OEDIPUS REX - Sophocles from Thebes until and unless the identity of those who murdered Laius was
At a feast, a drunken man maundering his cups established clearly and unless they were killed or banished. Oedipus then
Cries out that I am not my father's son!
I contained myself that night, though I felt anger
And a sinking heart. The next day I visited
My father and mother, and questioned them. They stormed,
Calling it all the slanderous rant of a fool;
And this relieved me.
At a feast, .......... this relieved me.
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines 251-257)
(ii) Content:
Thebes is struck by a plague and the oracle of Apollo says the sickness is the result
of injustice: the old king's murderer still walks free. The blind seer Tiresias tells
Oedipus that he is the murderer and is living incestuously. Jocasta says an oracle
said her husband, the old king, would be killed by his child, but that never
happened since they abandoned the baby and her husband was killed by robbers.
Oedipus begins to suspect that he was the abandoned baby. A messenger and a
servant confirm the tale. Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus stabs out his own eyes.
EXPLANATION
In these lines Oedipus is conversing with his wife, Jocasta, and telling her a strange
event of his youth in Corinth. He tells her that Polybos of Corinth is his father and
his mother, Merope, is a Dorian. He was brought up to be the chief of Corinth. But a
strange event turned the tables. A drunken man at a public feast proclaimed that
he was not his father's biological son; he is an adaptation. He got furious at his
maundering. However, he suppressed his anger that night though with a sinking
heart. The very next day he went to his parents and questioned about the drunken
man's allegations. They were offended, and said it was a foolish allegation. He was
no longer feeling distressed or anxious; he was reassured by their words. However,
he was not fully satisfied. In short, this particular event is the main cause that
Oedipus left Corinth.
O holy majesty of heavenly powers!
My I never see that day! Never!
Rather let me vanish from the race of men
Than know the abomination destined me!
O holy majesty ......... abomination destined me!
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines 304-307)
(ii) Content:
Thebes is struck by a plague and the oracle of Apollo says the sickness is the result
of injustice: the old king's murderer still walks free. The blind seer Tiresias tells
Oedipus that he is the murderer and is living incestuously. Jocasta says an oracle
said her husband, the old king, would be killed by his child, but that never
happened since they abandoned the baby and her husband was killed by robbers.
Oedipus begins to suspect that he was the abandoned baby. A messenger and a
servant confirm the tale. Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus stabs out his own eyes.
EXPLANATION
In these lines Oedipus is praying to holy God to save him from seeing the day when
he will be declared the murderer of his father and the husband of his mother. He
wishes to vanish from the midst of human beings before such an abomination
devolves on his shoulders. He has just told his wife Jocasta when he passed Phokis,
a place where the Theban road bifurcates into Delphi road and Daulia road, he
came across a herald and a royal chariot whose driver when ordered by his lord to
force him off the road leaned out towards him to beat him but he himself hit him
with his stick. The old man sitting in the chariot could not tolerate it and flogged
him at his head. In exasperation, he pulled the old man down from the chariot and
killed him on the spot. Now if the old man was his father, then he unknowingly
perpetrated parricide. In that case, he is the man hated most by the gods. So
Oedipus fears that this cruel fate has created him for all his misfortunes emerging
him from unintentional parricide and incest. If his fate is cruel, none would deny
the savagery of gods. To remove all these fears, Oedipus is in these lines praying to
God to keep him safe from such misfortune.
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there's no help in truth! I knew this well.
But did not act on it! Else I should not have come.
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene I (Lines 101-103)
(ii) Content:
Thebes is struck by a plague and the oracle of Apollo says the sickness is the result
of injustice: the old king's murderer still walks free. The blind seer Tiresias tells
Oedipus that he is the murderer and is living incestuously. Jocasta says an oracle
said her husband, the old king, would be killed by his child, but that never
happened since they abandoned the baby and her husband was killed by robbers.
Oedipus begins to suspect that he was the abandoned baby. A messenger and a
servant confirm the tale. Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus stabs out his own eyes.
EXPLANATION
These are the very first words spoken by blind Tiresias before Oedipus in which he
confesses that he must not have come to Oedipus' palace when he knew that the
disclosure of the secret concerning Oedipus' parentage would shatter the whole
palace. When this blind seer entered the palace, Oedipus was happy to notice that
his visitor was a prophet who knew the secrets of heaven and earth and could as
such tell him who the murderer was. He told the Tiresias that Apollo had sent back
his messenger with the word that the catastrophe of pestilence would not be lifted
requested Tiresias to use bird-flight or any other sleight of hand to purify Thebes
from the devastating contagion. Tiresias' reply in these lines shows that he knew
the secret of the murder but he realized it as well as that his disclosure of truth
would prove ruinous than the plague infecting Thebes.
“I thought it wrong, my children, to hear the truth from others, messengers.
Here I am myself—you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am
Oedipus”
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines Lines 6-9)
Oedipus addresses the people of Thebes in this opening passage, which right away
sets up the paradigm of dramatic irony Sophocles employs throughout the work.
What makes these particular lines ironic is that Oedipus is known not only to the
people of Thebes for defeating the Sphinx, but by the actual theater audience
because of his terrible fate, which had long been known through the retelling of
myths. Also, it is through messengers that Oedipus eventually pieces together the
puzzle of his life, leading him to his ghastly revelations—the truth—of his life.
“I curse myself as well…if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our
house”
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines 284-285)
Oedipus says these lines while pronouncing a curse on the murderer of Laius. He
hasn't yet realized he is the murder and is thus cursing himself—a curse that will
later be carried out. This decree of punishment is ironic because he is both judge
and criminal.
“This day will bring your birth and your destruction”
REFERENCE
(i) Drama: Oedipus Rex
(ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: (Line 499)
Spoken by Tiresias to Oedipus, this line acts as a riddle to Oedipus, a master at
solving riddles, except he has no patience for this one. Tiresias provokes Oedipus
by challenging his ability to solve riddles. This line also foreshadows the origins of
Oedipus, the death of his wife, the loss of his sight, and the decree he pronounced
on Laius's murderer being carried out upon Oedipus himself. Tiresias is directly
referring to Oedipus's peripeteia, or reversal of circumstances.
“Pride breeds the tyrant violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting with
all that is overripe and rich with ruin—clawing up to the heights, headlong
pride crashes down the abyss—sheer doom!”
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines 284-285)
This commentary on the effects of pride occurs when Oedipus is quickly finding out
more details about his two edged curse, and does not cease trying to find the truth,
despite pleas from Jocasta. The sentiment of pride being Oedipus’s downfall is one
that is repeated throughout the play, with Tiresias being the first to mention it.
Oedipus is a proud man, he is praised as the King of Thebes and the defeater of the
Sphinx, but it is his pride, his own belief that he is a good man who is favored by
the gods, that leads him to unravel this very belief. In his attempt to find the
historical evidence to prove he is favored by the gods, he only proves to himself
and those around him that he suffers from a cruel fate.
“I count myself the son of Chance, the great goddess, giver of all good
things—I'll never see myself disgraced”
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines 1188-1190)
These lines are spoken by Oedipus before he is aware that the prophecy he tried
avoid has come true. However, this quote is just as true at the end of the play,
where Oedipus knows and accepts his horrible fate. In Greek mythology, Fortune
(Chance) is the goddess of fate and she is depicted as veiled, as to be unbiased of
those to whom she was distributing good or bad luck. In the situation in which he
says this line, Oedipus is dealing with the newfound fact that the people who raised
him were not his parents. He thinks that because his patronage is unknown, that
Fortune must be his mother, since he has been gifted with greatness. At the end of
the play, the irony is that Oedipus is still greatly under the guidance of Fortune, but
rather than favoring him, it destroys him.
“What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy”
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: Scene II (Lines 1471-1472)
Oedipus speaks these lines in response to a senator’s questioning as to why he
gouged out his own eyes. He believes it is better to no longer see the things and
people around him. This is a testament to Oedipus’s character that he is willing to
accept a harsh, self-administered punishment, and accept it with all the grace he
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can muster. At this point in the play, Oedipus sees no alternative to blind exile and
speaks calmly in lyric form.
My own flesh and blood—dear sister, dear Ismene, how many griefs our
father Oedipus handed down! Do you know one, I ask you, one grief that
Zeus will not perfect for the two of us while we still live and breathe? There’s
nothing, no pain—our lives are pain—no private shame, no public disgrace,
nothing I haven’t seen in your grief and mine.
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence:(Antigone, 1–8)
Explanation:
Antigone’s first words in Antigone, “My own flesh and blood,” vividly emphasize
the play’s concern with familial relationships. Antigone is a play about the legacy of
incest and about a sister’s love for her brother. Flesh and blood have been destined
to couple unnaturally—in sex, violence, or both—since Oedipus’s rash and
unwitting slaying of his father. Antigone says that griefs are “handed down” in
Oedipus’s family, implicitly comparing grief to a family heirloom.
In her first speech, Antigone seems a dangerous woman, well on her way to going
over the edge. She knows she has nothing to lose, telling Ismene, “Do you know
one, I ask you, one grief / that Zeus will not perfect for the two of us / while we still
live and breathe?” Before we even have time to imagine what the next grief might
be, Antigone reveals it: Creon will not allow her brother Polynices to be buried.
Ismene, on the other hand, like the audience, is one step behind. From the outset,
Antigone is the only one who sees what is really going on, the only one willing to
speak up and point out the truth.
Anarchy—show me a greater crime in all the earth! She, she destroys cities,
rips up houses, breaks the ranks of spearmen into headlong rout. But the
ones who last it out, the great mass of them owe their lives to discipline.
Therefore we must defend the men who live by law, never let some woman
triumph over us. Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a
man—never be rated inferior to a woman, never.
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence:(Antigone, 751–761)
Explanation:
This is one of Creon’s speeches to the Chorus. The word “anarchy” (in Greek,
anarchia) literally means “without a leader.” The Greek word is feminine and can
be represented by a feminine pronoun, which is why Creon, speaking of anarchy,
says, “She, she destroys cities, rips up houses. . . .” Because Creon uses the
feminine pronoun, he sounds as if he might be talking about Antigone, and
maintaining order is certainly connected, in his mind, with keeping women in their
place. Creon sees anarchy as the inevitable consequence when disobedience of the
law is left unpunished. For Creon, the law, on whatever scale, must be absolute. His
insistence on the gender of the city’s ruler (“the man”) is significant, since
masculine political authority is opposed to uncontrolled feminine disobedience.
Creon sees this feminine disobedience as something that upsets the order of
civilization on every possible level—the political (“destroys cities”), the domestic
(“rips up houses”), and the military (“breaks the ranks of spearmen”). The only way
to fight this disorder is through discipline; therefore, says Creon, “we must defend
the men who live by law, [we must] never let some woman triumph over us” (758).
Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a
man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at
random, best we can. And as for this marriage with your mother—have no
fear. Many a man before you, in his dreams, has shared his mother’s bed.
Take such things for shadows, nothing at all— Live, Oedipus, as if there’s
no tomorrow!
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: (Oedipus the King, 1068–1078)
Explanation:
The audience, familiar with the Oedipus story, almost does not want to listen to
these self-assured lines, spoken by Jocasta, wherein she treats incest with a
startling lightness that will come back to haunt her. What makes these lines tragic
is that Jocasta has no reason to know that what she says is foolish, ironic, or,
simply, wrong. The audience’s sense of the work of “fate” in this play has almost
entirely to do with the fact that the Oedipus story was an ancient myth even in
fifth-century b.c. Athens. The audience’s position is thus most like that of Tiresias—
full of the knowledge that continues to bring it, and others, pain.
At the same time, it is important to note that at least part of the irony of the
passage does depend on the play, and the audience, faulting Jocasta for her
blindness. Her claim that “chance rules our lives” and that Oedipus should live “as if
there’s no tomorrow” seems to fly in the face of the beliefs of more or less
everyone in the play, including Jocasta herself. Oedipus would not have sent Creon
to the oracle if he believed events were determined randomly. Nor would he have
fled Corinth after hearing the prophecy of the oracle that he would kill his mother
and sleep with his father; nor would Jocasta have bound her baby’s ankles and
abandoned him in the mountains. Again and again this play, and the other Theban
plays, returns to the fact that prophecies do come true and that the words of the
gods must be obeyed. What we see in Jocasta is a willingness to believe oracles
only as it suits her: the oracle prophesied that her son would kill Laius and so she
abandoned her son in the mountains; when Laius was not, as she thinks, killed by
his son, she claims to find the words of the oracle worthless. Now she sees Oedipus
heading for some potentially horrible revelation and seeks to curb his fear by
claiming that everything a person does is random.
People of Thebes, my countrymen, look on Oedipus. He solved the famous
riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power, a man beyond all power. Who
could behold his greatness without envy? Now what a black sea of terror has
overwhelmed him. Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count
no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: (Oedipus the King, 1678–1684)
Explanation:
These words, spoken by the Chorus, form the conclusion of Oedipus the King. That
Oedipus “solved the famous riddle [of the Sphinx] with his brilliance” is an
indisputable fact, as is the claim that he “rose to power,” to an enviable greatness.
In underscoring these facts, the Chorus seems to suggest a causal link between
Oedipus’s rise and his fall—that is, Oedipus fell because he rose too high, because
in his pride he inspired others to “envy.” But the causal relationship is never
actually established, and ultimately all the Chorus demonstrates is a progression of
time: “he rose to power, a man beyond all power. / . . . / Now what a black sea of
terror has overwhelmed him.” These lines have a ring of hollow and terrifying truth
to them, because the comfort an audience expects in a moral is absent (in essence,
they say “Oedipus fell for this reason; now you know how not to fall”).
Stop, my children, weep no more. Here where the dark forces store up
kindness both for living and the dead, there is no room for grieving here—it
might bring down the anger of the gods.
REFERENCE (i) Drama: Oedipus Rex, (ii) Dramatist: Sophocles
CONTEXT
(i) Occurrence: (Oedipus at Colonus, 1970–1974)
Explanation:
Theseus’s short speech from the end of Oedipus at Colonus argues that grieving
might not be a good thing—a sentiment unusual in the Theban plays. Sophocles’
audience would have seen, before this speech, the most extreme consequences of
excessive grief: Antigone’s death, Haemon’s death, Eurydice’s death, Jocasta’s
death, Oedipus’s blinding, Oedipus’s self-exile. The rash actions of the grief-stricken
possess both a horror and a sense of inevitability or rightness. Jocasta kills herself
because she cannot go on living as both wife and mother to her son; Oedipus blinds
himself in order to punish himself for his blindness to his identity; Eurydice can no
longer live as the wife of the man who killed her children. Theseus’s speech calls
attention to the fact that the violence that arises from this grieving only leads to
the perpetuation of violence.
At the end of Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone and Ismene beg to be allowed to see
their father’s tomb, to complete the process of their grieving at that spot. But
Theseus insists on maintaining the secret as Oedipus wished. Unlike the other two
Theban plays, death is in this play a point of rest, a point at which lamentation
must stop rather than begin.
Act I Summary
Prologue:
Oedipus Rex begins outside King Oedipus's palace, where despondent beggars and
a priest have gathered and brought branches and wreaths of olive leaves. Oedipus
enters and asks the people of Thebes why they pray and lament, since apparently
they have come together to petition him with an unknown request. The Priest
speaks on their behalf, and Oedipus assures them that he will help them. The Priest
reports that Thebes has been beset with horrible calamities—famine, fires, and
plague have all caused widespread suffering and death among their families and
animals, and their crops have all been destroyed. He beseeches Oedipus, whom he
praises for having solved the riddle of the Sphinx (an action which justified his
succession to King Laius, as Jocasta's husband and as king) to cure the city of its
woes. Oedipus expresses his profound sympathy and announces that he sent
Creon, the Queen's brother, to Delphi to receive the Oracle of Apollo, in order to
gain some much−needed guidance.
Creon arrives and Oedipus demands, against Creon's wishes, that he report the
news in front of the gathered public. Creon reports that the gods caused the plague
as a reaction against the murder of their previous king, Laius, and that they want
the Thebans to "drive out pollution sheltered in our land"; in other words, to find
the murderer and either kill or exile him (Laius had been killed on the roadside by a
highwayman). Oedipus vows to root out this evil. In the next scene, the chorus of
Theban elders calls upon the gods Apollo, Athena, and Artemis to save them from
the disaster.
Act I Summary
Declaring his commitment to finding and punishing Laius's murderer, Oedipus says
that he has sent for Teiresias, the blind prophet. After much pleading and mutual
antagonism, Oedipus makes Teiresias say what he knows: that it was Oedipus who
killed Laius. Outraged at the accusations Oedipus calls him a "fortuneteller" and a
"deceitful beggar−priest." Both are displaying what in Greek is called orge, or
anger, towards each other. Oedipus suspects the seer of working on Creon's behalf
(Creon, as Laius's brother, was and still is a potential successor to the throne).
Teiresias thinks the king mad for not believing him and for being blind to his fate
(not to mention ignorant of his true parentage). Oedipus then realizes that he does
not know who his real mother is. Teiresias is led out while saying that Oedipus will
be discovered to be a brother as well as a father to his children, a son as well as a
husband to the same woman, and the killer of his father. He exits and the Chorus
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enters, warning of the implications of the decisive, oracular charges against
Oedipus.
