SSC guide on Macbeth
Q. 1. What is meant by ‘fair
is foul and foul is fair’?
All
that is good is foul to the Witches, all that is evil is welcome to them. It
has a symbolical meaning; the Witches cannot admit what is good : evil is the
very core of their existence—they will even turn good into evil. They use their
power and influence for disorder and confusion in the moral world.
Q. 2. Who is Macdonwald ?
The name is a combination of Macdonwald and Donwald. Holinshed
mentions them as separate persons.
Q. 3. What is the meaning of
kerns ?
They are light-armed foot
soldiers, drawn from the poor classes. ‘Kerns’ were the retainers of the Irish
nobles, the two upper degrees being daltins and the grooms. They
were ordinarily armed with a sword and a light shield, and were regarded as
very good marksmen
Q. 4. What is the meaning of
Gallowglasses ?
They are heavy armed Irish
soldiers, especially those who fought on horseback and were armed with sharp
axes. According to some, gallowglasses were another class of retainers under
the Irish nobles, and used a pole-axe as their weapon—they were described as
firm of countenance, tall of stature, big of limbs, burly of body, strongly
timbered, heaply feeding on beef, pork and butter
Q. 5. Who is addressed as ‘valour’s
minion’ and why?
the darling of valour or courage
Q. 6. Why did Duncan
call as ‘cousin’ ?
Duncan and Macbeth were first
cousins. Duncan was the son of Crinan, Thane of
the Isles and Western ports of Scotland
by Beatrice, daughter of King Malcolm the late king ; and Macbeth was the son
of Synell, Thane of Glamis, by Doada, another daughter of Malcolm
Q. 7. Has there any sense of
anarchronism in Macbeth ? (cannon +
Dollars)
It is said that cannon was first
used at the seige of Adrianople by Mohammad n
in 1453. The first cannon cast in England was in 1443. Therefore it
is an anachronism here.
Q. 8. What is ‘Golgotha’ ?
The place where Christ was crucified. It was outside the walls of Jerusalem. But according
to some authorities, it was said to be the place where criminals were executed :
in Arabic the word means a skull; hence the figurative sense of Golgotha is a burial place. Memorize another
Golgotha—make that battle-field as memorable a field of slaughter as Golgotha.
Q. 9. Who is addressed as ‘Bellona’s
bridegroom and why ?
It means a person so brave
as to be elected by the goddess of war as her
bridegroom. Here this epithet is used for
Macbeth. Bellona is the Roman goddess of war,
sister of Mars, the god of war.
Q. 10. Who is Sweno ?
The historical basis is that
Sweno, King of England and Denmark,
ravaged the north of England
in 1013. Near Forres a monument called Sweno’s Stone’ is still known as the
place where Sweno was defeated
Q. 11. What is saint colme’s
Inch?
St. Columba's Island now called Inchcolm, a small island in the
Firth of Forth, on which stand the ruins of an abbey, dedicated to St. Columba,
an Irish Prince of the sixth century who founded many monasteries in Ireland, and did much to spread Christianity in Scotland and in the north of England.
Q. 12. Why did name the ship
‘Tiger’ ?
a very common name for ship at
the time. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare gives the same name to a vessel.
Hakluyt in his Voyages mentions a vessel of the same name ; Newbury and
Fitch and others went in it to Tripoli and from
there to Aleppo
by Caravan in 1583
Q. 13. ‘So foul and fair a day
I have not seen’ — Who is the speaker ? What does the line signify ?
Macbeth is the
speaker.
Macbeth’s words echo the last words of the Witches in scene I.
From this it has been assumed that there is already a spiritual alliance
between Macbeth and the Witches, which makes Macbeth an easy prey to their
temptation. Here is an instance of dramatic irony, for Macbeth utters the words
which have a wider significance to the audience, already aware of the Witches’
words. Let it also be noted that the contrast between, ‘foul’ and ‘fair’ in the
physical world represents the inner conflict between good and evil in Macbeth’s
soul.
Q. 14. ‘The earth hath
bubbles’ — Who are compared with and why ?
