Hecate, mistress
of the three witches, summons Macbeth to the
pit of Acheron “to know his destiny.” She commands the witches to prepare, and Hecate
herself must also catch a vaporous drop from the Corner of the Moon “ere
it come to the ground,” else Macbeth will awake from the witches’ charms.
This
design refers to John Lyly’s Endymion,
the Man in the Moon published in 1588. Eumenides comes to a fountain that he
cannot see through. His tears drop down and clear the fountain. The way to awake
his friend Endymion from eternal sleep appears to him. He saves Endymion at the
end.
Dialogue
[Enter
the three Witches, meeting Hecate.]
1st
Witch. [Act 3, Scene 5]
Why,
how now Hecate, you look angerly?
Hecate.
Have
I not reason (Beldams) as you are?
Saucy,
and over-bold, how did you dare
To
Trade, and Traffic with Macbeth,
In
Riddles, and Affairs of death;
And
I the Mistress
of your Charms,
The
close contriver
of all harms,
Was
never called to bear my part,
Or
show the glory of our Art?
And
which is worse, all you have done
Hath
been but for a wayward Son,
Spightful,
and wrathful, who (as others do)
Loves
for his own ends, not for you.
But
make
amends now: Get you gone,
Meet
me in the Morning: thither he
Will
come, to know his Destiny.
Your
Vessels, and your Spells provided,
Your
Charms, and everything beside;
I
am for the Air: This night I’ll spend
Unto
a dismal, and a Fatal end.
Great
business must be wrought ere Noon.
There
hangs a vaporous drop, profound,
I’ll
catch it
ere it come to ground;
And
that distilled by Magic sleights,
Shall
raise such Artificial Sprights,
As
by the strength of their illusion,
Shall
draw him on to his Confusion.
He
shall spurn Fate, scorn Death, and bear
His
hopes ’bove Wisdom, Grace, and Fear:
Is
Mortal’s chiefest Enemy. [Musicke, and a Song.]
Hark,
I am called: my little Spirit, see,
Sits
in Foggy cloud, and stays for me.
[Sing
within. Come away, come away, etc.]
1st
Witch.
Come,
let’s make haste, she’ll soon be
Back
again. [Exeunt.]
Notes
*And I the Mistress of your Charms: “And I the Mistress” can spell Mary Sidney,
suggesting the identity of “I” as Hecate. Hecate leads the three witches to manipulate Macbeth’s destiny.
In an
alternative reading, the witches reflect poets supported by Wilton House and
Hecate their patroness Mary Sidney, who manipulated Christopher Marlowe’s
destiny. Names of the three Wilton poets are sealed in the three apparitions.
*The close contriver of all harms . . . our Art: Close has the usage of
private or near; contriver of one who artfully devises, a plotter, or proposer; harm of
bane or vice. Shakespeare’s hidden plots, contrived by Mary Sidney and Wilton
poets, are harmful to the orthodox. The term “our Art” indicates Shakespeare’s writing art, such as anagrams, sound
plays, and riddles.
*for a wayward Son, Spightful, and wrathful, who (as others do) Loves for his own ends, not
for you: The three witches are called weyward or weyard Sisters
in the 1623 folio. Son has the usage of a man under influence of
certain belief or a term of contempt; weyward of a variant of wayward.
The
term “wayward Son” says Macbeth is being manipulated by the weyward Sisters,
who act like his matriarchs. This can explain why Hecate accuses Macbeth who
“loves for his own ends, not for you.” There is no reason that Macbeth should love
the witches. In an alternative reading, Marlowe loved himself, not other Wilton
poets, but he had no choice.
*But make amends now: Hecate tells the three witches to amend what they had
done, and commands them to prepare the visit of Macbeth in the pit of Acheron.
It means the three witches have no idea of the meeting place with Macbeth. It’s
arranged by Hecate herself.
*pit of Acheron: Acheron is one
of the rivers related to Hades, the underworld in Greek mythology. Five rivers
circling Hades are Acheron the river of woe (pain), Styx the river of
blood (hatred), Phlegethon the river of fire-flaming (punishment), Lethe the
river of unmindfulness (oblivion), and Cocytus the river of lamentation
(wailing).
