English 382: Shakespeare

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Annotated Table of Contents

Introduction

We discuss the intended audience of our edition and the reasons behind our choices to suit that audience. We touch on the basic themes and characters to prepare the reader for the text to come. The goal is to connect with the reader and give them confidence that we will help them get through the text.

Macbeth

Act I, Scenes 1-3 of edited and annotated text

Reader’s Guide

Context

This section will include a brief biography of William Shakespeare, placing him in the historical context of drama in order to help the reader understand Shakespeare’s place in the literary world. It also discusses Macbeth’s place in this greater literary context as a one of his darkest tragedies.

Themes

This section will include a basic outline of themes and important elements within the text itself, designed to be easy for the reader to access, like a sparknotes guide.

Discussion Questions

This section will include questions designed to connect the reader with specific issues in the text and continue their own critical thinking of the play.

Critical Essays

This section will include several critical essays intended to make the reader’s entry into the world of literary criticism manageable and interesting. They will be clear, yet engaging and insightful for the reader.

“Macbeth, the Murderers, and the Diminishing Parallel” by Joan Hartwig
“Macbeth the Philosopher: Rethinking Context” by Michael Bristol

Simpleton's Introduction (Rough Draft)

Macbeth. One of Shakespeare's better-known plays, it's relatively short and easy to understand. If you haven't read it, here's a short list of what you'll encounter on your first go 'round: prophecies, kings, paranoid Scotsmen, Caesarian sections, and bearded women.

Yes, we're being serious.

Macbeth is the story of a king gone mad, a good man driven to murder by prophecy, paranoia, and ambition. As dense as the text can sometimes be with esoteric references to ancient and obscure events places, and persons, we've done our best to clarify Macbeth without compromising the original text, making it easier for the modern reader to understand. In this edition, we've compiled a collection of essays intended to explain and help expand the basic reader's understanding of the text, in addition to an annotated version of the text intended to familiarize readers with the meanings and contexts of archaic terms.

Throughout it all we'll be taking a look at the themes present in the play, the pathological and moral degradation of Macbeth, the role that Lady Macbeth plays in the carnage that follows. We'll show you the difference between Macduff and Macdonwald and Macbeth; what not to do when planning a total coup; we'll help you understand what martlets and jutties and coigns and limbecs are. In the end, it's our intent that you'll have a much better understanding of Macbeth than you did when you started.

Macbeth

Act 1 Scene 1

1^st witch

When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

2^nd witch

When the Hurley-burley’s done,

When the battle’s lost and won.

3^rd witch

That will be ere the set of the Sun.

1^st witch

Where the place?

2^nd witch

Upon the Heath

3^rd witch

There to meet with Macbeth.

1^st witch

I come, Gray-Malkin.¹

2^nd witch

Paddock² calls.

3^rd witch

Anon;

All

Fair is foul, and foul is fair,

Hover through the fog and filthy air. Exeunt.

Act 1 Scene 2

Alarum within. Enter King, Malcom, Donalbaine, Lenox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

King

What bloody man is that? He can report,

As seemeth by his plight, of the Revolt

The newest state.

Malcolm

This is the Sergeant,

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought

‘Gainst my captivity: Hail brave friend!

Say to the King, the knowledge of the broil

As thou didst lead it.

1: Gray-Malkin: A “familiar,” or spirit, that serves the witches in the form of a grey cat

2: Paddock: A “familiar,” or spirit, that serves the witches in the form of a toad.

Captain

Doubtful it stood,

As two spent swimmers that do cling together

And choke their art; the merciless Macdonwald

(Worthy to be a rebel, for to that

The multiplying villainies of nature

Do swarm upon him) from the Western Isles¹

Of kearns and gallowglasses² is supplied.

And Fortune, on his damned quarry (quarrel) smiling,

Showed like a rebel’s whore: But all’s too weak.

