ISC Class 11 English Drama Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 Summary, Theme, Explanation along with difficult word meanings
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ISC Class 11 – Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5
By William Shakespeare
In Act 1, Scene 5 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband about meeting the witches, who told him he would become king. She worries that Macbeth is too nice to take action to become king, so she decides to push him to do it. A messenger arrives to say that King Duncan will be visiting their castle that night, and Lady Macbeth sees this as a great opportunity.
- Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 Summary
- Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 Summary in Hindi
- Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 Theme
- Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 Explanation
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Macbeth Act I Scene 5 Summary
Act 1, Scene 5 opens in Macbeth’s castle at Inverness, where Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband. The letter recounts his meeting with the Weird Sisters i.e. the witches, their prophecies that he would be Thane of Cawdor and eventually King, and the subsequent news that the first prophecy has already come true. Macbeth shares this news because he wants his wife, his ‘dearest partner of greatness’, to share in the joy and the promise of a glorious future.
After reading the letter, Lady Macbeth reflects on the prophecy and her husband’s character. She is immediately resolved to ensure the third prophecy comes true, but she expresses fear about Macbeth’s nature. She says he is ‘too full o’th milk of human kindness’ to seize the crown by the fastest, most direct and evil path through murder. She acknowledges his ambition but believes he lacks the wickedness needed to achieve it. She understands he would like to be king righteously, wishing to win the prize but not willing to commit a wicked act to get it. She wishes he would hurry home so she can ‘pour my spirits in thine ear’ and verbally scold and encourage him into overcoming his moral reservations and taking the crown.
A Messenger arrives with the shocking news that King Duncan is coming to stay at the castle that night, followed closely by Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is ecstatic, seeing this sudden visit as a perfect, unexpected opportunity to fulfill the prophecy. After the Messenger leaves, she delivers one of the play’s most famous soliloquies. She calls upon ‘spirits that tend on mortal thoughts’ to ‘unsex me here’ and fill her with ‘direst cruelty’. She asks them to thicken her blood and ‘Stop up the access and passage to remorse’ so that natural feelings of pity or guilt will not weaken her deadly goal. She even asks the spirits to replace her mother’s milk with poison and for ‘thick night’ to conceal their deed so that neither her knife nor ‘heaven peep through the blanket of the dark / To cry ‘Hold, hold’’.
Macbeth enters, and she immediately greets him, echoing the witches’ prophecy and expressing her excitement that she feels ‘The future in the instant’. Macbeth confirms that Duncan will leave ‘Tomorrow, as he purposes’. Lady Macbeth chillingly replies, ‘O never / Shall sun that morrow see’. She quickly takes charge of the situation, instructing her husband to hide his true intentions, ‘Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’. She tells him to leave the murder entirely to her, promising it will give them ‘solely sovereign sway and masterdom’ for all their future. Macbeth is hesitant, saying only, ‘We will speak further’. Lady Macbeth dismisses his doubts and firmly commands him to appear innocent and warns him not to show fear or hesitation. She concludes the scene with the powerful directive: ‘Leave all the rest to me.’
