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Macbeth Notes - Act 4
KIRSTY CLYNE

Scene 1
At the start of Act 4, we see the three witches brewing some kind of potion in a cauldron
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Hecate enters and
praises the witches effort
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This is ironic as Macbeth is just about to enter
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Macbeth has came to the witches to try and give himself more security but he does not
realise that the witches are only giving him an illusion of security
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As the witches start to show Macbeth the “security” he is demanding, an “armed head”
appears and tells Macbeth to “beware Macduff / beware the thane of Fife
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Enough”, telling him not to trust Macbeth
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The second apparition is a bloody child
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This gives Macbeth a sense of security as he believes that no
one can now kill or hurt him as everyone is born from a woman
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“I’ll make assurance double sure” - Macbeth is planning on killing Macduff anyway just for
that extra bit of security, showing the audience how invested he is with the idea of security
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This is
supposed to represent Malcolm
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“Shall banquo’s issue ever / reign in this kingdom?” - the audience already know the
answer to this as the current king during the performance of the play was James, a
descendant of Banquo
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The murderers enter and ask her where her
husband, Macduff, is and Lady Macduff does not tell them as she herself does not truly
know
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Although almost sounding comedic, the scene is a brutal slaughter
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He decides to push him and lies to try and make it
out that he is not fit to be king
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Macbeth is described as “tyrant, whose sole name blisters out tongues” showing us that he
is no longer “noble Macbeth” and he has became so evil that even speaking his name can
blister and cause harm to your mouth
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(“Why in
that rawness left you wife and child”)
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“It weeps, it bleeds and each day a gash / is added to her
wounds” helps to show that with each passing day Scotland is suffering more and more
due to Macbeth’s reign
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He tells Macduff that he has
none of the qualities needed in a king
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(“Fit to govern? / No, not fit to live”)
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Ross enters and lies to Macduff about his family being dead by saying that they
were at “peace”
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“Did you say all? O
hell-kite! All?”
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They all row to take
Macbeth down and as there was no reason for Macbeth to kill Macduff’s family, blood must
have blood and therefore Macduff must kill Macbeth
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