birds in macbeth
...ays to himself, "Good things of Day begin to droop and drowse, while Night's black agents their preys do rouse." (3.3.52-53). Banquo and Duncan are both the victims of nighttime murderers. And their deaths are both amplified by pointed comparisons to the victims of nocturnal hunters, like the owl, in the world of nature. The way in which an owl kills, stealthily and cloaked in the dark, slashing its prey with sharp talons, aligns perfectly with the way in which Macbeth murders or has people murdered. In many ways, owls can be seen as the eagle's polar opposite. One bird oversees the day and one oversees the night. One is majestic and an omen of victory, the other mysterious and an omen of death. The crossover from eagle to owl is the most dramatic of Macbeth's transformations. The third bird of prey to which Macbeth is compared is the Kite. Upon learning that Macbeth has had his entirely family murdered, Macduff refers to Macbeth scathingly as a "hell-kite," murdering Macduff's family in "one fell swoop." (4.3.220) The kite, though large and diurnal like the eagle, was known - for it is now nearly extinct - for its scavenging ways. Writes Harting of the kite, "it has not the bold dash of many of our smaller hawks in seizing live and strong prey, but glides about ignobly looking for a sickly or wounded victim or for offal or any sort." (46) By preying not on Macduff himself, seeking instead Macduff's weak and unguarded family, Macbeth has entered his most villainous and morally dissolute phase. MacDuff's comment is not the only reference to kites. When tortured by the ghost of Banquo, who he has murdered, Macbeth cries out, "If charnel-houses and our graves must send those that we bury, back, our monuments shall be the maws of kites." (3.4.70-73) Alternate meanings have been proposed for this passage. Harting says that Shakespeare was referencing the habit of kites to regurgitate their undesired food, (46) undigested and whole. Maw, in this case, would take on the more obscure definition of a stomach, and would be symbolic of the grave, which regurgitates, so to speak, the victims fed to it by Macbeth, in their entirety. Muir writes that though this idea holds possible validity, he believes Shakespeare unconsciously referenced an old superstition that in order to prevent the returning of ghosts, one could feed the body to kites, which devoured it so completely as to prevent return (93). Here, maw would be taken to mean gaping jaws, into which would be fed the bodies of Macbeth's victims. Macbeth's fantasy of his victim being picked apart by kites corresponds to Macduff's later characterization of Macbeth as a "hell-kite". This is the lowliest bird of prey to whom Macbeth has been compared. In fact, in the course of the play, Macbeth is associated with increasingly ignoble birds of prey. He starts out as a majestic eagle, turns into the nighttime murdering owl, and finishes as the scavenging Kite, picking off the most innocent and vulnerable prey. It might be worth noting, also, that another scavenging bird comes up in the conversation in which Malcolm, testing Macduff's loyalty, pretends to be as vicious and grasping a man as Macbeth is. Malcolm warns that "your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up The cistern of my lust," (4.3.63-5) to which Macduff responds, "there cannot be that vulture in you to devour so many." (4.3. 73-4) The references to kings as kites and vultures add up to a theme in Macbeth of evil rulers as ignoble, scavenging birds, feeding off the ready wealth of their land. In contrast to the aggressive birds of prey symbolizing Macbeth, the characters opposing Macbeth are characterized by more passive, vulnerable birds. The first of these references is Duncan's reaction to Macbeth's castle: This guest of summer, The temple haunting martlet, does approve, By his loved masionry, that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle: where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd air is delicate (2.6.4-10). The martlet, now known as the swift, occurs throughout many of Shakespeare's works, and, as Geike remarks, "For the . . . martlet Shakespeare seems to have had a special regard. He had noted the courageous way in which the bird places its nest, and the social instinct which leads it to build in companies where it can find convenient settlements." (104-105) This description of the martlets, whose nests appear in every lofty corner, as peaceful and productive birds who turn the very air around them "delicate" fits perfectly as a symbol of Duncan and his reign which has been peaceful and prosperous. Also, the Martlet shares the same root as the word martyr, and the bird has historically been associated with sacrifice (it was the emblem of crusaders throughout the middle ages, thought to symbolize the sacrifice they were making for God). This connection with sacrifice could be seen to foreshadow Duncan's coming death at the hands of Macbeth. The fact that in seeing Macbeth's castle, the castle in which he is to be murdered, Duncan notices only the sweet martlet and how pure the air is alludes to his own pureness. Of the traitorous former Thane of Cawdor, Duncan confesses he never suspected the man. And now, upon entering the castle of a new traitor, all he can feel is optimism. Juxtaposed with this is Lady Macbeth's response after hearing her husband's arrival announced: "The raven himself is hoarse, that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements." (1.5.38-40) These diametrically opposed interpretations of Duncan's entrance illustrate clearly the intended characterization of Duncan verses that of the Macbeths. Yet a third possible significance of the martlet sighting exists. The martlet was also referred to as the Martin. Martin, during Shakespeare's times, was a word used for a dupe, or someone easily fooled (Muir, 28). This description would also fit Duncan, who is being lulled into a false sense of security by Macbeth, who plans to murder him. It is possible that Shakespeare wished to layer the statement about Duncan's goodness with a touch of tragic irony. The women and children who Macbeth seeks to kill are also portrayed as defenseless birds. When Banquo is murdered, he cries out to his son to flee, exclaiming, "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly." Isolated, this wording seems inconsequential. However, coupled with the dialogue in Act Four's Scene Two, it is apparent that Shakespeare is personifying the children of Macbeth as innocent, like small birds. In this scene, Lady Macduff questions her son as to what he will do now that Macduff, his father, has fled the country. He replies that he shall live "as birds do," (4.2.32) with what they get. This is a direct reference to Jesus' sermon on the mount, as told in the Gospel According to Matthew, (Muir 119) in which Jesus says, "Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them." (13) Shakespeare depicts the son of Macduff as unspoiled, and characterized by the best features of birds. When Macduff finds out that his children and wife have been murdered by Macbeth, he refers to his lost family as his "little chickens, and their dam," (4.3.218) dam meaning hen. He calls Macbeth a hell-kite, who has murdered all his little children and their mother in "one fell swoop." (4.3.120) Thus Shakespeare provides the image of a murderous scavenger bird swooping viciously upon innocent and defenseless chickens in order to indicate the gruesomeness of Macbeth's deed. Adding to the association of small innocent birds with good characters is Lady Macduff's indictment of her husband. When speaking of her shame over his abandonment of his family (though this shame is affected), Lady Macduff calls forth the metaphor of the wren, "the most diminitive of birds," (4.2.9-11) who nonetheless will fight against an owl (yet another adumbration of Macbeth as an owl) for the sake of her young, implying that her husband is not as brave as even the smallest bird. (As to the validity of this metaphor, Muir writes, "it need not worry us that the wren is not the smallest of birds, nor that it would not fight in defense of its young." (117) Harting adds that owls are not known to rob nests, by day or night. (191) But the implications of Shakespeare's metaphor are clear, if slightly inaccurate.) ...