Summary of Macbeth Act I Scene 5 in Hindi
एक्ट 1, सीन 5 इनवर्नेस में मैकबेथ के महल में खुलता है, जहाँ लेडी मैकबेथ अपने पति का एक पत्र पढ़ रही हैं। पत्र अजीब बहनों i.e के साथ उनकी बैठक का वर्णन करता है। चुड़ैलों, उनकी भविष्यवाणियाँ कि वह कावडोर का ठाणे और अंततः राजा होगा, और बाद की खबर कि पहली भविष्यवाणी पहले ही सच हो चुकी है। मैकबेथ इस खबर को साझा करता है क्योंकि वह चाहता है कि उसकी पत्नी, उसकी ‘महानता की सबसे प्यारी साथी’, एक गौरवशाली भविष्य की खुशी और वादे में भाग ले।
पत्र को पढ़ने के बाद, लेडी मैकबेथ भविष्यवाणी और अपने पति के चरित्र पर विचार करती हैं। वह तीसरी भविष्यवाणी को सच करने के लिए तुरंत संकल्पित हो जाती है, लेकिन वह मैकबेथ के स्वभाव के बारे में डर व्यक्त करती है। वह कहती है कि वह हत्या के माध्यम से सबसे तेज़, सबसे प्रत्यक्ष और बुरे रास्ते से ताज पर कब्जा करने के लिए ‘मानव दया के दूध से भरा हुआ’ है। वह उसकी महत्वाकांक्षा को स्वीकार करती है लेकिन मानती है कि उसके पास उसे प्राप्त करने के लिए आवश्यक दुष्टता की कमी है। वह समझती है कि वह न्यायपूर्वक राजा बनना चाहेगा, पुरस्कार जीतने की इच्छा रखता है लेकिन इसे प्राप्त करने के लिए एक दुष्ट कार्य करने को तैयार नहीं है। वह चाहती है कि वह जल्दी से घर आ जाए ताकि वह ‘आपके कान में मेरी आत्माओं को डाल सके’ और मौखिक रूप से उसे डांट सके और उसकी नैतिक आपत्तियों पर काबू पाने और ताज लेने के लिए प्रोत्साहित कर सके।
एक दूत इस चौंकाने वाली खबर के साथ आता है कि राजा डंकन आज रात महल में रहने के लिए आ रहे हैं, मैकबेथ उनके करीब आ रहे हैं। लेडी मैकबेथ इस अचानक यात्रा को भविष्यवाणी को पूरा करने के लिए एक आदर्श, अप्रत्याशित अवसर के रूप में देखकर खुश हैं। मैसेंजर के जाने के बाद, वह नाटक की सबसे प्रसिद्ध स्वगत बोलियों में से एक प्रस्तुत करती है। वह ‘नश्वर विचारों की ओर झुकाव रखने वाली आत्माओं’ को ‘मुझे यहाँ अनसेक्स’ करने के लिए बुलाती है और उसे ‘सबसे भयानक क्रूरता’ से भर देती है। वह उन्हें अपना खून गाढ़ा करने और ‘पश्चाताप करने की पहुंच और मार्ग को रोकने’ के लिए कहती है ताकि दया या अपराधबोध की स्वाभाविक भावनाएं उसके घातक लक्ष्य को कमजोर न करें। वह आत्माओं से अपनी माँ के दूध को जहर से बदलने और अपने काम को छिपाने के लिए ‘मोटी रात’ के लिए भी कहती है ताकि न तो उसका चाकू और न ही ‘स्वर्ग अंधेरे के कंबल से झाँके/’ पकड़ो, पकड़ो ‘चिल्लाने के लिए।
मैकबेथ प्रवेश करती है, और वह तुरंत उसका स्वागत करती है, चुड़ैलों की भविष्यवाणी को प्रतिध्वनित करती है और अपना उत्साह व्यक्त करती है कि वह ‘पल में भविष्य’ महसूस करती है। मैकबेथ पुष्टि करता है कि डंकन ‘कल, जैसा वह इरादा करता है’ छोड़ देगा। लेडी मैकबेथ घबराहट में जवाब देती है, ‘हे कभी नहीं/क्या सूरज जो कल देखेगा’। वह जल्दी से स्थिति का नियंत्रण संभाल लेती है, अपने पति को अपने सच्चे इरादों को छिपाने का निर्देश देती है, ‘निर्दोष फूल की तरह दिखें,/लेकिन सांप के नीचे न रहें’। वह उसे हत्या को पूरी तरह से उस पर छोड़ने के लिए कहती है, यह वादा करते हुए कि यह उन्हें अपने सभी भविष्य के लिए ‘पूरी तरह से संप्रभु नियंत्रण और प्रभुत्व’ देगा। मैकबेथ हिचकिचाता है, केवल कहता है, ‘हम आगे बात करेंगे’। लेडी मैकबेथ उसके संदेह को खारिज कर देती है और उसे निर्दोष प्रकट होने का दृढ़ता से आदेश देती है और उसे डर या हिचकिचाहट न दिखाने की चेतावनी देती है। वह शक्तिशाली निर्देश के साथ दृश्य का समापन करती हैः ‘बाकी सब मुझ पर छोड़ दो।’
Theme of Macbeth Act I Scene 5
Ambition and the Temptation of Power
