Reader 1: If you cannot understand my argument, and declare 1 Reader 2: it's Greek to me, 2 Reader 1: you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be 3 Reader 3: more sinned against than sinning, 4 Reader 1: you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your 5 Reader 4: salad days, 6 Reader 1: you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act 7 Reader 5: more in sorrow than in anger; 8 Reader 1: if your 9 Reader 6: wish is father to the thought; 10 Reader 1: if your lost property has 11 Reader 7: vanished into thin air, 12 Reader 1: you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused 13 Reader 2: to budge an inch 14 Reader 1: or suffered from 15 Reader 3: green-eyed jealousy, 16 Reader 1: if you have 17 Reader 4: played fast and loose, 18 Reader 1: if you have been 19 Reader 5: tongue-tied, 20 Reader 6: a tower of strength, 21 Reader 7: hoodwinked 22 Reader 1: or 23 Reader 2: in a pickle, 24 Reader 1: if you have 25 Reader 3: knitted your brows, 26 Reader 4: made a virtue of necessity, 27 Reader 1: insisted on 28 Reader 5: fair play, 29 Reader 6: slept not one wink, 30 Reader 7: stood on ceremony, 31 Reader 2: danced attendance (on your lord and master), 32 Reader 3: laughed yourself into stitches, 33 Reader 1: had 34 Reader 4: short shrift, 35 Reader 5: cold comfort 36 Reader 1: or 37 Reader 6: too much of a good thing, 38 Reader 1: if you have 39 Reader 7: seen better days 40 Reader 1: or lived 41 Reader 2: in a fool's paradise - 42 Reader 1: why, be that as it may, 43 Reader 3: the more fool you , 44 Reader 1: for it is 45 Reader 4: a foregone conclusion 46

Quoting Shakespeare

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Reader 1: that you are, 47 Reader 5: as good luck would have it, 48 Reader 1 quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is 49 Reader 6: early days 50 Reader 1: and clear out 51 Reader 7: bag and baggage, 52 Reader 1: if you think 53 Reader 2: it is high time 54 Reader 1: and 55 Reader 3: that that is the long and short of it, 56 Reader 1: if you believe that the 57 Reader 4: game is up 58 Reader 1: and that 59 Reader 5: truth will out 60 Reader 1: even if it involves your 61 Reader 6: own flesh and blood, 62 Reader 1: if you 63 Reader 7: lie low 64 Reader 1: till 65 Reader 2: the crack of doom 66 Reader 1: because you suspect 67 Reader 3: foul play, 68 Reader 1: if you have your 69 Reader 4: teeth set on edge 70 Reader 5: (at one fell swoop) 71 Reader 1: without 72 Reader 6: rhyme or reason, 73 Reader 1: then - 74 Reader 7: to give the devil his due - 75 Reader 1: if the 76 Reader 2: truth were known 77 Reader 1: (for surely you have a 78 Reader 3: tongue in your head) 79 Reader 1: you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me 80 Reader 4: good riddance 81 Reader 1: and 82 Reader 5: send me packing, 83 Reader 1: if you wish I 84 Reader 6: was dead as a door-nail, 85 Reader 1: if you think I am an 86 Reader 7: eyesore, 87 Reader 2: a laughing stock, 88 Reader 1: the 89 Reader 3: devil incarnate, 90 Reader 4: a stony-hearted villain, 91 Reader 5: bloody-minded 92

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Reader 1: or a 93 Reader 6: blinking idiot, 94 Reader 1: then - 95 Reader 7: by Jove! 96 Reader 2: O Lord! 97 Reader 3: Tut tut! 98 Reader 4: For goodness' sake! 99 Reader 5: What the dickens! 100 Reader 6: But me no buts! - 101 Reader 7: it is all one to me, 102 Reader 1: for you are quoting Shakespeare. 103

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PRE-CONVENTIONAL MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Stage 0 - Pre-Moral

Pleasure-pain (exciting-fearful) determine behaviorWhatever pleases the individual/ no sense of guiltTake what is pleasant; avoid what is unpleasantPerson is guided only by what he can and wants to do

Stage One - Simple Authority Orientation

Obedience and punishment orientationPhysical consequences determine good/badAuthority figure determines standardsOnly in terms of right and wrong/fear of authority

Stage Two - Instrumental Relativist

Eye for an eye, same for all, treat all the sameYou scratch my back; I'll scratch yours (not from concern or loyalty, but because it'sfair.)Equal sharing: exchange, fairness, tit for tat

CONVENTIONAL MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Stage Three - Interpersonal Concordance - good boy/nice girl orientation

Being nice, approval, pleasing a limited group are importantI'll do it because you said you would give me somethingNot wish to offend anyone who is our friend.Stereotypes of right behavior of majority Intentions ("he means well") becomeimportantGiving in to external pressure

Stage Four - Law and Order

Maintain the given social order for its own sakeDoing one's dutyRespect for authority and majority ruleLaws exist - therefore are good. We should abide by them. They are fixed - cannot bechanged.