Act II Summary
Creon expresses great desire to prove his innocence to Oedipus, who continues to
assert that Creon has been plotting to usurp the throne. Creon denies the
accusations, saying he is quite content and would not want the cares and
responsibilities that come with being king. Oedipus calls for his death. Jocasta,
having heard their quarrel, enters and tries to pacify them, and the Chorus calls for
proof of Creon's guilt before Oedipus punishes him. Jocasta reminds Oedipus of
Apollo's oracle and also of the way Laius died. She recounts the story as it was told
to her by a servant who was there at the crossroads where a charioteer and an old
man attacked a man, who in turn killed them. Hearing the tale, Oedipus realizes
that he was the murderer and asks to consult the witness, the shepherd, who is
sent for. The Chorus expresses its trust in the gods and prays to Heaven for a
restoration of faith in the oracle.
Act III Summary
Jocasta prays to Apollo to restore Oedipus's sanity, since he has been acting strange
since hearing the manner in which Laius's died. A messenger tells her that King
Polybos (the man Oedipus believes to be his father) has died and that the people of
Isthmus want Oedipus to rule over them. Oedipus hopes this news means that the
oracle is false (he hasn't killed his father since Polybos has died of old age), but he
still fears that he is destined to marry his mother. The messenger tells him that
Polybos was not his father and that he, a shepherd, had been handed the child
Oedipus by another shepherd, one of Laius's men. Jocasta tries to intervene and
stop the revelations, but Oedipus welcomes the news.
Act IV Summary
The shepherd enters and tells Oedipus, after a great deal of resistance, that he is
Laius's son and that he had had him taken away to his own country by the
messenger so as to avoid his fate. The chorus bewails the change in Oedipus from
revered and fortunate ruler to one who has plunged into the depths of
wretchedness.
Act V Summary
A second messenger reports that Jocasta has just committed suicide, having
realized that she was married to her son and thus had given birth to his children. He
also reports that the king, suffering intensely upon hearing the news of his identity,
blinded himself with the Queen's brooches. Oedipus has also requested that he be
shown to the people of Thebes and then exiled; he comes out, bewildered and
crying, asking for shelter from his painful memory, which cannot be removed as
easily his eyes could be.
In the darkness of his blindness he wishes he were dead and feels the prophetic
weight of the oracle. His blindness will allow him to avoid the sight of those whom
he was destined to wrong and toward whom he feels immense sorrow and guilt. He
asks Creon to lead him out of the country, to give Jocasta a proper burial, and to
take care of his young daughters, Antigone (who comes to play a central role in the
play named after her) and Ismene. In an extremely moving final moment with his
children (who, he reminds himself, are also his siblings), Oedipus hears them and
asks to hold their hands for the last time. He tells them they will have difficult lives
and will be punished by men for sins they did not commit; for this reason he
implores Thebes to pity them. He asks Creon again to exile him, and in his last
speech he expresses regret at having to depart from his beloved children. The
Chorus ends the play by using Oedipus's story to illustrate the famous moral that
one should not judge a man's life until it is over.
Macbeth
REFERENCE
(i) Drama: Macbeth
(ii) Dramatist: Shakespeare
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air”
(iii) Occurrence: – The Witches (Act I, Scene I)
EXPLANATION: Among the last lines in Scene I of Act I, this famous quote is said by
the witches and sets the tone of the play. It could be simply deciphered as what is
fair or pretty will become foul or ugly and vice versa, i.e. things would be opposite
to what they appear. It could be also interpreted as suggesting that Macbeth’s
world will become upside down and he will do things he considers foul or unfair
disregarding what appears fair to him. This line is among the most important in
Macbeth and can be considered closest to describing the theme of the play.
The three witches appear in the opening Act of the play ‘Macbeth” and sings these
lines together. They are the devils and the enemy of humanity. So they attract
ambitious people like Macbeth with some ‘trifles’ and finally trap them eternal
hell. The witches are not interested in Banquo who is a very religious man. The
witches live in dirty places like the marshes. They say that whatever is good for
them is bad for human being. They always travel through fog and filthy air. Their
prophecies have been fair to Macbeth and he always depend on these prophecies
and committed many murders. Only in the end did Macbeth know that the fair was
really foul.
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen”
EXPLANATION: This is the first sentence spoken by Macbeth, the tragic hero of the
play of the same title. After having defeated Macdonald and the Norweyen king in
the battle, both Macbeth and Banquo reached a heath where the three witches
have been waiting for them. Macbeth tells Banquo that the day is a combination of
good and bad. The good thing is that Macbeth fought bravely in the battle and won
the war for his king Duncan. Thus Macbeth has proved that he is not only a great
General of Scotland but a great patriot and many honours and praises will certainly
shower upon him by the King and the people of Scotland. The bad thing may be the
life and death fight in the war and the bloodshed. There is an inner meaning to it.
The day is a turning point in the life of Macbeth, because he will meet the three
witches and this lead to the fulfillment of his ambition, he will become the king
of Scotlandand the bad thing is that he will murder the king and many people and
thereby he will become slave of the devil.
“Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell:
Though all thing foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.” -
EXPLANATION: Malcolm, the elder son of Duncan says these words to Macduff in
the IVth Act of the play when Macduff visits Malcolm in England. Macduff asks
Malcolm to get an English army to fight against Macbeth and regain the kingship
of Scotland to Malcolm. At first Malcolm thinks of Macduff as a spy sent by
Macbeth and tells Macduff that he is more wicked than Macbeth. Macduff is
helpless and confused and repeats the honest words that he is not treacherous.
Finally Malcolm learns that Macduff is the greatest patriot of Scotland and tells him
that ‘angels are bright still’. It means that good and honest people are always good
and honest because Malcolm is the son of gracious Duncan and his mother always
spent her time in prayer and meditation. According to the Bible, the first group of
Angels created by God had fallen to hell. However angels are heavenly and bright
and holy.
“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”
EXPLANATION: These words are said by Macbeth to himself, soon after the murder
of Duncan by him. Lady Macbeth has gone to the bed-chamber to keep the dagger
with the sleeping guards in the room. Macbeth expresses horror at the sight of his
blood stained hand says that if he washes his hands in the ocean, the ocean will be
made red by his sinful hands. Such is the horror Macbeth has committed when he
murdered his King who has come to his house as his guest.
“Here’s the smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand” -
EXPLANATION: These are the words of Lady Macbeth in her sleep-walking scene.
She has been suffering from ‘somnambulism’ on account severe strain and guilt her
mind received from the murder of Duncan who looked like her father when he was
sleeping. She encouraged her husband to commit the murder and they became king
and queen of Scotland, but they lost sleep and peace of mind. At night Lady
Macbeth walks for a long time holding a lighted candle, keeping awake with open
eyes while in deep sleep. She feels that her hands still carry the smell of Duncan’s
blood and even the best perfumes of Arabiacannot wipe out the smell. It means
she has committed the most hellish sin and she has no escape from the
punishment. Soon after the murder of Duncan, she had said that “a little water
clears us of this deed/ How easy it then”.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still” -
EXPLANATION: Just before murdering Duncan, Macbeth sits alone thinking. He is in
deep tension. Macbeth is haunted by inner conflict. Duncan has showered praises
and rewards to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. He is so kind hearted that he has come
to stay in the castle of Macbeth to honour both of them. In such a situation,
Macbeth, the man is confused and wants to withdraw from the decision of killing
the king. But his over-ambition and the force of his wife Lady Macbeth ask him to
commit the murder. His inner conflict appears to him in the form of the apparition
of a dagger comes to him dropping blood from its blade and guides him to the
chamber of the king.
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
EXPLANATION: Lady Macbeth speaks these words in Act 1, scene 5, lines 36–52, as
she awaits the arrival of King Duncan at her castle. We have previously
seen Macbeth’s uncertainty about whether he should take the crown by killing
Duncan. In this speech, there is no such confusion, as Lady Macbeth is clearly
willing to do whatever is necessary to seize the throne. Her strength of purpose is
contrasted with her husband’s tendency to waver. This speech shows the audience
that Lady Macbeth is the real steel behind Macbeth and that her ambition will be
strong enough to drive her husband forward. At the same time, the language of this
speech touches on the theme of masculinity— “unsex me here / . . . / . . . Come to
my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall,” Lady Macbeth says as she
prepares herself to commit murder. The language suggests that her womanhood,
3
represented by breasts and milk, usually symbols of nurture, impedes her from
performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associates with manliness. Later,
this sense of the relationship between masculinity and violence will be deepened
when Macbeth is unwilling to go through with the murders and his wife tells him, in
effect, that he needs to “be a man” and get on with it.
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If th’assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success: that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all, here,
But here upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgement here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions which, being taught, return
To plague th’inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off,
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other.
EXPLANATION: In this soliloquy, which is found in Act 1, scene 7, lines 1–28,
Macbeth debates whether he should kill Duncan. When he lists Duncan’s noble
qualities (he “[h]ath borne his faculties so meek”) and the loyalty that he feels
toward his king (“I am his kinsman and his subject”), we are reminded of just how
grave an outrage it is for the couple to slaughter their ruler while he is a guest in
their house. At the same time, Macbeth’s fear that “[w]e still have judgement here,
that we but teach / Bloody instructions which, being taught, return / To plague
th’inventor,” foreshadows the way that his deeds will eventually come back to
haunt him. The imagery in this speech is dark—we hear of “bloody instructions,”
“deep damnation,” and a “poisoned chalice”—and suggests that Macbeth is aware
of how the murder would open the door to a dark and sinful world. At the same
time, he admits that his only reason for committing murder, “ambition,” suddenly
seems an insufficient justification for the act. The destruction that comes from
unchecked ambition will continue to be explored as one of the play’s themes. As
the soliloquy ends, Macbeth seems to resolve not to kill Duncan, but this resolve
will only last until his wife returns and once again convinces him, by the strength of
her will, to go ahead with their plot.
Whence is that knocking?—
How is’t with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.
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.
EXPLANATION: Macbeth says this in Act 2, scene 2, lines 55–61. He has just
murdered Duncan, and the crime was accompanied by supernatural portents. Now
he hears a mysterious knocking on his gate, which seems to promise doom. (In fact,
the person knocking is Macduff, who will indeed eventually destroy Macbeth.) The
enormity of Macbeth’s crime has awakened in him a powerful sense of guilt that
will hound him throughout the play. Blood, specifically Duncan’s blood, serves as
the symbol of that guilt, and Macbeth’s sense that “all great Neptune’s ocean”
cannot cleanse him—that there is enough blood on his hands to turn the entire sea
red—will stay with him until his death. Lady Macbeth’s response to this speech will
be her prosaic remark, “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.65). By the end of
the play, however, she will share Macbeth’s sense that Duncan’s murder has
irreparably stained them with blood.
. “There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood, The nearer bloody.”
Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is
murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows
it when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought
the old man to have had so much blood in him?
EXPLANATION: These words are spoken by Lady Macbeth in Act 5, scene 1, lines
30–34, as she sleepwalks through Macbeth’s castle on the eve of his battle against
Macduff and Malcolm. Earlier in the play, she possessed a stronger resolve and
sense of purpose than her husband and was the driving force behind their plot to
kill Duncan. When Macbeth believed his hand was irreversibly bloodstained earlier
in the play, Lady Macbeth had told him, “A little water clears us of this deed”
(2.2.65). Now, however, she too sees blood. She is completely undone by guilt and
descends into madness. It may be a reflection of her mental and emotional state
that she is not speaking in verse; this is one of the few moments in the play when a
major character—save for the witches, who speak in four-foot couplets—strays
from iambic pentameter. Her inability to sleep was foreshadowed in the voice that
her husband thought he heard while killing the king—a voice crying out that
Macbeth was murdering sleep. And her delusion that there is a bloodstain on her
hand furthers the play’s use of blood as a symbol of guilt. “What need we fear who
knows it when none can call our power to account?” she asks, asserting that as long
as her and her husband’s power is secure, the murders they committed cannot
harm them. But her guilt-racked state and her mounting madness show how
hollow her words are. So, too, does the army outside her castle. “Hell is murky,”
she says, implying that she already knows that darkness intimately. The pair, in
their destructive power, have created their own hell, where they are tormented by
guilt and insanity.
She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
EXPLANATION: These words are uttered by Macbeth after he hears of Lady
Macbeth’s death, in Act 5, scene 5, lines 16–27. Given the great love between
them, his response is oddly muted, but it segues quickly into a speech of such
pessimism and despair—one of the most famous speeches in all of Shakespeare—
that the audience realizes how completely his wife’s passing and the ruin of his
power have undone Macbeth. His speech insists that there is no meaning or
purpose in life. Rather, life “is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, /
Signifying nothing.” One can easily understand how, with his wife dead and armies
marching against him, Macbeth succumbs to such pessimism. Yet, there is also a
defensive and self-justifying quality to his words. If everything is meaningless, then
Macbeth’s awful crimes are somehow made less awful, because, like everything
else, they too “signify nothing.”
Macbeth’s statement that “[l]ife’s but a poor player / That struts and frets his hour
upon the stage” can be read as Shakespeare’s somewhat deflating reminder of the
illusionary nature of the theater. After all, Macbeth is only a “player” himself,
strutting on an Elizabethan stage. In any play, there is a conspiracy of sorts
between the audience and the actors, as both pretend to accept the play’s reality.
Macbeth’s comment calls attention to this conspiracy and partially explodes it—his
nihilism embraces not only his own life but the entire play. If we take his words to
heart, the play, too, can be seen as an event “full of sound and fury, / Signifying
nothing.”
“Yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch
the nearest way.”
(iii) Occurrence: – – Lady Macbeth (Act I, Scene V)
EXPLANATION: This line is said by Lady Macbeth after she reads a letter from her
husband informing her of the prophecy of the witches which say that Macbeth
would be King. She is excited by the letter but fears that Macbeth is too ‘full of the
milk of human kindness’ or of too good a nature, to take the shortest route to the
crown which would be to eliminate the king and seize the throne.
“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.”
(iii) Occurrence: – Lady Macbeth (Act I, Scene V)
EXPLANATION: This line is said by Lady Macbeth during a speech in which she is
convincing her husband to pretend like a perfect host when King Duncan visits
them to hide their true purpose of murdering Duncan. Hence she tells Macbeth to
look like an innocent flower but be like the serpent which hides underneath it.
“Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none
of woman born shall harm Macbeth.”
(iii) Occurrence: – Second Apparition (Act IV, Scene I)
EXPLANATION: The ‘bloody child’ is the second of the three apparitions that the
witches conjure for Macbeth and it is perhaps the most famous. It tells Macbeth
to be confident and without fear, for no person who is born of a woman can harm
him. This convinces Macbeth that he is invincible as he would never be killed by
another man. He chooses to neglect the first apparition which warned him of
Macduff and doesn’t realize that the ‘bloody child’ is in fact the infant Macduff
covered with the blood of the untimely ripped womb of his mother.
(iii) Occurrence: – Donalbain (Act II, Scene III)
EXPLANATION: This line is said by the younger son of King Duncan in a conversation
with his elder brother after their father’s murder. Donalbain suspects that the
people who surround them and are acting kindly contain among them the person
who murdered their father. He says that daggers are present in men’s smile
probably referring to the canines which show when one smiles and implying
that not everyone who acts friendly is a friend. ‘The near in blood, the nearer
bloody’ implies that beware of the ones who are in the closest-relation with you as
they are most likely to betray and murder you.
“Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests; I bear a charmed life, which must
not yield to one of woman born.”
(iii) Occurrence: – Macbeth (Act V, Scene VIII)
EXPLANATION: This line is spoken by Macbeth when Macduff challenges him. He
says that let your blade fall on chests that are vulnerable or fight with someone
who can be defeated. He adds that he leads a charmed life which can’t be ended by
4
anyone born of a woman. Macbeth gets this illusion of being invincible due to the
second apparition which states that “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.”
Macduff then states that he was not born but cut out of his mother’s womb before
she could bear him naturally. This quote gave rise to the famous phrase ‘charmed
life’. Though charmed meant magical in Shakespeare’s times, the phrase was
extended to mean anyone who was lucky and escaped danger narrowly.
“To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself.”
(iii) Occurrence: – Macbeth (Act II, Scene II)
EXPLANATION: This famous quote is spoken by Macbeth in the scene where he
returns after killing Duncan in his sleep. Macbeth is stating that it would be better if
he was completely unaware of himself than to be conscious and think of the crime
he had committed. He doubts whether he knows the man who committed the
crime. The quote reflects that although Macbeth chooses to realize his ambition by
unethical means, he is also aware of his wrongdoing.
“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that
struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale
told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
(iii) Occurrence: – Macbeth (Act V, Scene V)
EXPLANATION: This quote is from one of the most famous soliloquies in Macbeth. It
is spoken by Macbeth after he hears that his wife has committed suicide and he
also knows that armies are marching against him. He says that days on this world
are short, a ‘brief candle’ and ultimately one is enveloped in darkness. He compares
life to an unimportant actor, a ‘walking shadow’ for the character he plays. This
insignificant actor “struts and frets his hour upon the stage” or is proud and
anxious for the small part he has to perform on stage and then he is heard no more.
He then compares life to the tale told by a director which is full of noise and
passion but ultimately it signifies nothing. Comparing life to theatre, Shakespeare
not only questions the purpose of life but also gives a reminder of the illusionary
nature of theatre.
“Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand. “
(iii) Occurrence: – Lady Macbeth (Act V, Scene I)
EXPLANATION: This line is from the famous sleepwalking scene after which Lady
Macbeth commits suicide off-stage. It is part of what is considered one of the
greatest passages capturing guilt in English literature. Lady Macbeth is traumatized
and guilt-ridden and she says that she cannot get rid of the smell of blood from her
hands, not even if all the perfumes of Arabia are applied to it. This is in sharp
contrast to her statement to Macbeth when he murdered Duncan where she said
“a little water clears us of this deed”. Knowing that she was the prime force that
led Macbeth to this murderous path, her guilt dominates her thoughts and she is
unable to turn away from what she now considers sins.
