Act I, Scene 2

Bill Long 7/14/05

News from the Front

After the witches/weird sisters have announced one of themes of the play--moral confusion--we are whisked away to the court of King Duncan to receive the news of the progress of the rebellion. What we see in the initial lines of 1.2 is Shakespeare's ability to foreshadow themes of the play, cultivate ambiguity, present vivid language and lend precision to the scene all at once. Duncan's opening line to the wounded "Captain/Sergeant" hints at big things: "What bloody man is that?" (1.2.1) The word "blood" or "bloody" wil occur 100 times in this brief play; certainly the King speaks true but he speaks about more than he knows. He himself will be one of the next bloodied men as the rebellion, which seems to have been put down by Macbeth, will in fact be kept alive by Macbeth and his wife. Let's begin with Shakespeare's language.

Arresting Language

The Captain/Sergeant begins to narrate what he has experienced in the battle. He is weak and woozy; indeed, when he stops speaking in l. 42, Shakespeare has him speak only partial lines ("I cannot tell--but I am faint./ My gashes cry for help"). Surely the play communicates the tension between weakness and strength, injury and wholeness. I could imagine how a humorous version of Macbeth, if there is such a thing, could make a great deal of the injured condition of the soldier. One could imagine all craning their necks and cupping their ears to hear him as he sputtered partial lines. Then the language, beginning in line 7, which many scholars call "epic" rather than "tragic" language, takes on a vividness and ambiguity that shouldn't be lost.

The conflict between the "merciless Macdonald" (l.9) and the troops loyal to the king stood "doubtful." How doubtful? "As two spent swimmers that do cling together/ And choke their art" (1.2.8-9). Rather than just saying that the sides were equally matched, or that each had unsuccessfully tried to secure advantage over the other, Shakespeare uses an image from swimming (the story of Cassius and Julius Caesar's Tiber River swimming contest might form the background for this image--JC 1.2), but one which captures the tension and violence of exhausted swimmers involved in a death struggle. The swimmers are "spent" and they "choke their art." Not only is their skill ("their art") compromised, but the means by which it is hindered is through "choking" each other. Both are in danger of sinking and drowning as they wear themselves out and "choke" each other.

Shakespeare uses another vivid image a few lines later, when the Captian narrates the rebels' return to action after Macbeth has intervened to slay Macdonald.

"As whence the sun 'gins his reflection/ Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,/ So from that spring, whence comfort seemed to come,/ Discomfort swells" (1.2.25-28).

This image looks both backwards and forwards. It looks backwards to the battle which has occurred, but it also anticipates the weird sisters' conversation in 1.3 about how they undermined a sailor whose wife had mistreated them ("Here I have a pilot's thumb,/ Wrecked as homeward he did come"--1.3.28-29). And then there is the language of the image itself. Shakespeare is explaining a second charge or rebellion. He may indeed be conflating the various rebellions discussing in Hollingshead, his source, but he does so with real art. When the sun "turns back" at the equinox, it causes effects on the earth. Storms and dire thunders break. Billows swell. Discomfort rises. From that "spring" arises discomfort. The word "spring" can suggest not only the source of something ("the springs of human motivation"), but also the time of the year in which these changes take place. Discomfort rises (swells) as the waves swell around the boat. Though I think one probably cannot see an erotic connotation to the word "swell" here, Shakespeare is well aware of how to use "swell" in this connection--he does so in a movingly erotic speech in Antony & Cleopatra.

Ambiguities

Shakespeare knows how to be precise in his language--unerringly so. Thus, when we run into images that carry ambiguity with them, we probably should conclude that the ambiguity was intended. Indeed, why do we think that writers have to clear up all of life's mysteries? Why not introduce some confusion, since that is also the reality of human existence? Thus, after the Captain says that the battle's outcome was "doubtful" and that the two sides fought "as two spent swimmers that do cling together/ And choke their art," he says that Macdonald is worthy to be a rebel "for to that/ The multiplying villainies of nature/ Do swarm upon him" (1.2.10-12). Ah, what does Shakespeare mean by these lines? "For to that" can suggest "to that purpose" or "to that end" (i.e., the rebellion), but then what is the scope of the "multiplying villainies of nature?" Are the villainies to be understood as the rebel troops which gather around him, like the Myrmidons around Achilles? Or, are the "multiplying villainies of nature" the inner evils that stalk Macdonald, congeries of his own internal witches and demons? Who knows, but the language allows for both readings.

Then, in l.14, another ambiguity arises. Fortune smiled on his "damned quarry" or "damned quarrel" (the emendation "quarrel" is accepted by many scholars). But fortune is a "she." So, first of all, is the "his" to refer to Macdonald? Or, is Shakespeare using the masculine as inclusive of the female? Again if we read the word as "quarry" all of this might refer to one of the opponents of Macdonald rather than the quarrel in general. It makes most sense to me to see the "quarry" as Macdonald's rebellion, but one only gets to this after running through a number of possibilities in the mind.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. In the opening 25 or so lines in 1.2 we are introduced not only to the rebellion and the heroism of Macbeth (more on that in the next essay), but to the careful, vivid and ambiguous artistry of Shakespeare. What more can you expect from one day?

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