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DELUSIONS OF FATE
Act 4, Scenes 1 – 3
ACT 4, SCENE 1
• The Three Witches
• Macbeth
• Hecate
• Lennox
Macbeth meets the three witches
• Macbeth insists on talking to the three
witches and learning what has happened
AMBITIOUS MACBETH
Yesty = foamy,
I conjure you, by that which you profess,
frothy
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me: Lodged = stuck
Topple = collapse
Though you untie the winds and let them fight Warders‘=
guards’
Against the churches; though the yesty waves Slope = drop
Confound and swallow navigation up; Germens = seeds
Macbeth thanks
1st A head wearing Be scared of the spirit, and
Apparition a helmet Macduff says he is more
afraid of Macduff
Macbeth is not
Laugh at men,
2nd afraid of
because no man
Apparition A bloody child Macduff, but
born of woman can
chooses to kill
defeat Macbeth
him anyway
lustful, greedy, and violent. At first, But I have none: the king-becoming graces, Verity = truth
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, Temperance =
Macduff politely disagrees with his Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, soberness, restraint
future king, but eventually Macduff Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, Stableness = stability
Bounty = generosity
cannot keep himself from crying out, I have no relish of them, but abound Perseverance =
In the division of each several crime, determination
mourning Scotland’s doom. Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I Mercy
• Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland leads him should Lowliness = humility
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, Devotion
to agree that Malcolm is not fit to govern Patience
Uproar the universal peace, confound
Scotland and perhaps not even to live. Courage
All unity on earth. Fortitude = bravery
Act 4, Scene 3
By voicing his disapproval, Macduff Only a genuine king gets his power
from God, and can cure diseases and
has passed Malcolm’s test of loyalty. rule with an iron fist.
Scrofula (a form of tuberculosis that
Malcolm then takes back the lies affects the lymph nodes and skin)
was also called the "King's Evil" and it
about his faults and embraces was thought to be cured by the
Macduff as an ally. A doctor appears "Royal Touch," a ceremony that was
performed by monarchs in France
briefly and mentions that a “crew of and England as far back as the middle
ages.
wretched souls” waits for King The healing ceremony was
supposedly started in England by
Edward so they may be cured. When King Edward the Confessor,
Macbeth's ideal king. In a book called
the doctor leaves, Malcolm explains The Royal Touch, historian Marc
Bloch writes that King James I wasn't
to Macduff that King Edward has a thrilled about performing this
ceremony —he thought it was
miraculous power to cure disease. superstitious —but he did it anyway.
Act 4, Scene 3
Ross enters. He has just
…down-fall'n birthdom: each new morn
arrived from Scotland, and New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
tells Macduff that his wife Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out
and children are well. He Like syllable of dolour.
Bleed, bleed, poor country!
urges Malcolm to return to
his country, listing the …our country sinks beneath the yoke;
suffering of Scotland since It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds:
Macbeth took the crown. O Scotland, Scotland!
Malcolm says that he will O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,
return with ten thousand When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again
soldiers lent him by the
Alas, poor country!
English king. Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy; the dead man's knell
Is there scarce ask'd for who; and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken.
Act 4, Scene 3
O Scotland, Scotland!