The most prominent theme is ambition, specifically Lady Macbeth’s immediate, ruthless drive to achieve the throne for her husband. Upon reading Macbeth’s letter about the witches’ prophecy, her mind immediately jumps to securing the kingship. She fears Macbeth’s nature is ‘too full o’th milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way’, which means he is too moral or soft-hearted to commit the necessary wicked deed which is killing the king. Lady Macbeth recognizes that Macbeth is ambitious, saying, ‘Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition’, but he lacks the necessary ‘illness’ or ruthlessness. Her ambition is decisive and wicked; she is ready to bypass all moral and societal norms to obtain the ‘golden round’ i.e. the crown. The news that King Duncan is coming to their castle tonight seals her resolve, as she instantly declares, ‘O never / Shall sun that morrow see’, planning Duncan’s murder immediately.
Subversion of Gender Roles
This scene features a powerful exploration of gender roles as Lady Macbeth actively rejects her femininity to embrace a masculine form of cruelty. Her famous soliloquy begins with her calling upon spirits to ‘unsex me here’ and ‘fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full / Of direst cruelty.’ She associates traditionally feminine traits like ‘milk of human kindness’ and ‘my woman’s breasts’ with weakness and remorse, which she fears will ‘Shake my fell purpose.’ By asking for her ‘milk’ to be taken for ‘gall’ i.e. poison, she wishes to be stripped of her nurturing female qualities so she can commit an act of unnatural violence. This subversion establishes her as a driving force in the play, temporarily more resolute and ‘manly’ than her husband, whom she plans to ‘chastise, with the valor of my tongue,’ suggesting she will use her words to dominate and manipulate him into action.
The Supernatural and Fate
The theme of the supernatural continues from the previous scenes, showing its direct influence on the human world. Macbeth’s letter is the catalyst, detailing the ‘Weird Sisters’ who ‘have more in them than mortal knowledge’ and referred to his future title. The mention of ‘metaphysical aid’ meaning supernatural help shows that Lady Macbeth believes powerful, non-human forces are aligned with their ambition, giving their plan a sense of destiny. After learning the king will visit, Lady Macbeth calls upon ‘spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts’ and ‘murdering ministers’ to assist her, making her a collaborator with dark, unnatural forces. This invocation is a commitment to the evil path, aligning her and Macbeth’s destiny with fate and the ‘dunnest smoke of hell,’ highlighting the corrupted, supernatural nature of their impending crime.
Appearance vs. Reality
The theme of deception, or appearance vs. reality, becomes a critical instruction for Macbeth as Lady Macbeth plots. She coaches her husband on how to hide his murderous intent, recognizing that his honest face is too revealing, ‘Your face, my thane, is as a book where men / May read strange matters’. She commands him to put on a false, welcoming front, ‘Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’. This famous line establishes the central need for hypocrisy and disguise that they must appear to be loyal hosts i.e. ‘bear welcome in your eye, / Your hand, your tongue’ while secretly planning a vicious betrayal. Lady Macbeth assumes control of the plot, ‘put / This night’s great business into my dispatch’, commanding Macbeth to ‘Only look up clear’ and let her handle the details, emphasizing the absolute need for a mask of innocence to carry out their great sin.