The term Acheron
appears also in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Oberon the king of fairies
commands Robin Good-fellow to mystify four lovers under the “fog as black as
Acheron”; and in Titus Andronicus, “pull her out of Acaron by the
heels.” Shakespeare used the term may due to the word ache within Acheron. Pit has the usage of a trap for wild beasts or animals
in Bible:
For a whore
is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
— KJV, Proverbs 23:27
Shall evil
be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit
for my soul. — KJV, Jeremiah 18:20
He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he
made. — KJV, Psalms 7:15
Pit
of Acheron is a trap to the underworld for Macbeth, who will be misled by the
three apparitions. The name Acheron contains -acher-
in treachery. Acheron can spell treachery with letter
i and t. Pit provides the needed letters. Macbeth will die for his treachery as
accused by Banquo.
Banquo.
O,
Treachery!
Fly
good Fleance, fly, fly, fly,
Thou
may’st revenge. O Slave!
Acheron
can be a perfect anagram of acher-on, acher-no, or ache-ron. Acher has
the usage of one who aches or an obsolete form of usher; orn of to
adorn or beautify; orn can be an obsolete form of ourn or roun (secret
or mysterious saying). Hecate plays the role of usher for Macbeth’s destiny.
This term refers
to John Lyly’s play Endymion, the Man
in the Moon published in
1591.
Tellus,
a lady-in-waiting of Queen Cynthia, falls in love with the young man Endymion,
but is rejected by him because Endymion announces that he loves the Moon. As a
revenge, Tellus asks a witch to let the one she loves “shall neither live nor die.”
The witch then makes Endymion go to a constant fast sleep state.
Endymion’s
friend Eumenides finds a magic fountain can satisfy any wish: “who so can clearly
see the bottom of this Fountain shall have remedy for any thing”; and “whosoever
can shed the tears of a faithful lover shall obtain anything he would.”
Eumenides’
teardrops clear the fountain to let him see the bottom of the fountain, which
appears Endymion’s remedy, that the Moon’s kiss can wake Endymion. At the end
Cynthia kisses Endymion and he awakes from eternal sleep.
People sleep or
walk; Lady Macbeth sleeps and walks; Wandering Jew walks forever; Endymion
sleeps forever; Macbeth “shall sleep no more.”
*I’ll catch it ere it come to ground: If the drop comes to the ground, the remedy for Macbeth will reveal to
him. Hecate must catch it to let apparitions to confuse Macbeth. Witchcraft is the
cause of Macbeth’s sleep-no-more and Endymion’s sleep-forever.
In The Tempest,
drunken butler Stephano calls himself “the man in the moon” to compare his
constant drunk state with sleep. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Robin
Starveling acting Moonshine presents himself “the man in the Moon does seem to
be.”
*Shall raise such Artificial Sprights: Artificial has the usage of simulating the
original, substituting, or feigned; spright of spirit. Artificial sprights indicate
the three apparitions, an Armed Head, a Bloody Child, and a Crowned Child with
a tree in his hand. They are illusions artfully made by the witches. Holinshed’s
Chronicles has no apparitions.
*As by the strength of their illusion, Shall draw him on to his Confusion: Images of three
apparitions confuse Macbeth and make him trust their prophecies.
*Security Is Mortal’s chiefest Enemy: Security has the usage of assurance
or confidence. Wilton poets used Shakespeare to secure their venture in the
literary world. Accidents such as Ben Jonson’s Isle of Dogs will fall to
William Shakespeare, not poets of Wilton Circle.
*Hark, I am called: my little Spirit: This line is
printed as “Hearke, I am call’d: my little Spirit” in the 1623 folio, which can spell Shakespeare,
suggesting the identity of the “little Spirit”; identity of Hecate is sealed in
the following lines. This design is similar to “Hark, she
speaks.”
*Sits in Foggy cloud, and stays for me: The line
“and stays for me” can spell Mary Sidney, suggesting the identity of “me.” Mary Sidney sat
behind poets of Wilton Circle in foggy cloud.
Shakespeare
as Mary Sidney’s “little spirit” appears also in The Birth of Merlin.
The magician Merlin has a little antick Spirit called Sparrowhawk. Merlin
Sparrowhawk can spell William Shakespeare. Sparrowhawke can spell Shakespeare.
