The heaviness and seriousness of the previous scene is balanced by the porter segment in the beginning of the third scene. The monologue is light and humorous, providing comic relief in the drama. Yet, at the same time, the porter’s monologue also conveys a message that is both serious and symbolic. Literally, the porter (or doorman) is upset because he is awakened late at night (or actually very early the next morning) to answer the door. Someone is pounding loudly at the door, and the porter’s job is to find out who it is. The porter, who has most likely been drinking heavily in celebration of Scotland’s victories, complains about getting up to answer the door. He complains to himself and compares the castle door to the gates of hell. He then jokingly notes that there always seems to be plenty of people who want to enter hell.
The porter specifically names three types of people who, he believes, will end up in hell. The first mentioned is a farmer (4). The farmer described here is a greedy one who had refused to sell his wheat or corn when the prices were low. Instead, he saved it, waiting for a time when there would be a grain shortage and the prices would go up. However, when the prices did not go up, the farmer despaired and committed suicide. Suicide, according to Christians back then, was a serious mortal sin; and anyone who committed suicide would end up in hell. The porter jokes that he hopes that the farmer brought plenty of handkerchiefs to wipe off his sweat because hell does get rather hot at times.
The second type of person who comes to hell is the equivocator (8). An equivocator is someone who speaks ambiguously. He is someone who will tell lies when he thinks it is necessary and will swear that those lies are the truth. More generally, Shakespeare could be referring to lawyers or politicians by this term. But also, as the Norton footnote indicates, the remark could also be an historical reference to a specific trial in 1606. In that trial a priest named Father Henry Garnet was accused in taking part in the Gunpowder Plot (a 1605 assassination attempt, an act of treason, by Catholic extremists). Garnet claimed that when a person was being persecuted for his religious beliefs, then to equivocate or tell lies was acceptable. Basically, he was stating that it was all right to lie to his enemies. The porter’s remark, then, suggests that Garnet might be able to equivocate before other people, but he will not be able to equivocate or lie before God.
The third type of person who will pass through the gates of hell is a tailor (13). This particular English tailor has taken cheap material out of a French pair of pants and used it to make a new pair of pants that he will sell for a large amount of money. Tailors were generally regarded as suspicious individuals who might cheat their customers. The porter jokingly invites the imagined tailor into hell and states, “Here you may roast your goose” (line 14). The word goose is actually a double-pun: (1) literally, the porter is stating that it is hot enough in hell to cook a goose; (2) the word goose can also indicate the tailor’s iron for pressing pants, and hell is obviously hot enough to heat up such an iron; and (3) goose also suggests a hot and painful swelling or sore that occurs on the genitals from venereal disease. And, so, the porter is also suggesting that the tailor is a man of lust who sleeps with prostitutes.
The porter’s lines are written in prose. Prose is used here to indicate the language of a commoner. But prose is also used here to make a distinction from the dialogue that appears before and after the monologue. Prose also marks the shift from serious to comic.
Nevertheless, there is also a serious symbolism to the porter’s joking comments.
Macbeth’s castle is equated to hell. Not only has the castle become a place of evil where a murder has been committed, but it is also a place where new evil plans will be made. The castle thus becomes a breeding ground for more evil that will be committed by Macbeth. In hell Satan is the ruler. In the castle Macbeth is the ruler. Thus, Macbeth himself becomes an equivalent to Satan.
Macbeth might also be symbolically equated to the equivocator mentioned by the porter. Macbeth also commits an act of treason and tries to lie to himself that such an action was somehow acceptable. Like the equivocator, Macbeth will not be able to justify his treason before God.