Setting of the Scene
The setting of Act 1, Scene 5 is Inverness, which is Macbeth’s castle. This location is more than just a place; it’s the domestic stage upon which the central conflict of the play begins to unfold, establishing a stark contrast between a place of hospitality and the dark deeds being plotted within. The castle setting immediately brings the action home, making Macbeth’s ambition and his wife’s ruthless planning intensely personal. The castle becomes the site of a growing conspiracy the moment Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter. It’s here that she learns of the witches’ prophecies and immediately begins to plot the murder of King Duncan. In her subsequent soliloquy, she calls upon dark spirits to ‘unsex me here’ and fill her with ‘direst cruelty’, effectively transforming the castle from a welcoming home into a place for a dark, violent ritual. The arrival of the messenger with the news that King Duncan is coming that very night seals the castle’s new, ominous purpose as a trap for the unsuspecting king. Macbeth’s castle in this scene represents the theme of deception, the contrast between what seems and what is. King Duncan will later describe it as a ‘pleasant seat’, but Lady Macbeth intends it to be the place of his death. She instructs her husband to ‘Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’ when they greet the King. The castle, therefore, must maintain an appearance of safe, noble hospitality while secretly functioning as the ‘battlements’ under which Lady Macbeth intends to perform a ‘fatal entrance’ for Duncan, as she states, ‘The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements’. This dual nature of the setting of a welcoming home and a murderous plot’s base is essential for the coming tragedy.
Macbeth Act I Scene 5: Scene Explanation
At Macbeth’s castle at Inverness, Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband informing her about his meeting with the witches. She decides to encourage him to go ahead with the plan of murdering the king. When Macbeth arrives on the scene, she praises him for his present and future greatness. Noticing his nervousness, she tells him to hide his thoughts which disturb him.
Word Meanings
Informing: Telling someone about something; giving information.
Encourage: To give support, confidence, or hope to someone; to spur on.
Proceed: To start or continue a course of action; to move forward.
Praises: Expresses approval or admiration for someone or something; compliments.
Greatness: The quality of being much larger, more important, or more influential than average; fame or distinction.
Nervousness: A state of being anxious, worried, or slightly afraid; a feeling of unease.
Disturb: To interrupt the quiet, rest, or peace of someone or something; to bother or cause anxiety.
Conceal: To keep from sight; to hide.
Explanation of the above part— At Macbeth’s castle, which is named Inverness, Lady Macbeth was occupied with reading a letter she had received from her husband. The letter contained information about a significant encounter he had with the witches. Upon finishing the letter, she immediately decided that she needed to encourage Macbeth to proceed with the plan of murdering King Duncan to seize the throne quickly. When Macbeth arrived at the scene, Lady Macbeth greeted him warmly and praised him for his current success and his future greatness as promised by the prophecy. However, she quickly noticed his nervousness and anxiety. Seeing his discomfort, she instructed him to hide his disturbing thoughts and fears behind a welcoming appearance so that their plot would not be discovered.
Scene 5. Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.
Enter Lady Macbeth reading a letter.
Lady Macbeth
[Reads]
“They met me in the day of success,
and I have learned by the perfectest report,
they have more in them than mortal
knowledge. When I burned in desire to
question them further, they made themselves
air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood
rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from
the king, who all-hailed me “Thane of Cawdor;’
by which title, before, these weird sisters
saluted me, and referred me to the coming
on of time, with “Hail, king that shalt be!”
This have I thought good to deliver thee, my
dearest partner of greatness, that thou
mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by
being ignorant of what greatness is promised
thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.”
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it: What thou
wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not false play
And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou’ldst have. great Glamis
That which cries ‘Thus thou must do, if thou have it.”
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither.
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round.
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown’d withal.
Enter a Messenger
What is your tidings?
Messenger
The king comes here to-night.
Lady Macbeth
Thou’rt mad to say it:
Is not thy master with him? Who, were’t so,
Would have inform’d for preparation.
Word Meanings
success: victory.
perfectest: the finest.
report: intelligence.
rapt in: filled with.
missives: messengers.
hailed: greeted.
coming on of time: future.
to deliver: to communicate.
