Macbeth IOC script-ACT 1 SCENE 5 (commentary style)

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 IOC script

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, vengeance, super nature and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland.

Before Act 1 Scene 5, Macbeth defeated the traitors and invaders who threaten King Duncan’s Kingship. After the battle he meets three witches along with his best friend Banquo, the witches gives Macbeth the prophecies that he will be the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the king. King Duncan decides to reward Macbeth’s service by entitle him as the Thane of Cawdor, which makes Macbeth start to believe these prophecies. He thereafter writes a letter to lady Macbeth to explain what has happened, which leads her actions in Act 1, Scene 5.

At the start of the scene, lady Macbeth confesses her ambition to overtake the Kingship but fears that Macbeth’s loyalty will stop the plan.The line “yet do I fear thy nature” confirms that she’s worried of Macbeth’s kindness will stop him from the murder. “Yet” and the caesura at the front also help to reveal the change of lady Macbeth’s mind. Considering this is the first time Lady Macbeth appears on the stage, her uncommon features which contradicts to the typical image of an ideal woman serve as a shocking factor to the audiences, and hence they will start suspecting lady Macbeth’s behaviour, which increases their overall interest to the play in an direct way. Moreover, her contradictory characteristics add dramatic elements to the play. The imagery (?) “milk of human kindness” visualises the inheritance of humanity through the generations, moreover, it shows the audiences Macbeth’s other personalities such as kind and loyal apart from being a brave warrior. One of the main conflict of the play “Macbeth’s guilty conscience battles against his faulty ambition” is implied and settled. The metaphor “catch the nearest way” brings out the idea of “murder the king” to the audiences. We know that during Shakespearean’s era, Great Chain of Being is one of the fundamental principles of society and murdering the king is regarded as the sin against God, however, lady Macbeth tries to fulfil her ambition by breaking the Great Chain of Being, which shows the ruthlessness and burning ambition within the character. Her in lack of human nature even makes the audience to suspect whether she's the fourth witch or not. The metaphor “golden round” might refer to the crown in lady Macbeth’s speech, she actually makes the direct reference to what she wants to do, foreshadowing what might happen in the future, which brings up the murder scene naturally.

Shakespeare uses conditions “wouldst” a lot in the first part of lady Macbeth’s speech. “Wouldst” is a second condition which suggests what is going to happen in the future. The repetition of “s” sounds in this word makes it hard to say, which brings up a sense of uncomfortableness to the audience. This unnatural flow of sounds could probably refer to some supernatural characteristics within lady Macbeth, which is signified by the line “pour my spirits in thine ear.” This is a very strong imagery which links to supernatural power and even witchcraft. Lady Macbeth wants to manipulate Macbeth to accomplish her mission, her dominance in their relationship serves as a shocking factor to audiences’ stereotype, which helps to shape her unique personality in the play. The “spirit” imagery links to lady Macbeth’s “conjuring up the spirits” act later in this scene. 

By the time lady Macbeth realises that King Duncan is coming tonight, she immediately calls it “great news” in front of the messenger because it is their honour to host the king and the nobles. However, she might refer to the great opportunity to carry out the murder in their own castle. The ambiguity with the words helps to add more tense and dramatic effects to the play. On the following speech, lady Macbeth emphasises the feature of supernatural elements in the play with the help of dark imageries. “Raven” symbolises death, gloom and grief, which might foreshadow King Duncan’s death. “Raven” links to witchcraft sometimes so we can argue that lady Macbeth is actually seeking for three witch’s help to accomplish the mission. The powerful imagery of raven reflects to the dark side of her personality. She also asks the ‘spirits” to “unsex’ her, which means taking the feminine nature away from her. This line shows that lady Macbeth is really determined to get what she desires and would pay any price to do it. She prays that she could be strong like a warrior persuade Macbeth to do the “deed”. Her conjuring becomes even more powerful when she wants the spirits to “make thick of my blood” and “take my milk for gall’. The first imagery suggests that she wants to transfer from a human to a strong creature that can’t be controlled by the “kindness of human nature”. She prays that she could plug up any feelings of conscience and remorse because these are the major obstacles to prevent Macbeth and her “done the deed”. The second request seems to be darker. “Gall” is a type of poison which kills people instantly and lady Macbeth wants it to replace the milk in her breast. The use of juxtaposition brings out two contradictory objects “milk” and “gall” to emphasise Lady Macbeth’s relentlessness and her in lack of human nature. Moreover, the imagery of milk can be linked to the quote “milk of human kindness” which Lady Macbeth suggests in previous, which shows that she completely disregards the inherited “human kindness’, she is driven by her faulty ambitions. Lady Macbeth’s characteristics can be read as a tragedy in morality and Shakespeare uses her as an example to warn the audiences how does the false desire transfer a person. The alliteration “murdering ministers” shows that she wants the most evil things to help her get the job done, which shows how relentless she is. The “m” sound within the words brings up a sense of conjuring and cursing to the audiences, which builds up a gloomy, dark but intense atmosphere.

The major purpose of this scene in the play is to establish Lady Macbeth’s figure and to bring out the idea of “the murder”. The scene acts a bridge to link the previous story and the future events in the play, the audiences will have a more clear understanding of the characters and the story itself.