TEXT:
ACT II - SCENE III. The same.
Knocking within. Enter a Porter
Porter
Here's a knocking indeed! If a
man were porter of hell-gate,
he should have old turning the key.
Knocking within
Knock,knock, knock!
Who's there, i' the name of Beelzebub?
Here's a farmer, that hanged himself
on the expectation of plenty: come in time;
have napkins enow about you; here you'll sweat for't.
Knocking within
Knock,knock!
Who's there, in the other devil's name?
Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear
in both the scales against either scale;
who committed treason enough for God's sake,
yet could not equivocate to heaven:
O, come in, equivocator.
Knocking within
Knock,knock, knock! Who's there?
Faith, here's an English tailor come hither,
for stealing out of a French hose: come in, tailor;
here you may roast your goose.
Knocking within
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.
Knocking within
Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.
Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX
NOTES:
Cuts
From the middle of the 17th century, for almost 200 years, the Porter’s scene was cut from the play. It was considered an anomaly that did not belong in such a dark tragedy. (Despite the fact that it very meaningfully ties the play to its historical context AND gives a sense of why Shakespeare wrote it in the first place…) Happily it has regained its standing and its justified place within the text, and is seldom cut any more.
Mystery Plays
Mystery plays - and Morality plays - were among the earliest dramatic performances in medieval Europe. Mysteries dealt with stories from the Bible, and were presented by a town’s various guilds. Very often a guild might take responsibility for a story connected to their trade - so shipwrights might present Noah’s Ark, or vintners might perform the miracle of the wine at the Wedding at Cana.
The Harrowing of Hell
This was a popular mystery play, depicting the apocryphal story of Christ’s descent into hell between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The entrance to hell was often depicted as a demonic mouth, but in this story Christ’s arrival was preceded by a very loud knocking. Hell is often depicted as a castle, or a prison, or a dungeon - the Porter has all of these echoes to play with as he imagines what it would be like to be an employee there. In various versions of The Harrowing of Hell, there is a porter, called Ribald, and he is a servant of Beelzebub. So the references in Macbeth are entirely appropriate to this.
Beelzebub
Beelzebub, or Belzebub, is a major demon of hell. He is associated with Baal, the false idol of the Canaanites, and is sometimes referred to as the Lord of the Flies. He’s one of the seven princes of Hell, and one of the most notorious. The very name is fun to say because it has no echoes elsewhere in English - it sticks out as an ancient, distinct and dangerous word.
The Other Devil’s Name
Shakespeare refers to Satan and Lucifer on several occasions elsewhere in his plays - comedies, more often than not. It’s always a lighthearted thing to invoke these dangerous names; to do so in earnest would be unthinkable. Even Lady Macbeth doesn’t put a name on the spirits she summons, since it would be far too dangerous to do so. Whatever about Beelzebub, that chewy and strange-sounding word, the Porter, in his hung-over state, is taking no further chances.
Time
As I mentioned in the episode, I found a very helpful article about this scene that has a really interesting conception of how Time is invoked here. It’s by John B. Harcourt, from Shakespeare Quarterly in 1961. Like this episode itself, it’s called “I Pray You, Remember The Porter”. You can find the full piece on JSTOR or other academic resources, but the bit worth mentioning is: “As critics are wont to observe, the play of Macbeth is dominated by an obsession with time - characters rush about in frantic haste, the action strains forward, the present is only a stepping stone to the future. It is precisely here that Macbeth encounters his real defeat, for though he may compel the present by sheer force, the future belongs to Malcolm and to Banquo’s seed. It seems to me, therefore, to be doubly appropriate that the Porter’s words be read as “Come in, Time”, for that relentless figure presides over the action of the play. As Shakespeare observed in Sonnet XII:
And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defense
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
Equivocation
As a formal definition, equivocation is to call two things by the same name. Within an argument, it is a means of using multiple meanings of a word to stretch and inflate the truth. It relies on ambiguity and interpretation, with the speaker able to retract and insist that they only meant one thing rather than all possible meanings. It was heavily relied upon by Catholic - particularly Jesuit - dissidents when they were interrogated in the Protestant England of Shakespeare’s time.
Henry Garnet
Henry Garnet was a Jesuit priest, executed for his association with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Robert Catesby, who was at the heart of the plot, explained its details to Garnet under the seal of confession, and so Garnet felt bound not to reveal the information. Eventually he was caught and arrested, and after a trial in which he relied very heavily on equivocation, he was found guilty and hanged, drawn and quartered on May 03, 1606. Among Garnet’s known aliases were Farmer, Darcy, Roberts and Philips.
Tailor
There is a suggestion that “tailor” was a slang term for the penis. So, an English tailor busying himself with French hose could have a great many double meanings. Some have suggested that “stealing” should be read as “staling” - ie urinating - and thereby the the description gets even dirtier.
Primroses
Shakespeare is very fond of the primrose, and this flower appears in several plays. Its name, loosely dervied from Latin, means the first flower of spring. When he mentions the primrose path - both here and in Hamlet - he’s imagining a path of luxury, strewn with flowers. Nothing good leads in that direction!