A View of Act One of Macbeth
by Sean Burrus
(No copyright—all knowledge is for all)
Act I, scene i — a “black” scene
This scene presents a private (and secret) meeting of evil forces held in a public
(yet secret) place, in which the evil and unnatural witches seek to infect—to re-infect?—
Scotland with evil to create (restore?) chaos in the wake of the impending triumph of
order and goodness over the rebellion and treachery of Macdonwald and the Thane of
Cawdor. The witches name a specific Scot, Macbeth, whom they “single out” to meet
with at their next gathering.
Act I, scene ii — a “white” scene
Here we see an open, public meeting, held in public (and in formal order), of the
forces of good, gathering to assess the progress of their fight to defeat the evil rebels
and restore order to a kingdom plagued by treachery and rebellion. As the stories of
the double victories unfold, Macbeth’s actions set him apart from everyone else, and
the good king Duncan and his nobles discuss the courage, the fearlessness, and the
power of this hero—in short, they discuss the greatness of Macbeth. At the end of the
scene, the king sends two nobles to meet with Macbeth, who is further “separated”
from the others by being named Thane of Cawdor.
Act I, scene iii — a “black” scene
Once again the forces of evil meet in private and in secret, to prepare to infect
Scotland with evil by tempting Macbeth (and Banquo?). When the witches meet with
Macbeth and Banquo, evil meets with good in a private meeting in a public place, they
discuss Macbeth’s “future” greatness, and the evil introduced by the three Weïrd Sisters
divides and separates Macbeth from Banquo (who makes two comments about
Macbeth being “rap’t” ). This pattern repeats itself in the final meeting with the two
messenger-Thanes sent from the king, a public meeting of the forces of good in which
Macbeth’s military greatness is further discussed, and which ends with Macbeth,
separated and “alone” in the midst of his comrades, musing with himself about the
meaning of the witches’ “prophecies” and what (if anything) he should do about them.
Act I, scene iv — a “white” scene, but tinged with “black”...
In this scene the King meets and greets his victorious generals in a public
meeting in a public place, praising them both and again singling out Macbeth’s
greatness for special praise and wonder. The King’s naming of his son Malcolm should
be the capstone of the restoration of order, but this action reveals
(and perhaps encourages) Macbeth’s evil desires, and the scene ends with Macbeth’s
separation from the others, both physically (he rides ahead to Inverness, to join his
wife) and psychologically (since he now sees his progress to the throne “blocked”).
Act I, scene v — a “black” scene
Lady Macbeth here holds a private, secret meeting in a private place, with
herself and the evil spirits whom she calls upon to fill her with “direst cruelty,” separating
her from herself and her own womanhood, her own humanity; she discusses Macbeth’s
greatness, and how he may be too full of kindness to achieve his “promised” greatness.
When the good (but tempted) Macbeth meets with the (certainly more willingly evil)
Lady, the separation and isolation of the two in this secret and private meeting is both
obvious and unnatural—Macbeth is “alone” when he tells her that they “will speak
further.”
Act I, scene vi — a “ ‘white’ ” scene, but the darkness is growing...
Good and evil meet at the door of Inverness, the gate between the open-air
public land of Scotland and Macbeth’s private domain; the innocent and orderly forces
of good unwittingly submit to the secret, chaotic, and private evil of the Macbeths when
the King becomes the Lady’s guest. They all discuss Macbeth’s greatness in absentia,
because the Thane has rudely separated and isolated himself inside the castle when he
should be outside greeting his king. The good and gentle Duncan even takes the insult
itself as an opportunity to praise Macbeth’s greatness—his great love for Lady M.
Act I, scene vii — a “black” scene
First, we see Macbeth’s private and secret meeting with himself, after he has
separated and isolated himself from the big public celebration banquet being held later
that evening. He decides not to kill the king, but then he holds a final, secret, private,
and evil meeting with his wife, in which they both discuss his greatness, and in which
the Lady “chastises” him (read: cajoles, berates, and lies to him), convincing him that it
is possible to “get away” with the murder with her plot to make it seem like Duncan’s
guards did it. Macbeth agrees to kill the king, and the two are briefly “united” by their
evil...The act ends “as it began,” then, with the forces of evil plotting the destruction of
the order of the kingdom; Shakespeare provides a perfect “bracketing” of Act I, and he
shows, in this way, the process through which the vague plans of supernatural evil
forces can be brought into detailed reality when temptation succeeds in overthrowing
“the better angels of our nature.”