The second meeting that Macbeth has with the witches
occurs in Act IV scene 1, which comes after Macbeth has been haunted by the ghost of
Banquo during the banquet scene and decides that he needs to receive more answers from
the witches regarding the confusing and nebulous prophecies that they gave both him and
Banquo. Thus it is that Macbeth enters the scene in this section of the play, determined
to receive answers to his questions, saying to the witches the following
lines:
I
conjure you, by that which you profess,Howe'er you come to
know it, answer me:Though you untie the winds, and let
them fightAgainst the Churches; though the yesty
wavesConfound and swallow navigation
up;Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown
down;Though castles topple on their warders'
heads;Though palaces, and pyramids, do
slopeTheir heads to their foundations; though the
treasureOf Nature's germens tumble all
together,Even till destruction sicken, answer
meTo what I ask
you.
Note how desperate
Macbeth is to receive his answers. He is even willing to receive them if it means that
nature itself will perish and be destroyed. These lines of Macbeth present him as a man
who is obsessed and haunted by what has been said to him and the many different possible
futures that the prophecies could indicate. He wants answers, and he will have them at
whatever the cost, both to himself and to the world at large.
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