Summary: Act 3, scene 4
Onstage stands a table heaped with a feast. Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth enter as king and queen, followed by their court,
whom they bid welcome. As Macbeth walks among the company, the first
murderer appears at the doorway. Macbeth speaks to him for a moment,
learning that Banquo is dead and that Fleance has escaped. The news
of Fleance’s escape angers Macbeth—if only Fleance had died, he
muses, his throne would have been secure. Instead, “the worm that’s
fled / Hath nature that in time will venom breed” (3.4.28–29).
Returning to his guests, Macbeth goes to sit
at the head of the royal table but finds Banquo’s ghost sitting
in his chair. Horror-struck, Macbeth speaks to the ghost, which
is invisible to the rest of the company. Lady Macbeth makes excuses
for her husband, saying that he occasionally has such “visions”
and that the guests should simply ignore his behavior. Then she
speaks to Macbeth, questioning his manhood and urging him to snap
out of his trance. The ghost disappears, and Macbeth recovers, telling
his company: “I have a strange infirmity which is nothing / To those that
know me” (3.4.85–86).
As he offers a toast to company, however, Banquo’s specter reappears
and shocks Macbeth into further reckless outbursts. Continuing to
make excuses for her husband, Lady Macbeth sends the alarmed guests
out of the room as the ghost vanishes again.
Macbeth mutters that “blood will have blood”
and tells Lady Macbeth that he has heard from a servant-spy that
Macduff intends to keep away from court, behavior that verges on
treason (3.4.121). He says that he will
visit the witches again tomorrow in the hopes of learning more about
the future and about who may be plotting against him. He resolves
to do whatever is necessary to keep his throne, declaring: “I am in
blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were
as tedious as go o’er” (3.4.135–137).
Lady Macbeth says that he needs sleep, and they retire to their
bed.
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Act 3, scene 4 →
Summary: Act 3, scene 5
Upon the stormy heath, the witches meet with Hecate, the
goddess of witchcraft. Hecate scolds them for meddling in the business
of Macbeth without consulting her but declares that she will take
over as supervisor of the mischief. She says that when Macbeth comes
the next day, as they know he will, they must summon visions and
spirits whose messages will fill him with a false sense of security
and “draw him on to his confusion” (3.5.29).
Hecate vanishes, and the witches go to prepare their charms.
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Act 3, scene 5 →
Summary: Act 3, scene 6
That night, somewhere in Scotland, Lennox walks with another lord,
discussing what has happened to the kingdom. Banquo’s murder has
been officially blamed on Fleance, who has fled. Nevertheless, both
men suspect Macbeth, whom they call a “tyrant,” in the murders of
Duncan and Banquo. The lord tells Lennox that Macduff has gone to
England, where he will join Malcolm in pleading with England’s King
Edward for aid. News of these plots has prompted Macbeth to prepare
for war. Lennox and the lord express their hope that Malcolm and
Macduff will be successful and that their actions can save Scotland
from Macbeth.
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Act 3, scene 6 →
Analysis: Act 3, scenes 4–6
Throughout Macbeth, as in many of Shakespeare’s
tragedies, the supernatural and the unnatural appear in grotesque
form as harbingers of wickedness, moral corruption, and downfall.
Here, the appearance of Banquo’s silent ghost, the reappearance
of the witches, and the introduction of the goddess Hecate all symbolize the
corruption of Scotland’s political and moral health. In place of the
dramatization of Macbeth’s acts of despotism, Shakespeare uses the
scenes involving supernatural elements to increase the audience’s
sense of foreboding and ill omen. When Macbeth’s political transgressions
are revealed, Scotland’s dire situation immediately registers, because
the transgressions of state have been predicted by the disturbances
in nature. In Macbeth’s moral landscape, loyalty, honor, and virtue
serve either as weak or nonexistent constraints against ambition
and the lust for power. In the physical landscape that surrounds
him, the normal rules of nature serve as weak constraints against
the grotesqueries of the witches and the horrific ghost of Banquo.
