Macbeth Porter Quotes

Here’s a knocking, indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate he should have old turning the key. Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ the name of Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3. In what is popularly known as the Porter Scene, the drunken Porter answers a knocking at the gate of Macbeth’s castle, playing the role of a porter at the gates of hell. In his soliloquy he tells a knock knock joke about a farmer who hanged himself. The light-hearted interlude is meant to break the tension after the violent happenings at the castle. There is dramatic irony in the Porter’s words, because what he doesn’t know is that he is actually at the gates of hell after Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan at the castle.

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. Oh, come in, equivocator.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3. The role of the Porter, drunk after a night of drinking, is to provide comic relief in what is a serious and tense play. Pretending to be the gatekeeper to hell, he lets in the latest arrival. This is the “equivocator,” likely a reference to Catholic priest Henry Garnet, who was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot and was accused of equivocating. This passage also refers to Macbeth’s own equivocation in the play.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3. The inebriated Porter, imagining himself to be guarding the gates of hell, welcomes a dishonest English tailor. The tailor tried to deceive customers by skimping on cloth when making French-style trousers for them. This scene is meant to break the tension after King Duncan’s murder.

PORTER: Drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.
MACDUFF: What three things does drink especially provoke?
PORTER: 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.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3. The Porter tells a dirty joke about drinking and sexual performance to Macduff, who is not very amused. The Porter is gate-keeper to Macbeth’s castle. He provides important comic relief in a play that is filled with tragedy and violence.
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