Macbeth (IGCSE English Literature) ACT 2
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Act 2,
Scene 1
SUMMARY
Banquo and his son Fleance walk in the torch-lit
hall of Macbeth’s castle. Fleance says that it is after midnight, and his
father responds that although he is tired, he wishes to stay awake because
his sleep has lately inspired “cursed thoughts” (2.1.8). Macbeth enters, and
Banquo is surprised to see him still up. Banquo says that the king is asleep
and mentions that he had a dream about the “three weird sisters.” When Banquo
suggests that the witches have revealed “some truth” to Macbeth, Macbeth
claims that he has not thought of them at all since their encounter in the
woods (2.1.19–20). He and Banquo agree to discuss the witches’ prophecies at
a later time.
Banquo and Fleance leave, and suddenly, in the
darkened hall, Macbeth has a vision of a dagger floating in the air before
him, its handle pointing toward his hand and its tip aiming him toward
Duncan. Macbeth tries to grasp the weapon and fails. He wonders whether what
he sees is real or a “dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from
the heat-oppressed brain” (2.1.38–39). Continuing to gaze upon the dagger, he
thinks he sees blood on the blade, then abruptly decides that the vision is
just a manifestation of his unease over killing Duncan. The night around him
seems thick with horror and witchcraft, but Macbeth stiffens and resolves to
do his bloody work. A bell tolls—Lady Macbeth’s signal that the chamberlains
are asleep—and Macbeth strides toward Duncan’s chamber.
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SCENE I. Court of Macbeth's castle.
Macbeth’s castle : Enter
BANQUO, and FLEANCE bearing a torch before him
BANQUO
How goes the night,
boy?
FLEANCE
The moon is down; I
have not heard the clock.
BANQUO
And she goes down at
twelve.
FLEANCE
I take't, 'tis later,
sir.
BANQUO
Hold, take my sword.
There's husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out. Take thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers,
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose!
Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch
Give me my sword.
Who's there?
MACBETH
A friend.
BANQUO
What, sir, not yet at
rest? The king's a-bed:
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
Sent forth great largess to your offices.
This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up
In measureless content.
MACBETH
Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect;
Which else should free have wrought.
BANQUO
All's well.
I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:
To you they have show'd some truth.
MACBETH
I think not of them:
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.
BANQUO
At your kind'st leisure.
MACBETH
If you shall cleave to
my consent, when 'tis,
It shall make honour for you.
BANQUO
So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell'd.
MACBETH
Good repose the while!
BANQUO
Thanks, sir: the like
to you!
Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE
MACBETH
Go bid thy mistress,
when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.
Exit Servant
Is this a dagger which
I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
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.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
A bell rings
I go, and it is done;
the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Exit
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1)
Alliteration is evident in this soliloquy; for
example, "The handle towards my
hand," (34); as Macbeth tries to steel himself for his deed, adding
emphasis to what is about to happen and also a rhythmic quality to the
soliloquy. 2) "Bloody business," "which way they walk" and
"heaven or hell," are
also examples of alliteration.
There is emphasis on blood and Macbeth's confusion is highlighted.
3)
The paradox
between appearance and reality is stressed from what Macbeth imagines
here and what he sees" I have thee
not, and yet I see thee still." (35)
4)
Simile: "Moves
like a ghost." (56)
5)
Rhetorical Question: "Art thou not sensible to feeling as to sight?" (36)
"Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" (39)
6)
Repetition is used to great effect and is
particularly significant in referring to being able to "see", a
quality that Macbeth sorely lacks in terms of his long term future. He says, "I see thee" (35,40,45) on
three occasions and makes references to sight and his eyes. He wonders
whether the dagger is real or imagined. He seems to have an awareness but is
powerless to fight against it as he is being instructed by some force which "marshall'st me the way I was
going," (42).