For brave Macbeth (Well he deserves that name)

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

Which smoked with bloody execution

Like valor’s minion³ carved out his passage

Till he faced the slave,

Which never (ne’er) shook hands nor bade farewell to him,

Till he unseemed him from the nave to the chops⁴

And fixed his head upon our Battlements.

King

O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman.

Captain

As whence the Sun ‘gins his reflection,

Shipwracking storms, and direful thunders;

So from that spring, whence comfort seem’d to come,

Discomfort swells: Mark, King of Scotland, mark,

No sooner Justice had, with Valor arm’d,

Compell’d these skipping Kernes to trust their heels,

But the Norweigan Lord, surveying vantage⁵,

With furbished Arms, and new supplies of men,

Began a fresh assault.

King

Dismay’d not this our Captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Captain

Yes, as sparrows, eagles,

Or the hare, the lion:

If I say sooth, I must report they were

As cannons over-charg’d with double cracks⁶,

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the Foe:

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

1: Western Isles: the Hebrides and Ireland

2: Kearns and gallowglasses: Irish mercenary soldiers

3: minion: darling

4: nave to the chops: navel to the jaw

5: surveying vantage: seeing an opportunity

6: cracks: explosives

Or memorize another Golgotha¹,

I cannot tell: but I am faint,

My gashes cry for help.

King

So well thy words become thee as thy wounds.

They smack of Honor both: Go get him surgeons.

Exit Captain

Enter Ross and Angus

Who comes here?

Malcolm

The worthy Thane² of Ross.

Lenox

What a haste looks through his eyes!

So should he look, that seems to speak things strange.

Ross

God save the King.

King.

Whence cam’st thou, worthy Thane?

Ross

From Fife, great King,

Where the Norwegian Banners float the sky,

And fan our people cold.

Norway himself³, with terrible numbers,

Afflicted by that most disloyal Traitor,

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,

Till that Bellona’s⁴ Bridegroom, lapped in proof⁵,

Confronted him with self-comparisons,

Point against Point, rebellious Arm ‘gainst Arm,

Curbing his lavish spirit: and to conclude,

The victory fell on us.

King

Great happiness.

Ross

That now

Sweno the Norways’ King, craves composition⁶:

Nor would we deign him burial of his men,

Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme’s Inch,

Ten thousand dollars, to our general use.

1: memorize another Golgotha: make as memorable as Golgotha, or Calvary, the site of Christ’s crucifixion

2: Thane: a Scottish lord

3: Norway himself: the king of Norway

4: Bellona’s bridegroom: Bellona is the Ancient Roman goddess of war; this phrase refers to Macbeth

5: lapped in proof: wearing strong (or proven) armor, protected by a lot of experience

6: composition: terms of surrender

King

No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive

Our bosom interest: Go pronounce his present death,

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

Ross

I’ll see it done.

King

What he hath lost, Noble Macbeth hath won.

Exeunt.

Act 1 Scene 3

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

1^st witch

Where hast thou been, Sister?

2^nd witch

Killing swine.

3^rd witch

Sister, where thou?

1^st witch

A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,

And munched, and munched, and munched:

“Give me,” quoth I.

“Aroint thee¹, Witch!” the rump-fed runnion² cries.

Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, Master o’ th’ Tiger:

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,

And like a rat without a tail,

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.

2^nd witch

I’ll give thee a wind.

1^st witch

Th’art kind.

3^rd witch

And I another.

1^st witch

I myself have all the other,

And the very ports they blow,

All the quarters that they know,

I’ th’ Shipman’s Card.

I’ll drown him dry as hay:

Sleep shall neither night nor day

Hang upon his penthouse lid³:

1: Aroint thee: get thee hence

2: rump-fed runnion: fat slut

3: penthouse lid: eyelid

He shall live a man forbid:

Weary sev’nights, nine times nine,

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:

Though his bark cannot be lost,

Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.

Look what I have.

2^nd witch

Show me, show me.