The witches are but phantoms, they are as unsubstantial as bubbles
of water. Banquo takes a sane and also impersonal view of the Witches. The
difference is that Macbeth has a personal interest, while Banquo has none.
Q. 15. ‘Your children shall be
kings’ — Who are the speaker and about whom they say this?
Macbeth is the speaker who broods over the future, and cannot
dismiss from his mind the unhappy thought that the crown will pass away to the
children of Banquo.
Q. 16. ‘Can devil speak true’
— Who is the speaker and what he means to say ?
Banquo is the
speaker here.
The witches were but the agents of the Devil. Part of their
prophecies is fulfilled in the case of Macbeth. It makes Banquo wonder whether
the Witch can really predict true event.
Q. 17. ‘Two truths are told’
— What are the ‘two truths’ and who told
them to whom ?
When
Banquo addresses Ross and Angus to have a private
talk with them, Macbeth again loses himself in speculation. In two matters the
prophecy of the Witches has come true till now. He looks upon this partial
fulfilment of the prophecy of the Witches as an index to his latter success. If
these two prophecies have been fulfilled,—he may well expect that the third
prophecy regarding the kingship of Scotland will also come true. The
first two prophecies, which have been fulfilled, are regarded as a preliminary
to the coming honour which is the central plot of the play.
Q. 18. What is meant by
‘Supernatural soliciting ?
This supernatural soliciting is only made such to the mind of
Macbeth by the fact that .he is already occupied with die purpose of
assassination. This is the true answer to the question which he puts to
himself.” —Fletcher.
Q. 19. ‘Present fears are less
than horrible imaginings’ — What is the ‘Present fear’ and why is it horrible ?
Here is the first hint that Macbeth is dominated by imagination.
If he had less of imagination and sensibilities, he would have made a confirmed
criminal, and stepped on from one murder to another without a troubled conscience.
It is through his imagination that retribution falls upon him. In the present
instance, the bare idea of killing Duncan
does not unnerve him as the visualization of the actual murder.
Q. 20. ‘Theirs is no art to
find the mind’s construction in face’ — comment.
As Duncan is too innocent and unsuspecting, he
is going to repeat his mistake. There is a dramatic irony in Duncan’s remark. While he makes this pregnant
remark, he is unconscious that what was true of Cawdor, might as well be true
of another man, for example, Macbeth.
Q. 21. ‘O worthiest cousin’
—signify the underlying meaning of the phrase.
— Duncan seems to be bursting with his feeling
of gratitude. His first cry — Oh worthiest cousin ! — seems to sum up a heart
full of gratitude
Q. 22. What is Inverness ?
It is the seat of Macbeth’s
castle. It is the country-town of Invernesshire and was made the seat of royal
castle by Macbeth.
Q. 23. What is the meaning of
‘harbinger’ ?
The word is used in its
technical sense. A ‘harbinger’ was an officer to royal household whose duty was
to mark and allot, in advance lodgings for the king and his retinue whenever
they are expected to arrive at any place. Here of course it means a forerunner
Q. 24. ‘Yet do I fear thy
nature’ — Who fears for whose nature and why ?
— Lady Macbeth gives her own
estimate of her husband’s character. She has little faith in him. He is too
human-hearted. He is not without moral scruples and he will be most unwilling
to take the easiest way to the realisation of his ambition. It will be a hard
job to persuade him to do what is necessary to win the crown.
Q. 25. ‘Milk of human
kindness’ — Who is the speaker ? comment on the line.
Lady Macbeth is the speaker
here.
Lady Macbeth gives her own
estimate of her husband’s character. She has little faith in him. He is too
human-hearted. He is not without moral scruples and he will be most unwilling
to take the easiest way to the realisation of his ambition. It will be a hard
job to persuade him to do what is necessary to win the crown.
Q. 26. ‘He brings great news’
— Who is the speaker and what is the ‘great news’ to the speaker ?
Lady Macbeth is the speaker
here.
News most welcome because it is
a great honour to have the king as one’s guest. That is the sense in which the
messenger understands the words. On the otherhand it is the most fortunate news because it affords
an opportunity for murdering the king. It is the sense in which the speakers
and the audience understand the words
Q. 27. ‘Your face, my Thane is
as a book’ — Who is the speaker and what does she mean?
