "could swear in both the scales against either scale," meaning someone who could argue any side of any issue dishonestly. He then imagines an English tailor who stole fabric from the clothes he was making for clients. Finally, he decides that Macbeth's castle is actually too cold to be a convincing hell and abandons the game, noting that he had planned to admit representatives of all the professions that travel "the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire" (a beautiful phrase meaning the easy and pleasant path that leads ultimately to hell and damnation) .

This scene is much more than simple comic relief. It is deeply connected to the themes of the play in several important ways. The Porter's image of himself as the gatekeeper of hell is powerfully ironic (meaning the opposite of what might be expected), because Macbeth's castle has literally just become a place of murder and damnation. The repeated references to equivocation (the practice of using misleading language) echo both the witches' deceptive prophecies and the false appearances that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are currently maintaining. The Porter, without knowing it, is describing the moral reality of the place he serves. The "primrose way to the everlasting bonfire" also foreshadows Macbeth's own damnation, as he has clearly chosen the easy path of ambition and murder over the harder path of moral integrity.

When the Porter finally opens the gate and admits Macduff and Lennox, Macduff jokes with the Porter about his late night, and the Porter launches into a comic description of what drink does to a man, saying it provokes three things: "nose-painting" (making the nose red) , sleep, and urination. He then adds that drink both provokes and unprovokes desire (meaning it creates the impulse for certain behaviors but removes the ability to follow through on them) , and he calls drink an equivocator because it both encourages and undermines the person who consumes it. This comic description of drink as an equivocator is another subtle echo of the play's central theme of deceptive appearances and misleading promises.

Macbeth enters, and there is an immediate and powerful dramatic irony in the scene that follows, because the audience knows exactly what Macbeth has just done while Macduff and Lennox have no idea. Macduff asks whether the king is yet awake, saying that Duncan commanded him to call on him early. Macbeth replies calmly that the king is not yet awake and offers to take Macduff to his chamber. Macduff says he knows it is a joyful trouble for Macbeth to have the king as a guest, and Macbeth responds with the line "The labour we delight in physics pain, " meaning that work done for someone you love is its own cure for the discomfort it causes. This is deeply ironic given the horrific "labour" Macbeth has just performed.

While Macduff goes to wake the king, Lennox tells Macbeth about the extraordinary events of the previous night. He describes chimneys blown down, strange lamentings (expressions of grief and sorrow) heard in the air, screaming voices prophesying "dire combustion" (terrible and destructive events) and "confused events new hatched to the woeful time" (terrible new disasters about to emerge) . He mentions that owls clamored through the entire night (owls being traditionally associated with death and evil omens, meaning signs that something bad is about to happen) and that some people reported the earth itself shaking. Macbeth responds to all of this with the bare and telling understatement (the deliberate expression of something as less significant than it actually is) "Twas a rough night." His brevity (shortness and simplicity of expression) in the face of Lennox's detailed account reveals how completely absorbed he is in his own thoughts and guilt.

Macduff returns from the king's chamber in a state of absolute horror. He cannot even initially form the words to describe what he has seen, crying out "O horror, horror,

horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!" When pressed to explain, he says that "most sacrilegious (deeply disrespectful of something holy) murder hath broke ope the Lord's anointed temple, " meaning that the sacred body of the king, who was considered God's representative on earth and therefore almost holy, has been violated. He tells Macbeth and Lennox to go and see for themselves, saying it will "destroy your sight with a new Gorgon, " referring to the Gorgons of Greek mythology (ancient Greek stories about gods, heroes, and monsters), whose faces were so horrifying that looking at them turned people to stone.

While Macbeth and Lennox rush to the king's chamber, Macduff rings the alarm bell and shouts for everyone in the castle to wake up. His language is urgent and apocalyptic (suggesting the end of the world or a catastrophic disaster), calling on the sleepers to "shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit" (meaning ordinary sleep, which resembles death) and look upon death itself. He specifically calls out to Banquo, Donalbain, and Malcolm, and tells them to rise up "as from your graves" to witness this horror.