1^st witch

Here I have a Pilot’s Thumb,

Wracked, as homeward he did come. Drum within.

3^rd witch

A Drum, a Drum:

Macbeth doth come.

All.

The weird Sisters¹, hand in hand,

Posters² of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about,

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

And thrice again, to make up nine.

Peace, the Charm’s wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo.

Macbeth

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Banquo

How far is’t call’d to Soris? What are these,

So wither’d, and so wild in their attire,

That look not like th’Inhabitants o’ th’Earth,

And yet are on’t? Live you, or are you aught

That man may question? You seem to understand me,

By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips; you should be women,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Macbeth

Speak if you can: what are you?

1^st witch

All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis.

2^nd witch

All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor.

1: weird Sisters: sisters of fate; prophecy-givers

2: Posters: Fast travelers

3^rd witch

All hail Macbeth, that shall be King hereafter.

Banquo

Good Sir, why do you start and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair? I’ th’ name of truth

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My Noble partner

You greet with present grace, and great prediction

Of Noble having, and of Royal hope,

That he seems rapt withal¹: to me you speak not.

If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say, which grain will grow, and which will not,

Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear

Your favors, nor your hate.

1^st witch

Hail!

2^nd witch

Hail!

3^rd witch

Hail!

1^st witch

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

2^nd witch

Not so happy, yet much happier.

3^rd witch

Thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none:

So all hail Macbeth, and Banquo.

1^st witch

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail.

Macbeth

Say you imperfect speakers, tell me more:

By Finell’s² death, I know, I am Thane of Glamis,

But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives

A prosperous Gentleman: And to be King

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence

You owe this strange intelligence, or why

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way

With such Prophetic greeting?

Speak, I charge you, Witches vanish.

1: rapt withal: intrigued

2: Finnell: Macbeth’s father

Banquo

The Earth hath bubbles, as the Water has,

And these are of them: whither are they vanish’d?

Macbeth

Into the Air: and what seem’d corporal,

Melted, as breath into the wind.

Would they had stay’d.

Banquo

Were such things here, as we do speak about?

Or have we eaten on the insane root¹,

That takes the reason prison?

Macbeth

Your children shall be kings.

Banquo

You shall be King.

Macbeth

And Thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?

Banquo

To th’self-same tune, and words: who’s here?

Enter Ross and Angus.

Ross

The King hath happily reciev’d, Macbeth,

The news of they success: and when he reads

Thy personal venture in the Rebels fight,

His wonders and his praises do contend,

Which should be thine or his: silenc’d with that,

In viewing o’re the rest o’th’self-same day,

He finds thee in the stout Norwegian ranks,

Nothing afeard of what thy self didst make

Strange images of death, as thick as tale²

Can post with post³, and every one did bear.

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense,

And poured them down before him.

Angus

We are sent,

To give thee from our Royal Master thanks,

Only to harold thee into his sight,

Not pay thee.

1: insane root: an herb that causes insanity

2: thick as tale: as fast as they can be counted

3: post with post: messenger after messenger

Ross

And for an earnest of a greater Honor,

He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor:

In which addition¹, hail most worthy Thane,

For it is thine.

Banquo

What, can the Devil speak true?

Macbeth

The Thane of Cawdor lives:

Why do you dress me in borrowed Robes?

Angus

Who was the Thane, lives yet,

But under heavy judgment bears that life,

Which he deserves to lose.

Whether he was combin’d with those of Norway,

Or did line the Rebel with hidden help,

And vantage²; or that with both he labor’d

In his Country’s wrack, I know not:

But Treasons Capital, confess’d and prov’d,

Have overthrown him.

Macbeth

[aside]

Glamis, and Thayne of Cawdor:

The greatest is behind³.

[To Ross and Angus]

Thanks for your pains.

[To Banquo]

Do you not hope your Children shall be Kings,

When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me,

Promis’d no less to them.