Lady Macbeth is the speaker
here.
Lady
Macbeth with the instinct of a loving wife, at once
notices the wild and distracted look of her husband, and she is afraid that it
may give away the whole show. To her it is like
an open book, where men may read strange things. Macbeth has a tell-tale face.
Lady Macbeth warns him so that his face may not betray the crime, harboured in
his thought
Q. 28. ‘Look like the innocent
flower’ — Who is the speaker and what does she mean?
Lady Macbeth is the speaker here
Lady Macbeth is warning her
husband not to betray his thought in his face. As she looks at his face, it is
wild and distracted; it is like an open book in which a man may read whatever
is there. Let Macbeth be on his guard and do not betray his inner feelings
through his face. Let not the observers suspect what is in his mind. He should
wear a perpetual smile of welcome to his guests. Let his eyes, his hands and
his tongue radiate welcome. Let him act like the serpent, hidden among
beautiful flowers. In any case the agitation of his mind must not betray itself
either in his face, or in his behaviour. He should be very cautious, and play
the genial host, never letting the king or his guests suspect what is passing
within his mind
Q. 29. What is meant by
‘double trust’?
Macbeth while harbouring
regarding the killing of Duncan
says this.
Macbeth has to
deter himself from the killing of Duncan
as a king to whom
his allegiance is due, and as a guest whom he as host must protect at the cost
of his own life.
His
first duty to him is the duty of his cousin and his subject.—both these
ties—the ties of kinsman and subject—deter me from the murder. —secondly he has
the duty of a host towards him.—the duty of a host would be to protect him from
the murderer, not to be the murderer himself
Q. 30. ‘Is this a dagger which
I see before my’ — Who is the speaker and what is the dagger?
Macbeth is the
speaker here.
Some think that the dagger that
Macbeth sees has a material appearance ; others think that it is a
hallucination, caused by Macbeth’s distraught mental condition. Others again
think that the dagger is only “a representation in the spiritual world,” i. e.,
it is real in so far as it is actually staged in the spiritual world, Macbeth
being no longer on the ordinary human plane but subject to influence from
outside. On the stage the dagger is not usually shown, Macbeth thinks he sees
it on a table. He tries to grasp it, but on failing to do so gets confused.
Finally, he decides that it is only a vision
Q. 31. ‘Tarquin’s ravishing
strides’ — give the reference of Tarquin. ?
Tarquin was the son of the Roman
King Tarquinius Supcrbus ; he outraged the modesty of Lucretia, wife of
Collatinus. Lucretia stabbed herself after telling the story of her shame in
the presence of her father, husband and the friends, calling upon them to
avenge the insult. The result was that the king was driven from Rome, and Rome
was proclaimed a republic.
Q. 32. ‘The fatal bellman’ —
What is addressed as fatal bellman and why ?
A bellman was a town crier, an
officer whose duty it was to keep watch in the streets and to call the hours at
night. It was also his duty to announce the death, and, to exhort church people
to pray for a dead or condemned man. The owl as a bird of evil omen, is
compared to the bellman sent to a condemned person the night before his
execution. The owl seems to announce the coming death if the king
Q. 33. ‘Had he not resembled
my father’ — who is the speaker? Comment on the line.
Lady Macbeth would not have
hesitated to murder Duncan,
if he had not resembled her father. So Lady Macbeth is not wholly unsexed. “In
her case conscience works as effectually
through the feelings as through imagination ,in that of her husband.”—Hudson
Q. 34. ‘The multitudinous seas
incarnadine’ — Comment on the line.
Macbeth is the
speaker here.
All the accumulated waters of the sea cannot wash off the stains
of blood from his hands; they will rather be dyed, if his hands were dipped in
the sea. Multitudinous seas is—one
of the immortal phrases of Shakespeare’s-- Not a plurality of seas is
suggested, but rather the boundless expanse of water, the endless succession of
waves..
Q. 35. ‘A little water clears
us of this deed’ — who is the speaker? What does it mean ?
Lady Macbeth is the speaker
here.
