Why does the Porter's speech in Act 2, Scene 3 of Macbeth provide comic relief?
Following on the grisly murder of King Duncan at the end of Scene ii, Act II, Scene iii opens with the comical protestations of the drunken porter of Inverness. Some critics have famously seen in this episode Shakespeare's concession to his audience benumbed by the sheer horror of the regicide. That may be so, but the mature tragedian is accomplishing a lot more than providing slapstick comic relief. The porter's speech while leading to laughter nevertheless contributes to the larger meaning of the play and is itself a subtle commentary on it. His besotted banter parodies Macbeth's inner torment. This in turn creates a paradox since it is his banter which extends the time between Duncan's murder and the discovery of the body, thereby increasing the tension.
In the porter's reference to himself as Beelzebub's gatekeeper, Act Two's spinechilling metaphor is born in ironic laughter. Macbeth 's castle is the vestibule of hell. For the duration of the...
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play the audience will see in Macbeth's power drunk ambition and his wife's fiendish bloodthirstiness the machinations of the Devil.
The porter episode, global in its humour, therefore performs two functions: It lightens the suspense, if even for a moment, but it also expands Shakespeare's dramatic modus operandi, giving the audience an insight into the metaphorical structure of the play.
Who does the porter pretend to be in Act 2, Scene 3 of Macbeth?
The porter (or the guy who answers the door) is a bit of comic relief in the bloody tragedy of Macbeth. When he answers the knocking of the door in act 2, scene 3 of the play, he imagines what it would be like to be the porter at the door of hell. He imagines that the porter of hell would be really busy, since there are so many people who choose corrupt lives. He imagines opening the door to a farmer who hung himself, a con-man who has lied under oath, and a tailor who didn't use enough fabric. The theme here seems to be that people who misbehave will get what they deserve. This positioning of this scene immediately following Macbeth's murder of the king suggests that he too will suffer for his misdeeds. Additionally, it is his house that this is all taking place in, meaning that the porter is describing Macbeth's house as "hell" and presumably Macbeth himself would be the devil. Clearly, the audience is not meant to sympathize with Macbeth's choices here.
In Macbeth, act 2, scene 3, what is Shakespeare's point with the porter?
The entrance of the Porter is supposed to be comic relief. In the previous scene Macbeth has murdered King Duncan and Lady Macbeth has framed the guards. The audience is on edge wondering who's knocking at the door and what will happen to Macbeth.
The Porter, still drunk from the night before, stumbles onto the stage to answer the door. He compares himself to the gate keeper a hell (a fitting job description considering the night's events) but remarks (possibly because of the early hour) it's too cold to be hell.
Knock, knock! Never at quiet. What are you? But this place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter it no further. I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire.
When the Porter answers the door, Macduff enters to pick up the king. Prolonging the inevitable- MacDuff finding the scene of the crime and his king killed- the Porter continues to joke about the effects of drinking.
Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes. It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance. Therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery. It makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
This comical scene breaks the tension from previous scenes for a moment before finding Duncan's body.
Why did Shakespeare introduce the porter's speech in Act 2, Scene 3 of Macbeth?
Macbeth had planned to pretend to have been sound asleep when Duncan's body was found, but the prolonged knocking at the gate finally forced him to make an appearance. The drunken porter serves to explain why Macduff had to knock so long for admission. The porter explains that all the servants, and presumably the guards, were drunk. Shakespeare made this scene funny to get the audience laughing, so that they would overlook the incongruity of the whole castle staff being drunk when the king and important nobles were guests. Shakespeare thought it essential to have Macduff and Macbeth present together when Macduff finds that Duncan has been murdered in his bed. Macbeth is forced to suffer through the scene he was hoping to avoid by playing possum. Macduff rings an alarm bell and arouses everybody. Macbeth has to put on an act of surprise, dismay, and innocence, when in actuality he feels overwhelmed with guilt and shame. He says to himself:
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant
There's nothing serious in mortality.
It is only because of the prolonged knocking that the porter is brought onstage to make his drunken speech. No doubt Shakespeare had an actor in his company who was good at playing such clownish scenes, and he was probably a favorite with Shakespeare's audiences.