DUNCAN See, see, our honour'd hostess! The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains, And thank us for your trouble.
LADY MACBETH All our service In every point twice done and then done double Were poor and single business to contend Against those honours deep and broad wherewith Your majesty loads our house: for those of old, And the late dignities heap'd up to them, We rest your hermits.
DUNCAN Where's the thane of Cawdor? We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose To be his purveyor: but he rides well; And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, We are your guest to-night.
LADY MACBETH Your servants ever Have theirs, themselves and what is theirs, in compt, To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, Still to return your own.
DUNCAN Give me your hand; Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly, And shall continue our graces towards him. By your leave, hostess
Duncan's enthusiasm for his royal visit seems genuine, with the excitable repetition of "see, see" and his effusive praise of Lady Macbeth as his "honour'd hostess". The immediate joy is then wrestled into a more formal expression of praise in a line which takes some unpicking. Duncan accepts the "trouble" that tends to follow love, acknowledging the inconvenience and claiming to be troubled by it, whilst clearly relishing in the occasion. The syntactical struggle of the line and shifting meanings of repeated words seems to betray the forced language of honour. There is a tension between "love" (as approval or as devotion) and "service" or duty. Similarly, Duncan's shifts in pronouns between "our", "we" and "I" make it difficult to work out the separation between Duncan as the King, the country or the man. It is unclear whether "the love that follows" is a personal one or a royal one. This confusion of role and person is reinforced in Duncan's references to Macbeth solely with the title “Thane of Cawdor”, a title which recalls his similarly traitorous predecessor and nods towards his assassination at the hands of his trusted friend. Regardless, his affection will soon be betrayed, bringing a much more sinister and fatal tone to Duncan’s playful “trouble”. Duncan is keen to see his host and praises his speed as a sign of "his great love, sharp as his spur". He assumes Macbeth to be motivated by love (possibly the duty of a subject, but seemingly a devotion to him personally), but Macbeth is rather urged on by his "vaulting ambition" (indeed, Macbeth will shortly pick up the riding metaphor). What is perhaps most noteworthy in this scene, though, is the way Lady Macbeth is in complete control. Her two-faced efficiency in the arts of deception shine through, as she single-handedly manages to keep her cool, and screws her “courage" (as well as her murderous determination) "to the sticking place”. She reciprocates Duncan's courtly language and the scene becomes an exercise in gratitude. Her words are self-depreciating; she claims that her efforts "twice done and then done double" do not compare to the "honours deep and broad" bestowed on them by Duncan. Her reference to doubleness bring us back to Macbeth's "doubly redoubled" strokes. Whereas Macbeth's honour in battle seems deserved, the praise heaped on Lady Macbeth is clearly misplaced. Duncan may see her as "fair", but the audience realises that "fair is foul" and her scheming renders the courtly rhetoric false. Despite her husband's attempts to regain control at the end of 1.5, Lady Macbeth has clearly begun her choreography of "this night’s great business". With the absence of the castle’s rightful owner and host, we see another reversal of the sexes and their respective gender roles and – at least within the microcosm of the castle – her role as hostess and powerful nature allow her to stand above even Duncan as the wielder of control.
- Ken
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