“Things without all remedy should be without regard: what’s done, is done.”
(iii) Occurrence: – Lady Macbeth (Act III, Scene II)
EXPLANATION: Lady Macbeth says these lines to her husband in an effort to make
him get over the guilt and fear he is experiencing due to the murder he has
committed. She says that things which cannot be remedied should not be given
regard to or you shouldn’t think about things which you can’t rectify. She adds
“what’s done, is done” implying that “there’s no changing the past, so forget about
it and move on.” Although Shakespeare didn’t coin the phrase “what’s done, is
done” but Macbeth remains one of the first recorded use of it and it definitely
made the phrase popular.
“Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!/ Macbeth does murder
sleep…”
(iii) Occurrence: – (Scene ii, lines 34-35)
EXPLANATION: Macbeth‟s guilty conscience has been bothering him since even
before he committed the act of killing Duncan. Before, he thought he saw a dagger,
but when he reached out to it, it was not really there, and now, he is hearing voices
calling out what he has done. The voices say that he has murdered sleep and sleep
here symbolizes innocence; the king was innocent and Macbeth murdered him.
“I’ll go no more./ I am afraid to think what I have done;/ Look on ’t again I
dare not”
(iii) Occurrence: – (Scene ii, lines 49-51)
EXPLANATION: His wife‟s persuasion doesn‟t work on him this time, Macbeth is
feeling too guilty and bad about what he did to do anymore. His wife calls him a
coward, but even that does not
convince him, which is why it is a surprise later when he kills the guards. Lady
Macbeth faints when she heard what Macbeth did because she had not expected
anything like it out of her “coward” or a husband.
“My hands are of your color, but I shame/ To wear a heart so white.”
(iii) Occurrence: – (Scene ii, lines 63-64)
EXPLANATION: Lady Macbeth does not feel the same guilt that Macbeth does. She
says her hands are of his color, meaning that they are too covered in blood and
therefore guilt of the crime, but she would be ashamed to have a heart so cowardly
as she thinks Macbeth‟s is. “To know my deed, „twere best not know myself”
Macbeth says, further revealing his nagging conscience. Lady Macbeth does not
respond to this because she does not care to hear anymore about his guilty feelings
when she herself does not share them.
“Who could refrain,/That had a heart to love, and in that heart/ Courage to
make’s love known?”
(iii) Occurrence: – (Scene iii, lines 117-119)
EXPLANATION: This is ironic because Macbeth gives his reason for killing the guards
that he loved the king and had courage to kill the men who killed Duncan. But
really, it was Macbeth who killed Duncan. Is Macbeth now taking out his guilty
feelings on other men, looking for someone to blame since he cannot bring Duncan
back? Macbeth says he did it out of love for the king, but how can he have loved
the king when he is the king‟s murderer?
Macbeth Summary ..(Act 1)
Act 1, Scene 1
On a heath in Scotland, three witches, the Weird Sisters, wait to meet Macbeth
amidst thunder and lightning. Their conversation is filled with paradox and
equivocation: they say that they will meet Macbeth "when the battle's lost and
won" and when "fair is foul and foul is fair" (10).
Act 1, Scene 2
The Scottish army is at war with the Norwegian army. Duncan, king of Scotland,
meets a captain returning from battle. The captain informs them of Macbeth and
Banquo's bravery in battle. He also describes Macbeth's attack on the castle of the
treacherous Macdonald, in which Macbeth triumphed and planted Macdonald’s
head on the battlements of the castle. The Thanes of Ross and Angus enter with the
news that the Thane of Cawdor has sided with Norway. Duncan decides to execute
the disloyal thane and give the title of Cawdor to Macbeth.
Act 1, Scene 3
The Weird Sisters meet on the heath and wait for Macbeth. He arrives with
Banquo, repeating the witches' paradoxical phrase by stating "So foul and fair a day
I have not seen" (36). The witches hail him as "Thane of Glamis" (his present title),
"Thane of Cawdor" (the title he will soon receive officially), and "king hereafter"
(46-48). Their greeting startles and seems to frighten Macbeth. When Banquo
questions the witches as to who they are, they greet him with the phrases "Lesser
than Macbeth and greater," "Not so happy, yet much happier," and a man who
"shall get kings, though [he] be none" (63-65).
When Macbeth questions them further, the witches vanish into thin
air. Almost as soon as they disappear, Ross and Angus appear with the news that
the king has granted Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth and Banquo
step aside to discuss this news; Banquo is of the opinion that the title of Thane of
Cawdor might "enkindle" Macbeth to seek the crown as well (119). Macbeth
questions why such happy news causes his "seated heart [to] knock at [his] ribs /
Against the use of nature," and his thoughts turn immediately and with terror to
murdering the king in order to fulfill the witches' second prophesy (135-36). When
Ross and Angus notice Macbeth's distraught state, Banquo dismisses it as
Macbeth's unfamiliarity with his new title.
Act 1, Scene 4
Duncan demands to know whether the former Thane of Cawdor has been
executed. His son Malcolm assures him that he has witnessed the former Thane’s
becoming death. While Duncan muses about the fact that he placed "absolute
trust" in the treacherous Thane, Macbeth enters. Duncan thanks Macbeth and
Banquo for their loyalty and bravery. He consequently announces his decision to
make his son Malcolm the heir to the throne of Scotland (something that would not
have happened automatically, since his position was elected and not inherited).
Duncan then states that he plans to visit Macbeth at his home in Inverness.
Macbeth leaves to prepare his home for the royal visit, pondering the stumbling
block of Malcolm that now hinders his ascension to the throne. The king follows
with Banquo.
Act 1, Scene 5
At Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth that describes his meeting
with the witches. She fears that his nature is not ruthless enough-- he's "too full o'
th' milk of human kindness” (15)—to murder Duncan and assure the completion of
the witches' prophesy. He has ambition enough, she claims, but lacks the gumption
to act on it. She then implores him to hurry home so that she can "pour [her] spirits
in [his] ear" (24)—in other words, goad him on to the murder he must commit.
When a messenger arrives with the news that Duncan is coming, Lady Macbeth
calls on the heavenly powers to "unsex me here" and fill her with cruelty, taking
from her all natural womanly compassion (39). When Macbeth arrives, she greets
him as Glamis and Cawdor and urges him to "look like the innocent flower, / but be
the serpent under’t" (63-64). She then says that she will make all the preparations
for the king's visit and subsequent murder.
Act 1, Scene 6
Duncan arrives at Inverness with Banquo and exchanges pleasantries with Lady
Macbeth. The king inquires after Macbeth's whereabouts and she offers to bring
him to where Macbeth awaits.
Act 1, Scene 7
Alone on stage, Macbeth agonizes over whether to kill Duncan, recognizing the act
of murdering the king as a terrible sin. He struggles in particular with the idea of
murdering a man—a relative, no less—who trusts and loves him. He would like the
king's murder to be over and regrets the fact that he possesses “vaulting ambition"
without the ruthlessness to ensure the attainment of his goals (27).
As Lady Macbeth enters, Macbeth tells her that he "will proceed no
further in this business" (31). But Lady Macbeth taunts him for his fears and
ambivalence, telling him he will only be a man when he carries out the murder. She
states that she herself would go so far as to take her own nursing baby and dash its
brains if necessary. She counsels him to "screw [his] courage to the sticking place"
and details the way they will murder the king (60). They will wait until he falls
asleep, she says, and thereafter intoxicate his bodyguards with drink. This will
5
allow them to murder Duncan and lay the blame on the two drunken bodyguards.
Macbeth is astonished by her cruelty but resigns to follow through with her plans.
..(Act 2)
Act 2, Scene 1
Banquo, who has come to Inverness with Duncan, wrestles with the witches'
prophecy. He must restrain himself the “cursed thoughts” that tempt him in his
dreams (II i 8). When Banquo raises the topic of the prophecy as Macbeth enters
the scene, Macbeth pretends that he has given little thought to the witches'
prophesy. After Banquo and his son Fleance leave the scene, Macbeth imagines
that he sees a bloody dagger pointing toward Duncan's chamber. Frightened by the
apparition of a "dagger of the mind," he prays that the earth will "hear not [his]
steps" as he completes his bloody plan (38, 57). The bell rings—a signal from Lady
Macbeth—and he sets off toward Duncan's room.
Act 2, Scene 2
Lady Macbeth waits fitfully for Macbeth to return from killing Duncan. Upon
hearing a noise within, she worries that the bodyguards have awakened before
Macbeth has had a chance to plant the evidence on them.
Macbeth enters, still carrying the bloody daggers with which he killed Duncan. He is
deeply shaken: as he entered Duncan's chamber, he heard the bodyguards praying
and could not say "Amen" when they finished their prayers. Lady Macbeth’s
counsels to think "after these ways” as “it will make [them] mad" (32).
Nonetheless, Macbeth also tells her that he also thought he heard a voice saying,
"’sleep no more, / Macbeth does murder sleep. . . Glamis hath murdered sleep, and
therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more" (33-41).
Lady Macbeth again warns him not to think of such "brain-sickly of things" and tells
him to wash the blood from his hands (44). Seeing the daggers he carries, she
chastises him for bringing them in and tells him to plant them on the bodyguards
according to the plan. When Macbeth, still horrified by the crime he has just
committed, refuses to reenter Duncan’s chamber, Lady Macbeth herself brings the
daggers back in.
While she is gone, Macbeth hears a knocking and imagines that he sees hands
plucking at his eyes. He is guilt-stricken and mourns: “Will all great Neptune’s
ocean wash this blood / clean from my hand?” (58-59)? When Lady Macbeth hears
his words upon reentering, she states that her hands are of the same color but her
heart remains shamelessly unstained. “A little water,” she continues, “will clear
[them] of th[e] deed” (65). As the knocking persists, the two retire to put on their
nightgowns so as not to arouse suspicion when others arrive.
Act 2, Scene 3
In a scene of comic relief, the Porter hears knocking at the gate and imagines that
he is the porter at the door to Hell. He imagines admitting a farmer who has
committed suicide after a bad harvest, an "equivocator" who has committed a sin
by swearing to half-truths, and an English tailor who stole cloth to make
fashionable clothes and visited brothels. Since it is "too cold for hell" at the gate, he
opens the door instead of continuing with a longer catalogue of sinners (16).
Outside stand Macduff and Lennox, who scold him for taking so long to respond to
their knowcking. The Porter claims that he was tired after drinking until late and
delivers a short sermon on the ills of drink.
Macbeth enters and Macduff asks him whether the king is awake yet. On hearing
that the king is still asleep, Macduff leaves to wake him. While he is gone, Lennox
tells Macbeth that the weather by night was full of strange events: chimneys were
blown down, birds screeched all night, the earth shook, and ghostly voices were
heard prophesying ominously. A stunned Macduff returns with the news that the
king is dead. He tells them to go see for themselves and calls to the servants to ring
the alarm bell.
Lady Macbeth and Banquo enter and Macduff informs them of the king's death.
Macbeth and Lennox return and Macbeth laments the king's death, proclaiming
that he wishes he were dead instead of the king. When Malcolm and Donalbain
arrive, Lennox blames the regicide on the guards by pointing to the incriminating
bloody evidence. Macbeth states that he has already killed the bodyguards in a
grief-stricken rage. At this point, Lady Macbeth feigns shock and faints. Aside,
Malcolm and Donalbain confer and decide that their lives may be at risk and that
they should flee Scotland. As Lady Macbeth is being helped off-stage, Banquo
counsels the others to convene and discuss the murder at hand. Left behind on
stage, Malcolm decides that he will flee to England while Donalbain will go to
Ireland.
Act 2, Scene 4
Ross and an old man discuss the unnatural events that have taken place recently:
days are as dark as nights, owls hunt falcons, and Duncan's horses have gone mad
and eaten each other. When Macduff enters, Ross asks whether the culprit has
been discovered. Macduff tells him that the bodyguards killed the king. The hasty
flight on the part of Malcolm and Donalbain, however, has also cast suspicion on
the two sons as well. Ross comments that Macbeth will surely be named the next
king, to which Macduff responds that he has already been named and has gone to
Scone to be crowned. Ross leaves for Scone to see the coronation while Macduff
heads home to Fife.
..(Act 3)
Act 3, Scene 1
Alone at Macbeth's court, Banquo voices his suspicions that Macbeth has killed
Duncan in order to fulfill the witches' prophesies. He muses that perhaps the
witches' vision for his own future will also be realized, but pushes the thought from
his mind. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth enter to the fanfare of trumpets, along
with Lennox and Ross. Macbeth announces that he will hold a banquet in the
evening and that Banquo will be honored as chief guest. Banquo states that he
must ride in the afternoon but will return for the banquet. Macbeth tells him that
Malcolm and Donalbain will not confess to killing their father. After confirming
that Fleance will accompany Banquo on his trip, Macbeth wishes Banquo a safe
ride.
Left alone, Macbeth summons the two murderers he has hired. While he waits for
them, he voices his greatest worry of the moment—that the witches' prophecy will
also come true for Banquo, making his children kings. He will put an end to such
worries by hiring two men to kill Banquo and Fleance. The men are not professional
assassins, but rather poor men who are willing to work as mercenaries. Macbeth
has already blamed their current state of poverty on Banquo. He now tells them
that while Banquo is his own enemy as much as theirs, loyal friends of Banquo's
prevent him from killing Banquo himself. Macbeth proceeds to detail the
particulars of the murder: they must attack him as he returns from his ride—at a
certain distance from the palace—and they must also kill Fleance at the same time.
Act 3, Scene 2
Alone on stage, Lady Macbeth expresses her unhappiness: there seems to be no
end to her desire for power and she feels insecure and anxious. Macbeth enters
looking upset and she counsels him to stop mulling over the crimes they have
committed. But Macbeth declares that their job is not done: he still spends every
waking moment in fear and every night embroiled in nightmares. He even envies
Duncan, who now sleeps peacefully in his grave. Lady Macbeth warns him to act
cheerful in front of their dinner guests. She also tries to comfort him by reminding
him that Banquo and Fleance are by no means immortal. Macbeth responds by
telling her that "a deed of dreadful note" will be done in the night, though he will
not divulge the details (33).
Act 3, Scene 3
The two murderers are joined by a third, who says that he has also been hired by
Macbeth. Horses are heard approaching and Banquo and Fleance enter. The
murderers attack Banquo but Fleance manages to escape. The murderers leave to
report back to Macbeth.
Act 3, Scene 4
At the banquet, a murderer arrives and reports to Macbeth just as the dinner
guests begin to arrive. He informs Macbeth that Banquo is dead but Fleance has
escaped. Shaken, Macbeth thanks him for what he has done and arranges another
meeting on the following day. The murderer leaves and Macbeth returns to the
feast.
Looking over the table, Macbeth declares that the banquet would be perfect if only
Banquo were present. At this point Banquo's ghost appears unobserved and takes
Macbeth's seat. The guests urge Macbeth to sit and eat with them but Macbeth
says that the table is full. When Lennox points to Macbeth's empty seat, Macbeth is
shocked to see Banquo’s ghost. He addresses the ghost, saying, "Thou canst not say
I did it. Never shake / Thy gory locks at me" (49-50). The guests, confused by his
behavior, think that he is ill. Lady Macbeth reassures them, however, by saying that
he has had similar fits since youth and that he will soon be well. She draws
Macbeth aside and attempts to calm him by asserting that the vision is merely a
“painting of [his] fear”—just like the dagger he saw earlier (60). Ignoring her,
Macbeth charges the ghost to speak but it disappears. After Lady Macbeth scolds
him for being "unmanned in folly" (73), Macbeth returns to his guests and claims
that he has "a strange infirmity," which they should ignore (85).
Just as the party resumes and Macbeth is offering a toast to Banquo, the ghost
reappears. As Macbeth once again bursts out in a speech directed at the ghost,
Lady Macbeth tries to smooth things over with the guests. In response to
Macbeth’s exclamation that he sees sights that make his cheeks “blanched with
fear,” Ross asks what sights Macbeth means (114). Lady Macbeth asks the guests to
leave, since Macbeth's "illness" seems to be deteriorating. Alone with Lady
Macbeth, Macbeth expresses his deep anxieties and vows to return to the Weird
Sisters.
Act 3, Scene 5
On the heath, the witches meet Hecate, queen of witches, who chastises them for
meddling in Macbeth's affairs without involving her or showing him any fancy
magic spectacles. She tells them that Macbeth will visit them tomorrow and that
they must put on a more dramatic show for him.
Act 3, Scene 6
Lennox and another lord discuss politics. Lennox comments sarcastically on the
recent deaths of Duncan and Banquo. He suggests that it seems implausible for
Malcolm and Donalbain to be inhuman enough to kill their father. Moreover,
Macbeth's slaying of the bodyguards seemed very convenient, since they probably
would have denied killing Duncan. Lennox proposes that if Malcolm, Donalbain,
and Fleance were in Macbeth's prison, they would also probably be dead now. He
also reveals that since Macduff did not attend Macbeth's feast, he has been
denounced. The lord with whom Lennox speaks comments that Macduff has joined
Malcolm at the English court. The two men have apparently asked Siward to lead
an army against Macbeth. Lennox and the lord send their prayers to Macduff and
Malcolm.
