MACBETH      How say’st thou that Macduff denies his person

At our great bidding?

LADY                          Did you send to him, sir?

MACBETH      I hear it by the way; but I will send.

There’s not a one of them but in his house

I keep a servant fee’d. I will tomorrow,

And betimes I will, to the weyard sisters.

More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know

By the worst means the worst. For mine own good

All causes shall give way.                  (3.4.126-134)

This feels like a bleak little wind-down at the end of the scene, although it’s not quite done yet. It’s a brief return to the sense of partnership and intimacy between the Macbeths, as he asks his wife’s advice: how say’st thou that Macduff denies his person at our great bidding? What do you reckon, about Macduff not being here tonight? What’s going on, do you think? Well, did you invite him, did you send to him, sir? Sensible question. And apparently not, no, he wasn’t invited, it seems to have been a general summons, our great bidding. (Lady Macbeth would have sent a special invitation; she’s a jump ahead of her husband in spotting Macduff as a potential threat, and placing the exchange here, naming him, is a reminder of that threat to the audience too, even as Banquo has been removed.) So it wasn’t a direct refusal, then, but rather Macbeth heard by the way, indirectly, that Macduff wasn’t coming; he’ll send, make specific inquiries, get a definitive answer. There’s not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee’d. I think that this is one of the play’s most telling, and perhaps tragic lines: Macbeth is paranoid, yes, he has spies and informers planted in the households even of his inner circle, his apparently most loyal thanes, men like Ross and Lennox. But it also emphasises that Macbeth is having a completely rotten time as king, and that the previous scene has been a complete charade. It was never going to be a lovely celebration, ruined only by the inconvenient and bloody Ghost, it was always going to be a sham, gritted teeth, going through the motions, trusting no one, trying to get it over with. He mistrusts every single one of those men he welcomed to his table, with whom he drank and to whom he pledged. So tomorrow Macbeth will send to his spy in Macduff’s household, to get the latest. And he will also, betimes, early, go to the weyard sisters. It’s just dropped in there, casually: back to the witches. Has he been discussing this already with Lady Macbeth, whether he should or not, over and over? Is this perhaps said defiantly, I don’t care what you think, I’m going to see them again. Or wearily: this isn’t over, I need to know more, I hate it, but that’s where we are. More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know by the worst means the worst. I’ll make them, and I’ll cope with whatever they have to tell me. I need to know, and by the worst means—at least he’s acknowledging that consulting witches on the heath is not a good thing—the worst. I need to know, even if I don’t like what I hear (how bad can it be? The worst…): about Fleance, about Banquo, about Macduff, implicitly. About what on earth happens next. (And he’ll be seeking them out deliberately, rather than being sought.) For mine own good all causes shall give way: I have to find out how to prosper in all this, how to win, and I won’t take no for an answer.