Act four, Macbeth

Act four in my opinion is the epitome of the gothic in Macbeth; the act begins with the witches gathered around their cauldron chanting some kind of spell ‘round about the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw…’. The first scene is rich with similar gothic imagery ‘baboon’s blood’, emphasising the gothic role of the witches, which is to remind the audience/reader of the reality of evil or unnatural things in the play. It is in this scene which we see clearly how far Macbeth has transgressed from the beginning of the play, Macbeth goes to the witches to seek their advice and prophecies, yet separates himself from them, calling them ‘secret, black and midnight hags’. At this point Macbeth has gone to the dark side as it were, yet refuses to admit this to himself, this is evident in the way he distances himself from the witches (the embodiment of evil in the play) and also in an earlier act when he personifies ‘wither’d Murder’, to distance himself from the act of the murder of the King.

The idea of control is central to the witches in the play; they are quite clearly in control of Macbeth, evident in the fact that what they say to him he acts upon, with no real sufficient evidence or source to what they are prophesying and they create this illusion of control given to Macbeth, ‘speak, demand, we’ll answer’, which he falls for and believes he is in control of the witches, ‘call ‘em. Let me see ‘em’. Here Macbeth believes he is in complete control and takes it upon himself to command the witches, and when dissatisfied adopts the witches behaviour ‘an eternal curse fall on you!’. This also emphasises the change in Macbeth, in the sense that he has become like the witches.

The hierarchy of power and control is also represented in the presence of Hecat in Act four, up to this point in the play, the audience are also under the illusion that the witches are the highest source of power, and then we are introduced to Hecat, the goddess of witches, who administrates her power and approval over the witches ‘O well done! I commend your pains’. The presence of Hecat in this scene alludes to the idea of destiny within they play, that there is a force working against all of the characters in the play that we have been led to believe hold power, for example the witches and even Lady Macbeth, this force is destiny, which is reinforced frequently by the witches predictions. Macbeth however works in vain against destiny, highlighting how unnatural and evil he has become (as he fights against the destiny of Macduff- by killing his family)

Scene 2 also emphasises this change within Macbeth, as we are once again shown the murder of more innocent characters, in this sense Macduff’s wife and son. Macduff’s son in particular represents the innocence of lack thereof within the play, his innocent questioning ‘what is a traitor?’ highlights the extent of the evil deed Macbeth is about to commit. Moreover the son is wise, despite his naivety and innocence, he comments in that innocent child-like way on the simplicity of the problem of good and evil, ‘then the liars and swearers are fools; for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang them up’. Here he is saying that the traitors are stupid as there are so many in the world that they outnumber honest men and can triumph over them. It is ironic that he comments on this, as it is the way the play seems to be going at this moment, that evil is in fact triumphing over good, as Banquo is dead and the ‘light’ has been extinguished. (Light symbolising good)

* bird reference again ‘whither should I fly?’ – Innocence of son and fleance.

* references to evil character of Macbeth - emphasises his change. 'black Macbeth' 'shag haired villain' 'horrid hell'

- everyone aware of the true nature of Macbeth.

*ADDED NOTES:

in relation to the development of his evil character, he kills Macduff's family, for no political or personal gain but for the want of causing harm, which we have been yet to witness in the play: a truly vindictive, sinister and dare we say, evil murder.