in Macbeth — Shakespeare, William; Middleton, Thomas, rev.
Metadata
Play
Macbeth
Author
Shakespeare, William; Middleton, Thomas, rev.
Year (catalogued)
1623
First performance
1606
Decade
1620s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
King's Men
Speech prefix(es)
Wife.
Words
290
Characters
1475
Typicality
0.31 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A11954.31
BritDrama no.
1496
Cluster
Cluster 21 — Old fathers & plain counsel
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 21 (gar, shillings, alii, yongrave, ogenes, nat…). Matches are highlighted.
us Traitors. Wisdom? to leave his wife, to leave his Babes, His Mansion, and his Titles, in a place From whence himself do's fly? He loves us not, He wants the natural touch. For the poor Wren (The most diminutive of Birds) will fight, Her young ones in her Nest, against the Owl: All is the Fear, and nothing is the Love; As
Full speech
What had he done, to make him fly the Land? He had none: His flight was madness: when our Actions do not, Our fears do make us Traitors. Wisdom? to leave his wife, to leave his Babes, His Mansion, and his Titles, in a place From whence himself do's fly? He loves us not, He wants the natural touch. For the poor Wren (The most diminutive of Birds) will fight, Her young ones in her Nest, against the Owl: All is the Fear, and nothing is the Love; As little is the Wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason. Fathered he is, And yet he's Fatherless. Sirrah, your Father's dead, And what will you do now? How will you live? What with Worms, and Flies? Poor Bird, Thou'dst never Fear the Net, nor Lime, The Pitfall, nor the Gin. Yes, he is dead: How wilt thou do for a Father? Why I can buy me twenty at any Market. Thou speakest withal thy wit, And yet In faith with wit enough for thee. I, that he was Why one that swears, and lies. Every one that do's so, is a Traitor, And must be hanged. Every one. Why, the honest men. Now God help thee, poor Monkey: But how wilt thou do for a Father? Poor prattler, how thou talkest? Whither should I fly? I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly world: where to do harm Is often laudable, to do good sometime Accounted dangerous folly. Why then (alas) Do I put up that womanly defence, To say I have done no harm? What are these faces? I hope in no place so unsanctified, Where such as thou mayest find him.
Plot summary
Plot — Macbeth
With the aid of some treacherous noblemen, the Norwegians have attacked Scotland. In the ensuing battle, Macbeth is instrumental in expelling the invaders, and is created Thane of Cawdor. Before he learns of this honour, he is greeted with the title by three witches who tell him he is to be King; they also tell Banquo that, though he will not be King himself, his descendants will. King Duncan names his son Malcolm the heir apparent, and invites himself to Macbeth’s castle, where Macbeth murders him, abetted by his wife. The night is troubled by unnatural, portentous events. When the assassination is discovered, Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country; suspicion falls on them, and the succession on Macbeth. Macbeth is troubled by the witches’ prophecy about Banquo. He has Banquo murdered, but Fleance escapes; Banquo’s ghost then appears when Macbeth wishes him present at a feast. Hecate rebukes the witches for failing to involve her in their dealings with Macbeth. Disgraced after his failure to attend Macbeth’s feast, Macduff goes to England to rally military support against Macbeth, who has become an egregious tyrant. The witches show Macbeth three apparitions which warn him to beware of Macduff, but also assure him that he cannot be harmed by anybody born of a woman, and that he shall never be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane; he is also shown a vision confirming that Banquo’s heirs will rule Scotland. Learning of Macduff's defection, Macbeth has his wife and family killed; grief steels Macduff's resolve. Lady Macbeth begins sleepwalking, disintegrates psychologically, and dies, possibly by suicide. When the English army enters Scotland with Malcolm at its head, the thanes join it, but Macbeth puts his trust in the witches’ prophecies. They prove to have been misleading: the English army disguise their numbers by carrying branches from Birnam Wood as they advance on Dunsinane, and Macduff proves not to have been born of woman but prematurely ripped from his mother’s womb. Macduff kills Macbeth, and Malcolm is established as King of Scotland; he awards his thanes the new style of earls.