William Shakespeare - Macbeth

turmoil, uproar, strife

before

a cat, the First Witchs familiar (a spirit in animal form that carried out evil deeds for a witch)

the Second Witchs familiar, a toad

soon, in a moment

a trumpet call to arms

condition, appearance

latest state of affairs

bold/vigorous

capture by the enemy

battle, tumult

exhausted

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

to that end, for that reason

increasing numbers of evils within nature/growing numbers of unnatural rebel soldiers

the Hebrides (islands west of Scotland) and possibly Ireland

with lightly armed foot soldiers gallowglasses soldiers armed with axes supplied reinforced

dispute/hostile cause (her damnd quarry would be an alternative reading)

appeared/ sexually displayed herself

shining/flourished

favorite one, darling carved passage hacked his way through

villain (i.e. the rebel Macdonald)

who (i.e. Macbeth)

ripped him in two (clothing metaphor) nave to thchops navel to the jaws

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

source (of water)/springtime comfort encouraging news

wells up/becomes swollen Mark note, pay attention

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

i.e. Sweno (original pronunciation: Norweyan) surveying vantage perceiving an advantage

gleaming/revived

i.e. only as much as a weak creature would dismay a powerful predator

truth report tell (plays on the sense of noise of a cannon firing)

charges of gunpowder

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

make memorable Golgotha place of skulls where Christ was crucified

befit/honor

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

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

appears in

seems to be about to

region on the east coast of Scotland

defy/mock

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

devastating/ominous

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

i.e. matched him in every respect

swords point arm weapon

unrestrained, wild

Norwegians

requests a peace treaty

condescend to permit

paid out Saint Colmes inch Inchcolm, an island in the Firth of Forth (estuary on the east coast of Scotland)

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

closest, most intimate concerns present immediate

said

be off with you

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

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

trading city in northern Syria

captain

the ships name

in the guise of

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

other winds

a wind blowing from land would make a port inaccessible to a ship at sea

directions/compass points

in the sailors chart/card showing the compass points

exhaust/drain sexually

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

cursed

weeks (seven nights)

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

ship

tossed on the sea by storms

steersman of a ship

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 plays source, Holinsheds Chronicles of Scotland)

swift travelers

the witches perform a ritualized dance or series of movements

be still/be silent

magic spell

prepared, ready

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

is it said to be

town in the northeast of Scotland, east of Inverness

on it (the earth)

anything

chapped

would appear to be

flinch/react nervously/ recoil

imaginary

in truth/in deed

appear to be

immediate honor

gain

entranced, absorbed by it

neither begs your favor nor fears your hate

favored by fortune/content

beget, conceive

unclear/cryptic/incomplete

Macbeths father

field of view/anticipation of the future

where you got this strange information

blighted/accursed

command

physical, bodily

I wish

of

root of plant (probably henbane) that was reputed to cause madness if eaten

the very same

perceives, comprehends

risky involvement

i.e. his personal feelings of awe and praises for you are both so great as to compete with one another (the result being that he finds himself silenced)

brave

not at all afraid

i.e. slaughter on the battlefield (strange images of death)

messengers arrived as thick and fast as the tales they had to tell (though some editors emend tale to hail, which fits better with the subsequent poured down)

only in order to usher you into his presence, not as a means of rewarding you

pledge, foretaste

title

he who

sentence

in league

reinforce (metaphorically, line the rebels garment)

i.e. Macdonald

deserving of the death penalty

yet to come

fully

inflame, provoke

i.e. the devil

insignificant things

the profoundly serious outcome

fortunate

preliminary actions/lines spoken by an actor before the beginning of a play

growing/exalted

division of a play (plays on the sense of deed, action)

royal subject matter (theme plays on the sense of subject that causes action)

incitement

pledge, foretaste

temptation, incitement

frightful/bristling (like Macbeths hair)

make my hair stand on end

fixed, stable

usual practice

i.e. not as ghastly and terrifying

the enactment of which (this unusual use of murder reveals only too clearly what Macbeths thought is of)

unified existence/weak condition (state introduces a human body/body politic metaphor)

usual powers of action are overwhelmed by speculation and imaginings

only imaginings have any reality for me

stirring, taking action

unfamiliar

do not cling snugly to the bodys contours until they have been worn many times

i.e. time is unstoppable and even the worst day has an end

wait

pardon

preoccupied/stirred/worked on

recorded

i.e. in his memory

happened

when we have more time/at a later time

i.e. having had time to consider it thoroughly

frank, unrestrained