16th and 17th Century Literature
Unit 4: Drama
Detailed Bilingual Notes (English + Hinglish) • BA English • Semester 1
Unit 4 at a Glance
The set play is Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The named edition is William Shakespeare, Macbeth, ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. (W. W. Norton, 2016). Stage facts follow The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama and The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (Dobson and Wells). The play is a Jacobean tragedy (about 1606): blank verse, soliloquy, the supernatural, and the fall of a high man through ambition.
Set play Shakespeare ka Macbeth hai. Named edition William Shakespeare, Macbeth, ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. (W. W. Norton, 2016) hai. Stage facts The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama aur The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (Dobson and Wells) se hain. Play ek Jacobean tragedy hai (lagbhag 1606): blank verse, soliloquy, supernatural, aur ambition se high man ka fall.
1. The story, Acts I–III
Three witches wait on a heath: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” The play will mix fair and foul from this first sound. A bleeding captain tells King Duncan that Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, has won against the rebels. The witches then hail Macbeth with three titles: Glamis (already true), Cawdor (he does not yet know it), and “king hereafter.” They tell Banquo he will beget kings though he himself will not be king. Ross arrives: Cawdor is forfeit to Macbeth. The second title has come true without a crime. Macbeth’s mind leaps to the third title and to murder, then draws back. That leap-and-draw is the start of hamartia: ambition is awake, choice is not yet made.
Duncan names his son Malcolm Prince of Cumberland — the next heir — and will sleep in Macbeth’s castle at Inverness. Lady Macbeth reads her husband’s letter. She fears he is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way, so she calls on spirits to “unsex” her: to take pity out of her so she can do the killing in will. When Macbeth hesitates (“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly”), she drives him on. He sees a dagger in the air pointing to Duncan’s room — a soliloquy: the mind visible. He kills Duncan offstage. He cannot say amen. Lady Macbeth smears the grooms with blood. A knocking begins.
The Porter, drunk, imagines he is porter of hell-gate. The scene is comic relief, yet hell is the right word for the house. Macduff finds the king. Macbeth, pretending rage, kills the grooms. Malcolm and Donalbain flee, which lets Macbeth look like the next king. He is crowned. Banquo suspects. Macbeth, now afraid of Banquo’s prophesied line, hires murderers. Banquo dies; his son Fleance escapes — so the prophecy about Banquo’s children is not killed. At the feast Banquo’s ghost sits in Macbeth’s place. The lords see a king rave at empty air. Lady Macbeth dismisses them. Macbeth will go again to the witches. Acts I–III are the rise: from thane to king by blood, and already the crown does not sit.
Track the engine of the first three acts: prophecy plants, ambition waters, choice harvests. The witches never order a murder — they hail and vanish. Notice the sequence: the second title (Cawdor) comes true "without a crime," and Macbeth's mind does the fatal arithmetic himself: if chance "will have me king, why, chance may crown me / Without my stir." The aside is the tragedy thinking aloud. When Duncan then names Malcolm heir, Macbeth calls it a "step / On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap" — obstacle named, murder invited.
See how Shakespeare pairs the Macbeths' courage. Lady Macbeth's "unsex me here" is not cruelty for its own sake — it is a woman of her age begging to be relieved of the "milk of human kindness" because the deed needs a harder instrument, and she fears her husband will be the weaker one. His dagger soliloquy ("Is this a dagger which I see before me") shows the imagination that makes him a poet and unmakes him a man: he sees the horror fully and walks into it. Hold one line for exams: Acts I–III are the RISE — prophecy, persuasion, murder — and Banquo's ghost already tells us the crown does not sit.
Teen witches heath pe wait karti hain: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Play pehle sound se fair aur foul mix karega. Ek bleeding captain King Duncan ko batata hai ki Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, rebels ke against jeet gaya hai. Witches phir Macbeth ko teen titles se hail karti hain: Glamis (pehle se true), Cawdor (wo abhi nahi jaanta), aur “king hereafter.” Wo Banquo ko batati hain wo kings beget karega halanki wo khud king nahi hoga. Ross aata hai: Cawdor Macbeth ko forfeit hai. Doosri title bina crime true ho gayi hai. Macbeth ka mind teesri title aur murder ki taraf leap karta hai, phir draw back karta hai. Wo leap-and-draw hamartia ki start hai: ambition awake hai, choice abhi nahi hui.