Lady Macbeth enters, performing her role of the shocked and innocent hostess with practiced ease. She asks what the terrible noise is about. Macduff, in a moment that is both chivalrous (showing courtesy and respect toward women according to the old codes of honor) and deeply ironic, tells her that the news is too terrible for a woman's ears. When Banquo enters, Macduff tells him directly that their "royal master's murdered. " Lady Macbeth exclaims "Woe, alas! What, in our house?" Banquo's response is quietly significant. He says "Too cruel anywhere, " gently correcting Lady Macbeth's implied suggestion that the location of the murder is what makes it particularly terrible, when in fact murder is terrible regardless of where it occurs.

Macbeth and Lennox return with Ross. Macbeth then delivers a speech that is a masterpiece of performed grief and calculated misdirection (deliberately leading people's attention away from the truth) . He says that had he died an hour before this moment, he would have lived a blessed life, because from this point forward "there's nothing serious in mortality" (nothing in human life has any real weight or meaning anymore) . He says "the wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees is left this vault to brag of, " meaning that with Duncan's death, all that was best and most essential in life has been drained away, leaving only the dregs (the worthless sediment left at the bottom of a wine barrel after all the good wine is gone) .

Malcolm and Donalbain enter, and Macbeth tells them with deliberate ambiguity (using words that can be understood in more than one way) that "the spring, the head, the fountain of your blood is stopped, " meaning their father is dead. Macduff states it plainly: "Your royal father's murdered. " Malcolm asks immediately who did it, and Lennox answers that the evidence points to the king's own chamberlains, whose faces and hands were smeared with blood and whose daggers were found unwashed on their pillows.

Macbeth then makes a critically important announcement. He says that in a rage of grief and love, he killed the two chamberlains before stopping to think. He claims his violent love for the king "outran the pauser, reason, " meaning his emotions moved faster than his rational judgment could restrain them. He then delivers an elaborate and theatrical description of the scene, describing Duncan's "silver skin laced with his golden blood" and comparing his wounds to a breach in nature through which destruction entered. This speech is excessive in a way that feels forced and unnatural, and indeed Macduff immediately asks the pointed question "Wherefore did you so? " (Why did you do that?), revealing that he finds Macbeth's action deeply suspicious. Killing the only witnesses to the murder before they could proclaim their innocence is exactly the kind of thing that would strike an intelligent man like Macduff as very strange.

At this critical moment, Lady Macbeth saves the situation by pretending to faint, or possibly actually fainting, since the psychological stress she is under is genuinely enormous. Whether her collapse is genuine or performed, it serves its purpose by drawing everyone's attention away from Macduff's uncomfortable question and giving the scene a different direction entirely. Macduff calls for someone to look after the lady, and Banquo steps forward and takes charge of the situation with calm authority (the confidence and power to direct others), saying that once everyone has dressed themselves (they have all been woken from sleep and are still in their nightclothes), they should meet together and examine this terrible event, and that he himself stands in God's hand and will fight against whatever treasonous (betraying one's country or king) force is responsible.

Meanwhile, Malcolm and Donalbain speak quietly to each other in asides that the other characters cannot hear. Malcolm asks why they are holding their tongues when they have more right than anyone to speak about their father's murder. Donalbain answers with one of the most chilling lines of the scene: "There's daggers in men's smiles," meaning that the people around them are smiling and appearing concerned while potentially harboring murderous intentions toward them as well. He adds that the nearest in blood are the nearest in danger, meaning that as the king's sons, they are the most likely targets for whoever is behind the murder. They decide to flee immediately, Malcolm to England and Donalbain to Ireland, saying that their separated positions will make them both harder to reach. Malcolm notes that "this murderous shaft that's shot hath not yet lighted" (the arrow of murder that has been fired has not yet finished its flight and found all its targets), and that their safest course is to get out of its way immediately. They agree to leave without formal farewells, noting that when there is no mercy left, there is honor in stealing away to safety.

The decision of Malcolm and Donalbain to flee is understandable and even wise from a purely self-interested perspective, but it will have devastating consequences for them. Their sudden departure from the scene of their father's murder will immediately be interpreted by others as suspicious, and it will provide Macbeth with the perfect cover story for his crime, since everyone will assume the king's sons either committed the murder themselves or paid someone to commit it.

Scene Four takes place outside Macbeth's castle and continues the pattern established throughout Act Two of using unnatural events in the world of nature to reflect the moral disorder caused by Macbeth's crime. The scene opens with a conversation between Ross, a Scottish nobleman, and an unnamed old man whose great age and long experience make him a figure of wisdom and historical perspective.