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development

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POST-CONVENTIONAL MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Stage Five - Social Contract

Standards critically examined and socially agreed uponLaws for our benefit.Constitutional and democraticLegalistic but law can be changed for benefit of societyIndividual rights respected except when contrary to constitutionally agreed rights.Moral values are defined in terms of individual rights and standards agreed upon bysociety.Consensus rather than majorityOfficial morality of United States

Stage Six - Ethical Principle

Orientation to principles above social rulesPrinciples above the lawPrinciples appeal to logical universality and consistencyJustice - It is right not just here but under other circumstancesJustice with individual dignityObedience or disobedience to law based on moral respect for justiceConscience guided by self-chosen principle

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Directions: Read the statement in the center column. Decide if you strongly agree (SA), agree (A), disagree (D), or strongly disagree (SD) with the statement. Circle your response and write a reason or reasons in the statement box. (You may use the back of the paper if you need more room.) Be prepared to discuss your opinion on the statements.

before you read Statements after you read SA A D SD 1. There are people who can accurately predict the future. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 2. You are the maker of your own destiny. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 3. If you reach your goal, the end always justifies the means. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 4. Patriotism requires obedience to the governing authority. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 5. True love has no ambition. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 6. Loyalty to family supersedes loyalty to government. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 7. Commitment to principle supersedes loyalty to family. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 8. I would break my moral code for a loved one. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 9. I believe everyone is in a personal battle of good~vs~evil. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 10, If someone prophesied you would become someone of importance (i.e.-President, Homecoming King/Queen, etc), you would try to make it happen.

SA A D SD

SA A D SD 11. It is never right to kill another person. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 12. If a political leader has done wrong, it is all right to get rid ofhim/her by whatever means necessary.

SA A D SD

SA A D SD 13. No cause, political or otherwise, is worth dying for. SA A D SD

SA A D SD 14. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. SA A D SD

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Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1

SCENE. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. (Thunder. Enter the three Witches) First Witch Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Second Witch Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Third Witch Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time. First Witch Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Second Witch Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Third Witch Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat, and slips of yew Silver'd in the moon's eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Notes

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ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Second Witch Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good. Second Witch By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks! (Enter MACBETH) MACBETH How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is't you do? ALL A deed without a name. MACBETH I conjure you, by that which you profess, Howe'er you come to know it, answer me: Though you untie the winds and let them fight Against the churches; though the yesty waves Confound and swallow navigation up; Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down; Though castles topple on their warders' heads; Though palaces and pyramids do slope Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure Of nature's germens tumble all together, Even till destruction sicken; answer me To what I ask you. First Witch Speak. Second Witch Demand. Third Witch We'll answer. First Witch Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths, Or from our masters? MACBETH Call 'em; let me see 'em. First Witch Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten From the murderer's gibbet throw Into the flame.

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Don’t underestimate the power of this scene. It is certainly there to entertain, but also to add more texture to some of the play’s ideas, and to its mood.

Macbeth has been driven, by what he saw at his own banquet, to visit the Witches in their kitchen, where they are preparing a feast for his eyes (this is a very visual scene).

Just how fully the details of the scene add to the atmosphere of the play at this point becomes apparent if you complete the following table, which lists the items the witches throw into the cauldron. For each item check the box(es) which indicate the idea(s) to which it contributes.

Item  Poison  Night, darkness, blindness 

Cutting, dismemberment 

Eating, greed, lustfulness 

Unnaturalness,irreligion 

EntrailsToadSnake filletNewt’s eyeFrog’s toeBat’s woolDog’s  tongueAdder’s forkBlind‐worm’s sting Lizard’s legOwl’s wingDragon’s scaleWolf’s toothWitches’ mummy Shark’s stomachHemlock rootJew’s liverGoat’s gallSlips of yewTurk’s noseTartar’s lipsBaby’s fingerTiger’s stomachBaboon’s bloodSow’s bloodGibbet grease

What do you notice about the items associated with greed and unnaturalness, ie the ones most closely linked with Macbeth’s behavior?

Why do you think the idea of cutting, separating, has prominence in the list?

What do you notice about the ideas of poison and night? 

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Macbeth and Fate

In the second scene of the play, a Sergeant tells the story of Macbeth's victory over the rebel Macdonwald. At one point it looked like Macdonwald was getting the upper hand, and the Sergeant comments, "fortune, on his [Macdonwald's] damned quarrel smiling, / Show'd like a rebel's whore" (1.2.14-15). It was a cliché of Shakespeare's time that fortune, or good luck, was a whore, loved by all men, faithful to none. However, on this occasion, not even fortune could give Macdonwald the victory, because Macbeth held her in contempt and won the battle anyway.

One of the witches is going to take out her spite on a sailor, and she and her sister witches will control the winds so that the sailor won't be able to come into port. She boasts that, "Weary se'nnights nine times nine / Shall he dwindle, peak and pine: / Though his bark cannot be lost, / Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd" (1.3.25). Although these witches can control winds, there is something stronger than them that keeps the sailor's ship ("bark") from sinking.

Later in the same scene, Macbeth, after hearing the witches' prophecy, says to himself: "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir" (1.3.144). This seems to indicate that he doesn't regard the witches as the voice of fate, but of "chance." Also, Macbeth is right. Like King Duncan, Macbeth is the grandson of a king, so he has a legitimate claim to the throne, and war or disease could easily kill off other claimants. However, Macbeth eventually decides that "chance" needs some help, and so he murders Duncan.

The first use of the word "fate" in the play occurs when Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth's letter telling of the witches' prophecies. She is afraid that he will not take advantage of his opportunity to take the crown, "Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have thee crown'd withal" (1.5.29-30). It's interesting to note that she assumes that fate doesn't make things happen. In order to be king, Macbeth is going to have to murder Duncan, and his wife is afraid that he won't do it.

