The porter scene or the discovery scene (Act II Scene III) in Macbeth has attracted

many critical commentary and conjecture. It comprises of two climaxes – the comical
porter’s apparently irrelevant and tipsy comments and the discovery of the
treacherous murder of Macbeth’s guest, King Duncan. Now, let us examine from close
quarter the importance of this scene.

          The Satirical porter scene written in earthly prose is intended a comic
relief in the grim tragic atmosphere. The sordid, tense and serious atmosphere of
conspiracy and murder is slightly eased by the humourous speeches and incidents of
the porter. It is woven into the drama in such a way that they have widened and
enriched, rather than weakened, the tragic significance. Alike the gravediggers in
Hamlet, the speeches of the Fool in King Lear, the Porter’s nonsense verbatim aims
to relieve the tension and heightens the tragic element by contrast.

The porter who has the duty to guard the gate and welcome the visitors is in
drunken state and imagines in the Hell Gate. The castle of Macbeth is alike hell
and villainy of Macbeth has invested it to its utmost notoriety. Thus the irony in
Porter’s speech can well be read. The porter next fancies that three men, a farmer,
a Jesuit equivocator and an English tailor knock for admission. Commenting on the
farmer, the porter says: “Here’s a farmer, that hang’d himself on th’ expectation
of plenty: come in, time-server, have napkins enow about you; here you’ll sweat
for’t”. A farmer who hoarded corn expecting to make money, committed suicide as the
price of the crops dropped due to bounteous harvest. The porter asks him to bring
many hand kerchiefs to wipe away the sweat because the hell is very hot. The porter
imagines the second applicant for the entrance into hell to be a believer in
equivocation who can say yes and no to the same question to suit his purpose. But
the equivocation has not opened the gate of heaven i.e. pleased God, and he has to
knock at 6the gate of Hell. The porter next, imagines the third knocker as the
English tailor come to heat his iron. Finally, the porter finds the place too cool
for hell and says, “I’ll devil porter it no further”.

This apparently disjointed, discordant and drunken statement of the porter is

sometimes criticized as unshakespearean. It is considered spurious by Coleridge who
declared emphatically that this low porter soliloquy was written for the mob by
some other hand, perhaps with Shakespeare’s consent. Even those who admit that it
was actually Shakespeare, would contend that Shakespeare was compelled to
incorporate such trivial stuff to satisfy, the plebeian audience’s craving for
sensationalism and grossness. There are still others who would find this scene to
be a regrettable practical necessity, “to give a rational space for the discharge
of certain action” as Capell says. It gives Macbeth time to wash his hands and put
on his night gown. There is yet other who would justify the porter scene on the
ground that this scene provides a dramatic need of comic relief.

          But De Quincey finds the scene all Shakespearean but denies the part of
comic relief. In fact, in his views it intensifies the tragic impact in the play.
He believes that both Lady Macbeth formed to ‘the image of devils’. The next world
is getting prepared for this message. In this intermingling period, the porter
appears in the scene. Like a great artistic skill here is the hell-gate compared to
Macbeth’s castle. The one a tipsy, tip soliciting menial whose language is vulgar,
whose jests are filthy but who after all is not a murdered; the other, Macbeth, a
valiant warrior speaking poetry and yet a murderer. Thus the contrast between the
porter and his master is also established. The imagination of the porter is also of
hell minus tragic pangs, but a continuation of a tragic suspense.

          The porter scene is thus a significance of the subtleties of the hidden
self pity and terror of tragic dreams. It further opens up two major dramatic
opportunities. It gives the audience a most needed comic relief from the tragic
monotony. Added with it, the scene also builds an important time panes to reenter
into the tragic domain of murderous Macbeth.