*Come away, come away: This song is taken from Thomas Middleton’s The Witches
existed in manuscript form and not published before 1778. Shakespeare can
access that manuscript before 1623.
Witches.
Come
away, come away,
Hecate,
Hecate, come away.
Hecate.
I
come, I come, I come, I come,
With
all the speed I may, . . .
Thomas
Middleton was a member of Wilton Circle supported by the Herbert family. He
appears in this play as a “bloody man.”
Endymion, the Man in the Moon
In
this play John Lyly coined the name Corsites and selected four existing names
from Green and Roman mythology, Endimion, Eumenides, Semele, and Tellus.
Lyly
first fixed each character’s feature in the play according to each’s anagram, such
as Semele (seel-me) who seels Eumenides’ eyes before the magic fountain. Next
he mapped each’s key feature to a person of his contemporaries.
|
Character |
Anagram |
Reflecting |
|
Eumenides |
I need muse |
Philip Sidney |
|
Semele |
seel me |
Mary Sidney |
|
Tellus |
le slut |
Lettice Knollys |
|
Corsites |
escorts I |
Robert Dudley |
|
Endimion |
end my noy |
Robert Dudley |
To
flatter Queen Elizabeth, Lyly made Corsites the Robert Dudley who married
Lettice and is punished in the play, and Endimion the Dudley who has unmovable
desire to the Queen.
Eumenides
Eumenides
fails to see through the magic fountain the first time, for he asks two things
the same time: “I will helpe Endimion. ... I will haue Semele.
What shall I doe?”
The
fountain tells him, “Aske one for all, and but one thing at all.”
An
old man advises Eumenides: “Loue is but an eye-worme, which onely tickleth the
heade with hopes and wishes: friendshippe the image
of eternitie . . . so great oddes is there betweene loue and
friendshippe.”
Finally
between love and friendship Eumenides selects “one” friendship and wins
Endimion and Semele “all” at the end. The word friendship appears twelve times in
this play all related to Eumenides.
This
key feature of Eumenides, friendship, can spell Philip Sidney except letter L,
which is mended when he wins both “love and friendship.” The name Eumenides is
selected likely because it contains the name Sidney.
Eumenides
is puzzling what to do before the magic fountain. In a lengthy 350-word speech he
questions himself thirteen times:
“Aske?”
“and
what shall I doo but aske?”
“and
whome should I aske but Semele?”
“Why
doe I trifle the time in words?”
“What
nowe Eumenides?”
“Whether
art thou drawn?”
“Hast
thou forgotten both friendship and duetie?”
“Care
of Endimion, and the commaundement of Cynthia?”
“because
thou sleepest in a golden dreame?”
“for
whome I woulde often loose my selfe?”
“the
rare fidelitie of a tryed friend?”
“What
shall I doe?”
“Which
shall I aske?”
Eumenides
lacks and needs muse here, which appears in his name’s perfect anagram needy-muse or I-need-muse.
Semele
Semele
is a perfect anagram of seel-me, which fits Eumenides’ comment before the magic
fountain: “sweete Semele let me alone, and dissolue, by weeping, into
water.”
Cynthia.
Endimion,
you must nowe tell who Eumenides shrineth for his Saint.
Eumenides.
Semele,
Madame.
Cynthia.
Semele,
Eumenides? Is it Semele? The very waspe of all
women, whose tongue stingeth as much as an Adders
tooth?
Eumenides.
It
is Semele, Cynthia: the possessing of whose loue, must onelie prolong my life.
Cynthia.
Nay
sith Endimion is restored, wee will haue all parties pleased. Semele,
are you content after so long triall of his faith, such rare secresie, such
vnspotted loue, to take Eumenides? Why speake you not? Not a word?
Endimion.
Silence,
Madame, consents: that is most true.
Cynthia.
It
is true Endimion. Eumenides, take Semele. Take her I day.
Eumenides.
Humble
thanks, Madame: now onely doe I gegin to liue.
Semele.
A
harde choyce, Madame, either to be married if I say nothing, or to lose my
tongue if I speake a word Yet doe I rather choose to have my tongue cut out,
than my heart distempered: I will not haue him.
