Macbeth
Act 2,
Scenes 1-4
Pre-reading questions -
Use this tutorial to explore Act 2
Before moving on to Act III, consider what ha happened in the last two scenes. Do you think Macbeth will get away with the murder? Why or why not? Consider the foreshadowing that is present in various parts of this play. Does this affect your answer at all?
Brief Summary -
Act II scene I is the famous dagger scene. We see Macbeth’s inner turmoil truly flourish here as he again struggles with the decision he has made to kill the king. Macbeth see’s a dagger hovering in front of him but when he goes to grab it, it is untouchable. Here it would appear that Macbeth is either descending into madness or he is being instructed by a dark fate.
The second scene shows Lady Macbeth in a somewhat agitated state as she waits for her husband to kill Duncan. When he finally returns to her after have committed the foul act, she consoles him as he stares at his blood stained hands and speaks about the horrors he has just witness. Macbeth is very unsteady after the murder he has committed. His wife urges him to forget the things he thinks he saw and heard and come back to the present.
The next morning Macduff and Lennox, two Scottish noblemen, come to the castle to collect the king. They find the king murdered in his chamber and his two chamberlains passed out from drink with bloody daggers in their possession. Macbeth, upon hearing that the king is dead pretends to be so angry that he kills the chamberlains. Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan’s sons, believe that the person who ordered their father’s death is still at large so they flee to England and Ireland respectively. In the final scene, Macduff informs us that Macbeth has been made king and on his way to the coronation. Ross and an “Old Man” discuss the strange weather and other events that are omens of bad things yet to come.
Themes and Important Quotes -
Madness –Madness is a theme that will resurface in further on in the play. In Act II, Macbeth is presented with a vision of a dagger pointing him toward the Duncan’s room. Whether this is a sign from the spirits or a construction of Macbeth’s own mind, it is not clear. Certainly Macbeth battles with the implications of the vision in scene. In act II.i.36-41 Macbeth sees a dagger hovering in the air and when he reaches for it, cannot grasp it.:
“Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw”
Divine Right of Kings –Think back to the theme of Divine Right from Act I. In act II.ii:38-39 Macbeth explains that he could not pray to God after killing Duncan and his attendants, “…I could not say 'Amen,/When they did say 'God bless us!'”. Macbeth knows that his rise to power is not by Divine intervention.
Blood –The first act spoke of blood in terms of the battles that were being fought but the audience never saw the carnage. The battles were not at the forefront of the action in the play. In Act II,I Macbeth sees a dagger that is covered in blood. In scene ii, after he has killed Duncan, he looks at his hands and says, “This is a sorry sight.” (Act II,ii: 38).
Further, in scene ii: 58-59 Lady Macbeth says to her husband: “…Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand” meaning wash the blood away. The blood in this sense is more than evidence; it is a witness. The blood has been given a persona.
Nature and the Unnatural: The storm the was raging in Act I continues in Act II. In Act II, iii: 59-66 Lennox reports to Macbeth:
“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,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird
Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake.”
Further, in Act II, iv: 7-11 Ross proclaims:
“…by the clock, 'tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp:
Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?”
To which the Old Man in this scenes replies, “'Tis unnatural” (II,iv: 12). Ross is commenting on the darkness of the day due to the stormy weather. We are lead to believe that the storm is more than simply an act of weather but rather a natural act that is being brought on by unnatural means.
Mini Assignment -
Choose a song that you feel best represents the events of Act II. Create a Venn Diagram to illustrate the ways in which the song overlaps with the events of the play. Submit your Venn Diagrapm to the Padlet drop box below.