Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden

As requested, here is my Analysis of Funeral Blues, by W.H Auden

Note that these analysis do take time within my already busy schedule , and I may not be able to deliver in time of which you may want/need them.

However it's been an honor to analyse works of art, especially this one, and it is through works like these that I find meaning in literature. Please do send me more recommendations, and I do hope to post again soon.

Funeral Blues

1. Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
2. Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
3. Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
4. Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. 
6. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
7. Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
8. Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
9. Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 
11. He was my North, my South, my East and West,
12. My working week and my Sunday rest,
13. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
14. I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.
16. The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
17. Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
18. Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
19. For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Background on the Author

• Wystan Hugh Auden was an English-turned American Poet, born to this Earth on the 21st of February 1907 in York, England until his departure on the 29th of September, 1973 in Vienna. 
• He found his passion for poetry at the young age of 13, when his friend Robert Medley, an artist of figurative styles, asked and encouraged him to write poetry. 
• Auden was a homosexual and celebrated his sexuality with Christopher Isherwood, an individual of which he co-wrote “The Ascent of F6” a play which included this piece of poetry. 
• The two maintained a casual, sexual friendship between intervals of interacting with other men.
• Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form and content.

Background on the poetry piece 

• Auden first wrote the piece in 1936 as part of the play “The Ascent of F6”. The poem was made to be satirical, made to make fun of a dead politician. 
• It was reworked into a cabaret with the help of Benjamin Britten, who wrote the tune, in 1938. 
• In 1994, it was featured in the film “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, skyrocketing Auden’s fame once again after his death. 
• The poem now is used as a dirge. 
• Note the changes of it’s interpretation over time from a satirical piece of writing to mock to one being used for comedy, and lastly now one to honour the dead. 
• As with many of his poems, it features informal language and objects of everyday life such as a telephone. This mingling is a powerful modernist move, one which suggests that only by embracing the modern world can art come to terms with the complexities of human experience.

Structure

• The poem follows the simple AABB rhyme scheme throughout. 
• A pair of rhyming lines in iambic pentameters are known as heroic couplets, as is the case within this poem.
• Note that this was made theatrical and entertainment purposes contrary to the war poems which are made to relay the experiences of war in a very serious atmosphere. As such there is a sense of comedy and rhythm to this poem that make it easy to the tongue and easy to the ear. As such the AABB rhyme scheme is used for these purposes. 
• This poem is a elegiac stanza is a quatrain written in iambic pentameter. Note that it is highly irregular in its meter, with the addition or subtractions of a few syllables between every line. A pair of rhyming lines in iambic pentameters are known as heroic couplets.

Tone

• The opening tone of the poem is comical, possibly indicating stanzas and lines that Auden did not decide to cut from his adjustments from 1936 to 1938.
• The references to mourning are clearly over exaggerated such that it is difficult to take the poem seriously at all. 
• It is when the tone switches in the third stanza, when the narration switches from one of an omniscient presence to one of a first person. Either than that, it is clear that the poem is made to sound witty and mocking rather than one of a serious tone.

First Stanza

• Note the imperative “Stop all the clocks!”. 
• The word “stop” itself creates a sense of urgency as it implies a sharp and quick reaction from the reader. It is only found later on that the imperative itself is ridiculous, as there is no urgency in “stopping all clocks” or “cutting off the telephone”, thus indicating the over-exaggerating tone of the poet that illustrates the idea of the poem being one of a mocking nature. This begs the question: Who has died? Why has he died? And what significance does his death have? This adds to the playful tone of the poem as it allows the reader’s imagination to extend of those beyond reason, especially when the surreality in the later paragraphs is introduced. 
• The word “stop” is ironic, as it is put in the beginning of the poem itself. 
• The speaker alludes to the idea that death is an indication of the ceasing of time for that individual. 
• However the pace of the poem is fast, as seen by the lack of punctuation used to slow down the pace of the reader (ellipsis, full stops, exclamation marks… etc) and instead uses commas interchangeably with full stops (or not at all) to maintain the fast pace of the poem.This is known as comma splices. 
• This makes it feel as if time is running out for the poet, as if there is no time to mourn for the dead, or that his own death is soon approaching. 
• Note the tone demanding silence, as he is asking the ‘phone to stop ringing’, the ‘dog to be quiet’ and so on. It is in this way that the poet is asking for all aspects of life to be halted for this very situation. By doing this the poet is trying to (over) emphasise the seriousness of this death in a mocking way. This emphasis could be in context with his personal relationship with this individual, or society’s relationship with the individual (ie a person in politics).
• Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
• Note that a drum that is muffled and pianos that are ‘silenced’ still have the ability to make sound, as weak as it may be. This gives a very ‘dulled’ atmosphere to the poem, as they would be similar to the sounds heard had our auditory senses be ‘dulled’, and thus a (overly) dramatic atmosphere. This could reflect the mood of the poet, who feels as if his senses has been dulled by the death of this individual. 
• Formality
• Note the formality in the first stanza, as if the poet is an individual in charge of the funeral and that nothing should go wrong. In essence, he is representing the perfect form and structure of a funeral that society would expect when an individual passes away. However it does sound apathetic in this sense, and that is where we have an alternate interpretation to the first stanza. 
• Alternatively, one could interpret the formality as a front to hold back the grief that the individual is truly feeling; perhaps he is feeling a deep sense of despair but hides it in the flurry of his work. 

