Macbeth's Clothes

[This is an annotated list of passages related to the theme of how Macbeth fits into his clothes.]



The Thane of Cawdor lives; why do you dress me / In borrow'd robes? (1.3.108-109), asks Macbeth when Ross tells him that the King has named him Thane of Cawdor.

Later in the scene we hear another expression of the idea that Macbeth is like a person wearing unfamiliar clothes. "New honors come upon him, / Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould / But with the aid of use" (1.3.144-146), says Banquo about Macbeth, trying to explain why he is lost in thought just after he has been named Thane of Cawdor. Here "strange" means "new," and "cleave" means "fit," and "mould" means "shape," and "use" means "habit." So Banquo is saying that Macbeth is mentally trying on his new "honors," his title of Thane of Cawdor, but the title doesn't quite fit, and won't, until Macbeth gets used to it.

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Shortly before Macbeth is to kill King Duncan, he has serious second thoughts, and he tells his wife they won't kill the King after all, saying, "He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people, / Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, / Not cast aside so soon" (1.7.32-35). Macbeth imagines his fame to be a kind of glorious new coat, which he will enjoy wearing. In her sarcastic reply, Lady Macbeth also uses a clothing metaphor, asking her husband, Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dress'd yourself?" (1.7.35-36). She means that--to use an American metaphor--he's the kind of cowboy who's all hat and no horse.

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In the scene in which Macduff discovers the bloody body of King Duncan and awakens everyone in Macbeth's castle, most of the characters appear in their nightclothes. When Banquo proposes that they all meet to discuss the murder of the King, he mentions that they all need to put on their clothes, saying that should meet when they have their "naked frailties hid, / That suffer in exposure" (2.3.126-127). Macbeth agrees to the meeting by saying, "Let's briefly put on manly readiness, / And meet i' the hall together" (2.3.133-134). In short, it appears that Macbeth feels that he is more of a man when he's wearing his daytime clothes.

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The morning after the night that King Duncan is murdered, Ross and Macduff discuss the question of who did the murder. Their guarded words suggests that they have serious doubts about the idea that the grooms killed King Duncan and were bribed to do so by Malcolm and Donalbain. Also, Macduff, unlike Ross, is not going to go to see Macbeth crowned, and his farewell to Ross is: "Well, may you see things well done there: adieu! / Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!" (2.4.37-38). The "old robes" were the royal garments of King Duncan; the new robes will be Macbeth's. The metaphor implies that Macbeth may not know how to wear his new robes. In addition, they are "our" robes; everyone in Scotland will be affected by the way in which the new king handles his powers.

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After the night in which King Duncan is killed, Macbeth and his wife next appear this way: "Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as king, LADY MACBETH, as queen " (3.1.10, s.d.). "As king" and "as queen" must mean that they are wearing crowns, and it probably means that they are wearing royal robes. If those robes are very similar to those of the man they murdered, the effect can be shocking.

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As the Scottish forces march to join the English army before Macbeth's castle, various Scotsmen comment on Macbeth's desperate situation. Angus says, "Those he commands move only in command, / Nothing in love: now does he feel his title / Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish thief" (5.2.19-22).

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After receiving the news that none of his thanes will fight for him, and that an English army of ten thousand is approaching, Macbeth is defiant. He says to an attendant, "I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd. / Give me my armour" (5.3.32-33). The attendant tells him that there's no need to don armor just now, but Macbeth insists. Apparently he wants to feel like the warrior he used to be. For the rest of the scene -- as he is speaking of the sickness of his wife and his country -- Macbeth puts on the armor. At the end of the scene he still doesn't have it all on, but he tells the attendant to follow him with the rest.

[Detailed Scene Summary]




When Macbeth comes to realize that his situation is hopeless -- after his wife's death and after he has learned that Birnam wood is moving toward Dunsinane -- he determines to fight on, saying, "Blow, wind! come, wrack! / At least we'll die with harness on our back" (5.5.51-52). In this context, "harness" means armor.

[Detailed Scene Summary]