Macbeth

1. Macbeth Act 5 Scenes 1-3 24:30- 40:05

2. Act 5 Scene 1 • Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting-Gentlewoman: • As the scene opens, the doctor is complaining "I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive no truth in your report" (5.1.1-2). • To "watch" means to stay up at night, which the doctor has done, but without seeing anything. He then asks, ""When was it she last walked? (5.1.2). • The gentlewoman insists that ever "Since his majesty went into the field" (5.1.3), "she" has often risen from her bed, gone through the motions of writing a letter and preparing it to be sent, then returned to bed, all while fast asleep. • That Macbeth "went into the field" means that he is with his army, so perhaps Lady Macbeth is dreaming that she is writing to her husband.

3. Act 5 Scene 1 cont’d • The doctor comments that there must be something seriously wrong, and that the sleepwalking will only make it worse, then he asks what the lady has said. The gentlewoman refuses to tell. • At this point Lady Macbeth enters, carrying a candle, and we soon learn why her gentlewoman is afraid to repeat what she has heard. • In her sleep, Lady Macbeth relives the crimes that she has helped Macbeth to commit. • First she rubs her hands as though washing them. The gentlewoman explains that she has seen the lady do this for as much as fifteen minutes at a time.

4. Act 5 Scene 1 cont’d • She asks, "The thane of Fife [Macduff] had a wife: where is she now?" (5.1.42-43), and then she wonders if her hands will ever be clean. • Meanwhile, the doctor is beginning to understand the implications of Lady Macbeth's ravings, and it makes him very nervous. • The doctor realizes that there's not much doubt about the meaning of what Lady Macbeth has said, but there's also not much he can do. • It's her soul that is sick, not her body, and "More needs she the divine than the physician" (5.1.74).

5. Act 5 Scene 2 • Drum and colours. Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, and Soldiers: • The sense of Macbeth's certain doom dominates this short scene. First we hear and see "Drum and colours " (5.2.1, s.d.), then the leaders of the Scottish forces and their soldiers following. • We learn that they are to join with the much larger English force in Birnam wood, which fronts Macbeth's castle.

6. Act 5 Scene 2 cont’d • Lennox was at Macbeth's banquet and at the door the witches' cave when Macbeth visited them. • The other two who speak are Menteith and Caithness, whom we have never seen before.

7. Act 5 Scene 2 cont’d • Menteith says of Malcolm and Macduff, "Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes / Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm / Excite the mortified man" (5.2.3-5). • Their "dear causes" are their motivations -- Macbeth's murder of Malcolm's father and of Macduff's wife and children. • Mentiethis saying even a man who was half-dead would rush into the most bloody battle if that man had the reasons to fight that Malcolm and Macduff have.

8. Act 5 Scene 2 cont’d • Angus comments that every minute Macbeth faces a new revolt, all reminding him that he has breached his faith as King Duncan's subject and Banquo's friend and king: "Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach; / Those he commands move only in command, / Nothing in love" (5.2.18-20). • In fact, he is not even in command of his own senses. Because of his guilt, he must think that everyone and everything is out to get him. • Their "dear causes" are their motivations -- Macbeth's murder of Malcolm's father and of Macduff's wife and children.

9. Act 5 Scene 3 • In the previous scene we heard of Macbeth's desperation; in this scene we see it. • As king, Macbeth would have few soldiers of his own. To make up an army he would call upon his thanes to bring their soldiers to the support of Scotland, but none of his thanes are answering his call. • They are either avoiding him or -- as we have seen from the previous scene -- joining the forces which are marching against him.

10. Act 5 Scene 3 cont’d • In a blustery speech, Macbeth tells everyone (and himself) that he has nothing to fear. Only when Birnam wood comes to the royal castle, Dunsinane, will he have the least reason to be afraid. • As for Malcolm, he's 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). • Despite this declaration of his courage, we can see his desperation.

11. Act 5 Scene 3 cont’d • As soon as the servant is able to deliver the news that an English army of ten thousand is approaching, Macbeth sends him away and calls for Seyton. • Seyton is apparently a kind of butler, or perhaps an officer in Macbeth's non-existent army. • In any case, it takes a while for him to appear.

12. Act 5 Scene 3 cont’d • Having acknowledged the possibility that he could lose, Macbeth tries to find a way to accept defeat. In a famous passage, Macbeth tells himself that his life is not worth living: • I have lived long enough: my way of lifeIs fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;And that which should accompany old age,As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,I must not look to have; but, in their stead,Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. (5.3.22-28)

13. Act 5 Scene 3 cont’d • Seyton appears, and Macbeth asks him for news, but the only news is what has already been reported. • Seyton tells him that there's no need for the armor just yet, but Macbeth insists. • While Seyton is getting the armor, Macbeth asks the doctor about his patient, Lady Macbeth. • Now Macbeth has no more time for talk. He doesn't have all of his armor on, but he tells Seyton to send the rest of it after him, and rushes out, saying "I will not be afraid of death and bane, / Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane" (5.3.59-60).