The old man opens by saying that in his seventy years of life, he has seen many terrible and strange things, but the night just passed has made all his previous experiences of darkness and horror seem trivial (small and insignificant) by comparison. Ross agrees, using striking and poetic language to describe the unnatural darkness that persists even though the clock says it should now be daytime. He asks whether this darkness is because night is simply more powerful than day, or whether day itself is so ashamed of what has happened that it has covered its face rather than look upon it. This image of day hiding its face in shame beautifully personifies (gives human qualities and emotions to something that is not human) the natural world's response to the murder.

The old man then describes another unnatural event he witnessed. A falcon (a noble bird of prey traditionally associated with kings and the aristocracy, meaning the upper class of society) that was at the height of its soaring flight was attacked and killed by a mousing owl (a much smaller, common bird that normally hunts only mice on the ground). This is deeply symbolic (representing something beyond its literal meaning), because it mirrors the political reality of what has just happened. Duncan, like the falcon, was a noble and powerful figure at the height of his position, brought down by Macbeth, who in the natural order of things was far below the king. The killing of a falcon by an owl is as unnatural in the animal world as the killing of a king by his subject is in the human world.

Ross adds that Duncan's horses, which were beautiful and swift and the finest of their kind, went completely wild during the night. They broke out of their stalls and turned on each other in a frenzied (wildly uncontrolled) and cannibalistic (involving the killing and eating of one's own kind) way. The old man confirms that they did indeed eat each other, an event so bizarre and horrifying that it left Ross stunned. These unnatural animal behaviors all serve the same thematic purpose, reinforcing that the murder of a king is not just a human crime but a violation of the entire natural order of the world, which reacts with corresponding chaos and wrongness.

Macduff arrives, and Ross asks how things now stand in Scotland. When Ross asks whether it is known who committed the murder, Macduff says "those that Macbeth hath slain," referring to the chamberlains whom Macbeth killed. But his phrasing is careful and slightly detached (showing emotional distance and lack of personal involvement), and he quickly adds the information that points suspicion away from Macbeth and toward Malcolm and Donalbain, saying that the king's sons have "stolen away and fled," which puts suspicion of the murder upon them. Ross responds with the exclamation "Gainst nature still!" (Still more things against nature!), and observes that it would be "thriftless ambition" (wasteful and self-defeating greed) for the king's sons to murder their own father, since he was the very source of their lives and their fortunes.

Ross then draws the obvious conclusion, saying that since Duncan's sons are now under suspicion and have fled the country, the succession (the passing of the throne from one ruler to the next) will most likely fall to Macbeth. Macduff confirms this, saying that Macbeth has already been named king and has gone to Scone (pronounced "Skoon," the traditional location for the coronation, meaning the formal ceremony of crowning, of Scottish kings) to be officially invested (formally given) with the crown.

Ross asks where Duncan's body has been taken, and Macduff tells him it has been carried to Colmekill (an island off the Scottish coast, now called Iona, which was the traditional burial place of Scottish kings). This detail is significant because it places Duncan firmly within the line of legitimate (rightful and lawfully established) Scottish kings, which makes Macbeth's usurpation (the illegal and forceful seizure of power) of his throne all the more criminal and sacrilegious.

Ross asks whether Macduff will go to Scone for the coronation, and Macduff's answer is quietly but powerfully telling. He says "No, cousin, I'll to Fife," meaning he will go home instead of attending the ceremony. He adds, with careful understatement, the wish that Ross "may see things well done there," followed by the ominous observation "Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!" This line means that he hopes the old ways of doing things under Duncan will prove more comfortable and fitting than the new arrangements under Macbeth. It is one of the earliest and clearest expressions of Macduff's skepticism (doubt and suspicion) about Macbeth's right to rule and his suitability as king. By choosing not to attend the coronation, Macduff is making a quiet but significant political statement of non-endorsement (a refusal to give approval and support). The scene ends with the old man offering a blessing, praying that God's "benison" (blessing) will go with all those who would "make good of bad, and friends of foes," meaning those who try to bring something positive out of terrible circumstances and who seek reconciliation (the restoration of friendly relations) rather than further conflict. This gentle and hopeful closing prayer from the old man stands in stark contrast to the darkness and violence of everything that has happened in Act Two, and it points forward to the possibility of eventual justice and restoration, even if that restoration is still many terrible events away.