Duncan apne son Malcolm ko Prince of Cumberland — next heir — banata hai, aur Macbeth ke castle Inverness me soyega. Lady Macbeth apne husband ka letter padhti hain. Use dar hai wo milk of human kindness se itna bhara hai ki nearest way catch nahi karega, to wo spirits ko “unsex” karne ko kehti hain: pity nikaal lo taaki will me killing ho sake. Jab Macbeth hesitate karta hai (“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly”), wo use drive karti hain. Wo hawa me dagger dekhta hai Duncan ke room ki taraf point karta — ek soliloquy: mind visible. Wo Duncan ko offstage maarta hai. Wo amen nahi keh sakta. Lady Macbeth grooms pe blood smear karti hain. Knocking shuru hoti hai.
Porter, drunk, imagine karta hai wo hell-gate ka porter hai. Scene comic relief hai, phir bhi hell house ke liye right word hai. Macduff king ko paata hai. Macbeth, rage pretend karte, grooms ko maarta hai. Malcolm aur Donalbain flee karte hain, jisse Macbeth next king lage. Wo crowned hota hai. Banquo suspect karta hai. Macbeth, ab Banquo ki prophesied line se afraid, murderers hire karta hai. Banquo marta hai; uska son Fleance escape karta hai — to Banquo ke children ke baare me prophecy killed nahi hui. Feast pe Banquo ka ghost Macbeth ki jagah baithta hai. Lords ek king ko empty air pe rave karte dekhte hain. Lady Macbeth unhe dismiss karti hain. Macbeth dobara witches ke paas jayega. Acts I–III rise hain: blood se thane se king, aur pehle se crown sit nahi karta.
Pehle teen acts ka engine track karo: prophecy plant karti hai, ambition paani deta hai, choice harvest karti hai. Witches kabhi murder order nahi karti — wo hail karti hain aur vanish ho jaati hain. Sequence notice karo: doosri title (Cawdor) "without a crime" true hoti hai, aur Macbeth ka mind fatal arithmetic khud karta hai: if chance "will have me king, why, chance may crown me / Without my stir." Ye aside tragedy ka aloud sochna hai. Jab Duncan phir Malcolm ko heir banata hai, Macbeth use "step / On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap" kehta hai — obstacle named, murder invited.
Dekho Shakespeare Macbeths ke courage ko kaise pair karta hai. Lady Macbeth ka "unsex me here" apne liye cruelty nahi hai — ye us age ki ek aurat hai jo "milk of human kindness" se relieved hone ki bheekh maang rahi hai kyunki deed ko harder instrument chahiye, aur use dar hai uska husband weaker one hoga. Uska dagger soliloquy ("Is this a dagger which I see before me") wo imagination dikhata hai jo use poet banata hai aur man ke roop me unmake karta hai: wo horror poori tarah dekhta hai aur usme walk karta hai. Exams ke liye ek line hold karo: Acts I–III RISE hain — prophecy, persuasion, murder — aur Banquo ka ghost pehle se batata hai crown baithta nahi.
2. The story, Acts IV–V
The witches show three apparitions, each a riddle that sounds like safety. An armed head: beware Macduff. A bloody child: none of woman born shall harm Macbeth — so he thinks he cannot be killed by any man. A crowned child with a tree: he shall not be vanquished until Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane — so he thinks a forest cannot walk. Then a show of kings, Banquo’s line, stretching out: the Banquo prophecy still stands. Macbeth, in rage, seizes Macduff’s castle; Lady Macduff and her small son are murdered. In England, Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty, then they plan war. Ross brings news of the murdered family. Macduff will fight, not only weep.
Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep, rubbing her hands: “Out, damned spot.” The little water she promised in Act II cannot wash her. The doctor cannot cure a mind diseased. Malcolm’s army cuts branches from Birnam wood to hide their numbers — the forest “comes.” Macbeth hears that the queen is dead. His soliloquy “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” empties time: life is a walking shadow, a poor player, a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing. That is metaphor (life is shadow / player / tale), not simile. A messenger says the wood moves. Macduff was “from his mother’s womb untimely ripped” (born by caesarean), so not “born” of woman in the witches’ twisting sense. He kills Macbeth. Malcolm will be crowned at Scone. The apparitions were true as word-tricks. That is equivocation: language that keeps a technical truth and hides the death inside it.
Master the apparitions as word-tricks, because "equivocation" is the unit's key word. Each riddle is technically true and practically false: "none of woman born" excludes the caesarean-born Macduff; "till Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane" excludes an army carrying branches. Shakespeare's audience knew the Gunpowder Plot trial (1605–06), where the doctrine of equivocation — answering with mental reservations — was in the news; the Porter's hell-gate joke about an "equivocator" points straight at it. The witches do not lie; they let language kill.
Then weigh the two sleep-scenes against each other. Lady Macbeth promised "a little water clears us of this deed" — in Act 5 she rubs her hands crying "Out, damned spot," and the doctor concludes "unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles." Macbeth, hearing of her death, answers with "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow": time itself has gone hollow. She is destroyed by guilt she cannot wash; he is destroyed by a world that has stopped meaning. Hold one line for exams: Act IV is false security (the riddles), Act V is the bill coming due — sleepwalking, moving wood, and the "untimely ripped" avenger.
Witches teen apparitions dikhati hain, har ek riddle jo safety jaisa sound karta hai. Ek armed head: Macduff se beware. Ek bloody child: woman born ka koi Macbeth ko harm nahi karega — to wo sochta hai use koi man kill nahi kar sakta. Tree ke saath ek crowned child: jab tak Birnam Wood Dunsinane na aaye wo vanquished nahi hoga — to wo sochta hai forest walk nahi kar sakta. Phir kings ka show, Banquo ki line, stretching out: Banquo prophecy ab bhi stands hai. Macbeth, rage me, Macduff ka castle seize karta hai; Lady Macduff aur uska chhota son murdered hain. England me, Malcolm Macduff ki loyalty test karta hai, phir wo war plan karte hain. Ross murdered family ki news laata hai. Macduff ladega, sirf weep nahi karega.
Lady Macbeth apni sleep me chalti hain, haath ragadti hain: “Out, damned spot.” Act II me promise kiya little water use wash nahi kar sakta. Doctor diseased mind cure nahi kar sakta. Malcolm ki army apne numbers chhipane ko Birnam wood se branches kaatti hai — forest “aata” hai. Macbeth sunta hai queen dead hai. Uska soliloquy “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” time empty karta hai: life ek walking shadow hai, ek poor player, idiot ki batayi tale, signifying nothing. Ye metaphor hai (life hai shadow / player / tale), simile nahi. Ek messenger kehta hai wood move karta hai. Macduff “from his mother’s womb untimely ripped” tha (caesarean se born), to witches ke twisting sense me woman ka “born” nahi. Wo Macbeth ko maarta hai. Malcolm Scone pe crowned hoga. Apparitions word-tricks ki tarah true the. Yehi equivocation hai: language jo technical truth rakhti hai aur andar death chhipati hai.
Apparitions ko word-tricks ki tarah master karo, kyunki "equivocation" unit ka key word hai. Har riddle technically true aur practically false hai: "none of woman born" caesarean-born Macduff ko exclude karta hai; "till Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane" branches carry karti army ko exclude karta hai. Shakespeare ki audience Gunpowder Plot trial (1605–06) jaanti thi, jahan equivocation ka doctrine — mental reservations se answer karna — news me tha; Porter ka "equivocator" pe hell-gate joke seedha usi taraf point karta hai. Witches jhooth nahi bolti; wo language ko kill karne deti hain.
Phir do sleep-scenes ko ek doosre ke against taulo. Lady Macbeth ne promise kiya tha "a little water clears us of this deed" — Act 5 me wo haath ragadti hai chillate hue "Out, damned spot," aur doctor conclude karta hai "unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles." Macbeth, uski death sunke, "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" se answer karta hai: time khud hollow ho gaya hai. Wo guilt se destroyed hai jo wo wash nahi kar sakti; wo aisi duniya se destroyed hai jiska meaning ruk gaya hai. Exams ke liye ek line hold karo: Act IV false security hai (riddles), Act V bill coming due hai — sleepwalking, moving wood, aur "untimely ripped" avenger.