Second stanza

• Aeroplanes
• We see that in the second paragraph, his requests become more and more difficult to carry out and a lot more ridiculous. This only accentuates his mocking tone that was found in the opening stanza, if not already apparent. 
• Alternatively, the inclusion of aeroplanes may also be a form of a military sign of respect, flying in formation to signify his death thus the words “Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead”. This may give indication of the person in question. This gives indication that the man may have been involved in the military or at the very least, politics.  
• If we take the interpretation that he is not in hyperbole when talking about this, the poet is trying to convey the level of desperation that the poet is feeling in being unable to change the environment to match the level of grief that he has to bear watching the funeral procession take place. However, considering the background and context of the poem, this does seem unlikely.
• Capitalised “He Is Dead”
• This accentuates the statement as a fact, as if a piece of hard hitting news that is hard to conceive. 
• The capitalisation of the word “He” is found many times in the Bible. It is in this way that the poet is trying to relate the person who just passed away to divinity (perhaps in a mocking manner depending on your interpretation).

Third Stanza

• Personalisation
• This is the first time in the poem that we see the use of personal pronouns. This shows indication that the poet truly cares about the individual that was deceased. Not only that, but they knew each other on a personal level, possibly romantic if not intimate. 
• The use of every day terms, especially ones found in routine such as “Working week”, “Sunday rest” and “week” portrays the level of intimacy these two individuals had, such that they were always in contact every day of the week, and often quoted each other in conversation, thus the words “talk” and “song” 
• Direction
• “North” “South” “East and West”
• These indicate that because “He” was the four directions on a compass, the poet has lost his or her direction in life as he or she finds himself/herself in a rut due to his departure from this Earth.
• Note that this is more profound than being physically lost as it also conveys a sense of helplessness as one is unable to revive the dead. It is in this sense that the poet is now spiritually lost. This perhaps is one of the most profound lines in the poem.
• Love
• Note that the poet did not specify any sort of romance between the two individuals. Instead, the poet may just be expressing his or her love for being able to communicate and speak about each other in such a manner. However, the dramatisation of the first two stanzas may indicate their relationship as being romantic rather than the other.
• The contrasting interpretation that the first two stanzas are a form of mockery now holds little value, but it may be worth noting that there may be perhaps a love-hate relationship between the two individuals, as if the poet was and became obsessive in overwhelming and overcoming the deceased individual in terms of career or politics. This depends on the context of the play of which the poem was written for which due to time constraints I never had the time nor privilege to enjoy. 
• I was wrong
• This holds an interesting idea. Why would love not transcend death? Does one stop loving after someone has passed away? This gives rise to the idea that their ‘love’ was not romantic or intimate, if there was an further evidence that suggest it so, although unlikely. 
• Alternatively, it could merely indicate that the author would no longer be able to reciprocate any of the love that she has previously gave to the individual. Perhaps the plot was considering love as one of ‘give and take’ rather than just the living individual ‘giving’. In that sense, love has died for the individual. 
• Perhaps this may show indication of his or her ultimate intention to move on to find another person. Is it possible to love someone romantically when you have moved on to find another person? If so is that really ‘true’ romance?
• It is a beautifully evocative section that illustrates the bond between the two; note the theme of completeness in the language, which covers all four primary compass directions and all seven days of the week. Similarly, “noon” and “midnight” together cover, by synecdoche (parts standing for the whole), all hours of the day. The stanza, at the same time, reveals the tragedy of human life, which is that everyone must die and that almost everyone will experience being severed from a loved one.

