antithesis quotes in macbeth

A Summary and Analysis of the Porter Scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Act 2 Scene 3 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is often known as ‘the Porter scene’. The Porter, the one comic turn in an otherwise overwhelmingly dark and violent play, dominates the scene, as well as making reference to the most momentous event of 1605, the shock of which would have been fresh in the minds of Shakespeare’s original audience in 1606.

In order to provide an analysis of the Porter scene, we’re going to go through the scene, stage by stage – until the Porter pretty much disappears from view. What follows, then, is part-summary, part analysis of this central scene in Macbeth – the scene which follows the murder of King Duncan at the hands of Macbeth himself.

[Knocking within. Enter a PORTER]

Before we go any further, let’s set the (literal) scene: at the Macbeths’ castle, where the King of Scotland, Duncan, has been staying as their guest, Macbeth (goaded by his wife and by the prophecy of the Witches) has just murdered Duncan in his bedchamber, with a view to taking the throne for himself. A knocking can be heard at the front gate of the castle: Macduff, a Scottish nobleman, is the one doing the knocking.

What is the purpose of the Porter’s comic interlude, though? A practical reason has been proposed: the actor playing Macbeth spoke of the ‘blood’ on his hands in the previous scene with Lady Macbeth, so he would need to go and clean his hands and get changed out of his bloody costume before coming back on stage.

Indeed, Samuel Taylor Coleridge thought the dialogue so unlike Shakespeare that it must have been written by someone else, ‘for the mob’ (i.e., to please the crowd). Alexander Pope also thought that one of Shakespeare’s fellow players had written it, and he consequently gave it short shrift. However, there are artistic reasons for this scene, too, as we will see. And the scene is not just comic relief – indeed, it is important that it is not even ‘comic relief’ in the true sense at all. But we’ll come to that …

PORTER Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key.

The Porter’s first words in the scene allude to the medieval Mystery plays (that is, a play designed to teach the audience good Christian morality through dramatising biblical stories), about ‘The Harrowing of Hell’; there are several extant versions of these plays, which do indeed take place at the Gates of Hell, and some of them even have a porter at Hell-gate, one of whom even calls to Beelzebub (as Shakespeare’s Porter does).

There’s a degree of dramatic irony in the Porter’s words: unbeknown to him, thanks to the actions of the Macbeths the Porter is at the gates of ‘Hell’, in a way, because of the evil deed that has taken place at the castle.

After all, Lady Macbeth had even called upon the devil’s agents or spirits to attend her so that she and her husband could kill the king (‘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!’). It is as if the Macbeths’ Inverness castle has become Hell itself.

The Porter’s use of ‘old’ (‘he should have old turning the key’) is slightly odd, but he means essentially ‘he would be turning the key so frequently it would soon get old’.

[Knocking within]

Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ the name of Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer, that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty: come in time; have napkins enow about you; here you’ll sweat for’t.

Did you know Shakespeare invented the ‘Knock knock’ joke? Well, this appears to be the first appearance of the formation ‘knock, knock! Who’s there’. And although what follows isn’t a ‘joke’ as we’d understand it, the Porter’s reference to the farmer is a piece of comic relief (and a sort of forerunner to the sort of references Sam Weller makes his own in Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers ).

In essence, the (imaginary) farmer the Porter refers to hanged himself because he got greedy and stored up grain, only for the price of grain to plummet, thus plunging him into penury.

Knock, knock! Who’s there, in the other devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come in, equivocator.

Another ‘knock, knock’ joke from the Porter – and a very topical one. ‘Equivocation’ is the idea of lying when under oath (e.g. when being interrogated by the authorities), in order to serve some greater cause. It predates Shakespeare’s play, but in early 1606 it was ‘in the news’ because of the high-profile trial and execution of a Jesuit priest, Father Henry Garnet (who was known, oddly enough, as ‘Farmer’: recall the Porter’s previous mention of a farmer who hanged himself).

Garnet had advocated that Jesuits, if interrogated about whether they had harboured a Catholic priest in their house, should ‘equivocate’: lying without lying outright , if you will. For instance, one might say ‘no priest lies in my house’ (because they are standing up and hiding behind a cabinet at that precise moment, for instance, so not technically lying down ).