Cynthia
not only wants to cut off Semele’s tongue but also her head. Eumendies asks his
tongue to ransom hers: “Madame, pardon Semele, and let my tongue ransome
hers.” Semele is moved by Eumendies and accepts him.
Eumenides.
Ah,
happie Eumenides, that has a friend so faithfull, and a mistris
so faire: with what sodaine mischiefe wil the Gods daunt this excesse of
ioye? Sweet Semele, I liue or dye as thou wilt.
The
design that Semele’s love will prolong Eumenides’ life (“must onelie prolong my
life”), ransom tongue (“let my tongue ransome hers”), and Eumenides only begining
to live when he has Semele (“now onely doe I gegin to liue”), seal the message
that Mary Sidney will have her brother’s tongue after his death in 1586.
Eumenides’
final line that he has a friend so faithful “and a mistris so faire” can spell
Mary Sidney, suggesting the identity of Semele.
Semele’s
feature, according to the Queen, as “the very waspe of all women, whose tongue stingeth
as much as an Adders tooth,” seals Mary Sidney, who owned such feature in the
literary world with Shakespeare being her surrogate.
Adder
has the usage of one who adds (1580) or summons. Poets were summoned
by Mary Sidney’s Wilton House and patronized by the Herberts to write under the
name Shakespeare.
Tellus
Tellus
is rejected by Endimion. She plots with a witch to make Endimion fall to an unmovable
sleep. Cynthia puts Tellus to Corsites’ protection. Later Corsites falls in
love with Tellus, but Tellus uses his affection to cheat him.
Cynthia.
Presumptuous
gyrle, I will make thy tongue an example of vnrecouerable displeasure. Corsites,
carry her to the Castle in the Deserte, there to remaine and weaue.
Corsites.
Shall
she worke sotries or poetries?
Cynthia.
It
skyleth not which—goe to! in both; for she shall find
examples infinite in eyther what punishment long tongues haue.
Lyly
made Tellus act as a slut in the play. Her name is an anagram of le-slut or
lee-slut; le is an obsolete form of lee; lee has the usage of shelter or protection
(by Corsites). Cynthia’s command that Tellus may not have stories and poetries,
“skyleth not which” can spell Lettice Knollys. Lyly tried to flatter Queen
Elizabeth by cursing Lettice who married the Queen’s ex-lover Robert Dudley.
Corsites
Corsites
falls in love with Tellus and becomes her escort. However, Tellus cheats him to
move the unmovable Endimion (only the Queen can move him), which causes Corsites
to be punished by fairies with pinches and spots.
Fairy.
Pinch
him blue.
And
pinch him blacke.
Let
him not lacke
Sharpe
nailes to pinch him blue and red,
Till
sleepe has rock’d his addle head.
For
the trespasse hee hath done,
Spots
ore all his flesh shall runne.
“Sharpe
nailes to pinch him blue and red” would be Elisabeth Tudor’s wish realized in
this play, to punish Robert Dudley who married Lettice Knollys.
Tellus
acts as a slut and Corsites is her escort. They are together at the end. Corsites
can be a perfect anagram of escorts-I or is-escort. Corsites needs letter L to spell Leicester,
mended by Tellus. Tellus needs letter I and C to spell Lettice, mended by
Corsites.
Endimion
Endimion
has an unmovable body in sleeping, and an “unmovable desire to” Cynthia. This
desire saves him at the end.
Tellus.
I
seeing my hopes turnde to mishaps, and a setled dissembling towards me, and an vnmooueable desire to Cynthia, forgetting both my selfe
and my sexe, fell vnto this vnnaturall hate.
Endimion
can be a perfect anagram of end-my-noy; noy has the usage of annoyance or
trouble, as in John Davies’ “And noyes, or ioyes the Mind in diuerse kindes” or
John Florio’s “annoyance, noye, trouble.”
End-my-noy
as a symbol sealed in the title of this play should end anyone’s noy while
watching this play, which is kissed (blessed) by the Queen to awake Endimion.
In the
real world Queen Elizabeth (Cynthia) pardoned Robert Dudley (Endymion) under
the condition that he must have “unmovable desire to” the Queen.