Forth stanza 

• There was the physical, the (borderline) ridiculous, the metaphysical, and now the natural. This is the theme that the poet makes within this poem. 
• It is here that we see the emotional breakdown of the poet as his grief comes to a climax. Note the contrast in the third stanza, where the extent of the grief illustrated in the third stanza is appropriate to what is normally found at a funeral. However in the forth stanza the author goes beyond what is considered appropriate, to the point where there is the implication that the poet will be unable to recover from his or her grief. 
• It is here that it is possible to implicate that the mocking tone in the first and second stanza indicate a mockery not of the person, but of the funeral itself in being unable to satisfy the intensity of grief that the poet has. 
• In the fourth stanza the poet’s demands that Nature heed his grief, calling her to extinguish the stars and the moon and the sun and get rid of the ocean, such that the world reflects the emptiness within the poet. It is there that the poet is implying that human memorials to the dead will not be sufficient. 
• There is no hope at the end of the poem; the reader is left with the very real and very bitter sense of the man’s grief, since no end can be achieved without the poet’s lover.
• Note the use of metaphor in nature. 
• Stars represent the aspirations that we have in life
• The Sun and Moon is imagery for the Heart and Mind
• Ocean conveys a great depth in emotion and feeling and to some extent, spirit.
• There is a sense of irony here, for the rejection of these metaphors show that there are no more emotions worth feeling, but the will to reject these feelings show anything but. 
• It is in this way that the poem ends on a sad note, not only for the deceased but also for the poet, who has died spiritually in the process and is forced to continue living as a hollow shell without the deceased individual in question, which we may interpret as being far worse than actual death.

Taking any requests!

Dear readers,

I have officially graduated from high school. I will be having some free time in my hands so my request of you all is to send me your favourite/hardest poetry pieces to analyse! I figure that this way I will be able to add more content to this blog while enjoying literature's finest works.

Do comment and let me know about any poetry titles you would like me to analyse.

Yours truly,
Matthew Tan

Blog update!

The IB English IOCs are over, so it's time to release my notes!

The IOC was based off the following extracts, and I have made notes for each and every one of them! They are listed below:

• Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 (two extracts)
• Macbeth Act 1 Scene 7 (two extracts)
• Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 (one extract)
• Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen
• Disabled by Wilfred Owen
• Ducle by Wilfred Owen
• Mental Cases by Wilfred Owen
• The Send-off by Wilfred Owen

Happy Studying!

Matthew Tan

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 7 by William Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 7

Background

·         Duncan and Banquo are now within the house and are eating dinner. Macbeth excuses himself to consider the possibly the possibility of truly killing King Duncan.

Macbeth’s soliloquy

·         At this moment in time, Macbeth is considering the consequences of killing King Duncan. The following are his arguments:

o   Macbeth was hoping that killing King Duncan will be the end of it, and that this murder would be the only one that he ever does. However we know that in reality this does not happen, and he drives himself insane with paranoia.

§  “If the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with surcease success; that but this blow might the be-all and end-all here.”

§  This reflects on Macbeth’s character. He does not feel much guilt for killing King Duncan. Rather he feels afraid if he were to get caught. Therefore if he knows for sure that the murder does not become a streak where there is a higher chance of getting caught, he will do it.

o    Note the use of imagery when he mentions time

§  “But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come.”

§  In the image, he is in the sea, and a small island comes up. The time which he has to jump on the island is limited, and thus he should take the chance as soon as possible.

·         This gives us an idea of how he sees the crown, as an opportunity that is very hard to pass up without even the acknowledgement that the deed is morally wrong. Being the ambitious man that he is, the idea that he may miss a chance at a crown is a big one.

o   Killing Duncan would not be a problem, but he fears punishment

§  “But in these cases we still have judgment here, that we teach bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague th’ inventor: this even-handed justice commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice.”

·         Note how he fears capital punishment rather than how the guilt will be for him, for killing a man so kind as King Duncan.

·         He, having made the murder happen and having him become king, may inspire others to come and kill him for the crown in turn. Basically, whatever goes around comes around.

·         With the emphasis on this issue, Shakespeare may be trying to teach the audience a moral lesson, possibly trying to discourage any possible treasons which may occur by making an example of what happened to Macbeth.

o   “His virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking-off”

§  This is a reference to divinity. Once again, Macbeth will fear punishment rather than committing the deed itself. This time, rather than punishment in the mortal world, he fears punishment in the afterlife.