..(Act 4)
Act 4, Scene 1
The witches circle a cauldron, mixing in a variety of grotesque ingredients while
chanting "double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble" (10-
11). Hecate appears, they sing all together, and Hecate leaves. Macbeth then
enters, demanding answers to his pressing questions about the future. The witches
complete their magic spell and summon forth a series of apparitions. The first is an
armed head that warns Macbeth to beware the Thane of Fife (Macduff). The
second apparition is a bloody child, who tells him that "none of woman born / Shall
harm Macbeth" (96-97). This news bolsters Macbeth spirits. The third apparition is
a crowned child with a tree in its hand, who says that "Macbeth shall never
vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come
against him" (107-09). This cheers Macbeth even more, since he knows that
6
nothing can move a forest. Macbeth proceeds to ask his last question: will Banquo's
children ever rule Scotland?
The cauldron sinks and a strange sound is heard. The witches now show Macbeth a
procession of kings, the eighth of whom holds a mirror in his hand, followed by
Banquo. As Banquo points at this line of kings, Macbeth realizes that they are
indeed his family line. After the witches dance and disappear, Lennox enters with
the news that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth resolves that he will
henceforth act immediately on his ambitions: the first step will be to seize Fife and
kill Macduff's wife and children.
Act 4, Scene 2
At Fife, Ross visits Lady Macduff, who is frightened for her own safety now that her
husband has fled. He reassures her by telling her that her husband did only what
was right and necessary. After he leaves, Lady Macduff engages her son in a
conversation about his missing father. The little boy demonstrates wisdom well
beyond his years. A messenger interrupts them with a warning to flee the house
immediately. But before Lady Macduff can escape, murderers attack the house and
kill everyone including Lady Macduff and her son.
Act 4, Scene 3
Macduff arrives at the English court and meets with Malcolm. Malcolm,
remembering his father's misplaced trust in Macbeth, decides to test Macduff: he
confesses that he is a greedy, lustful, and sinful man who makes Macbeth look like
an angel in comparison. Macduff despairs and says that he will leave Scotland
forever if this is the case, since there seems to be no man fit to rule it. Upon
hearing this, Malcolm is convinced of Macduff's goodness and reveals that he was
merely testing him; he has none of these faults to which he has just confessed. In
fact, he claims, the first lie he has ever told was this false confession to Macduff. He
then announces that Siward has assembled an army of ten thousand men and is
prepared to march on Scotland.
A messenger appears and tells the men that the king of England is approaching,
attended by a crowd of sick and despairing people who wish the king to cure them.
The king, according to Malcolm, has a gift for healing people simply by laying his
hands on them.
Ross arrives from Scotland and reports that the country is in a shambles. When
Macduff asks how his wife and children are faring, Ross first responds that they are
“well at peace” (180). When pressed further, he relates the story of their death.
Macduff is stunned speechless and Malcolm urges him to cure his grief by exacting
revenge on Macbeth. Macduff is overcome with guilt and sorrow from the murders
that occurred while he was absent. Again Malcolm urges him to put his grief to
good use and seek revenge. All three men leave to prepare for battle.
..(Act 5)
Act 5, Scene 1
At the Scottish royal home of Dunsinane, a gentlewoman has summoned a doctor
to observe Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking. The doctor reports that he has watched
her for two nights now and has yet to see anything strange. The gentlewoman
describes how she has seen Lady Macbeth rise, dress, leave her room, write
something on a piece of paper, read it, seal it, and return to bed—all without
waking up. The gentlewoman dares not repeat what Lady Macbeth says while thus
sleepwalking.
The two are interrupted by a sleepwalking Lady Macbeth, who enters carrying a
candle. The gentlewoman reports that Lady Macbeth asks to have a light by her all
night. The doctor and the gentlewoman watch as Lady Macbeth rubs her hands as if
washing them and says " Yet here's a spot. . . Out, damned spot; out I say” (27-30).
As she continues to "wash" her hands, her words betray her guilt to the two
onlookers. Lady Macbeth seems to be reliving the events on the night of Duncan’s
death. She cannot get the stain or smell of blood off her hand: "What, will these
hands ne'er be clean. . . All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand"
(37-43). As the sleepwalking Lady Mabeth imagines she hears knocking at the gate
and returns to her chamber, the doctor concludes that Lady Macbeth needs a
priest's help and not a physician's. He takes his leave, asserting that he and the
gentlewoman had better not reveal what they have seen or heard.
Act 5, Scene 2
The thanes Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox march with a company of
soldiers toward Birnam Wood, where they will join Malcolm and the English army.
They claim that they will "purge" the country of Macbeth's sickening influence (28).
Act 5, Scene 3
At Dunsinane, Macbeth tires of hearing reports of nobles who have defected to join
the English forces. He feels consoled, however, by the witches' prophesy that he
has nothing to fear until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, or until he counters a
man not born of woman. Since both of the events seem impossible, Macbeth feels
invincible.
A servant enters with the news that the enemy has rallied a thousand men but
Macbeth sends him away, scolding him for cowardice. After calling for his
servant Seyton to help him put on his armor, Macbeth demands the doctor’s
prognosis about Lady Macbeth. The doctor replies that she is “not so sick” but
troubled with visions (39). In some way or other, she must cure herself of these
visions—an answer that displeases Macbeth. As attendants put on his armor, he
declares that he would applaud the doctor if he could analyze the country's urine
and therein derive a medicine for Lady Macbeth. Abruptly, Macbeth leaves the
room, professing once again that he will not fear “death and bane” until Birnam
Wood comes to Dunsinane (61). Aside, the doctor confesses that he would like to
be as far away from Dunsinane as possible.
Act 5, Scene 4
Malcolm, Siward, Young Siward, Macduff, Mentieth, Caithness, and Angus march
toward Birnam Wood. As they approach the forest, Malcolm instructs the soldiers
to cut off branches and hold them up in order to disguise their numbers. Siward
informs Malcolm that Macbeth confidently holds Dunsinane, waiting for their
arrival. Malcolm comments that almost all of Macbeth’s men have deserted him.
The army marches on.
Act 5, Scene 5
Macbeth orders his men to hang his banners on the outer walls of the castle,
claiming that it will hold until the attackers die of famine. If only the other side
were not reinforced with men who deserted him, he claims, he would not think
twice about rushing out to meet the English army head-on. Upon hearing the cry of
a woman within, Macbeth comments that he has almost forgotten the taste of
fears. Seyton returns and announces the death of Lady Macbeth. Seemingly
unfazed, Macbeth comments that she should have died later, at a more
appropriate time. He stops to muse on the meaning of life:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (23-27)
A messenger enters and reports that he has seen something unbelievable: as he
looked out toward Birnam Wood, it appeared that the forest began to move
toward the castle. Macbeth is stunned and begins to fear that the witch's words
may come true after all. He instructs his men to ring the alarm.
Act 5, Scene 6
Malcolm tells his soldiers that they are near enough to the castle now to throw
down the branches they carry. He announces that Siward and Young Siward will
lead the first battle. He and Macduff will follow behind. The trumpeters sound a
charge.
Act 5, Scene 7
Macbeth waits on the battlefield to defend his castle. He feels like a bear that has
been tied to a stake for dogs to attack. Young Siward enters and demands his
name. Macbeth responds that he will be afraid to hear it. Macbeth kills Young
Siward in the ensuing duel, commenting that Young Siward must have been “born
of woman" (12).
Act 5, Scene 8
Macduff enters alone and shouts a challenge to Macbeth, swearing to avenge the
death of his wife and children. As he exist, he asks Fortune to help him find
Macbeth.
Act 5, Scene 9
Malcolm and Siward enter and charge the castle.
Act 5, Scene 10
Macbeth enters, asserting that he should not “play the Roman fool” and commit
suicide (2). Macduff finds him and challenges him. Macbeth replies that he has thus
far avoided Macduff but that he is now ready to fight. As they fight, Macbeth tells
him that he “bears a charmed life”: he will only fall to a man who is not born of
woman (12). Macduff replies that the time has come for Macbeth to despair: "let
the angel whom thou still hast served / Tell thee Macduff was from his mother's
womb / Untimely ripped"—Macduff was born through the equivalent of a
caesarian section (13-16). Hearing this, Macbeth quails and says that he will not
fight. Macduff replies by commanding him to yield and become the laughing stock
of Scotland under Malcolm's rule. This enrages Macbeth, who swears he will never
yield to swear allegiance to Malcolm. They fight on and thus exit.
Act 5, Scene 11
Malcolm, Siward, and the other thanes enter. Although they have won the battle,
Malcolm notes that Macduff and Young Siward are missing. Ross reports that
Young Siward is dead and eulogizes him by stating that "he only lived but till he
was a man, / The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed / In the unshrinking
station where he fought, / But like a man he died" (6-9). After confirming that his
son’s wounds were on his front—in other words, that the Young Siward died
bravely in battle—Siward declares that he not wish for a better death for his son.
Macduff enters, carrying Macbeth's severed head and shouting "Hail, King of
Scotland!" The men echo this shout and the trumpets flourish as Malcolm accepts
the kingship. Malcolm announces that he will rename the current thanes as earls.
He will call back all the men whom Macbeth has exiled and will attempt to heal the
scarred country. All exit towards Scone, where Malcolm will be crowned as King of
Scotland.
DR. Faustus
REFERENCE
(i) Drama: Doctor. Faustus
(ii) Dramatist: Christopher Marlowe
Within the bowels of these elements,
Where we are tortured, and remain for ever.
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place; but where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
And to be short, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that is not heaven.
Explanation:
EXPLANATION: In scene five of Doctor Faustus, after Faustus signs the contract with
Lucifer, he asks Mephistopheles to tell him where hell is. At first, he answers the
doctor that hell is "under the heavens" (120). Faustus is more curious, and when
he presses for more detail, Mephistopheles attempts to convince the doctor of the
seriousness of hell. In one of the most famous lines from the play, "hell hath no
limits, nor is circumscribed...
In scene five of Doctor Faustus, after Faustus signs the contract with Lucifer, he asks
Mephistopheles to tell him where hell is. At first, he answers the doctor that hell is
7
"under the heavens" (120). Faustus is more curious, and when he presses for more
detail, Mephistopheles attempts to convince the doctor of the seriousness of hell.
In one of the most famous lines from the play, "hell hath no limits, nor is
circumscribed in one self place," Mephistopheles tries to make Faustus understand
the gravity of his decision to sign the contract with Lucifer, and the reality of hell.
Hell is inescapable for all who do not repent, and "all places shall be hell that is not
heaven" (129).
In the next line, however, it becomes clear that Faustus does not buy into the
seriousness of the situation, claiming "Hell's a fable" (130). Faustus fails to
understand what Mephistopheles was trying to get across--without repentance,
hell will be an inevitability for the doctor, an inescapable destination.
The reward of sin is death? That’s hard.
Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas.
If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.
Why then belike we must sin,
And so consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death.
What doctrine call you this? Che sarà, sarà:
What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!
These metaphysics of magicians,
And necromantic books are heavenly!
(1.40–50)
EXPLANATION: Faustus speaks these lines near the end of his opening soliloquy. In
this speech, he considers various fields of study one by one, beginning with logic
and proceeding through medicine and law. Seeking the highest form of knowledge,
he arrives at theology and opens the Bible to the New Testament, where he quotes
from Romans and the first book of John. He reads that “[t]he reward of sin is
death,” and that “[i]f we say we that we have no sin, / We deceive ourselves, and
there’s no truth in us.” The logic of these quotations—everyone sins, and sin leads
to death—makes it seem as though Christianity can promise only death, which
leads Faustus to give in to the fatalistic “What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!”
However, Faustus neglects to read the very next line in John, which states, “If we
confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). By ignoring this passage, Faustus ignores the
possibility of redemption, just as he ignores it throughout the play. Faustus has
blind spots; he sees what he wants to see rather than what is really there. This
blindness is apparent in the very next line of his speech: having turned his back on
heaven, he pretends that “[t]hese metaphysics of magicians, / And necromantic
books are heavenly.” He thus inverts the cosmos, making black magic “heavenly”
and religion the source of “everlasting death.”
MEPHASTOPHILIS: Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?
O Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.
FAUSTUS: What, is great Mephastophilis so passionate
For being deprivèd of the joys of heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,
And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.
(3.76–86)
EXPLANATION: This exchange shows Faustus at his most willfully blind, as he listens
to Mephastophilis describe how awful hell is for him even as a devil, and as he then
proceeds to dismiss Mephastophilis’s words blithely, urging him to have “manly
fortitude.” But the dialogue also shows Mephastophilis in a peculiar light. We know
that he is committed to Faustus’s damnation—he has appeared to Faustus because
of his hope that Faustus will renounce God and swear allegiance to Lucifer. Yet here
Mephastophilis seems to be urging Faustus against selling his soul, telling him to
“leave these frivolous demands, / Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.” There
is a parallel between the experience of Mephastophilis and that of Faustus. Just as
Faustus now is, Mephastophilis was once prideful and rebelled against God; like
Faustus, he is damned forever for his sin. Perhaps because of this connection,
Mephastophilis cannot accept Faustus’s cheerful dismissal of hell in the name of
“manly fortitude.” He knows all too well the terrible reality, and this knowledge
drives him, in spite of himself, to warn Faustus away from his t-errible course.
MEPHASTOPHILIS.: Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self-place; for where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
...
All places shall be hell that is not heaven.
FAUSTUS: Come, I think hell’s a fable.
MEPHASTOPHILISs.: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
...
FAUSTUS: Think’st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine
That after this life there is any pain?
Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives’ tales.
(5.120–135)
EXPLANATION: This exchange again shows Mephastophilis warning Faustus about
the horrors of hell. This time, though, their exchange is less significant for what
Mephastophilis says about hell than for Faustus’s response to him. Why anyone
would make a pact with the devil is one of the most vexing questions surrounding
Doctor Faustus, and here we see part of Marlowe’s explanation. We are constantly
given indications that Faustus doesn’t really understand what he is doing. He is a
secular Renaissance man, so disdainful of traditional religion that he believes hell
to be a “fable” even when he is conversing with a devil. Of course, such a belief is
difficult to maintain when one is trafficking in the supernatural, but Faustus has a
fallback position. Faustus takes Mephastophilis’s assertion that hell will be “[a]ll
places … that is not heaven” to mean that hell will just be a continuation of life on
earth. He fails to understand the difference between him and Mephastophilis:
unlike Mephastophilis, who has lost heaven permanently, Faustus, despite his pact
with Lucifer, is not yet damned and still has the possibility of repentance. He
cannot yet understand the torture against which Mephastophilis warns him, and
imagines, fatally, that he already knows the worst of what hell will be.
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss:
Her lips sucks forth my soul, see where it flies!
Come Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena!
(12.81–87)
EXPLANATION: These lines come from a speech that Faustus makes as he nears the
end of his life and begins to realize the terrible nature of the bargain he has made.
Despite his sense of foreboding, Faustus enjoys his powers, as the delight he takes
in conjuring up Helen makes clear. While the speech marks a return to the
eloquence that he shows early in the play, Faustus continues to display the same
blind spots and wishful thinking that characterize his behavior throughout the
drama. At the beginning of the play, he dismisses religious transcendence in favor
of magic; now, after squandering his powers in petty, self-indulgent behavior, he
looks for transcendence in a woman, one who may be an illusion and not even real
flesh and blood. He seeks heavenly grace in Helen’s lips, which can, at best, offer
only earthly pleasure. “[M]ake me immortal with a kiss,” he cries, even as he
continues to keep his back turned to his only hope for escaping damnation—
namely, repentance.
Ah Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damned perpetually.
...
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
O I’ll leap up to my God! Who pulls me down?
See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul, half a drop: ah my Christ—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ;
Yet will I call on him—O spare me, Lucifer!
...
Earth, gape! O no, it will not harbor me.
You stars that reigned at my nativity,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist
Into the entrails of yon laboring cloud,
That when you vomit forth into the air
My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,
So that my soul may but ascend to heaven.
...
O God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul,
...
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.
...
Cursed be the parents that engendered me:
No, Faustus, curse thy self, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
...
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me!
...
Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer!
I’ll burn my books—ah, Mephastophilis! (13.57–113)
EXPLANATION: These lines come from Faustus’s final speech, just before the devils
take him down to hell. It is easily the most dramatic moment in the play, and
Marlowe uses some of his finest rhetoric to create an unforgettable portrait of the
mind of a man about to carried off to a horrific doom. Faustus goes from one idea
to another, desperately seeking a way out. But no escape is available, and he ends
by reaching an understanding of his own guilt: “No, Faustus, curse thy self, curse
Lucifer, / That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.” This final speech raises
the question of why Faustus does not repent earlier and, more importantly, why his
desperate cries to Christ for mercy are not heard. In a truly Christian framework,
Faustus would be allowed a chance at redemption even at the very end. But
Marlowe’s play ultimately proves more tragic than Christian, and so there comes a
point beyond which Faustus can no longer be saved. He is damned, in other words,
while he is still alive.
Faustus’s last line aptly expresses the play’s representation of a clash between
Renaissance and medieval values. “I’ll burn my books,” Faustus cries as the devils
come for him, suggesting, for the first time since scene 2, when his slide into
mediocrity begins, that his pact with Lucifer is about gaining limitless knowledge,
an ambition that the Renaissance spirit celebrated but that medieval Christianity
denounced as an expression of sinful human pride. As he is carried off to hell,
Faustus seems to give in to the Christian worldview, denouncing, in a desperate
attempt to save himself, the quest for knowledge that has defined most of his life.