To catch the nearest way: to avail of the easiest way to success.
wouldst be great: desire to be king.
illness: wickedness.
the golden round: the crown.
metaphysical: supernatural.
tidings: news.
Explanation of the above dialogues— The scene opens at Macbeth’s castle in Inverness where Lady Macbeth entered, reading a letter. Macbeth’s letter reported that three witches met him on the day he was victorious in battle, and he had learned that their knowledge was supernatural and beyond what mortals possessed. He wrote that when his desire to question them further intensified, they immediately vanished into the air. While he was standing, completely absorbed and wondering at the event, messengers arrived from King Duncan. These messengers greeted him as ‘Thane of Cawdor’, a title by which the three weird sisters had already saluted him moments before. The witches had then pointed towards the future, hailing him as king that shall be! Macbeth explained that he thought it was important to deliver this news to his wife, his dearest partner in his success, so that she wouldn’t miss the celebration due to her ignorance of the high position promised to her. He concluded by asking her to keep the news close to her heart, bidding her farewell. After reading the letter, Lady Macbeth spoke to herself, acknowledging that Macbeth was already Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor, and that he certainly would become what was promised. However, she immediately expressed a fear of his nature. She worried that he was too naturally compassionate to take the quickest, most direct, and most ruthless path to the crown i.e. murder. She knew he had ambition, but she felt he lacked the wickedness that should accompany it. She summarized his moral conflict: he wished to achieve a high position righteously and would not use dishonest means, yet he still desired to win the crown wrongly. She understood that the crown seemed to call out, ‘Thus thou must do, if thou have it’, referring to the necessary wicked act, which Macbeth seemed to fear doing but did not wish to undo once it was done. She resolved to rush to him so that she might use the power of her strong tongue and persuasive speech to defeat everything that was stopping him from claiming the golden round i.e. the crown, which both fate and supernatural aid seemed determined to give him. Lady Macbeth then asked the newly entered Messenger for his news. The Messenger informed her that the King would be arriving at the castle that night. Lady Macbeth was shocked and accused the Messenger of being mad to say it, questioning if her husband was with the King, as Macbeth surely would have informed her beforehand so she could prepare. Lady Macbeth accurately diagnoses Macbeth’s internal struggle: he wants the prize but rejects the necessary wicked means. This establishes Macbeth’s fatal contradiction: he is a man torn between a powerful conscience and overwhelming ambition. Lady Macbeth recognizes that the crown is promised by ‘fate and metaphysical aid’, suggesting the couple is acting on a predetermined path, though one they must still use ruthless human action to fulfill.
Play
Messenger
So please you, it is true: our thane is coming:
One of my fellows had the speed of him;
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his message.
Lady Macbeth
Give him tending;
He brings great news.
[Exit Messenger
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 the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering 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!”
Enter Macbeth
Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond.
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.
Word Meanings
Thane: A Scottish title of nobility, equivalent to an Earl; Macbeth’s title before he becomes king.
had the speed of him: went faster than him.
almost dead for breath: gasping for lack of breath.
tending: nursing care.
raven: a large heavily built crow with mainly black plumage, feeding chiefly on carrion.
remorse: compassion.
compunctious: the pricking of the conscience.
fell: evil.
murdering ministers: agents of murder.
sightless: which canot be seen
wait on: help.