This
conviction of Lady Macbeth can mean but little to Macbeth, whose imagination
and soul are possessed by the shuddering terror of the crime. A little water
may wash away the stains of blood, but what the abiding sense of guilt, the
revolted conscience, and the stricken imagination?
Q. 36. Who is Beelzebub?
Beelzebub is a Philistine god, worshiped in Palestine, In the New
Testament he is described as ‘Prince of the Devils’. Hence the name is applied
to Satan.
Q. 37. ‘The night has been
unruly’ — What night is referred here? Why was it unruly ?
Lennox relates the incidents and prodigies of last night. A violent
storm blew, and the chimneys of the house in which Lennox
lodged were torn away. People said that mysterious cries were heard—wailing
sounds and shrieks, such as are uttered by persons dying a violent death.
Voices were here predicting dreadful calamities and disorder and confusion
which were soon to follow. The owl hooted all night some said that the earth
seemed to have shivered.
N. B. These prodigies mentioned by Lennox are a proper accompaniment to
the outrageous murder of Duncan.
Q. 38. ‘The lord’s anointed
temple’ — comment.
It means the sacred body of the
king. In Samuel, xiv. 10, the king is spoken of as “the Lord's anointed,”
because at the coronation ceremony Christian kings are anointed with holy oil,
and in Corianthins vi, 16, St.
Paul describes a Christian king as ‘the temple of the
living God’
Q. 39. ‘There is nothing
serious in morality’ — Who is the speaker? What does it mean ?
Macbeth is the
speaker here.
These words are prophetic.
Henceforth Macbeth could find little genuine interest in life. Not only did
perils gather thick round him day by day as he sat on the throne of the
murdered Duncan,
but his life itself became a
nightmare to him.
Q. 40. ‘His silver skin laced
with his golden blood’ — comment.
It
is meant to be an antithesis between ‘silver skin’ and ‘golden blood’.
Shakespeare put these forced and unnatural metaphors into the mouth of Macbeth,
as a mark of artifice and dissimulation, to show the difference between the
studied language of hypocrisy and the natural outcries of sudden passion.” —Johnson.
Q. 41. ‘The near the blood the
bloody’ — who is the speaker and what he means to say?
Malcolm is the speaker here.
Those who are most closely related
to us by ties of blood are most likely to murder us. The idea is that their
danger is the greatest from those who are closely related to them by ties of
blood. It is another veiled reference to Macbeth, who becomes the legitimate
heir to the throne if both the sons of Duncan
were dead. Butler
explains; “We who are near in blood to the murdered king are in the greater
danger of being murdered.”
Q. 42. What is Colme-kill ?
It is the modern lona, an island
of the inner Hebrides. It was the burial place for the kings of Scotland.
Colme-kill or Incolme-kill or Columb-kill means the cell of St. Columba
Q. 43. ‘May they not be my
Oracles as will’ — comment. ?
Oracles
were seats of worship of special divinities, where prophecies were uttered by
divine sanction. The word was also applied to the response obtained by people
who sought the aid of those deities. The most famous oracles in ancient Greece were those of Appollo at Delphi and of Zeus at Dodone.
Q. 44. ‘Mark Antony’s was by
Caesar’ — Justify the allusion.
Marcus
Antonius (83-V30 B.C.) was the Roman Triumvir and consul. After the
assassination of Julius, he became the most powerful man in Rome. But he could not pull on well with
Octavius Caesar. He went to Egypt
where he led a life of indolence and vice, having been captivated by the beauty
of Cleopatra, the dethroned queen of Egypt Antony was defeated by Octavius at
the naval battle of Actium. Antony's genius was eclipsed by Caesar’s.
Caesar was Octavius Caesar, the first Roman emperor (63 B. C, 14 A. D.)
Q. 45. ‘Naughts had, all’s
spent’ — Who is the speaker ? Justify the line.
Q. 46. ‘Then comes my fit’ —
Who is the speaker? What is the cause of his fit ?