8
 The reward of sin is death? That's hard .
Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas.
If we say that we have no sin ,
We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us .
Why then belike we must sin ,
And so consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death .
What doctrine call you this? Che sar , sar :
What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!
These metaphysics of magicians,
And necromantic books are heavenly!
EXPLANATION: Faustus speaks these lines near the end of his opening soliloquy. In
this speech, he considers various fields of study one by one, beginning with logic
and proceeding through medicine and law. Seeking the highest form of knowledge,
he arrives at theology and opens the Bible to the New Testament, where he quotes
from Romans and the first book of John. He reads that “[t]he reward of sin is
death,” and that “[i]f we say we that we have no sin, / We deceive ourselves, and
there's no truth in us.” The logic of these quotations—everyone sins, and sin leads
to death—makes it seem as though Christianity can promise only death, which
leads Faustus to give in to the fatalistic “What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!”
However, Faustus neglects to read the very next line in John, which states, “If we
confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). By ignoring this passage, Faustus ignores the
possibility of redemption, just as he ignores it throughout the play. Faustus has
blind spots; he sees what he wants to see rather than what is really there. This
blindness is apparent in the very next line of his speech: having turned his back on
heaven, he pretends that “[t]hese metaphysics of magicians, / And necromantic
books are heavenly.” He thus inverts the cosmos, making black magic “heavenly”
and religion the source of “everlasting death”.
MEPHASTOPHILIS:
Why this is hell, nor am I out of it
Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God ,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven ,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss ?
O Faustus, leave these frivolous demands ,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.
FAUSTUS:
What, is great Mephastophilis so passionate
For being deprivèd of the joys of heaven ?
Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude ,
And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.
EXPLANATION: This exchange shows Faustus at his most willfully blind, as he listens
to Mephastophilis describe how awful hell is for him even as a devil, and as he then
proceeds to dismiss Mephastophilis's words blithely, urging him to have “manly
fortitude.” But the dialogue also shows Mephastophilis in a peculiar light. We know
that he is committed to Faustus's damnation— he has appeared to Faustus because
of his hope that Faustus will renounce God and swear allegiance to Lucifer. Yet here
Mephastophilis seems to be urging Faustus against selling his soul, telling him to
“leave these frivolous demands, / Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.” There
is a parallel between the experience of Mephastophilis and that of Faustus. Just as
Faustus now is, Mephastophilis was once prideful and rebelled against God; like
Faustus, he is damned forever for his sin. Perhaps because of this connection,
Mephastophilis cannot accept Faustus's cheerful dismissal of hell in the name of
“manly fortitude.” He knows all too well the terrible reality, and this knowledge
drives him, in spite of himself, to warn Faustus away from his t-errible course.
MEPHASTOPHILIS. :
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self-place; for where we are is hell , .
And where hell is, there must we ever be
....
All places shall be hell that is not heaven.
FAUSTUS: Come, I think hell's a fable.
MEPHASTOPHILISs.: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind
....
FAUSTUS: Think'st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine.
That after this life there is any pain ?
Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives' tales.
EXPLANATION: This exchange again shows Mephastophilis warning Faustus about
the horrors of hell. This time, though, their exchange is less significant for what
Mephastophilis says about hell than for Faustus's response to him.
Why anyone would make a pact with the devil is one of the most vexing questions
surrounding Doctor Faustus, and here we see part of Marlowe's explanation. We
are constantly given indications that Faustus doesn't really understand what he is
doing. He is a secular Renaissance man, so disdainful of traditional religion that he
believes hell to be a “fable” even when he is conversing with a devil. Of course,
such a belief is difficult to maintain when one is trafficking in the supernatural, but
Faustus has a fallback position. Faustus takes Mephastophilis's assertion that hell
will be “[a]ll places â that is not heaven” to mean that hell will just be a
continuation of life on earth. He fails to understand the difference between him
and Mephastophilis: unlike Mephastophilis, who has lost heaven permanently,
Faustus, despite his pact with Lucifer, is not yet damned and still has the possibility
of repentance. He cannot yet understand the torture against which Mephastophilis
warns him, and imagines, fatally, that he already knows the worst of what hell will
be.
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships ,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium ? .
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss:
Her lips sucks forth my soul, see where it flies !
Come Helen, come, give me my soul again .
Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena!
EXPLANATION: These lines come from a speech that Faustus makes as he nears the
end of his life and begins to realize the terrible nature of the bargain he has made.
Despite his sense of foreboding, Faustus enjoys his powers, as the delight he takes
in conjuring up Helen makes clear. While the speech marks a return to the
eloquence that he shows early in the play, Faustus continues to display the same
blind spots and wishful thinking that characterize his behavior throughout the
drama. At the beginning of the play, he dismisses religious transcendence in favor
of magic; now, after squandering his powers in petty, self-indulgent behavior, he
looks for transcendence in a woman, one who may be an illusion and not even real
flesh and blood. He seeks heavenly grace in Helen's lips, which can, at best, offer
only earthly pleasure. “[M]ake me immortal with a kiss,” he cries, even as he
continues to keep his back turned to his only hope for escaping damnation—
namely, repentance.
Ah Faustus ,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live ,
And then thou must be damned perpetually .
. . . The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
O I'll leap up to my God! Who pulls me down ?
See, see where Christ's blood streams in the firmament !
One drop would save my soul, half a drop: ah my Christ—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ;
Yet will I call on him—O spare me, Lucifer!
...
Earth, gape! O no, it will not harbor me .
You stars that reigned at my nativity ,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell ,
Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist
Into the entrails of yon laboring cloud ,
That when you vomit forth into the air
My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,
So that my soul may but ascend to heaven.
...
O God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul ,
...
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years ,
A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.
...
Cursed be the parents that engendered me :
No, Faustus, curse thy self, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven .
...
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me !
...
Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer !
I'll burn my books—ah, Mephastophilis!
EXPLANATION: These lines come from Faustus's final speech, just before the devils
take him down to hell. It is easily the most dramatic moment in the play, and
Marlowe uses some of his finest rhetoric to create an unforgettable portrait of the
mind of a man about to carried off to a horrific doom. Faustus goes from one idea
to another, desperately seeking a way out. But no escape is available, and he ends
by reaching an understanding of his own guilt: “No, Faustus, curse thy self, curse
Lucifer, / That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.” This final speech raises
the question of why Faustus does not repent earlier and, more importantly, why his
desperate cries to Christ for mercy are not heard. In a truly Christian framework,
Faustus would be allowed a chance at redemption even at the very end. But
Marlowe's play ultimately proves more tragic than Christian, and so there comes a
point beyond which Faustus can no longer be saved. He is damned, in other words,
while he is still alive.
Faustus's last line aptly expresses the play's representation of a clash between
Renaissance and medieval values. “I'll burn my books,” Faustus cries as the devils
come for him, suggesting, for the first time since scene 2, when his slide into
mediocrity begins, that his pact with Lucifer is about gaining limitless knowledge,
an ambition that the Renaissance spirit celebrated but that medieval Christianity
denounced as an expression of sinful human pride. As he is carried off to hell,
Faustus seems to give in to the Christian worldview, denouncing, in a desperate
attempt to save himself, the quest for knowledge that has defined most of his life.
I'll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates. (Act1, Scene 1 80-84)
EXPLANATION: The riches that Faustus imagines are all from exotic, foreign lands,
and ones that had all recently been discovered by Europeans: India, the Orient
(Asia), and the "new-found world" (the Americas). These riches would've been
tough to get and, therefore, more expensive, but Faustus's desire for them also
suggests that he wants to be like a conqueror or explorer. Could that mean he's
also power hungry, too?
9
 I'll have them fill the public schools with silk,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad. (Act1. Scene1.88-89)
EXPLANATION: Faustus seems downright charitable here. Silk is an expensive
fabric, which tells us that Faustus wants to help impoverished scholars enjoy a life
more luxurious than the one to which they're accustomed. Sounds good
I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all the provinces. (Act1. Scene1.90-92)
EXPLANATION: Here, Faustus's desire for wealth is strongly linked to his desire for
power. Many of Faustus's fellow citizens would be pumped if he ran the Prince of
Parma out of out town, since they no doubt believe he rules them unjustly. But
Faustus would do this not out of the goodness of his heart, but out of a desire to
rule over them, himself.
Faustus is not a villain, though; he is a tragic hero, a protagonist whose character
flaws lead to his downfall. Marlowe imbues him with tragic grandeur in these early
scenes. The logic he uses to reject religion may be flawed, but there is something
impressive in the breadth of his ambition, even if he pursues it through diabolical
means. In Faustus’s long speech after the two angels have whispered in his ears, his
rhetoric outlines the modern quest for control over nature (albeit through magic
rather than through science) in glowing, inspiring language. He offers a long list of
impressive goals, including the acquisition of knowledge, wealth, and political
power, that he believes he will achieve once he has mastered the dark arts. While
the reader or playgoer is not expected to approve of his quest, his ambitions are
impressive, to say the least. Later, the actual uses to which he puts his magical
powers are disappointing and tawdry. For now, however, Faustus’s dreams inspire
wonder.
Summary Dr. Faustus..(Act 1)
Act 1, Scene 1
As a prologue to the play, the chorus enters and introduces Doctor Faustus and his
history to the audience. During Marlowe and Shakespeare's time, a chorus was
frequently used in a play to act as narrator and interpreter. They explain that
Faustus was born into a middle-class family in Rhodes, Germany and later traveled
to Wittenberg for higher studies. He became renowned as a brilliant scholar and
immersed himself in studying necromancy, the conjuration of the living dead. The
chorus alludes to the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus, comparing Faustus to the
self-conceited Icarus who broke all boundaries only to meet with his demise. Thus,
the chorus foreshadows Faustus's eventual hellish fall.
The chorus leaves and the audience finds Faustus in his study, deep in thought. He
is not happy with himself, despite the fact that he is an excellent physician and
scholar. Faustus wants to make men live eternally, thereby eliminating the
problem of death once and for all. His greatest wish is to be the world's first
successful necromantic practitioner. Faustus knows that if he can raise the dead,
he will have incomparable power over humanity. He asks to see his friends Valdes
and Cornelius, who are very interested in his work. While Faustus is waiting for
them in his study, good and evil angels talk to him.
Sitting alone in his study, Faustus considers the different fields of knowledge. He
considers logic, personified in Aristotle. But when he reads "to dispute well logic's
chiefest end" (1.1.7) he says disdainfully, "Affords this art no greater miracle?"
(1.1.9). He has mastered this art and achieved its goals already. In likewise fashion
he considers other disciplines. Medicine, personified in the ancient physician Galen:
though Faustus has become a great physician, he still has no power over life and
death. Law, personified in the codifier of Roman law, Justinian: Faustus considers
law a field with a petty subject. Divinity: Faustus reads in different places that the
reward of sin is death, and that all men sin. He reasons that all men sin, and so all
men must die, and dismisses this doctrine as "Che sera, sera." He bids Divinity
farewell.
He turns to magic. Delighted by the art, he points out that even kings' powers are
limited within territories. But with the help of magic, Faustus can become a demi-
God.
Faustus' servant Wagner enters, and Faustus bids him summon his
friends, Valdes and Cornelius. Wagner goes.
Faustus declares that the advice of his friends will be helpful in the pursuit of
magic. A Good Angel and Evil Angel enter. The Good Angel tells Faustus to put the
evil book of magic aside, and the Evil Angel tells Faustus to pursue magic will lead
to power on earth. The angels exit.
Faustus thrills at the thoughts of the strange wonders he'll perform with his
sorcery. Cornelius and Valdes enter. He tells them that their advice has won him
over: he will practice the magical arts. He will also pursue magic because he has
realized it is the only subject vast enough for his mind. Valdes is delighted, and
thinks that Faustus brilliance combined with their experience will make them all
lords of the earth and the elements of nature itself. Cornelius tells him that his
learning is sound foundation for necromancy, and with magic they will be able to
find hidden treasure in the seas and earth. Valdes suggests some books, Cornelius
suggests method, and Faustus invites them to dine with him. He vows to conjure
that very night.
Act 1, Scene 2
Two scholars wonder where Faustus is. They spot Wagner, and ask the location of
Wagner's master. Wagner toys with them, mocking the language of scholars,
before finally telling them that his master is with Valdes and Cornelius. Wagner
leaves. The scholars are horrified, because Valdes and Cornelius are well known to
be necromancers. They decide to go to inform the Rector. The First Scholar worries
that nothing can help Faustus now, but the Second Scholar says that they must do
what they can.
Act 1, Scene 3
Enter Lucifer and Four Devils. Faustus invokes them, performing the necessary
incantations to make Mephostophilisappear. He commands Mephostopholis to
depart, as his devilish form is too ugly to attend on Faustus. He is to return in the
guise of a friar. When the devil departs to change his form, Faustus is delighted at
the creature's obedience.
Mephostophilis asks Faustus' will; when Faustus demands that the devil serve him,
Mephostophilis informs him that his master is Lucifer, and he cannot serve Faustus
without his lord's leave. It was not Lucifer who charged Mephostophilis to appear.
The devil came of his own will, when he heard Faustus' profane incantations. So do
all devils make haste at the sound of sacrilegious magic, in hopes of winning the
profaner's soul.
Faustus is all too eager to swear allegiance to Lucifer. He denies judgment after
death, and he asks Mephostophilis a series of questions. The devil informs Faustus
that Lucifer was once an angel, beloved of God, who by aspiring pride and
insolence earned banishment from heaven. The devils with Lucifer in hell are those
who conspired with him against God. When Faustus hears that they are banished
to hell, he becomes curious: how can Mephostophilis be before him now, outside
of hell? The devil informs him that he is always in hell, for true hell is separation
from God. He begs Faustus to leave him alone with these questions, which "strike a
terror to my [Mephostophilis's] fainting soul" (1.3.82).
Faustus chides the demon, telling him to take lessons from Faustus when it comes
to manly fortitude. He bids Mephostopholis fly down to Lucifer to tell him that
Faustus is ready to sell his soul. In exchange he wants twenty-four years of power
and luxury, with Mephostophilis in complete obedience to his whims.
Mephostophilis exits.
In soliloquy, Faustus exclaims that even if he had "as man souls as there be stars"
(1.3.92), he'd sell them. He thrills at the power he'll soon have.
Act 1, Scene 4
Wagner sees a poor Clown, and seems intent on making the Clown his servant. He
jests that the Clown's poverty would compel him to sell his soul for a raw shoulder
of mutton. The Clown replies that the mutton would have to be cooked and with
good sauce. After some banter, during which the Clown refuses to serve, Wagner
offers the clown some money. When the Clown takes the money, Wagner sees the
acceptance as compliance to servitude, and begins to give orders. The Clown tries
to give the money back. To break the Clown's resistance, Wagner summons two
devils, Baliol and Belcher. The terrified Clown agrees to serve Wagner. Wagner take
the devils away, and the impressed Clown follows him, asking if in exchange for
service he can learn to summon devils. Wagner promises that he will teach the
Clown how to change himself into an animal, and the clown bawdily says that he
would like to be flea, so he can tickle the slits of women's skirts. Keeping alive the
threat of summoning the demons again, Wagner bids the Clown to follow him, and
the Clown obeys.
Act 1, Scene 5
Faustus seems to be having second thoughts, unable to decide whether he should
sell or keep. The Good Angel and Evil Angel appear again, the Good Angel telling
him to think of heaven, and the Evil Angel telling him to think of wealth. The
thought of wealth makes up Faustus' mind. Mephostophilis returns, exhorting
Faustus to sign away his soul in a contract written in his own blood. Faustus asks
Mephostophilis why the devils want his soul, and the heart of Mephostophilis'
answer is this: "Solamen miseris, socios habuisse doloris" (1.5.42). ("Comfort in
misery is to have companions in woe.")
When Faustus cuts his arm for the contract, the blood congeals too quickly to make
good ink. While Mephostophilis is gone to fetch the fire to liquefy his blood again,
Faustus wonders if his very blood is trying to stop him. But the devil returns, and
Faustus signs. The deal is done.
On his arm, the inscription "Homo fuge" ("Fly, oh man") has appeared. The
message disturbs Faustus, but Mephostophilis leaves and fetches devils to delight
him. They crown Faustus, bedeck him in riches, dance, and then leave.
Mephostophilis returns.
Faustus declares the terms of the agreement. Faustus can take spirit shape in "form
and substance." Mephostophilis is subject completely to his whim, and must stay
nearby, invisible. In exchange, after twenty-four years, the devils will have his soul.
He questions Mephostophilis about hell, asking where it is. Mephostophilis tells
him that hell is not so much a set place: "Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed /
In one self place" (1.5.124-5). Furthermore, ". . . when all the world dissolves / And
every creature shall be purified, / All places shall be hell that is not heaven"
(1.5.127-129). Faustus doesn't seem to understand, and dismisses hell as a fable.
Mephostophilis' reply is chilling: "Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind"
(1.5.131). They continue to talk, but Faustus can't seem to grasp what the devil is
saying about the nature of hell.
He demands that Mephostophilis bring him a wife. Mephostophilis brings him a
devil dressed as a woman, and tells him that rather than bring him a wife, he'll
bring him many different women, one for every moment of desire.
Faustus asks for knowledge: he demands books on all manner of incantations,
astrology, and botany, and Mephostophilis provides all of this on demand.
