Macbeth - Act 1 Scene 2
A camp near Forres.
Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX,
with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant
DUNCAN
What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
MALCOLM
This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.
This speech, along with Ross’ below, introduces Macbeth as a great, almost super-human warrior. These speeches help to establish the audience’s view of Macbeth in a way that is more practical than staging the many elaborate battle sequences described here.
Sergeant
Doubtful it stood,
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald –
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him – from the Western Isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling,
Showed like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name –
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carvèd out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.
DUNCAN
O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!
This notion, that what at first seems positive can prove to be disastrous, will continue to resonate throughout the play, especially in terms of the news given to Macbeth by the Witches.
Sergeant
As whence the sun 'gins his reflection,
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come,
Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:
No sooner justice had, with valour armed
Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norwegian lord, surveying vantage,
With furbished arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.
Like the description of Macbeth above, we now have an introduction to Banquo as another of Scotland’s greatest warriors
Golgotha is another name for Calvary, the site of Christ's crucifixion, here linked to blood, gore, and death. Macbeth is being praised here for his skill as a warrior, but the language already suggests troubling connotations to his comfort with violence.
DUNCAN
Dismayed not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sergeant
Yes;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks,
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell.
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
DUNCAN
So well thy words become thee as thy wounds:
They smack of honour both. Go, get him surgeons.
Exit Sergeant, attended
Who comes here?
Enter ROSS
MALCOLM
The worthy Thane of Ross.
LENNOX
What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look
That seems to speak things strange.
ROSS
God save the King!
DUNCAN
Whence camest thou, worthy Thane?
As with the Sergeant’s report above, Ross’ tale links external enemies with internal traitors. This image of enemies without and traitors within is explored in the play’s politics, but can also be seen on a more personal level, in characters’ experiences with temptation and ambition.
ROSS
From Fife, great King;
Where the Norwegian banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,
The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof,
Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
DUNCAN
Great happiness!
ROSS
That now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme's inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
Macbeth is introduced to the audience as a defeater of traitors, a valiant warrior about to be rewarded for his loyalty.
DUNCAN
No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
ROSS
I'll see it done.
This line introduces the idea that titles are not inherited by birth, but can be gained and lost through merit, an idea which becomes dangerous when met with unbridled ambition.
DUNCAN
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
Exeunt