Macbeth - Act Three, Scene One

Macbeth - Act Three, Scene One

1. 'I must become a borrower of the night, For a dark hour or twain.'

   • Foreshadows Banquos death
   • Personified the night illustrating it as an accomplice the the crime, and talks about time, and how this borrowed tim will come from Banquo.

2. '(Exit Servant, leaving Macbeth alone) To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus! Our fears in Banquo stick deep.'

   • Major turning point, pat of his soliloquy, it shows a contrast between his last soliloquy that was weighing up the pros and cons of killing Duncan, straight to murder.
     • 'Art thou not, fatal vision... a dagger of the mind, a false creation.' (Act 2, Scene 1)
   • Not satisfied with his power.
   • 'Our fears' - he is the only one left in the room, the use of the word 'ours' illustrates a full conversion of his evil doppleganger.
   • 'Stick deep' - foreshadows how the murdered leave Banquo, and that it will all be sorted after that which indicates dramatic irony.

3. 'Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, and put a barren sceptre in my gripe.'

   • 'Fruitless,' suggests that he has gained nothing.
   • 'Barren,' isolated and alone.
   • Macbeth is hollow in his kingdom and realises that he has done all of this for no reason.

4. 'For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind.'

   • Shows his obsession with him and how much he knows, and that his sons will be king.

5. 'Do you find your patience so predominant in your nature that you can let this go?'

   • Direct reminder of Lady Macbeth, were he insults the murders to get them to do what he wants.
   • Goading them.

6. 'As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, shoguns, water-rugs, and demo-wolves are slept all by the name of dogs.'

   • Predator and prey relationships, showing the hierarchy of men, use of the dog-lexical set as a tool to manipulate people.
   • Dogs are loyal and obey, Macbeth has become the demi-wolf as he is the king.

7. 'The housekeeper, the hunter, every one according to the gift which bounteous nature.'

   • Housekeeper is Banquo, and the hunter is Macbeth, contrast between the two.
   • Nature imagery is reversed, so doesn't make any sense, anymore, why does evil rein over good, and search good out and destroy it.

8. 'I am reckless what I do to spite the world.'

   • Illustrates how Macbeth rules out of spite for Scotland.
   • 'Reckless,' illustrating his down full and the fact that he is so desperate to stay king.

9. 'And though I could with bare-faced power sweep him from my sight, and bid my will avouch it, yet I must not.'

   • Macbeth hires people to kill Banquo because of the power and morals, as he could lose his appearance in front of everyone.
   • Doesn't think of the consequences when thinking about Banquo, complete contrast to when he was killing the king.

10. 'Its is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's fight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight.'

    • Sinical couplet, which illustrates a small chant in his voice.
    • Similar to how the act ended when Duncan was killed, so there are a lot of parallels throughout the sense.