Macbeth - Act 4 Scene 1: Discuss the Dramatic Potential in this scene.

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BHAVIK SAMANI

MACBETH

Act 4 Scene 1: Discuss the Dramatic Potential in this scene

“Macbeth” is a play that revolves initially round a brave warrior, who is loyal to his king. This can be seen, as he fights for his king with so much courage and bravery. He fights his way through a whole army on his own. The king thanks him, and promotes him to Thane of Cawdor. After this battle, he meets three witches. During this meeting he is with Banquo, a good friend. The witches tell Macbeth, that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then king. They predict that Banquo’s children shall become king.

Quote: ‘All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!..... All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter / Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:’

At the time this play was written. People really believed in witches. They would have run away, however Macbeth and Banquo stayed. The audience watching this play at the time it was written would have found this unusual. After hearing the news, Macbeth changes. He is filled with ambition. He wants to know more. Soon after he writes a letter to his wife telling her about the witches. She thinks of a plan, to make Macbeth king. When Duncan (the king), comes to stay at Macbeth’s castle, Lady Macbeth drugs the guards and Macbeth kills Duncan while he is sleeping. The next morning after hearing about their father’s death, Duncan’s two sons run away to England. They fear for their lives, however people start to point the finger at them, for Duncan’s murder. As there are no heirs to the throne, Macbeth crowns himself king. Macbeth then tries to find the witches, and meets up with them. This is the start Act 4 Scene 1. The fact that Macbeth has actually gone to find the witches makes this scene different from any other. At the time of Shakespeare, people would have been afraid of witches and they would have run away.

The play, Macbeth, is dramatic. To build up the drama and make Macbeth appear dramatic, Shakespeare has had to twist the story and use things that would have been shocking to the audience, such as witches. Act 4 Scene 1 is based on the witches and the apparitions. Shakespeare has built up the tension by using thunder, witches, chanting and the potion making. The thunder has been used only when the witches appear. The audience realizes that something evil is going to take place and the witches will enter the stage. It is all to do with the fact that thunder is associated with evil. Shakespeare has also hinted that something wicked was going to take place through the chanting.

Quote: ‘In the poisoned entrails throw...... Sweltered venom sleeping got,’

The words poisoned entrails, and venom indicate evil content and this helps to build up the tension of the play. After chanting and making the potion, a fourth witch, Hecate refers to music and song. This helps to build impact, as music and song are rhythmic, and people believed that rhythm was also associated with evil. More drama has been added to the scene, when Macbeth enters. The entrance of Macbeth would have been a shock to the audience. Straight away, the audience would think differently of Macbeth. As witches were thought of as supernatural, people would have been scared of them. However, Macbeth has gone looking for them. As soon as he enters, he doesn’t ask the witches anything, he demands. This can be seen as he says, ‘How now you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is’t you do?’ However he does not seem fearful. A reaction such as this one would make Macbeth’s behaviour very dramatic. This dramatic behaviour is shown through his actions and words. He commands them to tell him about his future. He doesn’t seem to care what happens, but he wants to know. Macbeth goes to such an extreme, that he says, ‘Even till destruction sicken: answer me.’ After hearing this, the audience would be put to the edge of their seats. They would begin to think that these words will come back to haunt Macbeth and that this will lead to disaster. There would be a sense of fear in what is to come as the play progresses.

The tension that has been building throughout the scene still builds as the scene carries on. The witches begin to entice Macbeth to come to them.

Quote: First Witch ‘Speak’

           Second Witch ‘Demand’

           Third Witch ‘We’ll answer’

           First Witch ‘Say, if thou’dst rather hear it from our mouths, Or from our

                                masters’?’

The above quote shows that they want him to come to them and go deeper in to evil by hearing it from their master. This increases the drama of the play as the audience becomes increasingly curious and scared that there is a bigger evil than the witches. Macbeth then replies to the witches, by saying, ‘ Call’em, let me see ’em.’ If an audience watching the play in the olden days when Shakespeare was still alive, heard this, they would be very frightened about the events that will take place afterwards, and how the story will twist. This is because Macbeth is now showing absolutely no fear and he is not even shaken by the fact that he is about to witness the ultimate evil.  

During the time Macbeth is with the witches, he is also shown three apparitions. These apparitions are hinting Macbeth about what is going to happen in the future. However the apparitions can be interpreted in many different ways. The three apparitions reinforce the evil doings of the witches, and add to the tension of the play. The audience would start to try to interpret the apparitions themselves. As this would be the case, they could start to build a picture of they think might happen in the remainder of the play. Even whilst seeing the apparitions, Macbeth seems to be demanding and fearless, as he quotes: ‘Tell me, thou unknown power.’ This reinforces the fact that he is no longer the loyal and brave person he was before. The audience would find this frightening, because they know that Macbeth has changed forever. The audience will start to feel that Macbeth is not scared of evil, because he has been transformed from a good person to an evil one by the witches. This would grip the audience, as they might start to think that if the witches can turn Macbeth in to a bad person, they will try to do the same to everyone. The whole world would be doomed.

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The first apparition is of an armed head. This would seem dramatic to the audience and would make them curious, as to what is meant by the armed head. The second apparition is of a bloody child. This would not seem very dramatic to an audience watching Macbeth now, but it would have seemed dramatic to an audience of Shakespeare’s time. This is because, now they would show such things in films, however in those days it would have been rare to see such things. The second apparition tells Macbeth that a man who is not born of a woman ...

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