Macbeth (28 page)

³
hurly-burly
turmoil, uproar, strife  

⁵
ere
before  

⁹
Grey Malkin
a cat, the First Witch’s familiar (a spirit in animal form that carried out evil deeds for a witch)  

¹⁰
Paddock
the Second Witch’s familiar, a toad  

¹¹
Anon
soon, in a moment

Alarum
a trumpet call to arms  

²
plight
condition, appearance  

³
newest state
latest state of affairs  

⁵
hardy
bold/vigorous  

⁶
captivity
capture by the enemy  

⁷
broil
battle, tumult  

¹⁰
spent
exhausted

¹¹
choke their art
  destroy their skill (i.e. weigh one another down and drown)

¹²
to that
  to that end, for that reason

¹³
multiplying … nature
  increasing numbers of evils within nature/growing numbers of unnatural rebel soldiers

¹⁴
Western Isles
  the Hebrides (islands west of Scotland) and possibly Ireland

¹⁵
Of kerns
  with lightly armed foot soldiers
gallowglasses
soldiers armed with axes
supplied
reinforced

¹⁶
quarrel
  dispute/hostile cause (“her damnèd quarry” would be an alternative reading)

¹⁷
Showed
  appeared/ sexually displayed herself

¹⁹
brandished
  shining/flourished

²¹
minion
  favorite one, darling
carved … passage
hacked his way through

²²
slave
  villain (i.e. the rebel Macdonald)

²³
Which
  who (i.e. Macbeth)

²⁴
unseamed him
  ripped him in two (clothing metaphor)
nave to th’chops
navel to the jaws

²⁷
As … thunders
  just as destructive storms and dreadful thunder originate (like the Norwegian invaders) in the east, where the warming sun rises/just as when the sun begins to return at the spring equinox, it is accompanied by storms
’gins
begins
reflection
shining/return

²⁹
spring
  source (of water)/springtime
comfort
encouraging news

³⁰
swells
  wells up/becomes swollen
Mark
note, pay attention

³²
skipping
  lightly armed/nervously bounding/absconding
trust their heels
run away

³³
Norwegian lord
  i.e. Sweno (original pronunciation: “Norweyan”)
surveying vantage
perceiving an advantage

³⁴
furbished
  gleaming/revived

³⁷
Yes … lion
  i.e. only as much as a weak creature would dismay a powerful predator

³⁸
sooth
  truth
report
tell (plays on the sense of “noise of a cannon firing”)

³⁹
cracks
  charges of gunpowder

⁴¹
Except
  unless
reeking
bloody/steaming (as the hot blood meets the air)

⁴²
memorize
  make memorable
Golgotha
“place of skulls” where Christ was crucified

⁴⁵
become
  befit/honor

⁴⁶
smack
  savor (plays on the sense of “the noise lips make in tasting” and so continues the idea of
gashes
as mouths)

⁴⁸
Thane
  title of a member of the Scottish nobility (broadly equivalent to an English earl)

⁴⁹
looks through
  appears in

⁵⁰
seems to
  seems to be about to

⁵³
Fife
  region on the east coast of Scotland

⁵⁴
flout
  defy/mock

⁵⁶
Norway himself
  i.e. Sweno, King of Norway
terrible numbers
terrifying quantities of soldiers

⁵⁸
dismal
  devastating/ominous

⁵⁹
Bellona’s bridegroom
  i.e. Macbeth
Bellona
Roman goddess of war
lapped in proof
wrapped in armor of tried and tested strength

⁶⁰
Confronted … self-comparisons
  i.e. matched him in every respect

⁶¹
Point
  sword’s point
arm
weapon

⁶²
lavish
  unrestrained, wild

⁶⁵
Norways
  Norwegians

⁶⁶
Craves composition
  requests a peace treaty

⁶⁷
deign
  condescend to permit

⁶⁸
disbursèd
  paid out
Saint Colme’s inch
Inchcolm, an island in the Firth of Forth (estuary on the east coast of Scotland)

⁶⁹
dollars
  English name for the German thaler, as well as for silver coins from various northern countries

⁷¹
bosom interest
  closest, most intimate concerns
present
immediate

⁶
quoth
  said

⁷
Aroint thee
be off with you  

rump-fed
fed on rump (a generous cut of meat), hence greedy/with a well-fed vagina, hence lecherous   

runnion
abusive term for a woman (possibly plays on the abusive slang sense of “penis”)  

⁸
Aleppo
trading city in northern Syria   

master
captain   

Tiger
the ship’s name  

¹⁰
like
in the guise of  

¹¹
do
act/have sex (it was thought that witches often seduced their male victims)  

¹⁵
other
other winds  

¹⁶
ports they blow
a wind blowing from land would make a port inaccessible to a ship at sea  

¹⁷
quarters
directions/compass points  

¹⁸
I’th’shipman’s card
in the sailor’s chart/card showing the compass points  

¹⁹
drain
exhaust/drain sexually  

²¹
penthouse lid
eyelid (that projects like a top-heavy upper floor of a building)  

²²
forbid
cursed  

²³
sennights
weeks (seven nights)  

²⁴
peak and pine
waste away and starve (perhaps with connotations of phallic detumescence)  

²⁵
bark
ship  

²⁶
tempest-tossed
tossed on the sea by storms  

²⁹
pilot
steersman of a ship  

³³
weyard
wayward; with the power to control or foresee destiny; the fact that there are three witches invites a comparison with the classical Fates (always spelled “weyard” or “weyward” in Folio; never “weird,” the spelling in the play’s source, Holinshed’s “Chronicles of Scotland”)  

³⁴
Posters
swift travelers  

³⁵
Thus… nine
the witches perform a ritualized dance or series of movements  

³⁸
Peace
be still/be silent   

charm
magic spell   

wound up
prepared, ready  

³⁹
foul and fair
darkly stormy yet bright in terms of military success (the phrase also resonates with the sense of “morally wicked and virtuous”)  

⁴⁰
is’t called
is it said to be   

Forres
town in the northeast of Scotland, east of Inverness  

⁴³
on’t
on it (the earth)   

aught
anything  

⁴⁵
choppy
chapped  

⁴⁶
should be
would appear to be  

⁵³
start
flinch/react nervously/ recoil