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Act
2,
Scene 2
SUMMARY
As
Macbeth leaves the hall, Lady Macbeth enters, remarking on her boldness. She
imagines that Macbeth is killing the king even as she speaks. Hearing Macbeth
cry out, she worries that the chamberlains have awakened. She says that she
cannot understand how Macbeth could fail—she had prepared the daggers for the
chamberlains herself. She asserts that she would have killed the king herself
then and there, “[h]ad he not resembled / [her] father as he slept”
(2.2.12–13). Macbeth emerges, his hands covered in blood, and says that the
deed is done. Badly shaken, he remarks that he heard the chamberlains awake
and say their prayers before going back to sleep. When they said “amen,” he
tried to say it with them but found that the word stuck in his throat. He
adds that as he killed the king, he thought he heard a voice cry out: “Sleep
no more, / Macbeth does murder sleep” (2.2.33–34).
Lady
Macbeth at first tries to steady her husband, but she becomes angry when she
notices that he has forgotten to leave the daggers with the sleeping
chamberlains so as to frame them for Duncan’s murder. He refuses to go back
into the room, so she takes the daggers into the room herself, saying that
she would be ashamed to be as cowardly as Macbeth. As she leaves, Macbeth hears
a mysterious knocking. The portentous sound frightens him, and he asks
desperately, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my
hand?” (2.2.58–59). As Lady Macbeth reenters the hall, the knocking comes
again, and then a third time. She leads her husband back to the bedchamber,
where he can wash off the blood. “A little water clears us of this deed,” she
tells him. “How easy it is then!” (2.2.65–66).
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SCENE II. The same.
Macbeth’s castle: Enter
LADY MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
That which hath made
them drunk hath made me bold;
What hath quench'd them hath given me fire.
Hark! Peace!
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it:
The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd
their possets,
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
MACBETH
[Within] Who's there?
what, ho!
LADY MACBETH
Alack, I am afraid
they have awaked,
And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't.
Enter MACBETH
My husband!
MACBETH
I have done the deed.
Didst thou not hear a noise?
LADY MACBETH
I heard the owl scream
and the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
MACBETH
When?
LADY MACBETH
Now.
MACBETH
As I descended?
LADY MACBETH
Ay.
MACBETH
Hark!
Who lies i' the second chamber?
LADY MACBETH
Donaldbain.
MACBETH
This is a sorry sight.
Looking on his hands
LADY MACBETH
A foolish thought, to
say a sorry sight.
MACBETH
There's one did laugh
in's sleep, and one cried
'Murder!'
That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them:
But they did say their prayers, and address'd them
Again to sleep.
LADY MACBETH
There are two lodged
together.
MACBETH
One cried 'God bless
us!' and 'Amen' the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'
When they did say 'God bless us!'
LADY MACBETH
Consider it not so
deeply.
MACBETH
But wherefore could
not I pronounce 'Amen'?
I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'
Stuck in my throat.
These deeds must not
be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
Methought I heard a
voice cry 'Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast,--
What do you mean?
Still it cried 'Sleep
no more!' to all the house:
'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'
Who was it that thus
cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think
So brainsickly of things. Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there: go carry them; and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
I'll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt.
Exit. Knocking within
Whence is that
knocking?
How is't with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
Re-enter LADY MACBETH
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1) Dramatic Irony - Macbeth mentions to his wife
that the chamberlains were shouting, "Sleep
no more! Macbeth does murder sleep" (lines 35-36). He then insists
that he hears knocking, and Lady Macbeth also hears noises. The audience
realizes that the noises and Macbeth's belief that the chamberlains commented
on his actions are simply figments of the characters' imaginations.
2) Personification - Macbeth laments about the
chamberlains saying that he murders sleep. Macbeth then personifies sleep by
referring to it as being "innocent." (39) Innocence is a human
attribute, and sleep cannot be innocent because it is not a being.
3) Metaphor - Macbeth refers to sleep as "great nature’s second course, chief
nourisher in life’s feast" (lines 39-40).
4) Simile - Macbeth refuses to return to Duncan's
chamber to place the daggers next to the chamberlains. Lady Macbeth uses a
simile by comparing the dead chamberlains to pictures. She says, "The sleeping and the dead are but as
pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil"
(lines 53-55).
5) Hyperbole - Macbeth looks at his blood-stained
hands and employs a hyperbole when he comments, "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my
hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making
the green one red" (lines 60-64).