Act 2, Scene 1
Faustus is in his study with Mephostophilis. He cursed the devil, for depriving him
of heaven. Through shallow logic, Mephostophilis proves that heaven is inferior to
man. The Good and Evil Angel enter, repeating their old advice. The Good Angel
tells him there is still time to repent, and the Evil Angel tell him that as he is a spirit
now, God cannot pity him.
Faustus speaks of the conviction that he cannot repent. The despair of that fact
would drive him to suicide, if it weren't for the pleasures he has seen. Homer has
performed for him, and Amphion (a character from Greek myth) has played his
music. He distracts himself now by asking Mephostophilis a series of questions
10
about the structure of the heavens. When his questions about astronomy have
been answered, he asks who made the world. Mephostophilis doesn't like this
question, and when Faustus speaks of God, the devil flees.
The Good Angel and Evil Angel arrive, repeating their advice about repentance.
They depart, and Faustu calls out to Christ to help him. Lucifer, Beelzebub, and
Mephostophilis arrive to intimidate Faustus. They say he injures them by saying the
name of Christ, and he agrees to say it no more. To entertain him, they parade the
Seven Deadly Sins before him. Faustus is delighted. Lucifer promises to show
Faustus hell that night, and gives him a book on shapeshifting.
Act 2, Scene 2
The Clown, here called Robin, has gotten one of Faustus' magic books. He's
with Dick, apparently a servant, and two men banter. The Clown has the magic
book, but apparently cannot read it. The scene ends with the two men going off to
get a drink.
Act 3, Scene 1
The Chorus describes how Faustus went to the top of Mount Olympus, and in a
chariot drawn by dragons, studied the stars and the celestial structure. He then
rode a dragon's back to study cosmography, the shapes of coasts and kingdoms,
and is now flying to Rome, where the feast honoring St. Peter is about to be
celebrated.
Act 3, Scene 2
Mephostophilis and Faustus arrive in Rome, Faustus describing the places he's
been. They wait in the Pope's own private chamber for him, as Mephostophilis
describes Rome's wonders. When Faustus wants to see them, Mephostophilis
restrains him, so that they can torment the Pope and his subordinates.
The Pope enters with cardinals, Bishops, and Raymond, King of Hungary,
and Bruno, a man in chains. Bruno is a man whom the Emperor of Germany tried to
make Pope, and he is now vanquished. The Pope makes Bruno bow as his foot stool
and abuses him verbally. The Pope sends cardinals to proclaim the statutes naming
Bruno's fate. Faustus, who watches with Mephostophilis, unseen, orders
Mephostophilis to follow the cardinals to the consistory and magically put them to
sleep. He plans to restore Bruno's liberty and return him to Germany. The Pope
informs Bruno that the Emperor and he are to be excommunicated, in order that
the Pontiff's supremacy might be made clear.
Faustus and Mephostophilis re-enter, magically disguised as the cardinals who are
now sleeping, under Mephostophilis' spell. They declare the sentence of the Synod
(council of Bishops). They take Bruno away, supposedly to be burned at the stake.
The Pope blesses them, which Mephostophilis loves ("So, so, was never devil
blessed thus before" [3.3.197]), and they take Burno away.
Act 3, Scene 3
Faustus and Mephostophilis look forward to the confusion when the cardinals
awake and return to the Pope. They make themselves invisible, and the antics
continue.
All goes according to plan. The unfortunate cardinals return, and confusion breaks
out when it becomes clear that they don't know where Bruno is. As the Pope is
sitting for his meal, Faustus speaks blasphemies (an invisible man talking) and
snatches the Pope's food and wine. A Bishop suggests that the villain might be a
ghost come from Purgatory. Faustus starts to hit the Pope, who exits with his train.
Friars return, with bell, book, and candle to perform rites that will rid the room of
the evil presence. Faustus and Mephostophilis beat up all the friars, throw
fireworks, and leave.
The Chorus returns to tell us that Faustus returns home, where his vast knowledge
of astronomy and his abilities earn him wide renown. He becomes a favorite of
Emperor Carolus the Fifth (Charles V, 1515-56), and his feats in that court we will
presently see.
Act 3, Scene 4
Robin the Clown, here working as an ostler (a person who takes care of horses)
promises his friend Rafe that with his magic book, he can perform pleasure-giving
feats. They steal a silver cup from a Vintner; when the Vintner arrives Robin
summons Mephostophilis to deal with him. The devil puts squibs (sizzling
fireworks) in the backs of Robin and Rafe, and they run around like loons. Rafe
returns the cup to the Vintner, who seems unable to see Mephostophilis.
Mephostophilis is furious at having been summoned all the way from
Constantinople to perform tricks, and he tells Robin and Rafe that he will turn one
into an ape and the other into a dog. He leaves. Robin and Rafe, as yet
untransformed, seem thrilled at the idea of getting to be animals.
Act 4, Scene 1
Scene 4.1. Martino and Frederick, two nobles at the court of the German Emperor,
converse about recent events. Bruno, the Emperor's choice for pope, is back,
having ridden home on a demon's back. They are excited about the imminent
performance of Faustus the conjuror for the pleasure of the court. They try to rouse
their sleeping lush of a friend, Benvolio, to come see the show, but he refuses to
come. He'll watch from the window.
Act 4, Scene 2
Charles, the German Emperor; Bruno, Saxony, Faustus, Mephostophilis, Frederick,
Martino, and Attendants are in the court. Benvolio's at the window. The Emperor
welcomes Faustus, thanking him for delivering Bruno, and Faustus fawns on the
Emperor, promising wonders. Benvolio voices his skepticism, saying that if Faustus
can conjure spirits, Benvolio is just as likely to become a stag, like the mythical
character Acteon . Faustus conjures Alexander the Great, the Persian Emperor
Darius, and Alexander's paramour, delighting the Emperor, who has to be
restrained by Faustus from embracing Alexander. Faustus also makes antlers grow
on the head of Benvolio. He threatens to summon hunting dogs (paralleling the
death of Acteon), but Benvolio appeals to the Emperor for help, and the Emperor
asks Faustus to restore Benvolio's human shape. Benvolio plots revenge. The
Emperor commends Faustus and promises him high office.
Act 4, Scene 3
Enter Benvolio, Martino, Frederick, and Soldiers. Martino tries to stop Benvolio
from making a move against Faustus. Benvolio won't be persuaded, and his friends
resolve to stand with him. Frederick leaves to place the soldiers for ambush, and
returns to warn them that Faustus is coming. The three friends attack, and Benvolio
cuts off Faustus' head. They plan to desecrate the head, and put horns on it . . . but
Faustus' body rises. Because he made his deal with the devil and was promised
twenty-four more years of life, he cannot be killed. He summons his devils, at first
commanding them to fly with them up to heaven before dragging them down to
hell. Then he changes his mind, because he wants men to see what happens to his
enemies. He tells the devils to drag the three friends through different parts of the
wilderness. The devils drag off the trio. The ambush soldiers arrive, but Faustus
defeats them by commanding the trees and summoning an army of devils.
Act 4, Scene 4
Benvolio, Martino, and Frederick find each other in the woods. They all have horns
on their heads. They decide that attacking Faustus is futile, and so they retreat to
Benvolio's castle, to live hidden from the world until the horns go away; if the
horns remain, they'll stay at the castle forever.
Act 4, Scene5
Faustus, reflecting to Mephostophilis that his years are nearly elapsed, decides to
return to Wittenburg. A Horse-courser arrives, trying to buy Faustus' horse. Faustus
agrees to the offer, and warns the man not to take the horse into water. The man
asks Faustus if he would do the horse's urinalysis if the horse became ill, and
Faustus tells the man to go. Faustus reflects on his quickly disappearing time, and
falls asleep. The Hourse-courser return, wet, because he rode his horse into water
and it turned into straw. Mephostophilis tells the man not to bother Faustus, but
the man tugs at Faustus' leg, which comes off. Faustus screams, as if in pain, and
Mephostophilis threatens to take the man to the constable. The boy promises he'll
pay forty dollars more, if they let him go, and Mephostophilis tells him to go away.
After the man is gone, Faustus seems to be fine. He has his leg again, and seems to
have been playing a few tricks to swindle the boy out of money.
Wagner enters, to tell Faustus that the Duke of Vanholt desires Faustus' company.
Faustus decides that he wouldn't mind serving the Duke, and off they go.
Act 4, Scene6
Enter Clown, Dick, Horse-courser, and a Carter. The Hostess enters. The Clown
(Robin) voices to Dick his worry that the Hostess will remember that he owes
money. She does remember, but doesn't seem to mind, and goes to fetch them so
beer.
They talk about Faustus. The Carter complains that Faustus cheated him. When
Faustus met the Carter while the latter was carting hay to Wittenburg, the former
paid a pittance for as much hay as he could eat. Faustus ate all the Carter's hay. The
Horse-courser tells them about how he was swindled, including a modified ending
where he bravely went to his house and ripped his leg off. They think Faustus is
legless, and so they decide to drink some more before going to find the good
doctor.
Act 4, Scene7
Enter the Duke of Vanholt, his Duchess, Faustus, and Mephostophilis. The Duke
thanks Faustus for his magic, which conjured the sight of a castle in the air. When
Faustus asks the Duchess to request what she will, she asks for ripe grapes,
although it be January. Faustus sends Mephostophilis to fetch them. The Duke
wonders, and Faustus gives a lecture on how the seasons are reversed in the
southern hemisphere. Robin, Dick the Horse-courser, and the Carter bang on the
gates. They apparently want Faustus, and he tells the Duke to let them in.
They enter, all having various scores to settle with Faustus. Faustus toys with them
a bit (since they think he's missing a leg). The Hostess enters, with drink, apparently
hoping to get paid. Faustus uses magic to strike the Clown characters speechless,
one at a time. They exit. The Hostess asks who'll pay, and Faustus strikes her
speechless too. She goes. The Duke and his Lady are delighted.
Act 5, Scene1
The stage directions: "Thunder and lightning. Enter devils with covered dishes.
MEPHOSTOPHILIS leads them into FAUSTUS' study. Then enter WAGNER."
Wagner tells the audience that he thinks Faustus prepares for death. He has made
his will, leaving all to Wagner. But even as death approaches, Faustus spends his
days feasting and drinking with the other students.
Wagner exits, and Faustus, Mephostophilis, and three Scholars enter. At their
request, he conjures the sight of Helen of Troy. Ravished, the Scholars leave,
thanking Faustus. An Old Man enters, warning Faustus to repent, saying there is
still time. Faustus seems shaken and moved, knowing that his hour approaches
quickly. He seems to think that he is doomed. Mephostophilis gives him a dagger.
Faustus tells the man that his words have brought comfort, and asks him to leave,
so that Faustus can contemplate his sins.
Faustus seems ready to repent, but Mephostophilis threatens him with physical
violence. Faustus begs pardon, and orders Mephostophilis to go torment the old
man. Mephostophilis tells Faustus that he cannot touch the Old Man's soul, but he
can harm the Old Man's body. Faustus asks Mephostophilis to bring Helen of Troy
to him, to be his love, and Mephostophilis readily agrees.
The devil brings forth the shape of Helen, and leaves. Faustus gives the most
famous speech of the play:
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies.
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell for heaven is in those lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena. (5.1.97-103)
11
The Old Man re-enters, watching, as Faustus speaks of how he'll relive the myths of
Greece, with Helen as his love and himself playing Paris of Troy. He leaves with her.
The Old Man watches, and knows Faustus is lost. The devils enter, to torture him,
but he is completely unshaken. They cannot harm what matters, and he faces them
without fear.
Act 5, Scene2
Thunder. Enter Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephostophilis. Tonight is the night
when Faustus will give up his soul, and the unholy three seem to be looking
forward to it.
Faustus and Wagner enter. Faustus asks Wagner how he likes the will, which (as we
learned in 5.1) leaves all to Wagner, and Wagner expresses gratitude.
The three scholars enter. They notice that Faustus looks ill. When they suggest
bringing a doctor, Faustus tells them he is damned forever. Tonight he is to lose his
soul. The scholars advise him to repent, but Faustus thinks it's too late. He regrets
having ever seen a book. The scholars and Wagner do not sense the presence of the
devils. Faustus tells them that he cannot even raise his arms up to God, for the
devils push his arms down.
The First Scholar asks why Faustus did not speak of this before, so that they might
pray for him, and he answers that the devils threatened him with bodily harm.
Faustus tells them to leave him, to escape harm when the devils come. The Third
Scholar considers staying with him, but his colleagues convince him not to invite
danger. They go to the next room to pray for Faustus. The Scholars exit.
Mephostophilis taunts Faustus. Faustus blames Mephostophilis for his damnation,
and the devil proudly takes credit for it. Mephostophilis exits, leaving with the line,
"Fools that will laugh on earth, must weep in hell" (5.2.106).
The Good and Evil Angels arrive. The Good Angel laments that Faustus has now lost
the eternal joys of heaven. Now, it is too late: "And now, poor soul, must thy good
angel leave thee: / The jaws of hell are open to receive thee" (5.2.124-5). The Good
Angel exits.
The gates of Hell open. The Evil Angel taunts Faustus, naming the horrible tortures
seen there. Faustus is terrified by the sight, but the Evil Angel reminds him gleefully
that soon he will feel, rather than just see. The Evil Angel exits.
The Clock strikes eleven. Faustus begins his final monologue. He pleads beautifully,
and futilely, for time to stop its forward rush. He realizes time cannot stop, and
delivers these memorable lines: "Oh, I'll leap up to my God: who pulls me down? /
See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament. / One drop would save my
soul, half a drop. Ah, my Christ!" (5.2.156-8). He has a vision of an angry God. He
pleads with different aspects of nature to help him, but they can't.
The clock strikes for half past the hour. He pleads that God will shorten his time in
hell to a thousand, or even a hundred thousand years. But he knows that hell is
eternal. He wishes that Pythagoras' theory of transmigration of souls
(reincarnation) were true. He wishes that he could be an animal, whose souls are
not immortal. He curses his parents, then curses himself, and finally curses Lucifer.
The clock strikes midnight. With thunder and lightning scarring the skies, he cries
aloud for his soul to dissolve into the air, or drops of water, so that the devils
cannot find it. The devils enter. As Faustus begs God and the devil for mercy, the
devils drag him away.
Scene 5.3. Enter the three Scholars. They've been much disturbed by all of the
terrible noise they heard between midnight and one. They find Faustus' body, torn
to pieces.
Epilogue. The Chorus emphasizes that Faustus is gone, his once-great potential
wasted. The Chorus warns the audience to remember his fall, and the lessons it
offers.
Doll’s House
REFERENCE
(i) Drama: Doll’s House
(ii) Dramatist: Henrik Ibsen
One day I might, yes. Many years from now, when I’ve lost my looks a little.
Don’t laugh. I mean, of course, a time will come when Torvald is not as
devoted to me, not quite so happy when I dance for him, and dress for him,
and play with him.
"Yes - some day, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as pretty
as I am now. Don't laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no
longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and
reciting have palled on him then it may be a good thing to have something
in reserve." (Act One)
In this quotation from Act One, Nora describes to Mrs. Linde the circumstances
under which she would consider telling Torvald about the secret loan she took in
order to save his life. Her claim that she might consider telling him when she gets
older and loses her attractiveness is important because it shows that Nora has a
sense of the true nature of her marriage, even as early as Act One. She recognizes
that Torvald’s affection is based largely on her appearance, and she knows that
when her looks fade, it is likely that Torvald’s interest in her will fade as well. Her
suggestion that in the future she may need something to hold over Torvald in order
to retain his faithfulness and devotion to her reveals that Nora is not as naïve as
she pretends to be. She has an insightful, intelligent, and manipulative side that
acknowledges, if only in a small way, the troubling reality of her existence.
Nora responds to Mrs Linde's question as to whether she will ever tell Torvald of
the loan that she took out in order to save his life. Nora's words reveal that she is
aware that Torvald's feelings for her are superficial and based on her beauty and
ability to perform for him and amuse him. For these reasons, she believes that one
day he will tire of her.
"To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and
romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have
everything just as Torvald likes it!" (Act One)
Nora delightedly looks forward to the time when she will have paid off her debt to
Krogstad and reflects that then she will be free. Her speech has dramatic irony
(where the audience knows or suspects that the opposite to what the character
believes is true), as her freedom as she defines it is in fact her bondage. She comes
to realize this by the end of the play.
"Your squirrel would run about and do all her tricks if you would be nice,
and do as she wants." (Act Two)
Nora attempts to manipulate Torvald into keeping Krogstad in his post at the bank,
so that Krogstad will not reveal to Torvald the details of Nora's debt.
"It is no use lying to one's self." (Act Two)
Dr Rank tells Nora that he must confront his imminent death. His remark has
greater resonance, however, as Nora and Torvald are indeed lying to themselves.
Nora tells herself that Torvald loves her so much that he will sacrifice everything for
her, and Torvald believes that he has a submissive, decorative but helpless little
wife. Both are under an illusion.
"A wonderful thing is going to happen!" (Act Two)
Nora makes this comment to Mrs Linde after Krogstad has dropped a letter,
revealing Nora's debt to him and her forgery of her father's signature, into
Torvald's letterbox. Though Nora does not yet explain what the "wonderful thing"
is, it later becomes clear that she is referring to her expectation that Torvald will
take the entire blame for her actions upon himself. This never happens, though it
could be said that another wonderful thing - Nora's awakening - does occur. The
"wonderful thing" theme is taken up again by Nora at the play's end, just before
she leaves Torvald, when she says that such a thing would have to happen for them
to get back together. However, she adds that she no longer believes in wonderful
things.