Explanation of the above dialogues—A Messenger confirmed to Lady Macbeth that the Thane, meaning Macbeth, was indeed on his way. The Messenger explained that one of his colleagues had arrived faster than Macbeth, but was so exhausted and out of breath that he could barely deliver the brief message. Lady Macbeth, recognizing the importance of this news, instructed someone to attend to the Messenger, declaring that he brought ‘great news’. Once the Messenger left, Lady Macbeth began a soliloquy, noting that the messenger’s news signaled the fatal arrival of Duncan at her castle. She invoked the evil spirits that attend on murderous thoughts, pleading with them to ‘unsex’ her i.e. to strip her of her feminine compassion and fill her entirely with ‘direst cruelty’. She asked them to thicken her blood to stop any natural feelings of remorse from weakening her dreadful purpose. She begged the spirits, whom she called ‘murdering ministers’, to turn the milk in her breasts to ‘gall’ i.e. bitter poison. She then called upon ‘thick night’ to cover the scene in the darkest smoke of hell so that her knife could not see the wound it was making, and so that heaven itself could not look down through the darkness and cry, ‘Hold, hold!’ When Macbeth entered, Lady Macbeth immediately greeted him with the titles he held and the greater one promised, telling him that his letters had already carried her imagination beyond the ordinary moment and allowed her to feel the certainty of the future in the present instant. Her desperate plea to be ‘unsexed’ highlights the era’s belief that cruelty and ambition were male attributes, which she must adopt to execute her ‘fell purpose’. She rejects her natural ‘milk of human kindness’ for ‘gall,’ signifying the complete corruption of her natural, feminine role. Her invocation of ‘thick night’ and the ‘dunnest smoke of hell’ is not just a call for cover, but an appeal for moral darkness to hide their deed from God. This introduces the core theme of secrecy versus revelation and the idea that unnatural deeds require an unnatural cloak. Her chilling imagery of the ‘raven’ i.e. a bird of ill omen ‘croaking’ at the Duncans’ fatal entrance immediately foreshadows the King’s death and stains the castle with the presence of impending evil.
Play
Macbeth
My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady Macbeth
And when goes hence?
Macbeth
To-morrow, as he purposes.
Lady Macbeth
Shall sun that morrow see!
O, never
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters: to beguile the
time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
75 Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
80 Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macbeth
We will speak further.
Lady Macbeth
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear;
Leave all the rest to me.
[Exeunt]
Word Meanings
purposes: proposes.
beguile the time: deceive others.
Look like the time: act according to the occasion.
Which: this work.
solely sovereign sway: absolute power.
masterdom: complete mastery.
Explanation of the above dialogues— Macbeth lovingly informed Lady Macbeth that King Duncan would be arriving at their castle that very night. Lady Macbeth immediately asked when Duncan planned to leave. Macbeth replied that the King intended to leave the following morning. Lady Macbeth then exclaimed that the sun should never see that tomorrow, meaning she was determined that Duncan would be murdered that night. Lady Macbeth sternly warned Macbeth that his face was like a book where men could easily read his strange, worried, or ambitious thoughts. She instructed him that to deceive the public and match the cheerful occasion, he must look cheerful, displaying welcome in his eyes, hands, and tongue. She advised him to look like the ‘innocent flower’ but internally be the ‘serpent under it’. She declared that the King must be prepared for, and insisted that he entrust the great business of that night i.e. the murder entirely to her management. She promised that this single action would secure them sole, sovereign power and mastery for all their future days. Macbeth, feeling overwhelmed and hesitant, only replied that they would speak further about it. Lady Macbeth stressed that he must only maintain a clear, innocent expression, because to change his appearance, or look worried, would suggest fear and reveal their plot. She concluded by firmly ordering him to ‘Leave all the rest to me’ before they both exited. Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner here. She doesn’t ask if they should kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s iconic line, ‘look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t,’ is the epitome of the play’s theme of false appearance. It’s a vivid instruction for hypocrisy, the flower representing loyalty and welcome, and the serpent symbolizing the hidden, deadly intent. She is teaching him to be a traitor who wears the mask of a loyal host, a key theme that drives their tragedy.
Conclusion
In Act 1, Scene 5 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband about meeting the witches, who told him he would become king. She worries that Macbeth is too nice to take action to become king, so she decides to push him to do it. A messenger arrives to say that King Duncan will be visiting their castle that night, and Lady Macbeth sees this as a great opportunity. Students can take help from this post to understand Act 1, Scene 5 and also learn the difficult word meanings to get a better grasp of Macbeth. This post includes a summary of Macbeth, which will help students of ISC class 11, to get a quick recap of the play.