Just after King Duncan's bloody corpse is discovered, Macbeth exclaims that he killed the King's grooms out of passionate grief, and Lady Macbeth faints. Malcolm and

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Donalbain, the King's sons, notice that everyone seems to be expressing more grief than they are, and they suspect that something is fishy. Donalbain asks his brother, "What should be spoken here, where our fate, / Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us?" (2.3.122). He means that this is no time to talk, because they could be murdered next. The two of them flee, and escape the "fate" that Donalbain speaks of.

Just before he sends the two murderers out to kill Banquo, Macbeth has a soliloquy in which he complains about the witches' prophecy. He's afraid that he has damned his soul to hell so that Banquo's descendants will be kings of Scotland. At the end of the soliloquy he says, "Rather than so, come fate into the list, / And champion me to the utterance! (3.1.70-71). This is Macbeth's challenge to fate. "Come fate" means "let fate come." A "list" is an arena in which knights joust against one another. "Champion me" means to fight as a champion against him. And "the utterance" has the now-obsolete meaning of "the very end." In short, Macbeth is challenging fate to a fight to the bitter end. He appears to know that he is up against long odds, and he imagines himself as a knight, going bravely into battle against fate itself.

At the end of the same scene, Macbeth explains to the murderers that not only must Banquo die, but also his son Fleance "must embrace the fate / Of that dark hour" (3.1.136-137). Here "fate" means a terrible thing that is going to happen because Macbeth is going to make it happen. As it turns out, Fleance escapes this particular "fate" and lives.

After the Ghost of Banquo has appeared at Macbeth's banquet, Macbeth reflects that "they say, blood will have blood" (3.4.121). The saying means that the blood of a murder victim will seek out the blood of his killer, and so a murder will always be discovered. Macbeth knows that stones have moved, trees have spoken, birds have told secrets. All of these things have "brought forth / The secret'st man of blood" (3.4.124-125). Macbeth himself is a secret man of blood, and the bloody Ghost confronted him. His guilt was almost "brought forth" in front of his guests, and there doesn't seem to be any way that he can escape his fate. However, none of this makes him feel remorse, or anything but a determination to see things through to the bitter end, because he is "in blood / Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (3.4.135-137).

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In the scene before Macbeth visits the witches to learn his fate, Hecate tells the witches that she will prepare illusions that will make Macbeth "spurn fate, scorn death, and bear / His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear" (3.5.30-31), because, as they know, "security / Is mortals' chiefest enemy" (3.5.32-33). "Security" is a sense of safety. In short, the idea that we are bulletproof will kill us.

When Macbeth goes to the witches to learn his fate, they summon up apparitions to delivers their messages. The first apparition warns Macbeth to beware Macduff, but the second one tells Macbeth to "Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.81). At this, Macbeth reflects that he won't have to kill Macduff, after all, but in an instant he reverses himself again, saying he will "make assurance double sure, / And take a bond of fate" (4.1.83-84). He will kill Macduff so that he can "tell pale-hearted fear it lies" (4.1.85). To "take a bond" of someone is to receive a solemn promise that the person will pay us a debt. (The contracts we sign when we borrow money would be called "bonds" in Shakespeare's time.) Thus, Macbeth is going to kill Macduff in order to make sure that fate keeps its promise. Fate has just promised that no man of woman born can harm Macbeth, but fate has also told him to beware Macduff, and he's afraid that fate is fooling with him.

As the English army approaches, Macbeth tries to convince himself that he will be safe, because "The spirits that know / All mortal consequences [human destinies] have pronounced me thus: / 'Fear not, Macbeth; no man that's born of woman / Shall e'er have power upon thee'" (5.3.4-7). Thus Macbeth puts his faith in the powers of fate.

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Macbeth’s Fear of Fear

In his report of Macbeth's victory over the rebels, a sergeant emphasizes Macbeth's courage. Even when it looks like Fortune is smiling on the enemy, "brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name-- / Disdaining Fortune" (1.2.16-17) plunges fearlessly into battle and wins the victory.

Just after Macbeth hears the witches' prophecies, Ross and Angus tell him that he has been named Thane of Cawdor. Upon hearing this, Macbeth goes into a trance-like state as he tries to sort things out. He tells himself that the witches' prophecies can't be bad, because they have foretold a truth. On the other hand, if the witches' prophecies are good, he asks himself, "why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, / Against the use of nature?" (1.3.134-137). "Suggestion" means "temptation," so Macbeth is asking himself why he feels himself giving into temptation, especially a temptation that makes his heart race and his hair stand on end. He goes on to reflect that "Present fears / Are less than horrible imaginings" (1.3.1137-38). He means that the fear that you feel in the face of actual danger is not nearly so bad as the fear of imagined danger. Apparently he's trying to talk himself into believing that the murder which he is tempted to do can't possibly be as frightening as he now feels it is.

When King Duncan announces that Malcolm is heir to the throne, Macbeth sees that as a roadblock, then says to the heavens, "Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires: / The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, / Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see" (1.4.50-53). He's thinking about committing murder. He wants his own eye to blind itself ("wink") while he's doing it, but he wants it done, even if his eye will be afraid to look at it afterwards. It doesn't appear that he afraid of getting caught and being punished. His fear of murder seems to be like the fear of the sight of blood -- irrational and instinctual.

