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All Site ContentMacbethAct 4Scene 2
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"float upon a wild and violent sea"
Metaphor
Act 4,
Scene 2
Lines 14b-26

An explanation of the “violent sea” metaphor in Act 4, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Macbeth.

Ross

                                              My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself. But for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much further;
But cruel are the times when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumor
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear;
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you.
Shall not be long but I'll be here again.
Things at the worst will cease or else climb upward
To what they were before. [To Son] My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you.

This metaphor describes being caught up in these dangerous political times as similar to being tossed this way and that on a stormy sea.

(Ships in a Stormy Sea, Willem Van de Velde the Younger, c. 1571)