·         The trumpet (bugle) is a symbol for war. Macbeth fears that by killing Duncan he will start a war with the Gods, especially since these kings are subject to the Divine Right of Kings. Alternatively, the bugle can signify sadness, that killing King Duncan will cause a sadness in the heavens, promising his stay on the throne to be short-lived or very uncomfortable.

o   Note the mention of a baby

§  “And pity, like a naked newborn babe, striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed upon the sightless couriers of the air”

·         This is another reference to a baby that he may have had in the past and lost due to a miscarriage.

o   In this case, he is saying that the baby, resting in the afterlife, would be saddened by the acts of his own father and in retaliation try plant the thoughts of a conspiracy into the heads of anyone who knows Macbeth. In a sense, this is an act of betrayal on the baby’s part, but it makes Macbeth feel worse knowing that he has betrayed the trust of his only son.

·         Note the description of the metaphor of the baby.

o   This gives an indication of how mighty he views his son, despite not knowing his son for very long. This gives an indication of how noble it is that he loves his son so much. This gives us an insight on the type of man that Macbeth is; the flawed protagonist, where his only flaw is greed.

o   “Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, that tears shall drown the wind.”

§  The cherub, that may be a reference to his son, will make the true intentions of Macbeth very clear. Ironically, it is this paranoia that makes his intentions clearly known; there was nothing supernatural involved whatsoever from the eyes of the audience.

§  The wind is used to represent the good impression that Macbeth has in the eyes of the people who know him. Considering that he was the thane of two areas so quickly, this reputation of his ascended like a streak, and the tears that these people see from seeing the horrid things that he is about to do will slowly drown out his sudden rise in reputation, making it all come to nothing.

o   It is here that Macbeth points out the flaw within himself, that he has such a strong ambition that he is willing to do anything to achieve his dream. Assuming that he has no sense of morality, as we can evidently see, it will easily imply that he is willing to do anything, even a crime (treason) to get what he wants. Therefore he knows that his ambition will lead to his downfall. In a way, he has foreshadowed his own demise.

§  “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itselfs and falls on th’ other”

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth

·         “Hath he asked for me?... Know you not he has?”

o   This gives an indication of his nervousness, that he actually considers killing King Duncan to the point that it scares him. He then goes to do the abnormal, which is subtle compared to the huge crime that he is about to commit. We then see that despite the huge soliloquy on why he should not carry out he deed, he is still considering the idea, which is why he went into the room in the first place.

·         “We will proceed….”

o   Note that he reverts back to his confident self and he is shown as in the public. He remains stern despite the fact that he was considering the problem so long ago. This is a form of dramatic irony. We know that on the inside he is a weak minded man blinded by ambition when he acts very confident in the eyes of the public.

o   Note the excuses he uses in front of Lady Macbeth.

§  Contrary to his excuses before, he does not say that he fears punishments but rather he does not wish to belittle the views of the people in his eyes. It is in this way that he puts himself in a more noble light than he was portrayed as before during the soliloquy. Once again, dramatic irony.

Lady Macbeth’s persuasion

·          “Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale at what it did so freely?”

o   Note the metaphor for hope in the form of dressing

§  The use of the word “dressed” is a metaphor for how quickly he changes his decision, like how he changes his clothes. This shows that he lacks conviction, something admired from many at the time.

o   Note the personification of the idea of “hope”.

§  Where was the hope and ambition that I saw in you a moment ago? Has it gone to sleep?

·         This kind of accusatory tone is something that would have shocked Macbeth. Considering that Lady Macbeth just heard the message a moment ago, it would be quite surprising to find her so passionate about the issue. This sudden shock would cause Macbeth to go into the defensive, thus rendering him unable to list any more reasons not to do such a thing. With time, the arguments brought up by Lady Macbeth, which are indeed quite irrational, would be the only things that Macbeth puts off and would soon become the additional motives for King Duncan’s murder.

o   Lady Macbeth insults his much respected character.

§  What kind of face are you pulling now? What kind of disgusting image of your hope and ambition are you showing me now? This is a reference to how the hope looks like a troll

§  This insults Macbeth immediately, remember that, inferring from what we have seen above, that image is very important to him and the fact that his wife, the love of his life, is insulting him in such a manner is very berating for his pride. At a certain point, Lady Macbeth is certain that he will do anything to prove her wrong. This is a very persuasive technique done by Lady Macbeth and it would not have worked had it been any other person. Additionally nobody would know that Macbeth had this fault except his wife.

·         Lady Macbeth tests Macbeth’s love towards her

o   “From this time such I account thy love”

§  Lady Macbeth says that “I will take this reflection of your attitude as a reflection of the extent to why you love me”.

·         Considering that Macbeth tries to remind his wife that he loves her, getting this reaction would hurt Macbeth deeply. Perhaps, due to his long period of time away from home, he will feel deeply hurt that his wife is unable to receive his love from any form of letter to keep her satisfied. This puts Macbeth in a very insecure position.