Macbeth
meets the murderer at the door of the banquet-hall. He is glad to hear that
Banquo has been murdered. But when he is told that Fleance has escaped, he
feels dejected. So there can be no peace of mind for him; there can be no end
to this suspense and fear—they would rather be doubly renewed. If Fleance had
been murdered with his father, his happiness would have been complete, and his
throne secure. He could have breathed again freely. But now that Fleance is
alive and free to plot against him, he lives a close prisoner to doubts and
fears, which will haunt and oppress him day and night. There is no getting away
from such doubts and fears.
N. B. Macbeth’s position becomes desperate with every crime committed.
And such is his illusion that he believes he can secure his throne and fortify
his mortal nature against fears by repeated crimes. He believes he will be able
to wade through blood to a safe throne and a peaceful mind.
Q. 47. ‘Blood will have blood’
— Who is the speaker ? What does it mean ?
Macbeth is the
speaker here.
“And no expiation can be made for the blood
that is shed but by the blood of him that shed it.” —Numbers, XXXV. 33.
Blood will have blood—the blood of the murdered man cries for the blood of the
murderer (the popular belief being that the ghost of the murdered cannot rest
in the grave until his murder has been avenged and so the ghost of Hamlet’s
father in Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ walks upon earth until
he meets Hamlet and lays upon him the task of avenging his murder).
N. B. The conviction that his crime of
murder would recoil upon him is growing upon Macbeth. His consciousness of evil
is not totally dulled and deadened by his crime. He is now growing desperate,
but there is “a soul of good” in his desperation, for he is conscious of evil,
as evil, nay, he even shrinks from, and dreads, it. But later comes a stage of
indifference when he does not think of the future, is reckless about the
present; and hardly seems to be human. He is led on from crime to crime
under the delusion that by this means only he can secure his throne, and eat and
sleep in peace
Q. 48. What are the first,
second and third apparition and what do they symbolize ?
The First ‘Apparition symbolises
Macbeth’s head cut off by Macduff and taken by him to Malcolm.
The Second Apparition symbolises
Macduff who was “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb (
The Third Apparition Symbolises
Malcolm, who is crowned king after Macbeth—and who, when invading Scotland,
ordered his soldiers to carry each a bough of Birnam wood in his hand
Q. 49. What are ‘Birnam wood’
and ‘Dunsinane hill’ ?
Birnam
is a hill near Dunkeld, and twelve miles north-west of Perth. It was once wooded and formed part of a royal
forest.
Dunsinane-hill—one
of the Sidlaw Hills, seven miles north-east of Perth. On its top are remnants of a fortress,
popularly known as Macbeth’s castle. The plain of Strathmore lies between
Birnam, and Dunsinane Kills.
. Moving forests are mentioned in
several Teutonic myths. Professor Schwartz mentions, in his Notobolia a
story in which king Gruenewald is thus addressed by his daughter:
“Father,
you must yield, or die,
I
see the green-wood drawing nigh.”
The
following passage occurs in an old English translation of a life of Alexander
the Great:—“Then Alexander commanded all his men that each of them should cut
down a branch of a tree, and bear them forth with them and drive before them,
all manner of beasts that they might find in the way: and, when the Persians
saw them from the high hills, they wondered at them greatly.”
Q. 50. Who are ‘eight kings’ ?
Eight Kings—Robert H (1371-1390) ; Robert m
(1390-1406) ; James I (1424-1437) ; James H (1437-1460) ; James HI (1460-1488)
; James IV (1488-1513) ; James V (1513-1542) ; James VI (1567-1625) who becomes
James I of England. Mary Queen of Scots, the mother, of the last, reigned from
1542 to 1567. Glass—the mirror which
reflected the faces of the kings who came after the Union of Scotland and England under
one sovereign
Q. 51. Comment on ‘Two fold
balls and treble sceptres’ ?
It
is a handsome compliment to James I, who was the first King of United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland. The ball is golden
orb which a king holds in his hand during the coronation ceremony. James had
‘twofold balls’ because he was first crowned King of Scotland at Stirling on
July 24, 1567, and again crowned King of England at Westminster on March 24, 1602. Some see in it
a reference to the two islands of Great Britain
and Ireland.