3. People and hamartia
Macbeth is thane, then king, then isolated butcher. His hamartia is ambition, woken by prophecy and fed by Lady Macbeth, but the choice to kill is his. He sees the horror as he does it; that inner sight is why he is a tragic hero, not a flat villain. Lady Macbeth is the stronger will at first (“look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t”), then the mind that breaks in sleep. Duncan is the gracious king whose murder disorders Scotland. Banquo hears the same witches and does not kill. Macduff is the avenger “not of woman born.” Malcolm is the legitimate line restored.
The witches open the play with “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Alliteration ties the opposites; the rest of the play lives in that mix. The Porter’s hell-gate, the dagger, Banquo’s ghost, and the apparitions are the supernatural on the English stage. Comic relief is not a second play; it is one scene that still talks of damnation.
Place Macbeth beside the Aristotelian pattern from Unit 1 — high man, great flaw, recognition too late. His "high" is literal: Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, then king. His hamartia is ambition, but notice its fuel: the witches' prophecy lights it, Lady Macbeth fans it, and his own imagination keeps it burning — the dagger, the ghost, the "terrible dreams / That shake us nightly." A flat villain would not see the horror; Macbeth sees it and still chooses. That seeing is his tragedy and his stature.
Use Banquo and Macduff as the foils examiners want. Banquo hears the same prophecy and refuses it: "oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths" — the play's one clear moral sentence, and the alternative Macbeth rejects. Macduff is the moral opposite in action: the man "not of woman born" who loses wife and children to Macbeth's cruelty and answers with "I must also feel it as a man" — grief turned to justice. Lady Macbeth inverts the arc: strongest will in Act 1, broken sleepwalker in Act 5. Hold the set: hero, tempter, foil, avenger, restored king.
Macbeth thane hai, phir king, phir isolated butcher. Uski hamartia ambition hai, prophecy se woken aur Lady Macbeth se fed, par kill karne ki choice uski hai. Wo horror dekhta hai jab wo use karta hai; wo inner sight isliye hai kyunki wo tragic hero hai, flat villain nahi. Lady Macbeth pehle stronger will hain (“look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t”), phir sleep me break hota mind. Duncan gracious king hain jinki murder Scotland ko disorder karti hai. Banquo wahi witches sunta hai aur kill nahi karta. Macduff avenger hai “not of woman born.” Malcolm legitimate line restored hai.
Witches play kholti hain “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” se. Alliteration opposites ko tie karta hai; baaki play usi mix me rehta hai. Porter ka hell-gate, dagger, Banquo ka ghost, aur apparitions English stage pe supernatural hain. Comic relief doosra play nahi hai; ye ek scene hai jo ab bhi damnation ki baat karta hai.
Macbeth ko Unit 1 ke Aristotelian pattern ke beside place karo — high man, great flaw, recognition too late. Uska "high" literal hai: Thane of Glamis aur Cawdor, phir king. Uski hamartia ambition hai, par uska fuel notice karo: witches ki prophecy use light karti hai, Lady Macbeth use fan karti hai, aur uski apni imagination use jalti rakhti hai — dagger, ghost, "terrible dreams / That shake us nightly." Flat villain horror nahi dekhta; Macbeth use dekhta hai aur phir bhi chunta hai. Wo seeing uski tragedy hai aur uska stature hai.
Banquo aur Macduff ko foils ki tarah use karo jo examiners chahte hain. Banquo wahi prophecy sunta hai aur use refuse karta hai: "oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths" — play ka ek clear moral sentence, aur wo alternative jo Macbeth reject karta hai. Macduff action me moral opposite hai: "not of woman born" man jo Macbeth ki cruelty me wife aur children khota hai aur "I must also feel it as a man" se answer karta hai — grief turned to justice. Lady Macbeth arc invert karti hai: Act 1 me strongest will, Act 5 me broken sleepwalker. Set hold karo: hero, tempter, foil, avenger, restored king.