·         Lady Macbeth insults his manhood and pride

o   “Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem. Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would.” Like the poor cat I’ th’ adage”

§  Note the choice of words and Lady Macbeth’s mention of the crown as the “ornament of life”. It is in this way that Lady Macbeth puts the thought into Macbeth’s head that the crown is the only thing in life worth getting and that everything else is secondary. In a sense, Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth tunnel vision, and that nothing else should stand in the way of the crown.

§  Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth a coward.

·         Considering that Macbeth has fought bravely in the battle of the first scene, it should come at a surprise that Lady Macbeth should say such a thing. However, considering that Macbeth is already put at a very insecure position and that Lady Macbeth knows fully about Macbeth and would thus be able to make inferences that others would not have done, the fact that Lady Macbeth calls him a coward hurts him deeply and he may take it to be true.  Once again, had it not been Lady Macbeth saying these words, Macbeth would have already left the room.

·         Lady Macbeth appeals to

o   “Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, like the poor cat I’ th’ adage?”

§  Ironically, if Macbeth were to kill King Duncan, he would be unable to say it. Yet at this moment Lady Macbeth puts this as a valid point. At this point in time she knows that Macbeth would be irrational at the moment and that any attack on his pride or ability to do something would be enough to put him over the edge.

§  The poor cat in the adage story about a cat that loves fish, but does not like to wet her paws. In this sense, Lady Macbeth is calling him lazy in the sense that he is not willing to work for what he wants. However noble the idea of that may be, Lady Macbeth twists the story to encourage him to do something morally wrong even though the story encourages you to work for what you want, which is a noble thing to do.

·         Macbeth regains his composure after some time. Note that he only counters one of Lady Macbeth’s argument with a statement, which is hardly an argument at all. His lack of words and powerful argument make it obvious to the audience who the dominatrix is. 

·         Lady Macbeth offers him a chance of redemption

o   This is a rather twisted use of the word considering that this “redemption” is one of pride and vanity, and it can only be done by doing committing a mortal sin.

o   “When you durst do it, then you were a man;” It is in this case that she is saying that the only way you could redeem yourself is if you say again that you will commit the deed. Considering that he did that in the past, saying that he would do the deed may not fully redeem himself. It is in this way that Lady Macbeth is pushing Macbeth to do something more drastic than simply “daring to do it”. Perhaps he has to do it… and more.

o   As said before, my prediction seems right: “And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.”

·         Lady Macbeth offers a limited time for redemption

o   “Nor time nor place did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now does unmake you.”

o   Macbeth was already aware of this, but when someone else tells you (especially a loved one) that time is limited you will be no doubt put on edge. This further pushes Macbeth into an irrational state of mind. With him being emotionally unstable with a limited time to set things right, who wouldn’t feel irrational or panicky at the moment?

·         Lady Macbeth mentions the baby

o   With this mention of the baby, it is no doubt that they had a miscarriage before. “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me”. This appeals to another side of Macbeth’s emotion: his love for his miscarriage babe.

o   “I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this”. We see a huge sinister change in Lady Macbeth at this moment. Not only does he push Macbeth over the edge with the mention of the baby, but she somehow twits the image of the baby into something sinister that she would have done in his name. This sudden twist in her dialogue is as dramatic as her change in Act 1 Scene 5 when she speaks to spirits. The shock at her seriousness of these words and to what extent she would do to keep a promise to Macbeth would surely push anyone over the edge to do something irrational. Although we do not see much facial expression in this case, we can imagine Lady Macbeth feigning hurt or anger.

·         Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth words of confidence

o   “We fail? Screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail”

§  Note the use of the rhetorical question to sound incredulous. This implies the sense of shock that Lady Macbeth feigns when Macbeth mentions failure.

§  Note the use of the imperative. “Stick to your guts and we will not fail”

·         Lady Macbeth is a liar on this statement. Macbeth carries out the deed and ironically it is Lady Macbeth that goes full on crazy first.

o   Lady Macbeth’s plan to kill King Duncan is, at first look, fool-proof and flawless.

§  “Soundly invite him… of our great quell?”

·         Lady Macbeth’s plan fails to account Banquo. Within the letter in Act 1 Scene 5, Macbeth fails to mention that Banquo was with him when the witches made the prediction. Perhaps if they murdered both of them on that very night there would have been no issue whatsoever. However, I still suspect that Lady Macbeth would have gone crazy with guilt and Macbeth with paranoia, albeit it would take Macbeth slightly longer.

·         Note Lady Macbeth’s use of imagery

o   “That memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a limbeck only:”

§  Lady Macbeth addresses memory as a guard to the brain.

