The scene commences with Macbeth's soliloquy, 'If it were done when 'tis done....' which shows how he is divided between immoral ambition and moral scruples. Macbeth examines the pros and cons of Duncan's murder and admits that the ghastly 'deed' would be a breach of 'double trust': one of kinship and loyalty & the other of hospitality. Duncan being 'meek' and 'clear in his great office', his killing would force the killer into a state of moral isolation and inescapable retribution.
As Lady Macbeth enters to accuse her husband of having left the company of the king, Macbeth tells her--'We will proceed no further in this business', for he doesn't want to betray Duncan and also doesn't want to be fallen in public esteem. Lady Macbeth now assumes her chastising role, taunting and remonstrating her husband:
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since,
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale....
She calls Macbeth a coward which he is surely not, but her sarcasm that Macbeth is like 'the poor cat i' the adage' sounds very pinching. What follows betrays a strained violence of language:
I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
The scene ends with Macbeth's counter-sarcasm at her so cruelly disposed wife--'Bring forth men-children only...' . Macbeth declares to comply with the murder-blueprint as worked out by Lady Macbeth.
No comments:
Post a Comment