The Porter’s reference to ‘treason’ alongside ‘equivocator’ makes it highly likely that these lines from the Porter scene, if not the whole scene itself (and maybe the whole play) were written in 1606.

Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there? Faith, here’s an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a French hose: come in, tailor; here you may roast your goose.

Yet another ‘knock, knock! Who’s there?’ line from the Porter. This time, an English tailor has arrived at the Porter’s imaginary ‘hell’ (there are lots of old jokes against tailors like this). A ‘goose’, as well as being a tasty bird, is a tailor’s pressing-iron: so ‘roast your goose’ is a joke, because of the fires of hell.

Knock, knock; never at quiet! What are you? But this place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter it no further: I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire.

The Porter cleverly reminds us where we are meant to be: up in Inverness, in the far north of Scotland, where it is indeed ‘too cold for hell’. The ‘primrose way’ (compare Hamlet’s ‘primrose path to dalliance’) is a flowery, beautiful, pleasant path – but it leads to ‘the everlasting bonfire’ of hell. The Porter decides to leave off his play-acting that he’s the porter at the gates of hell.

Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.

[Opens the gate]

[Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX]

MACDUFF Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, That you do lie so late?

PORTER ’Faith sir, we were carousing till the second cock: and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.

The Porter is often played as hungover, clutching his head as if suffering from a headache: he was up late drinking (‘carousing’) till three o’clock in the morning (‘the second cock’, i.e. when the second cockerel crowed).

MACDUFF What three things does drink especially provoke?

PORTER Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance: therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.

Like so much in the Porter scene, this comic exchange about how getting drunk makes men lustful, but removes their physical ability to perform in bed, has more in common with the central themes of the play than we might first realise.

MACDUFF I believe drink gave thee the lie last night.

Macduff is not a character known for his jokes in the rest of Macbeth , but here he permits himself to join in with the Porter’s punning: ‘gave thee the lie’ means ‘laid you up on your back’. In other words, he’s saying the Porter appears to have got so drunk that he passed out from it.

PORTER That it did, sir, i’ the very throat on me: but I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him.

The Porter responds with a wrestling analogy: although drink laid him up on his back, he was stronger than it, and when drink ‘took up my legs’ (i.e., picked him up by the legs), the Porter responded by throwing drink off (possibly with a suggestion of throwing up ).

MACDUFF Is thy master stirring?

[Enter MACBETH]

Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes.

The Porter’s section of this scene has given the actor playing Macbeth enough time to change out of his bloody clothes and wipe his hands, and now the main action of the play can resume.

But the Porter scene, as this analysis shows, is more than just comic relief : in some ways, in reminding us constantly of the dark event that has just occurred at the castle (even if the Porter has no knowledge of Duncan’s murder), Shakespeare intensifies the horror of the murder, much as when we hear people make blithe reference to something horrific it shocks us all the more for being so offhand.

The persistent knocking in the scene is also possessed of dramatic power. Thomas De Quincey wrote a whole essay on it.

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1 thought on “A Summary and Analysis of the Porter Scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth”

A brilliant piece of dramatic irony and humorous interlude, the Porter’s scene also serves to intensify the horror of “murder most foul”.

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Macbeth Quotes

Read our selection of the most memorable and significant Macbeth quotes. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one of his most often quoted plays, with famous quotes aplenty.

As ever, Shakespeare brings his Mabeth characters to life with memorable dialogue and a number of intense monologues and soliloquies. We’ve pulled together all of the top Macbeth quotes below from primary and secondary characters – as well as a good selection from the eponymous hero and his wife – shown in order of the quote appearing in the play, listing the character speaking along with act and scene.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”

Three Witches (Act 1 Scene 1)

“What bloody man is that?”

King Duncan (Act 1 Scene 2)

“If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not.”

Banquo (Act 1 Scene 3)

“Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner?”

“What! can the devil speak true?”

“Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings.”

King Duncan (Act 1 Scene 4)

“There’s daggers in men’s smiles”

Donalbain (Act 2 Scene 3)

“ Double, double toil and trouble : Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

Witches (Act 4 Scene 1)

“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes .”

Second Witch (Act 4 Scene 1)

“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him.”

