In The Scene Act 4 Scene 1 Macbeth had entered a cavern with the 3 witches and the Three Apparitions had given Macbeth ‘blessings’ Even rewards for his cruel ways and his victorious glory. With the passage I’ve chosen from this scene is…
Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet! A seventh! I’ll see no more:
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible sight! Now, I see, ’tis true;
For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.
How Macbeth shows his infuriating anger towards what he sees as an apparition or an illusion. Why Macbeth expresses his anger in such a rough and coarse way is because Macbeth thinks he is the only ruler of Scotland. But in the perspective of the witches he is not the only ruler. When Macbeth sees the 8 kings and the ghost of Banquo. Symbolism of blood, which represents guilt and betrayal. What Macbeth sees with the last king with the mirror is that the mirror itself was blank. This would mean that the mirror in the king’s hand reflects on Macbeth’s past and his present life within Scotland.
The point of having this eight king with the mirror is that he is reflecting on Macbeth. But it show’s nothing. That means that Macbeth’s life will be nothing but a ghost, a wandering ghost in the lost of his darkened mind. Afterwards in the end of the passage Macbeth says to himself “For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiles upon me,“
And points at them for his.” This has a specific meaning that Banquo knows that Macbeth will be defeated in the most humiliating of way.