The main point in scene three is that even though Macbeth thinks he will be king, he decides to do nothing about it. We know this from where Macbeth says “come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day” This means that whatever happens, stormy and bad days come to an end. From this we can see that he will not do anything, but if the kingship does come his way he will grab the opportunity.
Act one scene four in ‘Macbeth’ is a very important scene in the play as Macbeth meets Duncan personally and the king announces that the prince of Cumberland, the heir to the throne is not Macbeth but it is Duncan’s eldest son Malcolm. The audience is informed that Macbeth really wanted the title prince of Cumberland as he is still hooked on what the witches told him and he is very disappointed not to have got it. We see this when he says “stars hide your fires,
Let not my light see my black and deep desires” This suggests Macbeth doesn’t want to show his true feelings and would much rather keep them hidden away.
From Act one scenes one to four we can see that Macbeth is extremely good in battle and has ambition to become king, but it is very unlikely that he would kill Duncan, he needs someone to guide him to do such an act of evil and that person is his wife Lady Macbeth.
We don’t get to meet Lady Macbeth until the start of the fifth scene and even then we do not see her true character. This is because Shakespeare opens the scene with Lady Macbeth reading the letter that Macbeth sent her regarding what the witches told him. This is an important part of the scene because we see what Macbeth thinks of his wife. He calls her “my dearest partner of greatness” this is a very important comment on the relationship between Macbeth and his wife. The vocabulary reveals a very powerful bond between them. The 17th Century audience would be surprised that Macbeth has no hold on his wife. The noun “Partner” suggests Lady Macbeth is equal to her husband and shares activities with Macbeth without being owned by him, this was uncommon at the time. The superlative “greatness” shows that lady Macbeth is not only his partner, but the best partner.
After reading the letter Lady Macbeth repeats what the witches told Macbeth, “Glamis thou art. And Cawdor: and shalt be what thou art promised.” there is clearly no doubt it lady Macbeth’s mind that what the witches said will come true. This would not have been accepted at the time as everyone was against witchcraft an seen it as evil, therefore suspicions are that Lady Macbeth could be also be a witch as she does not one bit question the words of the witches and think of any consequences that could occur is she was to go ahead with the deed following the words of the witches.
Even though lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth will definitely become king she doubts his inner character, because she knows he is too kind to actually make himself king by killing the current king Duncan. The audience can tell that lady Macbeth is concerned when she says, “yet do I fear thy nature, it is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”. According to his wife Macbeth is too full of inner goodness to become king by unfair means. This does not mean that if the chance to become king come along he would not take the opportunity it but he could not commit a sin in order to become king.
Lady Macbeth then comments that Macbeth does not lack in ambition, but he would not “play false” in order to achieve that ambition. Therefore Macbeth would need some convincing to commit a sin as horrific as murder in order to become king, so lady Macbeth wastes no time and starts on her plan straight away. “Hie thee hither, that I pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round”, the alliteration in this is breathy which shows lady Macbeth is excited and wants her husband to hurry home so she can discuss the plan and convince him to do the deed. When lady Macbeth says, “pour thy spirits” she relies on some supernatural force to convince him, she also relies on tempting Macbeth with the use of sex. She believes as soon as she convinces him he will get the crown.
“The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements.” The croaking raven is more hoarse than usual because it signals the death of Duncan. “Unsex me here” lady Macbeth wants all of her femininity to go or change in order to make her a complete masculine like character with no conscience. She also calls upon on the spirits to make her crueler so she has the cruelty to commit the deed along with Macbeth. Lady Macbeth then asks the spirits to fill her “from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” she wants to be evil enough to commit murder. Finally Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to cover up her murder with the “dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes” this is because Lady Macbeth does not want a conscience to stop her going through with he murder and she doesn’t want to feel guilty about it.
When Macbeth enters the castle his wife says “I feel now the future in the instant” she still believes he will be crowned and she tells Macbeth about her feelings. She then tells Macbeth about her plan to kill Duncan and clearly Macbeth is not happy about it “we will speak further is his response to her evil plan. “Only look up clear; to alter favour ever is to fear: leave all the rest to me” lady Macbeth is basically saying don’t worry about it and I will sort it out, the audience see how powerful and manipulative Lady Macbeth really is.