Third apparition (Act 4 Scene 1)

“A deed without a name.”

“When our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors.”

Lady Macduff (Act 4 Scene 2)

“Now does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe Upon a dwarfish thief.”

Angus (Act 5 Scene 2)

“Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee!”

Macduff (Act 2 Scene 3)

“The patient Must minister to himself.”

Doctor (Act 5 Scene 3)

“Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.”

Macduff (Act 5 Scene 6)

…and here are some Macbeth quotes from Macbeth himself:

“Nothing is But what is not.”

Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 3)

“Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.”

“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 7)

“I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.”

“ If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly.”

“To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other”

“ 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.”

Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 1)

“Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout”

“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.”

Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2)

“Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep:  the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”

Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 2)

“Blood will have blood.”

Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 4)

“It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.”

“How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!”

Macbeth (Act 4 Scene 1)

“The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon! Where gott’st thou that goose look?”

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 3)

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 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.”

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 5)

“I bear a charmed life.”

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 8)

Macbeth quotes by Lady Macbeth:

The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements”

Lady Macbeth ( Act 1, Scene 5 )

“Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.”

Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)

“Come  you spirits , That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.”

“O, never Shall sun that morrow see! 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, Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under ‘t. He that’s coming Must be provide for: and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch, Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.”

“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!””

“Would’st thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,” Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?”

Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7)

“I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this.”

“I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss ‘em. Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t.”

Lady Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 2)

“ Out! damned spot!  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.”

Lady Macbeth ( Act 5, Scene 1 )

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”

Lady Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 1)

“What’s done cannot be undone.”

Are any of your favourite Macbeth quotes missing from this list? Please let us know in the comments below! We also have this list of LadyMacbeth quotes that might be of interest :)

Read Mabeth quotes in modern English :

• Is this a dagger which I see before me?
• If it were done when ’tis done
• The raven himself is hoarse
• Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
• More about the RSC’s take on Macbeth on screen

Shakespeare Quotes by Play

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See All Macbeth Resources

Macbeth | Macbeth summary | Macbeth characters : Banquo , Lady Macbeth , Macbeth , Macduff , Three Witches | Macbeth settings | Modern Macbeth translation  | Macbeth full text | Macbeth PDF  |  Modern Macbeth ebook | Macbeth for kids ebooks | Macbeth quotes | Macbeth ambition quotes |  Macbeth quote translations | Macbeth monologues | Macbeth soliloquies | Macbeth movies | Macbeth themes

haha we laughed about the egg quote for 20 minutes in class when we learnt macbeth

are you popping bottles, sparkles and champagne?

you forgot ‘look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t’.

nah its on there m8 but you jus never read the long quotes

They didn’t i saw it. Macbeth is such an amazing play with so many plot twists. Shakespeare is an amazing playwright

nah bro macbeth is mid but a fitty

I Love the egg quote it reminded me o f eggs

What about ” I am in blood stepts so far that to wade no more would be as tedious as to return over!

this book sucks so much i want to strangle shakespeare when he was a baby so i dont have to be here 700 years later reading on some pure WAFFLE!!

macbeth is a baby

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Macbeth Quotes

Every masterpiece or a literary piece has unique quotations expressing universal themes. These quotes are often quoted by all in common conversation and specific writings, speeches, and addresses. Some of the famous quotes from Macbeth , which convey the same collective themes and expressions, are discussed below.

Famous Quotes from Macbeth

“When shall we three meet again / In thunder, lightning, or in rain ? / When the hurly burly ‘s done, /When the battle ‘s lost and won.”

(Lines 1-4, Act I, Scene I).

These are the initial lines spoken by First Witch and Second Witch when weaving a spell to lure Macbeth. These lines are rhyming with each other to show that the incantation of the witches has begun. The main theme of these lines is to decide when the witches would meet next. While the first witch expresses the unfavorable weather, the Second Witch says that they might meet after all the chaos is over and one of the kingdoms has won the war in Scotland.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air.”

(Lines 12-13, Act I, Scene I).

Three witches who appear in Macbeth in the first scene speak these lines as they continue to weave their spell. They say that whatever they do seems good, but it will bring evil. In the same way, whatever seems bad is actually good. They agree with each other to vanish after the incantation is over and while the air is still dirty and misty. Perhaps to make things from bad to worse.

