Heaven and Hell






When Ross announces to Macbeth and Banquo that Macbeth has been named Thane of Cawdor, Banquo asks himself, "What, can the devil speak true? (1.3.107). The witches had predicted that Macbeth would be Thane of Cawdor, and they are the mouthpieces of the devil. This is why Banquo warns Macbeth that "to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths" (1.3.124).

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When King Duncan comes to Macbeth's castle, he remarks how sweet the air is. Banquo agrees, and adds:
This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle.   (1.6.3-8)
A "martlet" is a kind of swallow, who is "temple-haunting" because it likes to build its nests high on the walls of tall buildings. ("Haunting" doesn't have any ghostly connotations.) When Lady Macbeth heard that King Duncan was coming for the night, she imagined a raven under her battlements, foretelling the death of the King. Instead, as the King looks up to those battlements, he sees swallows gliding to and fro on the breath of heaven.

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Macbeth says to himself that if he could get away with murdering King Duncan, "We'ld jump the life to come" (1.7.7). He's certain that he would go to hell for murder, but he can solve that problem by not thinking about it. Nevertheless, he talks himself out of doing the murder, only to have his wife talk him back into it.

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"Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key" (2.3.1-3). These are the opening words of the scene in which Macduff discovers King Duncan's bloody corpse. Macbeth's gatekeeper (porter), still feeling the effects of a night of drinking, pretends he is the gatekeeper of hell.

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Later in the same scene, Macduff compares King Duncan's body to a holy temple. In telling everyone of the murder of the King, he says that Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope / The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence / The life o' the building!" (2.3.67-69).

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Still later in the same scene, Macduff calls a meeting to inquire into the murder of King Duncan. He has doubts and fears about the murder, but he says, "In the great hand of God I stand" (2.3.30), meaning that he is under God's protection in his search for the truth.

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It's strangely dark on the morning after the night of King Duncan's murder, and Ross says to an Old Man, "Ah, good father, / Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, / Threaten his bloody stage" (2.4.4-6). The "stage" is this earth, where we humans play out our lives. Because of Duncan's murder, the stage is bloody and the heavens are angry.

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At the end of the same scene the Old Man expresses the hope that men will do right, and that God will bless them. "God's benison go with you; and with those / That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!" (2.4.41).

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In a soliloquy about why he has to kill Banquo, Macbeth complains about the unfairness of the witches' prophecy. If it all comes true, then Macbeth will have done all the work, and Banquo's descendants will get all the rewards, because they will be the future kings. Macbeth will have given his eternal soul to Satan for Banquo's children and grandchildren, "mine eternal jewel / Given to the common enemy of man, / To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!" (3.1.67-69).

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After he has arranged for the murder of Banquo, Macbeth boasts to his wife that a terrible deed will be done before nightfall, or -- in Shakespeare's words -- before "to black Hecate's summons / The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums / Hath rung night's yawning peal" (3.2.41-43). The beetle is "shard-borne" because it flies on scaly wings, and the hum of its flight is "night's yawning peal," the sound of night that tells us that it's time to sleep. But in Macbeth's mind it's also a time for death and black magic, because the beetle is answering the call of Hecate, who dwells in the underworld and is the protectress of witches.

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When the Ghost of Banquo appears at Macbeth's banquet, Macbeth reacts strongly, showing his fear both in words and body language. However, he is the only one who sees the ghost, so the banquet guests are astounded, and Lady Macbeth is angry that her husband is making a fool of himself. She takes him aside and asks, Are you a man?" (3.4.57). He replies, "Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that / Which might appall the devil" (3.4.58-59).

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At the end of the scene in which the Ghost of Banquo comes to Macbeth's banquet, Macbeth tells his wife that he will speak to the witches again. In the next scene Hecate tells the three witches how to prepare for Macbeth's visit. As a reminder that Hecate comes from the underworld, the scene opens with "Thunder (3.5.1, s.d.)," and probably not just distant rumblings, either. Shakespeare's theater company put a lot of effort in to their stage effects, so we should think of this thunder as the crackling, ripping kind that gives us a jolt and reminds us that hell is just next door.

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After he comes to understand that Macbeth is a murderous tyrant, Lennox learns from another Scottish Lord that Macduff has gone to the English court to ask for help. Macduff wants to overthrow Macbeth, so that King Duncan's son, Malcolm, can be King of Scotland. Macduff will ask the English King to "wake Northumberland and warlike Siward: / That, by the help of these--with Him above / To ratify the work--we may again / Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights" (3.6.31-34). The Scottish Lord hopes that Macduff's forces will join with those of Northumberland and Siward, and they will all fight on God's side against the devilish Macbeth.

Lennox shares the Scottish Lord's feeling, and he wishes that "Some holy angel" could "Fly to the court of England and unfold / His [Macduff's] message ere he come, that a swift blessing / May soon return to this our suffering country" (3.6.45-48).

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When Macbeth returns to the witches to learn his fate, he knows he's dealing with agents of hell. After the witches have vanished, Macbeth curses them, saying, "Infected be the air whereon they ride; / And damn'd all those that trust them!" (4.1.138-139). Nevertheless, he acts upon their prophecies.

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In making an appeal for Malcolm's support for a war against Macbeth, Macduff describes the pitiful state of Scotland:
                                 Each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.    (4.3.4-8)
In this passage, the plain meaning of "heaven" is "the sky," but the sky has a face and feelings, so that it echoes back all of the cries of pain that arise from Scotland.

At first, Malcolm is wary of Macduff. He's worried that Macduff may sacrifice him to Macbeth, that Macduff may have the evil "wisdom / To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb / To appease an angry god" (4.3.15-17). The "god" to which Macbeth is compared is not the forgiving God of Christianity, but one of those terrible ancient gods which demanded a blood sacrifice.