·         She could have been implying that on the morn of their discovery, their memory would have determined their innocence and thus would make the difference between life and death.

·         Lady Macbeth makes the implication that whatever makes your brain yours is the memories that you have. This is a very philosophical standpoint that Lady Macbeth has.

·         Ironically, the memories that Macbeth causes him to go insane from the inside out due to his inability not to tell anybody, lest he confess to his own crime.

§  The mention of the limbeck

·         A limbeck is a distillation tool, used as a reference to the wine. This could be a reference to the toxic chalice mentioned before. This may foreshadow already the idea that the plan will prove to be unsuccessful in the long run.

·         Similar to the plan itself, the use of the limbeck is simple to someone experienced, but the person who pioneered the limbeck is the mastermind behind the production of wine. In this case, Macbeth is the person “using the limbeck” as he is experienced with killing, while Lady Macbeth is the “limbeck”: the mastermind of the plot.

o    “When in swinish sleep”

§  Note the mention of the guards as swines

·         This makes it easier for Macbeth to accuse them, as swines are typically bred for culling.

·         There is also a biblical reference, where God casts demons into the bodies of swines and sends them off the cliff. In a sense, the swines were used in sacrifice and it is this implication that she is trying to push onto Macbeth: that they take the blame for everything.

·         Macbeth’s final words show him empowered

o   “Bring forth men-children only, for thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males”

§  Macbeth is moved by the words of Lady Macbeth and reiterates that her fearless spirit should not create anything that is not masculine.             

·         This also marks Lady Macbeth’s transformation: her transformation is complete. She has successfully tempted Macbeth. From this moment on, Lady Macbeth’s transformation into an evil temptress from a loving housewife is irreversible for now Macbeth sees her in a different late.

o   Macbeth reiterates her plan

§  The way he says it in the form of a rhetorical question “When we have marked with blood those sleepy two of his own chamber an used their very daggers, that they have done ‘t?” showcases how convinced he is that the plan itself will work.

o   Support from Lady Macbeth

§  Who dares receive it other, as well shall make our griefs and clamor roar upon his death?

·         This is the first time in the play that they have finally agreed to kill King Duncan. By having them speak consecutively on how flawless the plan is, Shakespeare creates a sinister image around the couple who, based on their prowess and reputation, appear to be able to pull this off. It is at this point that the play takes a sinister turn.

o   “False face must hide what the false heart doth know”

§  Ironically, Macbeth is asking Lady Macbeth to do something that she already has done throughout the whole time. Any ordinary person would be very nervous and scared at this point in time, but Lady Macbeth is holding those feelings in for the sake of Macbeth.

§  This has a biblical reference as well. In any of the times that the devil has appeared or taken a certain shape or form, he acts as a cunning tempter to tempt others to do evil, such as to tempt Adam to eat the apple of knowledge. It is in this case that Lady Macbeth plays the role of the devil himself… or herself.

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 by William Shakespeare

Act 1 Scene 5

Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy:

●     Lady Macbeth has just read the message from Macbeth about the three witches and their predictions. Macbeth has already had the idea of killing King Duncan but did not include this in his letter. However Lady Macbeth, being almost the splitting image of Macbeth, knows what he is plotting and takes the final step into encouraging him to do it. This is shown in the line “and shalt be what thou art promised” in line 2.

o      Note the confidence that Macbeth has of the prediction to be true.

▪       This was due to the fact that they were of magic properties “I have learned by the perfectest report that they have more in them than mortal knowledge”. This “report” was their true prediction about him becoming the “Thane of Cawdor, by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me…”. He is, intentionally, trying to draw Lady Macbeth into the idea that he could becoming King and that murder would be the way to do it, if not speed up the process “and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail, king that shalt be!...”

▪       This is similar to saying in modern language “These witches, who had a 100% correct prediction rate so far on what I thought was two absurd predictions, just told me that I would be king in the future! Strange right? Heh heh”. In my opinion, this letter would already have put Macbeth in a very suspicious light.

o      Note the close relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth

▪       “my dearest partner of greatness”

▪       At the time, women were of a lower stature and the fact that Macbeth treats her as a woman of the same stature as him by saying that ‘everything that I have ever done is because of you, thus the word “partner”. The point of him saying something that he holds so dear to him (the prediction of the witches) also adds to the idea that he can tell anything to his wife, that they are truly joined spiritually.