“If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me / Without my stir.”

(Lines 144, Act I, Scene III).

Macbeth speaks these words in an aside when he is with Banquo, his loyal friend. As one of the witches prophecies came true and he already became Thane of Cawdor by chance. He is thinking about his future as a king. He believes that if the luck made him a Thame, he could also become a king. In that case, he doesn’t have to kill the king. In other words, he believes in destiny and prophecy will create a situation for him to be the king without him trying.

“Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness .”

(Lines 16-17, Act I, Scene V).

Lady Macbeth speaks these lines to evaluate that Macbeth is not as ruthless as she is. She thinks that he is too kind and compassionate to kill the King or anybody else. In fact, she is also afraid that Macbeth is unprepared in spite of the promise given by the witches. According to Lady Macbeth kind people cannot be in the higher position as they may lack authority.

“Where we are, / There’s daggers in men’s smiles, / The near in blood, the nearer bloody.”

(Lines 139-141, Act II, Sc. III).

Donalbain speaks these lines to Malcolm, his brother. They come to know, King Duncan, their father, has been murdered. Following the murder of the King, Macbeth also kills the guards in rage. As they try to recover from their loss, they understand that they cannot trust anyone. Also, people can pretend to be friends while harboring hate in their heart, and enemies are usually closer than their friends. The last line shows Donalbain’s mistrust on people around them. They know that their own relatives are now after their lives to get the throne of their father.

“Things without all remedy / Should be without regard: What’s done is done.”

(Lines 10-12, Act III, Scene II).

Lady Macbeth speaks these words to her husband, Macbeth, after he kills King Duncan. Macbeth suffers from hallucinations and mental breakdown after the murder. Hence, Lady Macbeth tells that there is no point of regretting over things that already happened because you cannot reverse it. Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to remove any regrets and forget the crime.

“I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none.”

(Lines 45-47, Act I, Sc. VII).

These lines are spoken by Macbeth when Lady Macbeth coaxes her husband to kill the King and become the king himself. However, he is not ready and tries to explain Lady Macbeth that he is happy with the honor he had already received. He is already a man and doesn’t need a dare to prove otherwise or commit an evil act. Here, Macbeth has not yet given into his wife’s manipulation to kill the king.

“Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

(Act IV, Scene I).

The above lines are spoken by three witches while they are casting a spell over Macbeth. It doesn’t have a specific purpose. However, it could mean that though Macbeth would become the King he will face many troubles and eventually destroy himself.

“Here’s the smell of blood. / All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”

(Lines, 144, Act V, Sc. I).

Lady Macbeth speaks these words as she begins to feel guilty after King Duncan’s death. While Macbeth is able to accept his crime and becomes ambitious, Lady Macbeth loses her grip over the situations and becomes weaker. Also, remorse begins to weigh heavily upon her. Being a weak-minded, she starts sleepwalking and suffers from acute depression. As she recalls King’s death realizes that she played a huge part in the murder, she will not be able to wash away or hide her crime.

“ 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.”

(Lines 26-31, Act V, Scene V).

Macbeth speaks these words after Lady Macbeth’s death. He expresses that human life is nothing but a walking shadow. He also compares life with a candle that burns brightly before it melts away. He realizes that because of his actions he will face terrible consequences and his demise is inevitable. He further explains that life is nothing and humans are mere actors on the stage. Each has a small part to play before they become insignificant.

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Macbeth Femininity and Masculinity Quotes

Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way.

– William Shakespeare

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.

Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.

LADY MACBETH: 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 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.

And live a coward in thine own esteem Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,” Like the poor cat i’ the adage.

I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.

When you durst do it, then you were a man.

I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this.

Bring forth men-children only; For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males.

Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures: ’tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt.

The repetition, in a woman’s ear, Would murder as it fell.

LADY MACBETH: Help me hence, ho! MACDUFF: Look to the lady.

Are you a man?

LADY MACBETH: What, quite unmann’d in folly? MACBETH: If I stand here, I saw him.

Why, so: being gone, I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.

MALCOLM: Dispute it like a man. MACDUFF: I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

It is the cry of women, my good lord.