Macbeth

Macbeth's Porter

The Light of Macbeth

Throughout the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, it is a non-stop action thriller with more blood than ever seen before in most plays. The play was made that way for a specific reason, so William Shakespeare made it the most bloody, gruesome and shortest of all his plays. Watching or even just reading, there is hardly ever any moment to be able to breathe. Except one scene….

In Act II, Scene 3, Macbeth's porter appears in the play. There is absolutely no reason for the porter to be in the play. He has nothing to do with the written script what so ever. He is not related to anyone of any importance, or anyone at all. He has no great speeches with much meaning attached to it. He is just a perverted, gross talking, drunk. He goes against everything in their world that is moral and right. The porter defies it all and comes out of the play as a comedian. Why did William Shakespeare put the porter in his play, The Tragedy of Macbeth!

A lot of people look on the porter as just an interruption of the play, and that he should not even be there. But I disagree; I wouldn't call him an interruption. I'd call him an Intermission; he came in the play when needed most. The audience needed a break from the play. The entire thing was filled with hatred, betrayal, and blood. The porter is Shakespeare's transition period. Every play needs some comedy, but no more than this play, The Tragedy. The porter wasn't just there to make the audience laugh; he was there for a reason. Shakespeare always had a reason for everything, it would be uncharacteristic for him not to with the porter.

The porter enters the story immediately after the murder of King Duncan, perhaps for some relief, and that relief being; drunken comedy. Is the porter just comical relief? I don't believe so, he may have made some laughs,