▪       “Lay it to thy heart”

●     Note the choice of words rather than ‘think about it’. This was specially used by Macbeth so as to create a rather romantic mood to the end of the letter, illustrating that at the end of the letter he loves her. In modern language, this would be similar to ending of a letter with ‘with love… Matthew’

●     However, Lady Macbeth is aware of his kind nature, as shown in the lines “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” in line 3 and 4. She thus attempts to use very powerful forms of persuasion in order to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan.

●     Lady Macbeth is fully convinced that Macbeth easily has the means of becoming King but only lacks the evil to carry out the one deed that is needed from him to become king. This is seen in the lines “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” in line 7 and 8.

●      Lady Macbeth fully believes that the shortest route to success is the one that is made through evil. Thus she finds it frustrating that “Thou shouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false”. Note the reference to divine in the word “holily”, which would have been very appropriate considering that James I was of the Church of Scotland.

●     Lady Macbeth, knowing that Macbeth has a real shot of actually becoming king, is spurred on by the witches as she believes them to be magic. “… Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal”. Therefore similar to how Macbeth is persuaded by Lady Macbeth to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is persuaded by the witches.

Lady Macbeth and the servant

●     In this scene, Shakespeare attempts to show us how close the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth is simply by the inclusion of the servant within the scene.

●     “Thou’rt mad to say it. Is not thy master with him who, were’t so, would have informed for preparation?

●     Within this scene, Lady Macbeth illustrates the idea that he is able to predict Macbeth’s every move, for she knows that the thought of killing Duncan is already in his head and although he tries to not admit it, Lady Macbeth knows that he would do something to show that he is tempted to carry out the deed. It is in this way that Shakespeare tries to illustrate the closeness between the two to the extent that one could predict the actions of the other, something that is very hard to do in this day and age.

●     Shakespeare accentuates Lady Macbeth’s ability to prove the point by allowing Lady Macbeth’s prediction to be correct. “So please you, it is true: our thane is coming”

o      Note the immediate use of the title, already empowering Macbeth and giving Lady Macbeth a bit more confidence. It is at this point that, although she wholeheartedly believes that it is true, Lady Macbeth hears the truth of what Macbeth has said with her own ears.

Lady Macbeth’s second soliloquy

●     Note the use of the raven

o      The raven is often thought of as having strong links to witchcraft and Lady Macbeth’s mention of the raven is similar to calling upon the magic that witchcraft utilises.

o      Alternatively, ravens are also related to evil and demonic entities. The use of the word “him” rather than ‘it’ gives rise to the idea that Lady Macbeth is predominantly calling out the devil. The fact that he is hoarse gives rise to the idea that he is hungry for blood and that he does not expect Duncan, the person that he has sent, to leave the area alive.

o      However in a literal sense, the raven is a reference to the messenger, and the fact that he is “hoarse” is just to mention the fact that he is short of breath.

●     Note Lady Macbeth’s confidence in being able to kill King Duncan.

o      “croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements”

o      Basically, she is already saying that Duncan will not leave this place alive.

o      This already accentuates the fact that she knows how to manipulate Macbeth to the extent that he will be able to kill Duncan.

o      Not the selection of words from Lady Macbeth. Despite a battle being fought and won, Lady Macbeth welcomes King Duncan to her “battlements” rather than a “home”, indicating the fact that despite the fight being over, another one has just begun, and their person of interest is going to be resting within the fort. It is in this way that Lady Macbeth gives the hose an image of being a prison or at least an area that provides no means for escape.

●     Lady Macbeth’s interaction with the supernatural

o      “come you spirits”

o      It is often thought that those who communicate with spirits are thought of as evil. In this case, considering that the play shows no background of her being in contact with such things show a huge attempt at her turn in character.

o      She asks the spirits to “unsex me here”. It is in this case that Lady Macbeth wants to rid herself of the disabilities of both sexes. That she be as courageous as a man to be able to persuade her husband to carry out the deed, yet to not be a man so as to not have to carry out the deed for herself. It is in this instant that we see that she is still quite unsure that she is able to carry out the task. Thus she asks for Macbeth to do it, saying that he should do it as a front so that she does not have to. We see that Lady Macbeth loves her husband, but perhaps not as much as she loves herself.

o      “fill me from the crown to the toe top – full of direst cruelty”

▪       Lady Macbeth is inherently not cruel. However she thinks that sacrificing herself for the sake of evil is what is needed of her for her to get what she wants for herself and her husband.