"Why shouldn't I look at my dearest treasure? - at all the beauty that is mine,
all my very own?" (Act Three)
Helmer stares at Nora in her fancy-dress costume, which he picked out for her, in a
state of erotic fascination. He looks upon her as a beautiful possession. His attitude
towards her is contrasted with that of Dr Rank, who soon enters and confides in
Nora that he now knows for sure that he will die within a month. Dr Rank treats her
as an equal and loves her essence, not just her appearance, as is plain from his
comment that she must go to the next party as a good fairy, but in her normal
clothes.
"At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible. There is a big black hat -
have you never heard of hats that make you invisible? If you put one on, no
one can see you." (Act Three)
Dr Rank tells Nora, in code so that Torvald will not understand, that he will be dead
by the time of the next fancy-dress ball. The big black hat symbolizes death.
"Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by
some great danger, so that I might risk my life's blood, and everything, for
your sake." (Act Three)
Torvald, enthralled by Nora's beauty in her fancy-dress costume, fantasizes about
how he might rescue her from some great danger. This comment has great
dramatic irony, as very soon, when her secret is revealed, he will have the
opportunity to do just that. Indeed, Nora is expecting him to do just that, but he
fails miserably. Far from rescuing her, he only thinks of his own ruined reputation,
and of the necessity of keeping up appearances.
"From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to
save the remains, the fragments, the appearance - " (Act Three)
Torvald, having learned the details of Krogstad's loan to Nora, does not appreciate
her sacrifice for him or consider her feelings. He rejects her both as a wife and a
mother for their children, but wants her to remain in his house and pretend that all
is well with their marriage. He is concerned only to preserve the appearance of
respectability.
"I have existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you wanted it
like that. You and father have committed a great sin against me. It is your
fault that I have made nothing of my life. our home has been nothing but a
playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was father's doll-
child; and here the children have been my dolls." (Act Three)
In a seminal speech that explains the play's title, Nora realizes the truth about her
marriage, which has been not a meeting of minds and hearts, but a performance.
She blames her husband and, before him, her father for treating her as a spoilt
child and a plaything for their own amusement. They wanted her to be ignorant
and helpless, and thus far she has only tried to please them, missing out on any
opportunity to educate or improve herself.
Free. To be free, absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children.
To have a clean, beautiful house, the way Torvald likes it.
In this quotation from her conversation with Mrs. Linde in Act One, Nora claims
that she will be “free” after the New Year—after she has paid off her debt
to Krogstad. While describing her anticipated freedom, Nora highlights the very
12
factors that constrain her. She claims that freedom will give her time to be a
mother and a traditional wife who maintains a beautiful home, as her husband
likes it. But the message of the play is that Nora cannot find true freedom in this
traditional domestic realm. As the play continues, Nora becomes increasingly
aware that she must change her life to find true freedom, and her understanding of
the word “free” evolves accordingly. By the end of the play, she sees that freedom
entails independence from societal constraints and the ability to explore her own
personality, goals, and beliefs.
Something glorious is going to happen.
Nora speaks these prophetic-sounding words to Mrs. Linde toward the end of Act
Two as she tells her about what will happen when Torvald reads Krogstad’s letter
detailing Nora’s secret loan and forgery. The meaning of Nora’s statement remains
obscure until Act Three, when Nora reveals the nature of the “glorious” happening
that she anticipates. She believes that when Torvald learns of the forgery and
Krogstad’s blackmail, Torvald will take all the blame on himself and gloriously
sacrifice his reputation in order to protect her. When Torvald eventually indicates
that he will not shoulder the blame for Nora, Nora’s faith in him is shattered. Once
the illusion of Torvald’s nobility is crushed, Nora’s other illusions about her married
life are crushed as well, and her disappointment with Torvald triggers her
awakening.
From now on, forget happiness. Now it’s just about saving the remains, the
wreckage, the appearance.
Torvald speaks these words in Act Three after learning of Nora’s forgery and
Krogstad’s ability to expose her. Torvald’s conversations with Nora have already
made it clear that he is primarily attracted to Nora for her beauty and that he takes
personal pride in the good looks of his wife. He has also shown himself to be
obsessed with appearing dignified and respectable to his colleagues. Torvald’s
reaction to Krogstad’s letter solidifies his characterization as a shallow man
concerned first and foremost with appearances. Here, he states explicitly that
the appearance of happiness is far more important to him than happiness itself.
These words are important also because they constitute Torvald’s actual reaction
to Nora’s crime, in contrast to the gallant reaction that she expects. Rather than
sacrifice his own reputation for Nora’s, Torvald seeks to ensure that his reputation
remains unsullied. His desire to hide—rather than to take responsibility—for Nora’s
forgery proves Torvald to be the opposite of the strong, noble man that he purports
himself to be before Nora and society.
I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That’s how I’ve survived.
You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It’s
because of you I’ve made nothing of my life.
Nora speaks these words, which express the truth that she has gleaned about her
marriage, Torvald’s character, and her life in general, to Torvald at the end of Act
Three. She recognizes that her life has been largely a performance. She has acted
the part of the happy, child-like wife for Torvald and, before that, she acted the
part of the happy, child-like daughter for her father. She now sees that her father
and Torvald compelled her to behave in a certain way and understands it to be
“great wrong” that stunted her development as an adult and as a human being. She
has made “nothing” of her life because she has existed only to please men.
Following this -realization, Nora leaves Torvald in order to make something of her
life and—for the first time—to exist as a person independent of other people.
Summary Doll’s House.
Act 1
It is Christmas Eve in the Helmers' apartment. Nora Helmer enters in outdoor
clothes, carrying parcels. A porter carries in a Christmas tree, and Nora asks the
maid to hide it. She gives the porter a generous tip. Taking out a packet of
macaroons from her pocket, she eats some, but hurriedly hides them when
Torvald, her husband, enters from his study. Torvald addresses her like a child,
calling her his "little squirrel." He chides her for spending money. Nora says that
they do not need to economize as much as before, since Torvald is due for a rise in
salary. But Torvald points out that he will not receive his increased salary until
April. Nora suggests that they can borrow until then, but Torvald teasingly asks her
what she would do if he were to die unexpectedly and she were left with debts.
Then he gives her extra money. He asks her what she would like for Christmas. She
asks for money.
Again, Torvald affectionately rebukes her for being a spendthrift, saying that she
inherited this trait from her father. He asks if she has been breaking the rule that
he has set against her eating sweets. She lies. Torvald is pleased that he has a
secure income and says this means she will not have to make the Christmas
decorations, as he believes she did last year.
Two visitors call: a woman, and Dr Rank. Nora recognizes the woman as Christine
Linde, an old friend she has not seen for ten years. Mrs Linde is a widow. Nora tells
her of the relief she feels at Torvald's promotion to the position of manager at the
bank. Torvald is also a barrister, but refuses to take "unsavory" cases, so the
income from that has been uncertain. Mrs Linde smilingly says that Nora was
always a spendthrift. But Nora defends herself, saying she is not so silly: she has
had to take odd jobs, and Torvald had worked so hard that he had become
seriously ill. The doctors said he had to go south or he would die. But he was too
proud to get into debt, and Nora was faced with the problem of how to pay for the
trip. Nora claims she was given the money for the trip by her father, who had died
around this time. Nora was unable to nurse her father because she was looking
after Torvald. They had gone to Italy for a year, and Torvald had recovered.
Mrs Linde explains that she married her husband, whom she did not love, for
financial security, since she had to support an invalid mother and younger brothers.
The husband died bankrupt and she had been forced to work hard to survive. But
now her mother is dead and her brothers are self-sufficient. While no longer
desperate, she needs a job. She also confesses that her life feels empty, and that
she has no one to live for. She hopes that Torvald may be able to give her a job.
Nora is eager to help and says she will ask him.
Mrs Linde thanks her for her kindness and says it is especially remarkable in one
who has known so little of hardship. Nora, stung by her friend's judgment, protests
that she has not told her the important thing. She had saved Torvald's life. She was
not given the money for Italy by her father; she borrowed it, and Torvald still does
not know. Mrs Linde points out that by law, Nora could not borrow without her
husband's consent. Nora does not immediately answer this. She had tried to cajole
Torvald into traveling to Italy by claiming she wanted to go there, and asked him to
take out a loan. He had responded angrily. So she had taken out a loan, telling him
her father had given her the money. She has had to save money in order to pay off
the loan and interest. She has not scrimped on providing for Torvald or the
children, but has made the repayments from the money Torvald gave her for things
for herself. She has also taken jobs. She anticipates that their new wealth will
enable her to pay off the debt.
Krogstad, who works at the bank, is announced. Mrs Linde is startled. Nora
secretively asks him why he has come. He says he wants to see Torvald on business
and goes into his study. Mrs Linde finds out from Nora who he is, and says that she
used to know him. Nora says he is now a widower after an unhappy marriage. Dr
Rank joins the two women. He expresses his low opinion of Krogstad's character,
which he says is morally diseased. Nora offers Dr Rank a macaroon, pretending that
Mrs Linde gave them to her.
Torvald enters, having sent Krogstad on his way. Nora immediately asks him to give
Mrs Linde a job. He agrees. Nora invites Mrs Linde and Dr Rank to come back in the
evening.
The Nurse brings in Nora's children, and Nora plays with them happily. She is
startled by Krogstad, who has come unannounced. She sends the children off. He
establishes that her visitor was Mrs Linde, whom he once knew. He asks Nora to
use her influence with Torvald to ensure that he keeps his post at the bank. Nora
refuses, but Krogstad hints that if she does not cooperate, he will tell Torvald about
the loan. He is prepared to fight to keep his job, as it is all that preserves his current
respectability after a period of disgrace. Nora tells Krogstad to do his worst; she is
sure that Torvald will pay off the loan and cut Krogstad off. But Krogstad reveals
that he knows that she forged her father's signature on the document agreeing the
loan. He knows this because she had carelessly dated it three days after her father
died. She has committed fraud. She protests that her father was too ill for her to
bother him with such matters. She cannot believe that the law would find her
guilty, since she acted out of love for her husband. But Krogstad points out that the
law cares nothing for motive. He warns her that for her to keep her position with
him, he must keep his position at the bank. He leaves.
Nora distracts herself by decorating the Christmas tree and thinking up ways to
please Torvald. Torvald enters and asks her if someone has been there. Nora denies
it. He insists that he saw Krogstad leaving and asks her if he came to ask her to
intercede for him regarding his job. Nora admits that this is so. He is angry that she
has promised anything to such a morally dubious person as Krogstad, and that she
lied about his visit. Nora asks what Krogstad did to earn such disgrace. Torvald says
he forged someone's name, then failed to admit his crime and accept the
punishment. He says that the atmosphere of lies in Krogstad's house will corrupt
his children.
Nora applies Torvald's harsh judgment of Krogstad to herself. She has committed
the same crime, and lied, and she has children. When Torvald goes into his study,
she will not allow the children to come to her.
Act 2
It is Christmas day. The Christmas tree is stripped of decorations and the candles
are burned out. Nora is worried that a letter might arrive from Krogstad, revealing
her secret to Torvald. The Nurse enters, carrying a box of fancy dress clothes. Nora
asks after the children. It is clear that she has deliberately been spending less time
with them. She asks the Nurse if they would forget their mother if she went away.
She asks too how the Nurse managed to send her own child away to be looked
after by others. The Nurse replies that she had no choice: her baby was illegitimate,
the father did not help, and she would not have been able to take her present job if
she had a child to look after.
Mrs Linde arrives and repairs a Neapolitan fisher-girl's dress that Torvald wants
Nora to wear to a party in the upstairs flat the following evening. She is going to
dance the Tarantella. Nora tells Mrs Linde that Dr Rank is suffering from
tuberculosis of the spine, and that he inherited the sickness from his dissolute
father. It is implied that the father had syphilis, a venereal disease.
Mrs Linde expresses concern about Dr Rank's daily visits. She believes that he is
unduly fond of Nora and that he is the one who lent her the money. Nora refutes
her suspicion about the source of the money.
Nora hears Torvald returning and quickly hustles Mrs Linde into the next room on
the grounds that he cannot bear to see dressmaking going on. Once again, she asks
Torvald not to dismiss Krogstad. She claims she is afraid that he will slander
Torvald. Torvald replies that she is thinking of her father, who was similarly
slandered. But Torvald insists that he, unlike her father, has a reputation that is
above suspicion. He has let it be known that he is dismissing Krogstad, and cannot
let it be thought that he is changing his mind under the persuasion of his wife. His
final reason for dismissing Krogstad is that while he might overlook his "moral
failings," he fears that he will embarrass him in public by treating him familiarly
(they were once close friends).
Nora is shocked at her husband's narrow-mindedness. Stung by her judgment of
him, Torvald decides to settle the matter and sends a letter of dismissal to Krogstad
with his final salary. Nora, panic-stricken, begs him to recall the letter, but he
13
refuses, assuring her that he would take any troubles that arose on his own
shoulders. He suggests that she go and practice her Tarantella dance.
Dr Rank arrives and reveals to Nora that he expects to die within a month. He does
not wish to have Torvald in his sick-room, but will send Nora a card with a black
cross on it when his death is imminent. Nora flirts with Dr Rank, showing him her
silk stockings. She plays with the idea of asking him for the money to pay off
Krogstad, but he reveals that he loves her, and she decides that she cannot now ask
him.
The Maid enters with Krogstad's visiting card. Nora invents a story for Dr Rank that
a new dress is being delivered and asks him to keep Torvald occupied, as he must
not see it. Dr Rank leaves and Krogstad enters with a letter for Torvald, telling him
about the loan to Nora and her forgery of her father's signature. He tells Nora that
he does not intend to accuse her publicly, but to blackmail Torvald. He will keep her
bond showing details of the loan, rather than returning it when the loan is paid off,
as is customary. He will not be content with his old job back; he wants a promotion.
He drops the letter into the glass-fronted letter box, to which only Torvald has the
key.
Mrs Linde enters. Nora, in a state of terror, shows her the letter. Mrs Linde realizes
that Krogstad loaned Nora the money. Nora still expects that Torvald will take the
blame entirely onto himself, as he has promised, but she wishes Mrs Linde to know
that she alone is responsible. Mrs Linde believes that it is best that Torvald knows
the truth. But Nora insists that he must not find out. Mrs Linde leaves to talk to
Krogstad.
Nora is desperate to prevent Torvald from reading the letter. She distracts him by
insisting that he play the piano while she practices the Tarantella. She dances
increasingly wildly, and he tries to slow her down. Dr Rank takes over the piano
while Torvald gives her instructions, which she ignores. She begs Torvald to focus
only on her and not to open any letter until after the party. He agrees.
Mrs Linde tells Nora that Krogstad has left town until the following evening, and
that she has left a note for him. Left alone, Nora works out that she has just thirty-
one hours to live. Torvald enters, asking for his "little skylark", and she rushes to
his arms.
Act 3
It is the night of the party, and dance music can be heard from upstairs. Nora and
Torvald are at the party and Mrs Linde sits alone in their apartment, waiting for
someone. Krogstad arrives; it is he whom she was expecting. He reproaches Mrs
Linde for jilting him, but she says she had no choice; she had family to support and
he was poor. She tells him that only today did she discover that it is his job that she
is due to take. He asks her if she will give it back to him, but she says this would not
benefit him. She needs someone to look after, and suggests that they get back
together. He cannot believe that she can overlook his past life, but she has faith in
his essential goodness and believes his previous claim that he would be a better
man if he were with her. He is delighted. He realizes that she knows what steps he
has taken with the Helmers, and suggests that he ask for his letter back. But Mrs
Linde insists that Torvald must know Nora's unhappy secret. They must give up
concealment and grow to a full understanding. Krogstad leaves. Mrs Linde is
overjoyed that at last she will have someone to care for.
Torvald enters, dragging Nora in with him. She had wanted to stay at the party but
he had insisted that they come home. Mrs Linde explains her presence by saying
she wanted to see Nora in her dress. Torvald shows off his wife's beauty but
censures her "self-willed" behavior. When he leaves to light candles, Mrs Linde
quickly tells Nora that she has nothing to fear from Krogstad, but that she must tell
Torvald the truth, or the letter will. Nora says that she now knows what she must
do.
Mrs Linde leaves. Torvald is glad of it, since his desires have been aroused by Nora's
dancing and he has hurried her back home in order to make love to her. He tells her
that he has been fantasizing about her all evening, thinking of her as his secretly
promised bride. Nora rejects his advances. Just as Torvald is voicing disbelief that
she could refuse him his conjugal rights, they are interrupted by Dr Rank. He has
called by on his way home from the party, ostensibly to borrow a cigar. In a coded
conversation that Torvald fails to understand, Nora asks Dr Rank about the results
of scientific investigations he has been performing. Dr Rank knows that she is
inquiring about medical tests. She understands his reply to mean that he is certain
to die very soon. During their playful discussion about what costumes they will
wear to the next party, Dr Rank suggests that she go as a good fairy - but dressed
just as she is normally. He says that he will wear a big black hat that will make him
invisible. Nora understands the significance of his words and of the two cards with
black crosses that he drops into their letterbox as he leaves: both refer to his
imminent death.
Torvald notices that someone has been trying to pick the lock of his letterbox. Nora
blames the children. Torvald finds Dr Rank's cards and realizes that he is
announcing his own death, which he finds "an uncomfortable idea." Torvald
embraces Nora and reflects that now they will be thrown entirely upon each other.
Nora draws away and firmly asks him to read his letters. He takes them into his
study.