When she receives Macbeth's letter about the witches' prophecies, Lady Macbeth says to her absent husband, "Thou wouldst be great; / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it" (1.5.18-20). She, like the witches, believes that foul is fair. Ambition "should" be accompanied by "illness." Yet she does not believe that Macbeth is really good. She says that he "wouldst not play false, / And yet wouldst

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wrongly win" (1.5.21-22). In her view, he's something of a coward, because he has that within him that tells him what he must do if he is to have the throne, but he's afraid to do it. She tells her absent husband that he should hurry home so that she can "chastise with the valour of my tongue / All that impedes thee from the golden round" (1.5.27-28). In other words, she plans to nag him until he's ashamed of himself for being afraid to be bad. After all, it's only that fear that's keeping him from wearing the crown.

In the midst of a feast that he's giving for King Duncan, Macbeth steps aside to think about the murder he's planning. He says to himself, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well / It were done quickly (1.7.1-2). That is, if everything could be over with as soon as Duncan is killed, then it would be best for Macbeth to kill him quickly. If only, Macbeth thinks, the assassination could be "the be-all and the end-all--here / But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, / We'd jump the life to come" (1.7.5-7). Where Macbeth says "but here," we would say "just here" or "only here." In other words, Macbeth knows that he can get away with murder only here on earth. In the afterlife he will certainly be punished. He also knows that the afterlife is very long; it's like a boundless ocean, and our life is only a "bank or shoal" on the edge of that ocean. Nevertheless, if one murder could be the last murder, he would take his chances with the afterlife.

The problem is, it's not very likely to be "done when 'tis done," and Macbeth knows this, too. He knows that--as we say--what goes around comes around, that acts of violence are "Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague the inventor" (1.7.9-10). Of course, Macbeth has good reason to be afraid. In a warrior society such as his, there would be plenty of kith and kin eager to avenge the murder of any man, even if he weren't a king.

To put it bluntly, Macbeth thinks that he's likely to get caught, and he's about to chicken out. Only at this point does he start thinking of other reasons that he shouldn't kill his king, and when his wife comes looking for him, he tells her he's decided not to do it. She responds by telling him that if he's going to go back on his word, he doesn't really love her, and he's a coward, no better than the "poor cat i' the adage" (1.7.45), who wants a fish, but doesn't want to get its feet wet.

Macbeth tries to defend himself by saying, "I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none" (1.7.46-47). Macbeth also asks what will happen if they fail, and his wife pooh-poohs the very idea, exclaiming, "We fail! / But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we'll not fail" (1.7.61). She wins the argument.

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After Macbeth murders King Duncan, he comes back to his wife with the bloody daggers in his bloody hands. She tells him that he must return and place the daggers with the King's grooms. Macbeth, however, is paralyzed with the horror of what he has done. He says, "I'll go no more: / I am afraid to think what I have done; / Look on't again I dare not" (2.2.47-49). This makes Lady Macbeth scornful of her husband. She takes the daggers from him and tells him that it's childish to be afraid of the sleeping or the dead. And she's not afraid of blood, either. She says, "If he [King Duncan] do bleed, / I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal / For it must seem their guilt" (2.2.52-54). With these bitter words, she goes to finish her husband's job for him.

When Lady Macbeth returns, she comments, "My hands are of your colour; but I shame / To wear a heart so white" (2.2.61-62). She means that her hands are red, too (because she has been busy smearing the King's blood on the grooms), but that she would be ashamed to have a heart as white as Macbeth's. A white heart is white because it has no blood, and the person with a white heart is a coward.

After Macduff discovers the body of King Duncan, he rushes out to announce the horror, and Macbeth rushes up to the king's chamber and kills the sleeping grooms. When Macduff asks him why he killed the grooms, Macbeth replies, Who could refrain, / That had a heart to love, and in that heart / Courage to make's love known?" (2.3.116-118). No one asks just how much courage it takes to kill two defenseless men.

After he has murdered King Duncan and become king himself, Macbeth has a soliloquy in which he reveals that being king isn't enough; he needs to feel safe in the position, and he has reasons to fear Banquo: "To be thus is nothing; / But to be safely thus.˗Our fears in Banquo / Stick deep" (3.1.47-49). He doesn't mention what we might think is the obvious reason for fearing Banquo—that Banquo heard the witches' prophecy and could suspect Macbeth of murder. He seems to fear Banquo on general grounds, because Banquo has "royalty of nature" (3.1.49), and courage, and wisdom. Macbeth says of Banquo, "under him, / My Genius is rebuked" (3.1.54-55). A man's "Genius" is his guardian spirit, but Macbeth isn't being particularly mystic here. He feels that Banquo is naturally superior to him, and just being near Banquo makes Macbeth feel ashamed of himself. For example, he recalls, Banquo defied the witches

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and challenged them to speak to him. (In contrast, we should remember, the witches' prophecy put Macbeth into a kind of trance, a reverie of ambition and murder.)

After he has murdered King Duncan and become king, Macbeth arranges for the murder of Banquo, just to be safe. He says that he would rather see "the frame of things disjoint [fall apart], both the worlds [heaven and earth] suffer" (3.2.16), than continue to "eat our meal in fear and sleep / In the affliction of these terrible dreams / That shake us nightly" (3.2.17-19).

