Mecbeth Soliloquies Essay
Ellen
LadyMacbethSoliloquy1.pptxMacbeth Act One – Scene Five
Lady Macbeth’s Soliloquies
Before her soliloquy begins, she reads a letter from her husband– in which se finds out what has happened so far.
The witches met him on the day he was victorious in the battle.
They have supernatural knowledge.
He demanded that they tell him more (it is implied that the letter has already mentioned the prophecies) and they vanished (telling him nothing).
As he stood in shock (spellbound), servants of Duncan came and greeted him as the Thane of Cawdor
The witches had greeted him in that way (they had also greeted him as king)
He ends the letter saying that he wanted her to know so that she could be happy with the knowledge that he (us) has been promised greatness. Keep it a secret
Summary of the First Soliloquy: her soliloquy is in response to what she has learned.
Her main concern is that she feels he is too filled with the “milk of human kindness” to do what is necessary to take the first opportunity and become king.
She feels he has ambition and he wants to be powerful, but he is not mean and sinister enough to do what is necessary.
She feels he will only do things in a “good” way. He will not attain them wrongly. YET – even though he does not want to do terrible things to achieve this goal, he still wants what is not his and would still “win” it wrongly (but not do it himself).
She feels he will not do what is necessary– but would not refuse it if it were done for him (the implication being “it being done wrongly for him” by someone else and him not refusing if it is done wrongly by that someone else).
She wants him to come home so that she can persuade him to overcome whatever is preventing him from doing what is necessary– so that he can “get” what fate and the supernatural prophecies of the witches promise have promised him (the crown)
Please note– that as she expresses her concerns she does not directly refer to or state that he needs to murder Duncan to become King. Macbeth, at this point, has not directly stated it either. This implies an awareness of the gravity of such a choice / act.
In-between the Lady Macbeth’s two soliloquies, she finds out that Duncan will be coming to stay in their castle that evening. (Macbeth is also coming home– and will appear at the end of her second soliloquy).
Summary of the Second Soliloquy: This news initiates her second soliloquy, in which she says that the messenger who has brought the news is as hoarse as a raven (more on that later). Duncan, she explains, is coming to her fortress where he will die.
She then speaks to the spirits that help one with murderous thoughts (not literally – figuratively). She asks those spirits to make her less like a woman (who, in a 17th century perspective, would not be prone to murderous thoughts or murder itself) or more like a man. Fill me from the top of my head to the bottom of my body (the toes) with the most horrible and terrible cruelty. Thicken my blood and stop the passage of guilt and remorse so that compassion will not stop me from enacting my evil plan nor getting in the way of my accomplishing it. Come, you murderous spirits (same spirits as before) to my breasts and make my milk acidy (bile). These spirits hide and wait to do evil. She asks the night to come and hide everything in darkness and smoke so the sharp knife she plans to use cannot see the wound it creates. She tells heaven not to look though the dark that blankets everything and say stop, stop.
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised:
You are already the Thane of Glamis (by his birthright) and you are the Thane of Cawdor (recently appointed by Duncan) and you will be what you have been promised.
Please keep in mind: the witches have NEVER said how he will become king– only that he will.
yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way:
She worries about his nature (the particular qualities that make a person the person they are; their general character– a person’s temperament; the instincts of a person which direct his/her conduct)
She worries his character is too filled with the “milk” (the liquid produced by female mammals that nourish the young) of “human kindness.” To be kind is to be helpful, friendly, considerate, humane, courteous, agreeable, pleasant – if you combine that with “milk,” you can infer that she fears his very character is not cruel enough to do whatever is necessary for him to become king. Please note– she is not stating what needs to be done– but one can certainly infer that it is dastardly and murderous.
“To catch the nearest way” – to catch something is to seize something, to overtake something, to pursue and capture something -- the “nearest way” implies the soonest possible chance to do whatever needs to be done (nearest = closest // way = plan). Again– “what the nearest plan would be” is not stated– but we can infer that it is dastardly (killing Duncan).
thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
You would be great– you would like to be powerful
You have ambition – an earnest desire to achieve power
But you do not have the illness (in this case wickedness / evil) to attend to (to fuel )that ambition
“What thou wouldst highly” – what you want greatly, you would only do in a good way (holily)
You will not do anything false to achieve it (the implication being you would not do anything wicked or evil to achieve it)
And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis, That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do Than wishest should be undone.’
But you would take it (win it) if it was done wrongly for you (you would not do the evil– but you would take the power if someone else did something evil to achieve it). “Win” in this case refers to gaining or receiving something.
The thing you would have (the kingship) cries (personification) “you must do this, if you want to have it “
But you fear to do that thing that must be done
But you would not it undone if it were done …
Done is a word that repeats over and over throughout the play (done means to complete something / to finish something)
Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown'd withal.
Hie = hasten Hither = to or towards a place // so … come home quickly
So I may “pour” (to send a liquid over or into something)
Spirits = the disposition, quality of a person / thine = your
Chastise = in this case it means to instruct, to advise (but with a bit of harshness)
Valour = boldness in the face of danger (to be brave)
Tongue = her words
Impedes = prevents / stops (in this case – his milk of “human kindness”)
Golden round = the king’s crown
Fate (a prophetic declaration of what will / must be) and metaphysical (supernatural) aide = the prophecy of the witches
Doth = do Thee = you withal = therewith
All of that equals:
Come home quickly so I may pour (like pouring a liquid) my character into your ears (so she may explain to him)
He is “to filled with the milk of human kindness” so she will fill him with her character, her spirit by “pouring it into him”
She will instruct him … with the bravery of her speech … in the face if the dangers of what must be done (what he will not do)
She will address how he will not do what must be done– which prevents him from becoming king
The fate that the witches have determined – the fate that has already crowned him king (not literally)
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.
