Quotes 4

• Act Four Scene One: WITCH: "Finger of birth-strangled babe,/Ditch-delivered by a drab."


  Interpretation: This is just one of the many horrific ingredients that go into the witches' cauldron. The idea of including body parts from a dead baby shows just how evil the witches truly are, and that Macbeth was always going to be defeated by their horrific magic.

  
  

  Analysis: This list of ingredients around the dark cauldron is at its most evil when the finger of a "babe" is added, a symbol of pure innocence being destroyed, linking to the destruction of the previously good Macbeth. The image of it being "birth-strangled" highlights the extreme cruelty of the witches. The alliteration of the "b" and "d" sounds creates a chant-like tone to the list of ingredients, accentuating the supernatural feel.
• Act Four Scene One: MACBETH: "Though you untie the winds and let them fight/Against the churches."


  Interpretation: The completely unnatural behaviour of the witches is so powerful that it has even turned the natural world against religion, causing conflict throughout the land.

  
  

  Analysis: Here the churches are a personified symbol of morality and goodness - it would be distressing for the religious audience to see Christianity attacked in this way. The witches have deliberately turned the wind against it, with the word "fight" linking to the violent conflicts throughout the play. The fact they "untie" the winds has associations with a great power being unleashed against the moral goodness of the Church. Because the wind is attacking "against the churches" it seems as if the Church is passive and vulnerable to evil's power.
• Act Four Scene One: MACBETH: "Then live, Macduff. What need I fear of thee?/But yet I'll make assurance double sure,/And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live."


  Interpretation: Macbeth is trying to maintain control over his own life. He believes that by killing Macduff, he is guiding his own fate.

  
  

  Analysis: Macbeth's nervousness and fragility is evident here - rather than the brave warrior from the beginning of the play, now he is desperate to be "sure" and needs "assurance". It also shows the conflict in his mind- he starts by suggesting that Macduff can "live", but follows this with a question, and then a complete contradiction, saying "thou shalt not live". We also see Macbeth's lack of actual power as he needs to "take a bond of fate", relying on fate to assist him.
• Act Four Scene Three: ROSS: "Your wife and babes/Savagely slaughtered."


  Interpretation: The image of violence flows through this statement, with the lengths Macbeth is now willing to go to in his quest for power evident to the audience. There is a clear difference between the murders earlier in the play and the deaths of Macduff's family.

  
  

  Analysis: The juxtaposition of "wife and babes", images of innocence, love and care, being "savagely slaughtered" (the word savage suggesting an almost inhuman behaviour) indicates to the audience the level of violence and evil Macbeth now engages in. The sibilance of "savagely slaughtered" adds a swiftness to the sentence, a clear development from the hesitancy he showed before he killed Duncan.
• Act Four Scene Three: MALCOLM: "let grief/Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it."


  Interpretation: The audience can see here that the culmination of the play will be violent and bloody - Malcolm insists that Macduff not feel sorrow, but instead use his pain to exact revenge.

  
  

  Analysis: The use of emotive language shows the audience how emotionally charged the final acts will be - the abstract nouns "grief' and "anger" are a dangerous mix of sorrow and fury. Malcolm compels Macduff to make sure his heart, with its associations of goodness or bravery, becomes enraged, suggesting behaviour that feels no remorse. He needs to act in a stereotypically masculine way. Malcolm personifies Macduff's heart, demanding he "enrage it", as if it were another soldier in the battle against Macbeth.