When Banquo's bloody ghost appears at Macbeth's royal banquet, Macbeth panics. He stares and speaks to the ghost, which no one else can see. His wife takes him aside, and asks, "Are you a man?" (3.4.57). He answers, "Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that / Which might appall the devil" (3.4.58-59). His wife is not impressed. She exclaims sarcastically, "O proper stuff!" Then she tells him that "This is the very painting of your fear: / This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, / Led you to Duncan" (3.4.59-62). She also tells him that he's making ridiculous faces, so that he reminds her of a woman telling a scary story that she heard from her grandmother. His fear is shameful because, "When all's done, / You look but on a stool" (3.4.66-67)

When the ghost appears again, Macbeth is determined to face it down. He tells it that he dares to do anything a man can do. He would not tremble if the Ghost should take the shape of a terrible beast. "Or be alive again, / And dare me to the desert with thy sword; / If trembling I inhabit then, protest me / The baby of a girl" (3.4.102-105). A "desert" doesn't have to have sand in it; it's just any deserted place where they could be alone and fight man to man. "Protest" means "proclaim," and "if trembling I inhabit" means "if I live inside a trembling body." Macbeth is daring the Ghost to come alive and fight. If it does, and Macbeth shows fear, then it can tell the world that Macbeth is a little doll-baby.

Macbeth's defiance seems to work, because the ghost leaves. Using the word "so" as we do when we say "so much for that," Macbeth expresses his satisfaction and asks his guests to stay seated: "Why, so: being gone, / I am a man again. Pray you, sit still" (3.4.106-107). But then, not realizing that he was the only one who saw the ghost, he tells his guests that he's starting to question himself because "you can behold such sights, / And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, / When mine is blanched with fear" (3.4.113-115). He thinks that anyone would be frightened by such a sight, and he's wondering why he's the only one who feels fear. All of this just creates more

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amazement in his guests, and Lady Macbeth gets them out of the room as quickly as she can, before they can ask too many questions.

Just before Macbeth goes to visit the witches, Hecate orders them to prepare to create illusions that will make Macbeth "spurn fate, scorn death, and bear / His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear" (3.5.30-31). Hecate knows that fear is your friend, and that its opposite is dangerous, for "security / Is mortals' chiefest enemy" (3.5.32-33).

When the witches present the apparitions to Macbeth, it is their intention to lure him into the idea that he has nothing to fear. The first apparition cries "Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; / Beware the thane of Fife" (4.1.71-72). This is exactly what Macbeth was thinking even before he saw the apparition, but the second apparition tells him to "Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.81). Upon hearing this, Macbeth reasons that if "none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth," then he doesn't need to "beware Macduff." "Then live, Macduff," Macbeth says to himself, "what need I fear of thee?" (4.1.82). But in the next breath he changes his tune, saying, "yet I'll make assurance double sure, / And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; / That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies" (4.1.83-85). Macbeth is going to murder Macduff, to make sure that fate keeps its promises. That way he can prove that he's not afraid of either fate or Macduff.

As Macbeth sits in the royal castle awaiting the battle with Malcolm's forces, he tries to persuade himself that he is not afraid. He swears that "Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, / I cannot taint with fear" (5.3.2-3). And he says he's not afraid of Malcolm, either, because Malcolm is a boy who was born of woman. Believing himself protected by the witches' prophecies, Macbeth declares, "The mind I sway by [rule myself by] and the heart I bear / Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear" (5.3.9-10).

Then, when a frightened servant brings news of the approach of an army of ten thousand, Macbeth calls him names, and mocks him, and also says something revealing: "Death of thy soul! those linen cheeks of thine / Are counsellors to fear" (5.3.16-17). A counsellor is someone who gives advice, so "counsellors to fear" would

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tell someone to be afraid. Macbeth feels that the boy's pale cheeks are telling him that he, too, should be afraid, and Macbeth is determined to not feel fear.

At the end of the scene, Macbeth is still telling himself that he is not afraid. He puts on his armor and rushes out, saying "I will not be afraid of death and bane, / Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane" (5.3.59-60).

As the English and Scottish forces approach Dunsinane, Macbeth declares that the castle can withstand any siege, but his boasting is interrupted by "A cry of women within" (5.5.7, s.d.). While Seyton goes to investigate the noise, Macbeth congratulates himself on his own savageness, saying, "I have almost forgot the taste of fears" (5.5.9). There was a time, he says, when such a shriek in the night would have given him the chills and when a story of horror would have made his hair stand on end. But now, "I have supp'd full with horrors; / Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, / Cannot once start [scare] me" (5.5.13-15).

However, when he receives the news that Birnam wood is moving, he seems to feel his courage waning. He says, "I pull in resolution, and begin / To doubt the equivocation of the fiend / That lies like truth" (5.5.42-44). However it's too late for him to do anything but fight on.

When Malcolm's forces attack, Macbeth's soldiers all switch sides as soon as they get a chance, and Macbeth has to fight alone. His only hope is the prophecy of the second apparition, so he says to himself, "What's he / That was not born of woman? Such a one / Am I to fear, or none" (5.7.2-4). At this point Young Siward enters, and asks Macbeth his name. Macbeth tells the boy that he doesn't really want to hear his name, because it will make him afraid. This show of arrogance, however, doesn't cow Young Siward, and they fight. Macbeth kills the boy, and exults in his own invulnerability: "Thou wast born of woman / But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, / Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born" (5.7.11-13).

