Few scenes in Shakespeare can have provoked more laughter in the theatre and more discomfort in the classroom than Macbeth, II, iii. At the centre of this paradox lies the character of the Porter, and in particular the obscenities which punctuate his remarks. These obscenities moreover are inextricably linked to a string of references to hell and the devil. How is this scene to be handled by the actor, and how is it to be handled by the schoolteacher?

The experience of being woken up in the middle of the night out of a deep sleep to deal with some disturbance in the house is as irritating as it is common: it is therefore a situation which if exposed to view in the theatre by a good mimic is certain to provide an amusing spectacle. Macbeth’s porter, asleep when he ought to have been awake and on duty, stumbling towards the castle gate still rubbing his bleary eyes and hastily adjusting his costume, arouses a host of personal associations for everyone in the audience and is a sure-fire raiser of laughter in consequence. The fact that in this instance he is suffering from a bad hangover only adds to the fun for adults. Yet it is in this addition that trouble begins; for out of it spring the particular obscenities through which the Porter gives expression in his language both to his predicament and to his feelings.