4. Guilt, kingship, and the great speeches
After the murder Macbeth asks whether Neptune’s ocean will wash blood from his hand, then says that hand would redden the seas: hyperbole of guilt. Lady Macbeth says a little water will clear them; her sleepwalking proves her wrong. Kingship in the play is not only a crown. Duncan’s rule is measured, Macbeth’s is sleepless and bloody, Malcolm’s return is the land’s cure. Appearance and reality stay crossed: fair looks, foul acts; moving wood; “not of woman born.”
The dagger speech and “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” are soliloquies: the man alone, the mind audible. “Life’s but a walking shadow” is metaphor, not simile. Pity “like a naked new-born babe” is simile. Blood, darkness, sleeplessness, and borrowed clothes (a title that does not fit) run through the verse. A long answer on this play needs the fall, the flaw, one supernatural fact, and one speech tied to guilt or emptiness — all from the Norton text of Macbeth, not from another tragedy.
Read the two blood-speeches as a matched pair — this is the 20-mark gold. Macbeth, alone after the murder: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red." His guilt is oceanic, cosmic — the hand stains the sea, not the sea the hand. Lady Macbeth, practical: "a little water clears us of this deed." Act 5 proves him right and her wrong: her hands will not come clean. Hyperbole of guilt, answered by sleepwalking.
Finally, tie kingship to the play's image-chain. Duncan's kingship is "measured" — "I have begun to plant thee, and will labour / To make thee full of growing." Macbeth's is sleeplessness ("Macbeth does murder sleep"), darkness ("stars, hide your fires"), and borrowed robes — Angus's "like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish thief." Malcolm's closing speech at Scone restores measure: the land's cure is legitimate rule. A long answer needs four things: the fall, the flaw (ambition), one supernatural fact (witches or ghost), and one speech (dagger, Tomorrow, or Neptune) — all from the Norton Macbeth, never from another play.
Murder ke baad Macbeth poochta hai kya Neptune’s ocean uske haath se blood wash karega, phir kehta hai wo haath seas ko redden kar dega: guilt ki hyperbole. Lady Macbeth kehti hain little water unhe clear kar dega; unka sleepwalking unhe wrong prove karta hai. Play me kingship sirf crown nahi hai. Duncan ka rule measured hai, Macbeth ka sleepless aur bloody, Malcolm ka return land ka cure hai. Appearance aur reality crossed rehte hain: fair looks, foul acts; moving wood; “not of woman born.”
Dagger speech aur “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” soliloquies hain: akela man, audible mind. “Life’s but a walking shadow” metaphor hai, simile nahi. Pity “like a naked new-born babe” simile hai. Blood, darkness, sleeplessness, aur borrowed clothes (title jo fit nahi hota) verse me run karte hain. Is play pe long answer ko fall, flaw, ek supernatural fact, aur guilt ya emptiness se tied ek speech chahiye — sab Macbeth ke Norton text se, doosri tragedy se nahi.
Do blood-speeches ko matched pair ki tarah padho — ye 20-mark gold hai. Macbeth, murder ke baad akela: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red." Uska guilt oceanic, cosmic hai — haath sea ko stain karta hai, sea haath ko nahi. Lady Macbeth, practical: "a little water clears us of this deed." Act 5 use right aur use wrong prove karta hai: uske haath clean nahi honge. Guilt ki hyperbole, sleepwalking se answered.
Aakhir me, kingship ko play ki image-chain se tie karo. Duncan ki kingship "measured" hai — "I have begun to plant thee, and will labour / To make thee full of growing." Macbeth ki sleeplessness hai ("Macbeth does murder sleep"), darkness hai ("stars, hide your fires"), aur borrowed robes hain — Angus ka "like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish thief." Scone pe Malcolm ka closing speech measure restore karta hai: land ki cure legitimate rule hai. Long answer ko chaar cheezen chahiye: fall, flaw (ambition), ek supernatural fact (witches ya ghost), aur ek speech (dagger, Tomorrow, ya Neptune) — sab Norton Macbeth se, kabhi doosre play se nahi.