LECO52032, MUHAMMAD, MLA REFERENCING

                     Critically analyse the significance of the equivocator in the play Macbeth.

Macbeth is a tragedy in five acts among the four, penned by William Shakespeare in 1606. Which is considered to be the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies. It describes Macbeth’s snatching of power, which results in the destruction and blind ambition is the tragic flaw of the protagonist. It was published in the First Folio of 1623. 

Equivocation is the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth. “A special type of pun, known as the equivoque, is the use of a single word or phrase which has two disparate meanings, in a context which makes both meanings equally relevant”,writes M.H. Abrams of the pun in A Glossary of Literary Terms, tenth edition (326).

 The apparition of witches that is shown to Macbeth, reveals the truth by the end of the play as he met with his destiny one by one. Just after he is named as the Thane of Cowder, Macbeth wonders to believe the rest of the prophecies of Witches. But Banquo warns him not to believe in their words. Actually,  prophecies of Witches were not the real problem maker, but the evil thoughts inside Macbeth, and the nurturing of Macbeth's evil thoughts by Lady Macbeth.

When Macbeth goes to Witches to know his fate, they call up apparitions;

  “Thunder. [Enter] FIRST APPARITION, an armed Head

   MACBETH    ;   Tell me, thou unknown power.

   FIRST WITCH    ;  He knows thy thought; Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 

   FIRST  APPARITION    ; Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth: beware Macduff,  Beware the

     Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough,” (Macbeth,Act4,scene1)

Critics, variously, have supposed the Apparition represents Macbeth's head (at the play's end), but Macbeth could not make out what the apparition actually says, he forgets the tricky language of them as Banquo said to him at first. And he is eager to hear the next;

“ Thunder. [Enter] SECOND APPARITION, a bloody Child

 SECOND APPARITION,  Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth.

 MACBETH                        ;Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. 

SECOND APPARITION   ,   Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn

      The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth,”(Act4, scene1).

The bloody child in the apparition  may be represents; “baby Macduff, born by Caesarean section; Fleance, attacked by the Murderers; phantasmagoric children of Banquo who will succeed Macbeth,”(Braunmuller, A.R, The new cambridge shakespeare, Macbeth, p194). Macbeth was mistaken that he can’t be perished by anyone, as all powerful men are born from a women. As we are reading further, we could find that the ambiguity has some biblical representation too. Braunmuller in his book  The new cambridge shakespeare about Macbeth writes that, “Of  woman born all humankind, This and similar biblical phrases (“Man who is born of a woman, is few of days and full of trouble”(job 14:1),”What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?”(job 15:14).)) add solemnity and ambiguity to the Apparition's supposed promise”,(p195).

“THIRD APPARITION;      Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.”   (Macbeth, act 4, scene 1). Macbeth believed that third would never happen, as Great Birnam wood never come to Dunsinane, but in the act 5, scene 7, Macbeth witnesses the coming of woods to Dunsinane, as Macduff and army  used the branches of wood as camouflage. Macduff then tells him that he was not born naturally, instead he was ripped out of his mother’s womb.

  What causes Macbeth to believe in the Witches is the fulfillment of the first prophecy. Macbeth wishes to all the prophecy come true and decided to believe in what is favorable to him. Thus, In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the theme of equivocation to effectively illustrate the evil nature of the witches.

Works Cited

Abrams, M H, and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston, Ma Etc., Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Cop, 2012.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Cambridge, Cambridge U.P, 1968.

Bevington, David. “Macbeth | Plot & Characters.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 8 Dec. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/Macbeth-by-Shakespeare.