Banquo

That trusted home,

Might yet enkindle you unto the Crown,

Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange:

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,

The Instruments of Darkness tell us Truths,

Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s

In deepest consequence.

Cousins⁴, a word, I pray you.

1: addition: title

2: vantage: assistance

3: behind: yet to come

4: Cousins: fellow lords

Macbeth

Two Truths are told,

As happy prologues to the swelling act

Of the Imperial Theme. I thank you Gentleman:

This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill; cannot be good.

If ill? Why hath it given me earnest of success,

Commencing in a Truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.

If good? Why do I yield to that suggestion,

Whose horrid Image doth unfix my hair,

And make my feared heart knock at my ribs,

Against the use¹ of nature? Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings:

My thought, whose Murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakes to my single state of Man,

That function is smother’d in surmise,

And nothing but what is not.

Banquo

Look how our partner’s rapt.

Macbeth

If Chance will have me King,

Why Chance may crown me,

Without my stir.

Banquo

Now Honors come upon him

Like our strange² garments, cleave not to their mold,

But with the aid of use.

Macbeth

Come what come may,

Time and the hour, runs through the roughest day².

Banquo

Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

Macbeth

Give me your favor;

My dull brain was wrought with things forgotten.

Kind gentlemen, your pains are registered,

Where every day I turn the leaf,

To read them.

1: use: normal habit

2: strange: new

[To Banquo]

Let us toward the King: think upon

What hath chanc’d: and at more time,

The Interim having weigh’d it let us speak

Our free Hearts each to other.

Banquo

Very gladly.

Macbeth

Till then enough.

Come friends.

Exeunt.

Critical Essays

(Amy) "Macbeth, the Murderers, and the Diminishing Parallel" by Joan Hartwig

This article discusses in particular the scene in which Macbeth hires the murderers to kill Banquo, and argues that the purpose of this scene is to shape the reader's view of Macbeth as a character and the play as a whole. Hartwig explains that Macbeth’s murder of Duncan had no real purpose except ambition; she thinks that this affected Macbeth’s murder order for Banquo in that he wanted it to have a larger and more meaningful purpose, which is why he comes up with lies against Banquo to tell the hired murderers. Hartwig also argues that the shallowness and indifference of the murderers highlights the complex feeling, passion, and morals going on within Macbeth, which helps readers to better understand and sympathize with his character.

In our edition intended for high school seniors or college freshman, I think that this article would be fairly well placed. While it does mention other Shakespeare plays such as Othello and Hamlet, it primarily discusses issues within the play itself. I think that our audience could find this article interesting, and I believe it could help them understand the play at a deeper, but still understandable, level. I also think that this article could be a good introduction to the critical conversation going on around Macbeth in the academic world.

(Mossy) "Macbeth the Philosopher: Rethinking Context" by Michael Bristol

This essay covers a number of topics, ranging from the necessity of context to understanding a text, to analysis of the text itself, in a void absent of historicist or contextual leanings. As useful as it may be to the initiated reader, it is the last third of this article, the analysis of Macbeth's emotions, pathology, and potential motivations, that will be most relevant to the plebeian reader. The analysis is by no means a definitive one, but it does not rely heavily on such texts or concepts as only English majors would be familiar with. This does not mean that the analysis is handed to the reader; they still have to work through and sort through the implications and connections on their own, but does so in such a manner as to still be accessible. As this edition is intended for high school seniors/college freshmen, the analysis section of this essay will provide a natural progression into the more advanced tiers of higher literature and analysis, without shoving them too hard into an amalgamation of terms and references that they have not encountered nor practiced yet.

English 382: Shakespeare

Friday, April 11, 2014

Our Final Edition

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Final Point 7

Monday, March 17, 2014

Final Point 5: Our Protoype Edition

Link to PDF

Annotated Table of Contents

Critical Essays

(Mossy) "Macbeth the Philosopher: Rethinking Context" by Michael Bristol

Friday, February 28, 2014

Final Point 4