Nora puts on Torvald's cloak and is apparently about to rush off and drown herself
when Torvald comes in with Krogstad's letter in his hand and asks if the contents
are true. Nora confirms that it is true, that she has loved him more than anything
else in the world. Torvald dismisses this as "excuses." He demands an explanation
but gives her no chance to give one. He accuses her of disgraceful behavior and says
she has no sense of religion, morality or duty - all traits he believes she inherited
from her father. She has, he says, ruined his life by putting him at Krogstad's mercy.
Nora says that when she is out of the way, he will be free, but this only angers him
more, as Krogstad could still make the affair known and imply that he was a party
to Nora's forgery. Torvald plans to appease Krogstad. He wants Nora to remain in
his house and pretend that all is as before between them. But the appearance of a
marriage will be all that remains. She will not be allowed to bring up their children.
A maid arrives with a letter for Nora. Torvald seizes it and opens it. It is from
Krogstad, who has returned Nora's bond (an IOU) with a letter of repentance.
Torvald changes his attitude towards Nora, saying that he has forgiven her and
knows that she acted out of love for him; she chose the wrong means because of
her lack of knowledge and helplessness, a trait that he finds attractive. He argues
that, by forgiving her, he feels he has given Nora a new life so that she is now both
his wife and his child. But Nora says that Torvald has never understood her and
that, until now, she has never understood Torvald. As he continues to address her
as a little bird that he has to rescue, she takes off her fancy dress. Now in everyday
dress, she wants to discuss their marriage. She tells him that this is their first
serious talk in eight years. She says that both her father and Torvald have treated
her like a doll-child, with no opinions of her own, and have only played with her.
Both men have committed "a great sin" against her. It is Torvald's fault that she has
made nothing of her life.
Torvald grudgingly admits that there is some truth in what she says. He says that
playtime is over, and now he will start to educate her. But she replies that he is not
the man for the job, which is why she is leaving him; she must educate herself.
Torvald asks how she can neglect her sacred duty as a wife and mother. She says
that she has a more important duty, to herself as a human being. She intends to
look into religion and morality and form her own philosophy, rather than accepting
the dictates that society has imposed upon her. Torvald believes she is ill or has lost
her mind, but she says her mind has never been so clear. She no longer loves
Torvald, as he is not the man she thought him. She had believed that a wonderful
thing would happen: that Torvald would stand up to Krogstad's threats, challenge
him to do his worst, and take the entire blame upon himself, in order to shield her.
She would not have accepted such a sacrifice on his part, and indeed, she had
wanted to kill herself to prevent his having to make it. But she has been
disillusioned by the fact that he never intended to make it.
He replies, "no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves." Nora points out
that thousands of women have done so. She, of course, is one of them. To make
things worse, as soon as his fear about the damage that Krogstad's revelations
might do to him was over, he wanted to pretend that nothing had happened, and
for her to return to being his fragile little doll. He now appears like a stranger to
her, and she cannot spend another night in his house. She will leave her children in
the care of the Nurse, who she believes will do a better job of bringing them up
than she could at the moment. She gives him his wedding ring back and asks for
hers. She forbids him even to write to her. He asks if they can ever be together, but
she says that the most wonderful thing of all would have to happen first: they
would both have to have changed so much that their life together would be "a real
marriage." In his despair, Torvald clings to a last hope that this most wonderful
thing might still happen. But his hope is shattered by the sound of Nora shutting
the door as she leaves.
WILD DUCK
GREGERS: Oh, indeed! Hialmar Ekdal is sick too, is he!
RELLING: Most people are, worse luck.
GREGERS: And what remedy are you applying in Hialmar's case?
RELLING: My usual one. I am cultivating the life-illusion* in him.
("Livslognen," literally "the life-lie.")
GREGERS: Life-illusion? I didn't catch what you said.
RELLING: Yes, I said illusion. For illusion, you know, is the stimulating
principle.
This dialogue toward the beginning of Act V introduces the motif of the
"Livslognen" or "life-illusion." It takes place between the play's rival "doctors," two
men in conflict over the Ekdals's fate. Rellingopposes Gregers's continuous appeals
to the "claim of the ideal" with a quasi- medical or psychological discourse. This
turn to a discourse of psychology is one of the defining aspects of Ibsen's drama.
For Relling, Hialmar suffers not from spiritual tumult but illness. He requires a
remedy; the "stimulating principle" of illusion. The ideal does not figure as some
moral or spiritual imperative but is yet another pathology, as closely related to the
lie as typhus is to putrid fever. The "life-lie" is an "inoculation" against the
pathological effects of these delusions, an illusion that makes the patient's survival
possible.
EKDAL: It's Hakon Werle we have to thank for her, all the same, Gina. [To
GREGERS] He was shooting from a boat, you see, and he brought her
down. But your father's sight is not very good now. H'm; she was only
wounded.
GREGERS: Ah! She got a couple of slugs in her body, I suppose.
HIALMAR: Yes, two or three.
HEDVIG: She was hit under the wing, so that she couldn't fly.
GREGERS: And I suppose she dived to the bottom, eh?
EKDAL: [sleepily, in a thick voice] Of course. Always do that, wild ducks
do. They shoot to the bottom as deep as they can get, sir — and bite
themselves fast in the tangle and seaweed — and all the devil's own mess
that grows down there. And they never come up again.
GREGERS: But your wild duck came up again, Lieutenant Old Ekdal.
EKDAL: He had such an amazingly clever dog, your father had. And that
dog — he dived in after the duck and fetched her up again.
Having just revealed the treasure of the garret to Gregers, Ekdal recounts the story
of the wild duck in Act II. The wild duck is a "quilting point" for most of the
characters' fantasies of themselves and those around them; its tale comes to serve
as an allegory for much of the play's action. Thus Ekdal figures as the wild duck in
having been betrayed and shot down by his old partner Werle. He has sunk into his
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reveries never to return. Gregers imagines Hialmar as the wild duck in his
entrapment in the "poisonous marshes" of his household, the tangle of deceit that
makes his marriage possible. In contrast, he imagines himself in the figure of the
clever dog that would rescue the wounded bird. He also considers himself the wild
duck in becoming the Ekdals' adopted tenant. Lastly Hedvig figures as the wild duck
in losing her family and place of origin—she is in some sense her father's adopted
child.
HIALMAR: [comes in with some manuscript books and old loose papers,
which he lays upon the table] That portmanteau is of no use! There are a
thousand and one things I must drag with me.
GINA: [following with the portmanteau] Why not leave all the rest for the
present, and only take a shirt and a pair of woolen drawers with you?
HIALMAR: Whew!—all these exhausting preparations—! [Pulls off his
overcoat and throws it upon the sofa.]
GINA: And there's the coffee getting cold.
HIALMAR: H'm. [Drinks a mouthful without thinking of it, and then
another.]
GINA: [dusting the backs of the chairs] A nice job you'll have to find such
another big garret for the rabbits.
This excerpt comes from Act V during Hialmar's comic return to the household.
Much of The Wild Duck's action consists of domestic activity, generally performed
or supervised by the ever-practical Gina. Gina will, for example, tabulate the day's
expenses, prepare and serve lunch, clean the apartment, and onward. In contrast,
Hialmar cannot bear these banalities—they only divert him from his "mission" to
redeem the family name. Ibsen repeatedly deploys petty household concerns to
deflate Hialmar's fiery tirades in his attempt to undermine the romantic stage hero.
Even if he screams that he cannot stomach living amongst traitors, Hialmar has no
intention of leaving his home as it is there that he is cared for. Moreover, as the
first act makes all too clear, it is only here that he can play what Relling describes as
the "shining light," the idealized father and provider even if, as Gina's quiet
management of the household economies reveal, this is hardly the case.
HEDVIG: And there's an old bureau with drawers and flaps, and a big clock
with figures that go out and in. But the clock isn't going now.
GREGERS: So time has come to a standstill in there — in the wild duck's
domain.
HEDVIG: Yes. And then there's an old paint-box and things of that sort;
and all the books.
GREGERS: And you read the books, I suppose?
HEDVIG: Oh, yes, when I get the chance. Most of them are English
though, and I don't understand English. But then I look at the pictures. —
There is one great big book called Harrison's History of London. It must be
a hundred years old; and there are such heaps of pictures in it. At the
beginning there is Death with an hour-glass and a woman. I think that is
horrid. But then there are all the other pictures of churches, and castles, and
streets, and great ships sailing on the sea.
This dialogue appears in Act III, offering a view into the space in the Ekdal
household dedicated to the production of fantasy: the back room garret. As we
recall, the garret is the home of the wild duck and dream-space of the more fanciful
members of the Ekdal household. It is here that Hedvig daydreams her fantastic
journeys, Ekdal theatrically returns to his hunting days, and Hialmar finds a
diversion from his toil. Accordingly, the dialogue between Hedvig and Gregers lends
the garret a frozen, mythic temporality. Its broken clock indicates that time has
come to a standstill. The allegorical image of Death, the hourglass, and the woman
suggest that a mythic or cosmic time is at work within. This mythic time becomes
especially important with Hedvig's ultimate suicide, her death figuring in a sense as
a revenge for the mysterious crime committed against the woods many
generations ago. With this in mind, note that Hedvig does not so much read her
history book as a chronicle than as a visual point of departure for her flights of
fancy.
RELLING: Oh, life would be quite tolerable, after all, if only we could be rid
of the confounded duns that keep on pestering us, in our poverty, with the
claim of the ideal.
GREGERS: [looking straight before him] In that case, I am glad that my
destiny is what is.
RELLING: May I inquire,—what is your destiny?
GREGERS: [going] To be the thirteenth at table.
RELLING: The devil it is.
This dialogue between Relling and Gregers closes the play. Hedvig has died to no
redemptive end. The sardonic Dr. Relling thus delivers a sort of epitaph on the
romantic, Salvationist hero cut here by Gregers. Life would be "quite tolerable" if
missionaries left men in their poverty rather than preaching the delusions of the
ideal. Thus Gregers makes a melancholic exit from a world in which he in a sense
has come to have no place. His destiny is to be the "thirteenth at the table," that is,
the guest outside the circle of diners. His number recalls the figure of Judas at the
Last Supper, and Relling also identifies him as the devil or Antichrist. Gregers's
insistence on the ideal condemns him to a false gospel that drives him to the
betrayal of his friends and brings ruin to their houses.
RELLING: May I inquire,—what is your destiny?
GREGERS: [going] To be the thirteenth at table.
Relling and Gregers
This particular quote appears at the end of the play, after Hevig killed herself and
makes reference to the first scene in the play when Hjalmar went to a party hosted
by the Werle family only to realize that he is the thirteen at the table, a number
symbolizing bad luck. The first scene foreshadowed the tragedy that took place in
the Werle family and also the fact that no one could have prevented it. In some
way, Hevig’s death was produced by the cruel fate and it was unavoidable.
HEDVIG: And there's an old bureau with drawers and flaps, and a big clock
with figures that go out and in. But the clock isn't going now.
GREGERS: So time has come to a standstill in there — in the wild duck's
domain.
Hevig and Gregers
The attic is almost a mythic place, a place where time stands still and reality has no
power. In the attic, Hedvig and her grandfather are able to dream and live inside an
illusion. While for other people this is something strange, for them is normal. They
are like the wild duck trapped inside the attic; prisoners forced to adapt to a place
that is not really suitable for them. But Hedvig does not feel captive and she feels
content staying in the attic. For her, the attic is the only way she can cope with the
cruel reality around her.
EKDAL: [sleepily, in a thick voice] Of course. Always do that, wild ducks
do. They shoot to the bottom as deep as they can get, sir — and bite
themselves fast in the tangle and seaweed — and all the devil's own mess
that grows down there. And they never come up again.
Ekdal
The origins of the wild duck are revealed in the third act. The wild duck that now
lives inside the family’s attic was shot down by Gregers but was saved by its dog.
The duck was then gifted to the Ekdal family. The people living in the Ekdal
household see the wild duck as being representative for their own situation. When
Senior Ekdal sees the duck, he imagines himself, wounded by his former partner
and left with no other choice but to live wounded for the rest of his life. Hedvig
thinks about how the duck must feel alone, separated from its family, thus hinting
that she also feels separated from her family.
Summary WILD DUCK.
It is 80s of the 19th century. Festive table is laid in the office of a wealthy
Norwegian businessman Werle. There are his son Gregers and an old Gregers’
school friend Jalmar Ekdal among the guests. Friends had not seen each other for
fifteen years. Within this time, Jalmar married, had a daughter, Hedwig (she is now
fourteen), and started his own business - a photographer’s studio. And, apparently,
his business goes rather good. The only thing is that Jalmar has not completed his
studies due to the lack of funds - his father, former companion of Werle, had been
put in jail. However, Werle helped the son of a former friend: he gave Jalmar the
money for his studio equipments. All this seems suspicious to Gregers: he knows
his father very well. And what is the maiden name of his Jalmar’s wife?
Incidentally, not Hansen? After receiving an affirmative answer, Gregers has no
doubt: "benevolence" of his father is dictated by the need to arrange his former
lover - in fact Gina Hansen served as a housekeeper at Werle’s house, and resigned
his house shortly before Gregers’ sick mother died. The son, apparently, cannot
forgive his father for his mother's death, although it is obviously it was not his guilt.
As Gregers suspected father had married to get a large dowry, which he
nevertheless did not get. Gregers directly asked his father whether he cheated with
Gina on his deceased mother, but the father answered evasively. Then, firmly
rejecting the Werle’s proposal to become his companion, the son announces that
he breaks up with him. He has a special mission in his life.
It soon becomes clear what mission it is. Gregers decided to open Jalmar’s eyes to
quagmire of lies, in which he has been plunged because Jalmar is a naive and a
great soul strongly believing in the merchant’s goodness. With this aim Gregers
visits Ekdals’ apartment, located on the attic floor and serves at the same time as a
pavilion studio.
Gregers does not immediately spread before Jalmar the bitter truth. He looks at
their life - at rustic and always burdened with worries Gina (actually it is her, who
keeps the things in the photo studio), at the old man Ekdal, who obviously seems
broken after the prison, at a fourteen Hedwig - enthusiastic and exalted girl adoring
her father (as reported Hedwig was doomed - the doctor said that she would soon
go blind), and finally, at the very Jalmar, hiding his parasitism in the guise of tireless
work on the invention, which, according to his words, should restore well-being
and the good name of his family.
Since Gregers left the Mountain Valleys, and his father's house, he requires an
apartment. Such a suitable room with a separate entrance is in Ekdal’s house, and
they - though not without Gina’s resistance – let the son of their benefactor rent it.
The next day, Werle, worried about hostility of his son, goes to see him; he wants
to know what his son was plotting against him. Having found out Gregers’ goal,
merchant ridicules him and warns – he would get disappointed in Jalmar. The
same, though in a more pronounced phrased, said to Gregers his neighbor on the
floor, a drunkard and idler Dr. Rellingen, a frequent visitor in the Ekdals family.
According to the theory of Rellingen nobody needs the truth. Having opened
Jalmar’s eyes, Gregers would bring nothing but trouble, and even disaster for the
family.
Gregers goes with Jalmar for a walk and tells him everything about his family life.
When he returned, Jalmar announced his wife that from now on all studio things
and home accounts he will conduct himself - he trusts her no longer. Is it true that
she was intimate with Werle, when she worked as a housekeeper? Gina does not
deny past relationship. However, before Werle’s sick wife she is not guilty - in fact,
Werle pestered her, but everything that happened between them happened after
the death of his wife, when Gina was not anymore working at Werle.
Jalmar somewhat calmed down. Doctor Rellingen, being present at the quarrel of
spousal, sent Gregers heartily to the hell. Suddenly Werle’s present housekeeper
comes to Gina. She came to say goodbye, because she is going to marry the host,
15
and they immediately go to his factory in the Mountain Valleys. It became known
that old Werle is to become blind soon.
This news, and handed to Hedwig by the housekeeper a gift certificate from Werle
(according to it Hedwig will be paid a monthly allowance of one hundred crowns)
derives Jalmar Ekdal off his usual good humor. The news on the same eye disease
of Werle and his daughter caught him by surprise and hurt in the very heart. Is it
possible that Hedwig is not his daughter, but Werle’s? Gina honestly says that
cannot answer this question. Well, tomorrow morning Jalmar will leave this house.
But Jalmar returns the next day. Gradually Gina soothes and persuades him to stay.
But he persistently does not notice Hedwig, so warmly loved before. The girl is in
despair. The night before, Gregers advised her how to win back the love of her
father, to do something that her father would see how much she loved him. Jalmar
has disliked the wild duck, the one that lives in a box in the attic - because it came
to Ekdal from Werle. Hedwig would prove her love to her father if she would
sacrifice the wild duck, which she also does not like. Well, Hedwig agrees, she
persuaded her grandfather to shoot a duck.
Tragic outcome is approaching. The next day, Jalmar does not want to see his
daughter. Hedwig is hiding in the attic. At the moment when Jalmar convinced
Gregers that Hedwig would leave them, when Werle, possibly her real father,
enticed her with his wealth, a shot in the attic is heard. Gregers rejoices - it is old
Ekdal shot a wild duck at the request of Hedwig. But the grandfather runs into the
pavilion from the other side. There was an accident: Hedwig accidentally
discharged a pistol in herself. Dr. Rellingen does not believe it: girl’s blouse is
scorched, she deliberately shot herself. And Gregers is to blame for her death
imposing his mortal ideal requirements. Without these "ideal requirements", life
on earth would be bearable.

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