In the last scene of the play, Macbeth boasts to Macduff, "I bear a charmed life, which must not yield, / To one of woman born" (5.8.12-13). Macduff replies, "Despair thy charm / And let the angel whom thou still hast served / Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (5.8.16-19). Hearing this, Macbeth curses

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Macduff, because what he has said has "cow'd my better part of man" (5.8.18). After this confession of fear, Macbeth curses the fiends who have lied to him and tells Macduff that he won't fight him. Macduff, however, doesn't give him much of a choice. He says, "Then yield thee, coward, / And live to be the show and gaze o' the time" (5.8.23-24). In other words, if Macbeth doesn't fight, he'll be taken captive and paraded around, so that everyone can jeer at the cowardly tyrant. Given this alternative, Macbeth chooses to fight.

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Macbeth and His Relationship with Lady Macbeth

In his letter to his wife about the witches' prophecies, Macbeth writes, "This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee"(1.5.10-13). He knows that his "partner" will like the idea of being Queen and seems to offer the news as a kind of present.

Lady Macbeth does indeed like the idea of being Queen, but she's afraid that her husband is "too full o' the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way" (1.5.17-18). But she's sure she has no such problem, and she's eager for the chance to make him see things her way. Holding the letter, and speaking to Macbeth (even though he hasn't arrived yet) she says, "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," (1.5.25-28). We might say that she's going to nag him, but she believes that she is going to enable him to reach his potential. She will "chastise" (make him ashamed of) everything in him that prevents him from being evil enough to be king.

Shortly, Macbeth arrives. She greets him as "Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! / Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!" (1.5.54-55), and tells him that she feels "The future in the instant" (1.5.58). In other words, she already feels like a queen. Macbeth then says that Duncan is arriving that night, as though he's just telling her the news. However, Lady Macbeth already knows about Duncan's arrival, and Macbeth probably knows that his wife knows, because he's the one who sent the messenger. Given this, it seems likely that he's sounding her out, that he wants to know if she's thinking what he's thinking.

Of course she is. When he says that Duncan will leave "to-morrow," she responds, "O, never / Shall sun that morrow see!" (1.5.60-61). The sun will rise, but not on a tomorrow in which Duncan is alive. She goes on to give him a little advice, which is that "Your face, my thane, is as a book where men / May read strange matters" (1.5.62-63). In other words, he's not a very good hypocrite. Now we use the word "matter" a little differently, and we would say that just by looking at his face, anyone could see that something is the matter with Macbeth. He should, says his wife, "look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't" (1.5.65-66).

Macbeth answers, "We will speak further" (1.5.71), but if he intends to appear noncommittal, he hasn't fooled his wife. She tells him that all he has to do is put on a pleasant face, and "Leave all the rest to me" (1.5.73). With that, the partners in crime hurry out to welcome the King they are going to kill.

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While King Duncan is having supper in Macbeth's castle, Macbeth steps out to think about the plan to kill the King. When Lady Macbeth finds Macbeth, she exclaims, "He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber?" (1.7.29). Then, in order to keep Macbeth committed to the murder plan, she verbally assaults his courage and manhood. She accuses him of being the kind of person who can dream of wearing kingly robes only when he's drunk. She asks sarcastically, "Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dress'd yourself? Hath it slept since?" (1.7.35-36). This is harsh enough, but it gets worse. She says that it appears that the thought of killing the king is making him sick, and "From this time / Such I account thy love" (1.7.38-39). In other words, if he won't follow through on their plan, he doesn't really love her, and he's a coward, no better than the "poor cat i' the adage" (1.7.45), who wants a fish, but doesn't want to get its feet wet.

Macbeth tries to defend himself by saying, "I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none" (1.7.46-47), but Lady Macbeth declares that she's more man than he is:

I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this." (1.7.54-59) After this, it's really all over. Lady Macbeth wins. Macbeth asks what happens if they fail, and his wife scorns the very idea. She will get King Duncan's two attendants drunk, so they won't be able to protect him, and then they'll take the blame for the King's death. Macbeth replies with admiration (or fear?), "Bring forth men-children only; / For thy undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males" (1.7.72-74).]

As she waits for her husband to come with the news that he has murdered King Duncan, Lady Macbeth says to herself, "I laid their daggers ready; / He [Macbeth] could not miss 'em" (2.2.11-12), but she's worried he won't get the job done. Then, after murdering the King, Macbeth comes to her with his hands all covered with blood and carrying the grooms' daggers. Not only that, but he's so unnerved that all he can do is look at his hands and talk about voices that he heard. She tries to be reasonable, saying, "Why, worthy thane, / You do unbend your noble strength, to think / So

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brainsickly of things" (2.2.41-43), but he's paralyzed with horror. Finally, she has to do what he should have done. She takes the daggers from him, carries them back to place them with the grooms, and smears the grooms with the King's blood.

When she returns, Lady Macbeth hears Macbeth talking about his bloody hands, and she comments, "My hands are of your colour; but I shame / To wear a heart so white" (2.2.61-62). She means that her hands are red, too (because she has been busy smearing the King's blood on the grooms), but that she would be ashamed to have a heart as white as Macbeth's. A white heart is white because it has no blood, and the person with a white heart is a coward. As she delivers this insult, we hear the knocking again, and Lady Macbeth takes her husband away, telling him that "A little water clears us of this deed" (2.2.64).

At this point in the play, it appears that Macbeth would be helpless without his wife.

