“To Meet with Macbeth,” given by tutor Louis ... - St. John's College

Macbeth brings two further questions to the cauldron. First, another question not named in words:
does nature have causes that give way to man’s desires? Macbeth learns from a crowned child with a
tree in his hand that rises with thunder from the cauldron that he will not be vanquished until Birnam
Wood comes to high Dunsinane Hill against him. Since trees do not give way to command and move, he
concludes that nature will not take sides in the war against him. He will live “the lease of nature” and
die of old age (IV.i.99). Finally, he insists on asking a question about Banquo’s issue—will they
“ever/Reign in this kingdom?” (IV.i.101-102) The deeper question not named in words is this: does
history have causes that give way to man’s desires? The answer he receives is not favorable to his
hopes. He is shown a line of eight kings and images of many more, all crowned and resembling Banquo.
How will he have the time, even in one long life, to kill all those future kings not of his line? Macbeth
thus determines to make war on the principle of history: orderly generation by families. The first victim
is the family of Macduff. The details of their slaughter will not be asked or spoken.
Macbeth’s inquiries to the cauldron omit the primary question about the nameless One. Does
God live? How can we know anything about what to fear and pity, the boundaries of laughter, and the
susceptibilities of nature and history to man’s control without first knowing about God? This question
gets carried into the action by the Macduffs.
Lady Macduff and her young son address the question about God indirectly, but unmistakably,
prior to their murders. Lady Macduff feels abandoned and unloved by her husband, who does not even
leave her a letter to explain his flight from a fearful place in which he leaves wife and babes defenseless.
Ross tries to comfort her with the idea of Macduff’s hidden wisdom. She sees rather cowardice,
rashness, or treason. Ross blesses the boy and leaves them alone before his tears of pity make a fool of
him—or (as some suspect) before his foolhardy remaining to comfort or defend them makes a pity of
him (slain too). The son answers with good humor and tough-mindedness the questionable assertion of
his father’s death as the sacred dialogue with his mother begins:
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