The British, in the 17th Century, were very superstitious, so when a raven cawed (croaked) that was often interpreted as a sign that terrible things were going to happen
In this case the “raven” is hoarse– which implies that it has been cawing a lot which implies that something really terrible is going to happen (the implication being that Duncan will be murdered though this is NOT stated)
The “raven” is the messenger who has told Lady Macbeth that Duncan is coming to stay at her castle (under her battlements). A castle protects people from being attacked. The implication here is ironic. He is coming into her castle where he should be protected– but it is where he will be murdered.
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!
Spirits are beings with no body Mortal = 1. living beings subject to death 2. actions ending in or causing death || The implication here is that she refers to the spirits that are in charge of whether people live or die (but with a sinister implication of being connected to the influence of whether someone chooses to murder someone)
She asks those spirits to come and “unsex” her. Not literally – but in a figurative sense
To make her more like a man (who would be more likely to murder than a woman would)
Women in the 17th century were seen as weaker, kinder – not prone to murderous thoughts
She is, at this point, thinking about murderous thoughts
She asks them to fill her from the top to bottom with the most horrible cruelty
This looks back at too “full with the milk of human kindness” and “pour my spirits”
Macbeth, she worries, is too filled with kindness so she wants him to come home so that she can pour her character into him – and now she asks to have her character “filled” with the most terrible cruelty
make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!
She asks the spirits to thicken her blood – which presumably will make the blood flow differently (the implication being that she will be braver / more cruel / different)
Building off the imagery of blood, she asks the spirits to stop up the access (the entrance to something / the way in) and passage (the channel though which something flows) to remorse (deep regret for doing something wrong)
She wants that done so no compunction (a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain) visits her and stops her from doing what she plans to do (still has not explicitly stated what– but the implication is, of course, the murdering of Duncan)– nor get in the way of her accomplishing what she plans to do
Note: access and passage – since we are in a metaphor about the flow of blood and the changing and transforming of that blood as well as the “unsexing” of her nature– could be seen as a reference to menstruation since that very significantly defines the biological makeup of a woman– as well as psychological and spiritual understandings
(in other words, women give birth)
Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief!
She tells those spirits to come to her breasts and turn the milk into an acidy bile
That would poison the nurturing food of breast milk – remember that she fears Macbeth is too filled with the milk of human kindness
So we can infer that she will have her milk of human kindness removed.
She now refers to this spirits as spirts that administer murder (manage the affairs of)
These murdering “administrators” are invisible (cannot be seen / their substance is sightless)
They wait on (they serve) the mischief (the trouble) of people’s nature
They wait, in hiding, to do evil acts (or, more specifically, to inspire humans to do terrible things like murder)
Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!’
Finally, she calls upon the night which she refers to as thick (dense) – so very, very dark– pitch black dark
She asks it to cover itself in the darkest, gloomiest smoke (smoke that comes from hell)
Note: dark makes it so you cannot see / smoke also blinds – so you have super dark and super smoky
Make it dark so that the knife she uses to make a wound (still not explicitly stated whom or how or what) cannot see the wound that it makes (personification)
Nor does she want heaven (the implication of God above) pulling open a little bit of the darkness (as if it is a blanket metaphor) and, upon seeing what is happening (the murder which, again, is implied, not stated) cries stop, stop, stop …
All of this strongly indicates that she, after this second soliloquy, is planning to do the murder herself. In the first soliloquy she concluded that he would not do what is necessary (evil) to become king, so in this second soliloquy she has asked the spirits to unsex her so that she can do it. Remember, in the first soliloquy she said he would not refuse being king if someone else did the evil act. It seems, at this point in the play, like she is planning to be the person to do it (this, of course, changes very soon)
Then Macbeth arrives. She tells him to leave the business of what to do up to her.
These two soliloquies play very important roles in the rest of the play.
The first soliloquy expresses her concern that he does not have the evil necessary to do what must be done. In the scenes that follow, she (1) is angered when he decides not to kill Duncan, (2) provides a plan so that they can frame Duncan’s guards, (3) tries to calm him down when he is distressed after killing Duncan, and (4) tries to calm him down when he imagines Banquo's ghost is sitting at the table after has had him murdered.
The second soliloquy, in which she has become bold, resonates when she comes up with the plan, brings the daggers back to the guards so that they can be framed and in the other times she speaks confidently and persuasively.
The irony is that she fears Macbeth is too kind / not evil enough and she becomes bold, but, as the play begins to come to an end, she has (1) gone mad, (2) spilled all the secrets while sleepwalking in the dark, and (3) presumably taken her own life. Macbeth, on the other hand, ends up bolder than ever and fights to the end to preserve a world order that he knows is wrong.
NOTE: THERE IS MORE TO ALL OF THIS, BUT I CANNOT WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN FOR YOU. TAKE GOOD NOTES IN CLASS SO THAT YOU HAVE LOTS OF INFORMATION AND A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THESE SOLILOQUIES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN UNDERSTANDING THE REST OF THE PLAY.