▪       Note the choice of words. The use of the word “crown” already illustrates the fact that she feels that the crown is already upon her head. This perhaps illustrates the fact that she is greedy for the crown for herself rather than for Macbeth. It is perhaps for this reason that she feels more guilty and thus goes fully insane sooner than Macbeth

o      “make thick my blood”

▪       Note that the toxins of a snake bite make blood thick. Similarly, perhaps Lady Macbeth is asking for the ‘toxins of temptation and greed’ to fill her blood, that she may be bit by the ‘biblical serpent’ rather than an actual one.

o      “Stop the access and passage the remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake fell my purpose, nor keep peace between the effect of it!”

▪       Lady Macbeth already knows what is to come. She knows that she will feel sad and remorseful for what she has done. Perhaps knowing this before she committed the deed was what made her all feel guiltier than Macbeth ever did. However at the moment she asked that she may not feel guilty after what she has done which obviously did not come through. It shows that her conscience, despite the use of witchcraft, is still able to act and thus overpowers the powers of witchcraft or it could be Macbeth’s way of saying that witchcraft does not exist or does not plague the good. At the time, this would be good news for King James I as he has not been plagued with any form of witchcraft (because it isn’t real).

o      “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers”

▪       This is a subtle reference to a child that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth may have had. Considering that she calls them “murd’ring ministers”, we can assume that a miscarriage has occurred. The words “take my milk for gall” indicates that the milk that she has nurtured as a mother has thus gone to waste because of the death of the baby

o      “Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”

▪       Note Lady Macbeth’s use of personifying the night to look like a servant of the devil as evil is always done in the cover of the night. The use of the word “thick” is used to act as a physical shield so that the night can cover her from any from any form of detection. On the other hand, it can be used as an offensive tool, that the thickness of night drown or suffocate any of the righteous that may get in the way.

▪       A pall is used in funerals to cover the face of the dead. The use of the word pall is used to foreshadow the death of King Duncan. On the other hand, the word also be used to foreshadow her own death, as Lady Macbeth kills herself in the early hours of the morning.

▪       Dunnest is a word made up by Shakespeare. In many of the interpretations the word “Dunnest” is used for the word ‘darkest’. However I feel that the word sounds like ‘dullest’ rather than ‘darkest’. Therefore I think that the darkness is also meant to dull as well. Lady Macbeth is asking the darkness to judge her better judgement so that they will have the irrationality to carry out the deed. She would also want the darkness to dull the senses, making Macbeth hard to see in the dark and to make her less disconnected to the act that she is about to carry out.

▪       The lines “nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry “hold, hold!” is a reference to the Divine Right of Kings, where kings are thought to be messengers from heaven. Lady Macbeth here is trying to illustrate the idea that Duncan is of the Divine Right of Kings and thus heaven looks favourably upon him. She knows that if she kill King Duncan she will not have a nice afterlife. However, having fully committed already to the act, all she can ask for is that heaven not see what she does and makes Macbeth do.

▪       She makes a last reference to the letter that Macbeth wrote, displaying the item itself as a symbol laden with evil intentions. Had the letter been lost or wrote in a different manner, would the King still have died? Similar to how the apple in the Garden of Eden brought evil to the world, the letter brought evil to Lady Macbeth. This makes one wonder: who is really at fault for all this tragedy? Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

Macbeth’s talk with Lady Macbeth

●     Once again, we see the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth with Macbeth’s first lines. “My dearest love”. The fact that these were his opening lines gives indication to the idea that he was thinking about him during the whole trip back. Thus, he probably made a beeline towards her as soon as he reached home. However, we do not see much desperation for Lady Macbeth to meet her husband. Does she perhaps love herself more than her husband? Or perhaps her husband love her more than she to him?

●     “Look like th’ innocent flower, but the serpent under ‘t” This is a reference to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, where the serpent is the one who tempts Adam to take the apple. This is rather ironic as it is Lady Macbeth who is the actual snake. 

●     “This night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall to all our nights and days to come give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.”

o      This is the full voice of a temptress; to promise an easy method to reach a reward that is far from easy or deserving of the person doing the job. Note that despite them doing the job in the end, the couple were to mad with guilt or paranoia to be able to enjoy the sovereign sway and masterdom that Lady Macbeth promised them.

●     “Only look up clear, to alter favour ever is to fear”

o      This basically means, ‘make your conscience look clear’. However, at the moment, Lady Macbeth is talking to herself. She has been the only one suggesting that they kill King Duncan. Often throughout the whole play, when she is talking to Macbeth, she is often talking to herself as she starts to get guiltier than Macbeth is paranoid. She then tries to say words of comfort to Macbeth not knowing that in reality she is saying words to herself.

●     “Leave all the rest to me”

o      Once again, the words of a temptress. In an attempt to make the plot sound easy to carry out, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to leave everything to her.