After the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth does all she can protect herself and her husband from suspicion. When Macduff discovers the body of King Duncan and rings the alarm bell, she comes in and calls out: "What's the business, / That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley / The sleepers of the house? speak, speak!" (2.3.81-83). Of course she's only pretending that she doesn't know what's wrong. Later in the scene, just after Macbeth explains why he killed the King's grooms, Lady Macbeth faints, which keeps anyone from actually thinking about Macbeth's explanation.

The first time we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as King and Queen, Macbeth makes point of inviting Banquo to a feast that night. Lady Macbeth chimes in, saying, "If he had been forgotten, / It had been as a gap in our great feast, / And all-thing unbecoming" (3.1.12-13). However, this is her only speech in the scene, and a little later, when Macbeth dismisses everyone so that he can plan the murder of Banquo, Lady Macbeth is dismissed, too.

Without telling his wife a thing about it, Macbeth arranges for the murder of Banquo. In the next scene, Lady Macbeth has a short soliloquy in which she expresses what's weighing on her mind: Nought's had, all's spent, / Where our desire is got without content: / 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy / Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy" (3.2.4-7). Because of the rhyme, her lines sound a bit like proverbial

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folk wisdom such as "a stitch in time saves nine." The first rhyme expresses a common experience, which is that if we get what we want, but aren't happy with it, we really don't have it. The second rhyme deepens the thought by saying that it would be better to be dead than to feel what Lady Macbeth is now feeling. She and her husband destroyed King Duncan, who is now safe from all the world's problems. In contrast, the lady and her husband live in "doubtful joy." In Shakespeare's time the word "doubt" was commonly used to mean "suspicion" or "fear," and the present king and queen live in fear that their guilt will be discovered and punished.

Despite her own depression, Lady Macbeth tries to make her husband cheer up. She asks him why he has been keeping to himself, and why he has been keeping company with his "sorriest fancies" (3.2.9). A "fancy" is a daydream or fantasy; a "sorry" fancy is one that is depressing or frightening. He starts talking about the danger presented by Banquo and Fleance and hints that something will be done. Lady Macbeth asks what's going to be done, but her husband answers, "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the deed" (3.2.46). "Chuck" is a pet name, a variant of "chick." So it seems that now Macbeth has the upper hand in their relationship. He's telling her that she doesn't need to worry herself about anything until it comes time to be his cheerleader.

The night that he has Banquo murdered, Macbeth hosts a banquet for his nobles. Lady Macbeth, who does not know what has happened to Banquo, tries to play the gracious hostess, and says of the guests, "my heart speaks they are welcome" (3.4.8). However, just as she says this, her husband goes to the door and whispers with someone there. (We see that it's the First Murderer, reporting Banquo's death.) This goes on for so long that she has to remind Macbeth that he's neglecting the guests. Then, when Macbeth starts to take a seat among his guests, he suddenly starts reacting and speaking to the empty stool.

Lady Macbeth covers for her husband. She asks everyone to stay seated, and explains that Macbeth is often like this, and has been ever since he was young. He'll recover in a moment, she says, but if they stare at him, it will only make him worse, so they should just eat and pretend that nothing has happened. The guests do as they are told, and Lady Macbeth takes her husband aside. As she did early in the play, Lady Macbeth challenges her husband's manhood. The first thing out of her mouth is the insulting question, "Are you a man?" (3.4.57). Macbeth answers that he's not only man, he's a bold man who can look at things that might frighten the devil. His wife is not impressed. She exclaims sarcastically, "O proper stuff!" Then she tells him that "This is the very painting of your fear: / This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,

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/ Led you to Duncan" (3.4.59-62). She also informs him that he's making such ridiculous faces, that he reminds her of a woman telling a scary story that she heard from her grandmother. His fear is shameful because, "When all's done, / You look but on a stool" (3.4.66-67). This time -- unlike earlier in the play -- Lady Macbeth's scorn seems to have no effect on Macbeth. He calms down only after the Ghost of Banquo leaves and she says (gently?), "My worthy lord, / Your noble friends do lack you" (3.4.82-83).

When Banquo's Ghost reappears to Macbeth, the guests stare and ask questions, so Lady Macbeth gets rid of them by telling them that if they stay they will only make things worse. When they're alone, he hints that he's going to take action against Macduff and that he's going to visit the witches, but she says little. By the end of the scene, she seems to have forgotten her anger against her husband. She says "You lack the season of all natures, sleep" (3.4.140).

In her sleepwalking scene, Lady Macbeth thinks that a spot of King Duncan's blood is on her hand and she tries to wash it off. She also relives other horrors, including her attempt to persuade her husband that Banquo couldn't possibly rise from his grave. As she exits, she imagines that Duncan has just been murdered, and that she is once again taking care of Macbeth. Her last lines in the scene are, "To bed, to bed! there's knocking at the gate: come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone.--To bed, to bed, to bed!" (5.1.66-68).

As he tries to prepare himself for battle with the forces arrayed against him, Macbeth asks the doctor how Lady Macbeth is doing. The doctor replies, "Not so sick, my lord, / As she is troubled with thick coming fancies" (5.3.37-38). (The "fancies" are the things that the lady sees and remembers as she walks in her sleep.) Macbeth replies:

Cure her of that. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart? (5.3.39-45) The "cure her of that" appears to be an order, but the rest of the speech (which may be as much about Macbeth as his wife) seems to indicate that that Macbeth has no real

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hope that she can be cured, and the doctor replies, "Therein the patient / Must minister to himself" (5.3.45-46). This angers Macbeth, and he curses medicine. Then he arms for battle. Apparently he has no more time to worry about his wife.