The scepter or rod is another part of royal insignia. ‘Treble sceptres’might
also refer to the title—King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, which
James I assumed on October 24, 1604—a title borne by Edward VI and Elizabeth
before him, and retained by British sovereigns till 1802.
Q. 52. Comment — ‘The
brightest angel fell’.
The
brightest of angels was Satan. He
fell from heaven for his revolt against God. Now
because the brightest of angels fell from heaven, one need not generalise that
all angels are corrupt. The point is that Satan fell from heaven and lost his
brightness as an angel; yet there are still angels who keep their brightness
and goodness. The brightest—Satan called Lucifer, the light-bringer. Fell—was
expelled from heaven on account of his revolt against God.
Q. 53. ‘I have lost my hopes’ — Who is the speaker and
why has he lost his hope ?
Macduff
comes from Scotland
leaving his wife and children in imminent peril of life, to persuade Malcolm to
take up arms against Macbeth. Now that Malcolm obstinately refuses to trust him
he has little hope of including him.
Q. 54. What is ‘a golden
stamp’ ?
It is a gold coin. N. B. This
is an anachronism. The practice of presenting each touched person with a gold
or silver coin, called the touch-piece, was introduced by Edward in 1272.
Ordinarily, the touch-piece, was an angel,
and obsolete gold coin worth 6s. 8d to 10s: but
Charles U ordered a special metal to be minted for the purpose.”
Q. 55. ‘He has no children’ —
Comment on the line.
The
exact force of this passage depends on who ‘he’ is: (1) If he is Malcolm,
Macduff turns to Ross but replies to the words of comfort attempted by Malcolm.
The sense is; not being a father he knows not the depth of a bereaved father’s
grief; otherwise he would not talk to me of comfort or revenge, or curing or
the grief at a time when I am so overwhelmed. (2) If he is Macbeth, the words may
be explained into two different ways: (a) If the words refer to great revenge,
the sense is: no revenge can be adequate because there can be no retaliation in
kind; Macbeth, not having children whom I may murder, cannot be made to feel
the pain he has given me (this thought would be unworthy of Macduff). (b) If
the words are soliloquy, the sense is: not having children, Macbeth is a
stranger to parental love, and that is why he could bring himself to order the
slaughter of children.
Q. 56. Who are addressed as
‘Epicures’ and why ?
The
English who are fond of good living are addressed as ‘Epicures’ . Holinshed speaks of the Scots
as having nothing to do with fine fair, ‘riotous surfeit’, while Englishmen
brought to the land the vice of ‘superfluous gormandizing’. An ‘epicure’ is one
who is supposed to follow the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus to
whom has been attributed the doctrine—‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we
die.’ This is certainly a perversion of the real doctrine of Epicurus.
Q. 57. Comment on ‘I have
almost forget the taste of fears’.
There is a sudden cry of women.
It is a cry of horror, but it leaves Macbeth cold. It shows—and Macbeth is also
conscious—that a great change for the worse has taken place in Macbeth—a
degradation involving the paralysis of his feelings and imagination. So long
his imagination was active in him, he was susceptible to fears; now imagination
being dead, he is a stranger to any fear. There was a time when he would have
shuddered to hear a cry of the human voice of a supernatural being at night, or
his hair would have stood on end if he had read a ghostly story. But now
horrors hardly affect him. He seems to have fed full of horrors
Q. 58. Comment on ‘Tied me to
a stake’.
Macbeth implies his desperate position. He cannot
give the enemy the slip. By comparing himself to a bear, tied to a stake (the
metaphor from bear-baiting), he means to say that he is at bay—he must face the
enemy, and do what he can to save himself or 10 beat the enemy.
Q. 59. Comment on ‘Play the
Roman fool’.
It reminds the the foolish
practice of Roman general. A roman general would rather kill himself than
surrender to the enemy. Many of Shakespeare’s old characters from Roman
history, such as, Cato, Cassius, Brutus and Antony, committed suicide. In Julius
Caesar, Titinius, in committing suicide says, “This is a Roman’s pan”; and
in Antony and Cleopetra, Cleopetra calls it the “high Roman
fashion.”Macbeth has no faith in suicide, as practised by a Roman hero, when he
had to choose between death and captivity
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