Notes on the notes:

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<<     4  a farmer, that hang'd himself on th' expectation of plenty  (The farmer had hoarded his crop, hoping that when a famine came, he would be able to extort high prices from desperate people.)

<<     5  Come in time!  you have come at a good time!

<<     6  Have napkins enow about you  be sure to carry plenty of handkerchiefs (The farmer, being tortured by the fires of hell, is going to have to mop the sweat off his brow.)

<<     8  equivocator  someone who makes a equivocal statement, meant to deceive the hearer (For the historical background of "equivocator" see the Macbeth Navigator page on equivocation.)

<<     9  swear in both the scales against either scale  i.e., hypocritically vow support for both sides in a controversy (The metaphor refers to the type of scales often used as a symbol of justice. Each side of the scales has a scale—a pan to hold either the weights or the material to be weighed. <image>)
     who committed treason enough for God's sake (This may be an allusion to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. A group of Catholics, intending to return England to Catholic rule, plotted to blow up parliament as the King was addressing it. The plotters including Father Garnet, the Jesuit author of a pamphlet in defense of equivocation.)

<<    13  an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a French hose  (Some types of French hose—we would call the garment "breeches"—were very baggy; a dishonest tailor might try to steal some of the cloth supplied to him and produce hose that was only baggy instead of extra-baggy.)

<<    15  roast your goose  (A "tailor's goose" is a type of pressing iron, and "his goose is cooked" is slang for "he's done for.")

<<    20  I pray you, remember the porter  (This is a request for a gratuity.)

<<    24  the second cock  i.e., three a.m.

<<    28  Marry  indeed
      nose-painting  reddening of the nose through drink

<<    34  stand to  have an erection

<<    35  equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him  deceives him in a dream and telling him that he is a liar, abandons him (Note that the "him" is still "lechery." Drink, having provoked lechery and taken away lechery's ability to perform, makes lechery dream that he can perform, but also tells him it's all a lie.)

<<    37  I believe drink gave thee the lie last night  (To "give the lie" to someone was to call that person a liar, but Macduff probably also means that drinking knocked the porter out, making him lie down to sleep, thus making it hard for him to get up and open the gate.)

<<    38  i' the very throat on me  in my own throat (To "give the lie in the throat" was particularly insulting; we would say "tell him he's a liar to his face.")
      requited him  paid him back

<<    40  though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him  though he put me off balance a few times, I found a trick to throw him (The porter is using terms from the sport of wrestling. Also, he is probably joking that although drinking made him unsteady on his feet, he solved the problem by throwing up.)

<<    46  timely  early

<<    47  slipp'd  let slip

<<    50  physics pain  takes away the pain

<<    52  limited service  appointed duty

<<    58  combustion  tumult

<<    59  obscure bird  bird of darkness, i.e., the owl (The owl was thought to be a prophet of death and destruction.)

<<    61  Was feverous and did shake  had a fever and shook [with chills]

<<    62  My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it  my young memory cannot recall anything like it

<<    66  Confusion  chaotic destruction, utter ruin

<<    67  ope  open

<<    72  Gorgon  monster whose look turns the beholder into stone (The Gorgon is a figure of Greek mythology, with a hideously disfigured human face. The most well-known Gorgon is Medusa, who has snakes for hair.)

<<    78  The great doom's image  exact image of Doomsday

<<    79  walk like sprites, / To countenance this horror  walk like ghosts in keeping with the sight of this horror

<<    85  repetition  report, telling

<<    86  Would murder as it fell  would murder the instant it was heard

<<    91  chance  stroke of fate

<<    93  serious in mortality  worthwhile in human life

<<    94  toys  trifles

<<    95  drawn  emptied out

<<    96  this vault  i.e., this world (The world, with the vaulted sky as its roof, is metaphorically represented as an empty wine-vault.)

<<   102  badged  marked with large spots that look like badges

<<   110  expedition  haste
      violent passionate

<<   111  Outrun outran
      pauser that which makes us pause and consider

<<   112  golden blood (Blood was often referred to as golden, and gold as red.)

<<   113  a breach in nature a hole in all that sustains all life

<<   114  wasteful wantonly destructive

<<   116  Unmannerly breech'd with gore rudely clothed in gore (The bloody gore is imagined as a pair of sloppy breeches on the blades of the daggers. (Cleanth Brooks authored a famous study of this image; use this link to view a review of his article.)

<<   120  argument topic, reason [for expressing horror and grief] (Malcolm asks his brother why everyone else is making more noise about King Duncan's murder than they are; he may be implying that Macbeth's speech and Lady Macbeth's fainting are suspiciously melodramatic.)

<<   122  auger-hole (An auger is a drill. An "auger-hole" is a hole made by an auger, and also, metaphorically, a tiny hiding-place.)

<<   124  brew'd i.e., ready to spring forth
      our strong sorrow / Upon the foot of motion our strong sorrow converted into action [to avenge our father's death]

<<   126  when we have our naked frailties hid, / That suffer in exposure when we have clothed our weak bodies, which suffer from being exposed [to the cold] (Apparently everyone except Macduff and Lennox are wearing only nightclothes. Although people in Shakespeare's time did sleep in the nude, it seems unlikely that the actors were literally "naked.")

<<   128  question discuss

<<   129  Fears and scruples shake us fears and doubts unsettle us

<<   130  In the great hand of God I stand; and thence / Against the undivulged pretence I fight / Of treasonous malice under the protection of God I stand, and from there I [will] fight against the secret plot of [whoever had] treasonous enmity [against the dead king]

<<   132  So all ("All" do not say "So all" in unison; that would be silly. There's a general hubbub of agreement with Banquo's proposal to get dressed and talk the matter over. One character sums up the hubbub by saying "So all," i.e., "we all agree.")

<<   133  Let's briefly put on manly readiness let's quickly put on manly clothes [and adopt manly attitudes, suitable for discussing this important matter]

<<   135  consort with keep company with

<<   136  office task

<<   140  the near in blood, / The nearer bloody the nearer in bloodline [anyone is to King Duncan], the nearer they are to being murdered

<<   142  lighted finished its course

<<   144  dainty of leave-taking particular about saying goodbye

<<   144  dainty of leave-taking particular about saying goodbye

<<   145  shift away stealthily disappear
      warrant justification