As the forces under Malcolm approach Macbeth's castle, Macbeth receives the news that "The queen, my lord, is dead" (5.5.16), but that is all he is told. There's nothing about how or why she died, and he doesn't ask. In a show of callousness, he says he doesn't have time for her: "She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word" (5.5.17-18). Thus begins the most famous passage in the play. The rest of the speech is despair masquerading as cynicism:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (5.5.19-28)

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July 5,2008

The Lady Macbeth effect – how physical cleanliness affectsmoral cleanliness

nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2008/07/05/the-lady-macbeth-effect-how-physical-cleanliness-affects-moral-cleanliness

“Out, damn spot! Out I say!” In Macbeth’s fifth act, Lady Macbeth’s role in the treacherousmurder of Duncan takes its toll, and she begins obsessively washing her hands to alleviateher guilty conscience. Now, some four centuries after Shakespeare penned his play,scientists have found that physical and moral cleanliness are just as inextricably linked as hesuggested.

The link between bodily cleanliness and moral purity is evident throughout the world’scultures. Cleansing ceremonies are common in religions. Christians and Sikhs literally washaway their sins through baptism, while the act of wudu sees Muslims prepare for worshipby cleaning their bodies. Our language too reveals hints of an overlap – a ‘clean conscience’is free of guilt, while ‘dirty’ is a word for thieves and traitors.

Chen-Bo Zhong from the University of Toronto and Katie Liljenquist from NorthwesternUniversity have now revealed the strong links between unblemished hands and stain-freehearts in a series of clever psychological experiments.

They asked two groups of people to remember a good or bad deed from their past.Afterwards, the volunteers solved a simple word puzzle by filling in the missing letters inthree incomplete words: W_ _H, SH_ _ER and S_ _P. Remarkably, those who rememberedunethical deeds thought of cleaning-related words, like shower, wash and soap, about 60%more often than other words that could equally have fit, like wish, shaker and step. Thosewho remembered ethical actions showed no such preference.

In another experiment, Zhong and Liljenquist wrongly informed a different group of peoplethat they were taking part in a study investigating links between handwriting andpersonality. They asked each person to copy a first-person short story, where theprotagonist either helped or screwed over a colleague.

Later, the subjects were asked to rate certain household products in terms of desirability.Those who copied selfish stories were much more likely to want cleaning products like Dovesoap and Crest toothpaste compared to those who copied selfless tales. Both groupsshowed equal preferences for random goods like batteries and post-its.

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Clearly, memories of moral indiscretions, even if they are not one’s own, bring thoughts ofcleanliness to the front of the mind. Zhong and Liljenquist believe that physical acts thatreduce our levels of physical disgust have a knock-on effect in making us feel morally purer.After all, physical and moral disgust are very similar, with repulsive smells or commentseliciting the same facial reactions and activating overlapping brain regions.

But does it really work? Does cleansing truly absolve our minds of our sins? In a finalexperiment, the researchers find that, to an extent, it does. People were once again asked todescribe a past wrong and some were allowed to wipe their hands with an antiseptic wipe.They were then asked if they would help out another graduate student by helping to pay fora research study. 74% of those who were not offered the wipe agreed. But many of thosewho wiped their hands also removed their moral stains, and only 41% of them offered help.Physical cleansing effectively halved the chances of future seflessness.

While physical cleanliness clearly goes some way towards restoring moral integrity, it wouldbe foolish to assume that hygiene is a miracle cure for guilt. As Zhong and Liljenquistthemselves admit, “There are surely limits to the absolution afforded by a bar of soap.”

Reference: Zhong, C. (2006). Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and PhysicalCleansing. Science, 313(5792), 1451-1452. DOI: 10.1126/science.1130726

Ed Yong is a science writer and author of the National Geographic blog Not Exactly RocketScience.

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“Tomorrow and Tomorrow” Advanced Placement Literature and Composition

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time: And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle; Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

(Macbeth, Act V, scene v)

Sir William Davenant (1606-1668)

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in a stealing pace from day to day, To the last minute of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools To their eternal homes; out, out, that candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

The second version of this passage is a rewriting of the first. The intention of Sir William Davenant ( a poet of a generation after Shakespeare) was to remove what he considered offenses against “correctness” and “reasonableness.”

Consider: 1. the differences in diction between the two passages.2. the differences in punctuation and their effects on meaning3. the differences in tone and mood between the two4. the literary devices employed by both writers5. does Davenant correct the offenses he found in Shakespeare’s original?6. which passage is more powerful and why?

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Robert Frost

The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood, Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it. And from there those that lifted eyes could count Five mountain ranges one behind the other Under the sunset far into Vermont. And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, As it ran light, or had to bear a load. And nothing happened: day was all but done. Call it a day, I wish they might have said To please the boy by giving him the half hour That a boy counts so much when saved from work. His sister stood beside him in her apron To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw, As if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap - He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand! The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh, As he swung toward them holding up the hand, Half in appeal, but half as if to keep The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all - Since he was old enough to know, big boy Doing a man's work, though a child at heart - He saw all was spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off - The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!" So. The hand was gone already. The doctor put him in the dark of ether. He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. And then - the watcher at his pulse took a fright. No one believed. They listened to his heart. Little - less - nothing! - and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

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