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The Shakespeare Companion
What is Really Going on in Macbeth?
Act II
Act II, scene i
After the banquet, Banquo and his son, Fleance are still awake. Macbeth knocks on
their door and comes in to see them. They discuss that the king is already asleep and
how happy he was tonight and king Duncan has given Banquo a diamond as a gift for
Macbeth’s wife, Macbeth doesn’t know what to say. Banquo tells Macbeth about a
dream he had, about the 3 witches. Macbeth lies and says that he never thinks of the
three witches. When Macbeth is alone, he has a vision of a dagger floating in the air, he
tries to grab it, but it is not real. “Is this not a dagger I see before me, The handle
toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still”
The dagger is pointing in the direction of king Duncan’s room where he is sleeping.
Then he begins to see blood clotted on the blade of the dagger. Macbeth thinks, “While
I threat, he lives. Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives” (Duncan is still
alive while I think about killing him). While Macbeth thinks about murdering Duncan,
Duncan still lives, when he actually puts his effort into killing Duncan, Duncan’s body
will grow cold. He hears a bell ring and he is off to do the murder. “The bell invites
me. Hear it not Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell”.
Act II, scene ii
Lady Macbeth is happy that her plan, to make the king’s servants drunk has worked, this
has made her bolder. She thinks to herself, that if King Duncan had not resembled her
own father as he slept, she would have killed him herself. “Had he not resembled my
father as he slept, I had done’t”. She hears noises, and then Macbeth’s voice, and
wonders if he has done the deed, killed king Duncan? Macbeth enters with bloody
daggers in his hands. He says, “I have done the deed.” He tells Lady Macbeth that the
servants stirred in their sleep, but they went back to sleep. He thinks that one of the
servants said, “Murder” in his sleep, as if he knew what was happening. Macbeth
thinks he heard someone say, Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep – the innocent
sleep”. Lady Macbeth says, stop thinking such thoughts, and go wash your hands.
Then she notices the bloody daggers still in his hands. She tells him he was supposed to
leave the daggers by the drunken servants and to smear their hands and clothes with the
blood, so it will look like they committed the murder. Macbeth tells her he can’t go
back to the scene of the murder, and Lady Macbeth has to take the daggers back for
him. She leaves to place the daggers on the king’s guards. Macbeth, filled with
remorse, says, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”
(He thinks, will I ever be clear of this death? No - These hands will always taint
whatever they touch from now on with red (blood)). Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hear
knocking at one of the doors, they retire to their rooms to get clean and back into their
nightgowns. Macbeth says “To know my deed ‘twere best not know myself. Wake
Duncan with thy knocking, I would thou couldst”. Already, Macbeth regrets what he
has just done.
Act II, scene iii
The Porter goes to the door to see who is knocking so loud. He is the comic relief to the
prior scene of the king’s murder, to get everyone laughing, after such an intense scene
of bloody, cold-hearted murder of Duncan by Macbeth and his wife. This scene is filled
with many plays on words (puns): equating the knocking on the door with knocking on
the gates of hell and talk about treason, “Who’s there i’ the’ name of Beelzebub?”
“Who’s there, in the’ other devil’s name… who committed treason enough for God’s
sake yet could not equivocate (could not explain the hidden truth) to heaven.” (all the
things that have happened this night, the murder of a king, and treason). Macduff and
the Porter talk about the three (3) things that drinking too much produces: nose-painting
(your nose turning red from drinking too much), sleep and urine, and the 4 th lechery.
(sex) All to make the groundlings laugh, and reduce the tension of the previous murder
scene.
The porter finally arrives at the door to see who was knocking, and talks to Macduff and
Lennox who have just arrived an hour before dawn. They want to know if the king is up
yet? The king wanted Macduff to come early to wake him. Macbeth come down, tells
Macduff how to get to the king’s room. Lennox and Macbeth chat. Lennox tells
Macbeth that the night was terrible, “The night has been unruly. Where we lay, our
chimneys were blown down and, as they say, lamentings heard i’ the’ air strange
screams of death”, the weather was blustery and they heard great crying in the air, and
“The earth was feverous and did shake” Lennox never remembered such a night.
Shakespeare is telling us, that on the night king Duncan was murdered, even nature was
upset.
Macduff comes back from the king’s bedroom, telling them that the king is dead! They
can’t believe what he is saying, and they go and look for themselves. Macduff rings the
alarm bell to wake everyone up. He yells, Murder and Treason!!! Lady Macbeth comes
down, pretending she does not know what this is all about. Banquo comes down, and
Macduff tells him the king has been murdered. Lady Macbeth says, “What, in our
house?“ like she had nothing to do with this. Macbeth says, he wishes he had died an
hour before hearing this, he is so sad. “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had
lived a blessed time”. Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain come down to the group
and they are told their father is dead. They are told that the guards/servants who serve
the king did the murder, they had blood on them and the bloody daggers on their
pillows, but they seemed confused. Then Macbeth tells the group, in his fury, he killed
all the guards. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, that I did kill them”, (This also prevents
the guards from denying that they killed the king). (Macbeth has now committed two
murders, the king and his guards). Macduff can’t believe Duncan is dead and that
Macbeth killed the only witnesses, the kings servants. Macbeth says, it was my loyalty
and love for Duncan that gave me courage, that made me do this. (Good cover-up).
Lady Macbeth feigns (pretends) a faint to move the attention from her husband.
Malcolm and Donalbain talk quietly to each other, and ask each other, don’t we have the
best right to talk about this, so why are we so quiet? They decide that they too are in
danger, and must get away from Inverness Castle, because the same people who killed
Duncan, who are still at Inverness Castle, may now come to kill them. “I’ll to England.
To Ireland I. Our separated fortune shall keep us both the safer.” Malcolm and
Donalbain decide to split up, Malcolm will go to England and Donalbain will go to
Ireland, separate they have a better chance to stay alive than together, they get on their
horses and leave quickly. “Let us not be dainty of leave-taking”. Banquo wants
everyone to meet in the hall to talk about the murder of Duncan, all meet there except
Malcolm and Donalbain; they are now the prime suspects of the murder of King
Duncan, their father.
Act II, scene iv
Ross and an old man enter, they discuss the unnatural happenings of the past night, even
Duncan’s horse tried to break out of its stall. The horses “Turned wild in nature, broke
their stalls, flung out, contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would make war with
mankind. This said they eat each other” (the horses became wild and tried to eat each
other. “A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place was by a mousing owl hawked at and
killed” ( a falcon was hunted and killed by an owl, a falcon would usually be the
victor) Macduff enters, tells them that Malcolm and Donalbain have stolen away, gone,
which makes them suspects of their father’s murder, making Malcolm next in line to
become king. If Malcolm and Donalbain are not here to take the throne, then Macbeth,
next in line after Duncan’s sons, will have to be king. Macduff tells Ross that Macbeth
has gone to Scone to be invested as king, and Duncan’s body is going to Colmekill,
where his ancestors are buried. Macduff (suspicious of Macbeth) decides not to go to
Scone to see Macbeth made king, this is an insult from Macduff, that Macbeth will not
forget!!! Macduff goes home, but Lennox will go and watch the investiture of Macbeth
as king.