After this, Malcolm almost apologizes for his own suspicions. Even though he can't tell that Macduff is a good man just by looking at him, "Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell; / Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, / Yet grace must still look so" (4.3.22-24). The "brightest" angel was Lucifer, who fell and became Satan. But angels are "bright still"; they look good and they are good. So, although "all things foul" want to look good, looking good doesn't mean that you are really evil, because "grace must still look so." Therefore, despite Malcolm's distrust, Macduff may be a good man who is telling the truth. Still, the metaphor emphasizes how difficult it can be to tell the difference between an angel and a devil.

A few moments later, in order to test Macduff's patriotism, Malcolm says that he himself will be a worse king that Macbeth is now. Macduff protests that "Not in the legions / Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd / In evils to top Macbeth" (4.3.55-57), but Malcolm declares that "had I power, I should / Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, / Uproar the universal peace, confound / All unity on earth" (4.3.97-100). Macduff is disgusted, and wonders how such a bad son could come of such good parents. He says, "Thy royal father / Was a most sainted king: the queen that bore thee, / Oftener upon her knees than on her feet, / Died every day she lived" (4.3.108-111). Seeing Macduff's reaction, Malcolm knows that Macduff is a true Scottish patriot and is not a double agent for Macbeth, so he tells the truth about himself. He says that he is not really evil, but he had to be careful, because "Devilish Macbeth / By many of these trains [con games] hath sought to win me / Into his power" (4.3.17-19). Now, however, Malcolm is ready to trust Macduff, and says, "God above / Deal between thee and me!" (4.3.121). Malcolm then goes on to say that he himself is so trustworthy that he "would not betray / The devil" (4.3.128-129), even to another devil.

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After this, an English doctor enters the scene and tells Malcolm and Macduff of the miraculous healing powers of the English King. Sick people come to the King after doctors have given up hope, "but at his touch-- / Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand-- / They presently amend" (4.3.143-145). Malcolm, who has been living in England for a while, confirms what the doctor has just said. The English King certainly has the power to cure from God, though "How he solicits heaven, / Himself best knows" (4.3.149-150). In addition, this king is blessed in other ways: "He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, / And sundry blessings hang about his throne, / That speak him full of grace" (4.3.156-158).

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In the last part of the scene, Ross enters, bringing news from Scotland. When he tells of the slaughter of Macduff's wife and children, Macduff's grief is passionate. At first he asks why heaven did not protect his innocent family, and then decides that God must be punishing him for his sins. He cries out:
                                 Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!    (4.3.223-227)
Following this, Macduff asks heaven to bring him within reach of Macduff. After that, he will do the rest:
                              But, gentle heavens,
Cut short all intermission. Front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;
Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape,
Heaven forgive him too!    (4.3.231-235)
At the end of the scene, Malcolm and Macduff are ready to march, and we feel that there is no chance that heaven will forgive Macbeth.

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As she sleepwalks, Lady Macbeth imagines she sees a spot of King Duncan's blood on her hand. She rubs her hands to try to wash it away, but it won't disappear, and then she hears the bell that she herself rang on the night of King Duncan's murder: "Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!" (5.1.35-36). Perhaps it is the darkness of the night of Duncan's murder which reminds her of the darkness of hell.

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After a very frightened servant delivers the news that the English army is approaching, Macbeth angrily sends him away and calls out: Seyton!--I am sick at heart, / When I behold--Seyton, I say!" (5.3.19-20). When Seyton appears, Macbeth tells him to bring his (Macbeth's) armor. Macbeth also orders Seyton to "Send out more horses; skirr [scour] the country round; / Hang those that talk of fear" (5.3.35-36). Thus it appears that Seyton is a combination of butler and military officer. Seyton doesn't have much character, but his name sounds like "Satan."

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As the forces under Malcolm's command approach Dunsinane, a messenger tells Macbeth he has seen Birnam wood move. Macbeth begins to be afraid, and says that he suspects "the equivocation of the fiend / That lies like truth. 'Fear not, till Birnam wood / Do come to Dunsinane,' and now a wood / Comes toward Dunsinane" (5.5.42-45). It seems as if Macbeth should have suspected as much before, because it is well-known that the fiend is a liar.

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During the final battle, Young Siward finds Macbeth alone and asks his name. Macbeth answers that the boy will be afraid to hear his name, but Young Siward says, "No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name / Than any is in hell" (5.7.6-7). Then Macbeth tells him his name, and Young Siward says "The devil himself could not pronounce a title / More hateful to mine ear," and Macbeth answers, "No, nor more fearful" (5.7.8-9). Thus Macbeth claims to be more frightening that the devil himself, but Young Siward is not afraid, and fights him.

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In the last scene of the play, when Macbeth boasts to Macduff that he cannot be harmed by one of woman born, 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" (5.8.14-16)
. The "angel" to whom Macduff refers is of course an evil angel, a devil. What Macduff has just said makes Macbeth afraid and he promises himself that he will never again believe "these juggling fiends" (5.8.19). But it's too late for such a promise, and Macduff kills him.

Later in the same scene, Ross tells Siward of the death of Young Siward. When the father has confirmed that his son died bravely, he deals with his grief by declaring, "Why then, God's soldier be he! / Had I as many sons as I have hairs, / I would not wish them to a fairer death" (5.8.47-49).

Finally, in the last speech of the play, Malcolm refers to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as "this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen" (5.8.70). Malcolm concludes his speech by promising to right all wrongs "by the grace of Grace" (5.8.73), that is, by the grace of God who gave him the throne of Scotland.

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