6) Litotes - Lady Macbeth uses a litotes when she
says, "A little water clears us of
this deed. How easy is it, then!" (lines 70-71). She drastically
underestimates the impact of the crime on their conscience.
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Act
2,
Scene 3
SUMMARY
A
porter stumbles through the hallway to answer the knocking, grumbling
comically about the noise and mocking whoever is on the other side of the
door. He compares himself to a porter at the gates of hell and asks, “Who’s
there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?” (2.3.3). Macduff and Lennox enter, and
Macduff complains about the porter’s slow response to his knock. The porter
says that he was up late carousing and rambles on humorously about the
effects of alcohol, which he says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and
urination. He adds that drink also “provokes and unprovokes” lechery—it
inclines one to be lustful but takes away the ability to have sex (2.3.27).
Macbeth enters, and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, saying that Duncan
asked to see him early that morning. In short, clipped sentences, Macbeth
says that Duncan is still asleep. He offers to take Macduff to the king. As
Macduff enters the king’s chamber, Lennox describes the storms that raged the
previous night, asserting that he cannot remember anything like it in all his
years. With a cry of “O horror, horror, horror!” Macduff comes running from
the room, shouting that the king has been murdered (2.3.59). Macbeth and
Lennox rush in to look, while Lady Macbeth appears and expresses her horror
that such a deed could be done under her roof. General chaos ensues as the
other nobles and their servants come streaming in. As Macbeth and Lennox
emerge from the bedroom, Malcolm and Donaldbain arrive on the scene. They are
told that their father has been killed, most likely by his chamberlains, who
were found with bloody daggers. Macbeth declares that in his rage he has
killed the chamberlains.
Macduff
seems suspicious of these new deaths, which Macbeth explains by saying that
his fury at Duncan’s death was so powerful that he could not restrain
himself. Lady Macbeth suddenly faints, and both Macduff and Banquo call for
someone to attend to her. Malcolm and Donaldbain whisper to each other that
they are not safe, since whoever killed their father will probably try to
kill them next. Lady Macbeth is taken away, while Banquo and Macbeth rally
the lords to meet and discuss the murder. Duncan’s sons resolve to flee the
court. Malcolm declares that he will go south to England, and Donaldbain will
hasten to Ireland.
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SCENE III. The same.
Knocking within. Enter
a Porter
Porter
Here's a knocking
indeed! If a
man were porter of hell-gate, he should have
old turning the key.
Knocking within
Knock,
knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of
Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged
himself on the expectation of plenty: come in
time; have napkins enow about you; here
you'll sweat for't.
Knocking within
Knock,
knock! Who's there, in the other devil's
name? Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
swear in both the scales against either scale;
who committed treason enough for God's sake,
yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come
in, equivocator.
Knocking within
Knock,
knock, knock! Who's there? Faith, here's an
English tailor come hither, for stealing out of
a French hose: come in, tailor; here you may
roast your goose.
Knocking within
Knock,
knock; never at quiet! What are you? But
this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter
it no further: I had thought to have let in
some of all professions that go the primrose
way to the everlasting bonfire.
Knocking within
Anon, anon! I pray
you, remember the porter.
Opens the gate
Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX
MACDUFF
Was it so late,
friend, ere you went to bed,
That you do lie so late?
Porter
'Faith sir, we were
carousing till the
second cock: and drink, sir, is a great
provoker of three things.
MACDUFF
What three things does
drink especially provoke?
Porter
Marry, sir,
nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance: therefore, much drink
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and
not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
MACDUFF
I believe drink gave
thee the lie last night.
Porter
That it did, sir, i'
the very throat on
me: but I requited him for his lie; and, I
think, being too strong for him, though he took
up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast
him.
MACDUFF
Is thy master
stirring?
Enter MACBETH
Our knocking has
awaked him; here he comes.
LENNOX
Good morrow, noble
sir.
MACBETH
Good morrow, both.
MACDUFF
Is the king stirring,
worthy thane?
MACBETH
Not yet.
MACDUFF
He did command me to
call timely on him:
I have almost slipp'd the hour.
MACBETH
I'll bring you to him.
MACDUFF
I know this is a
joyful trouble to you;
But yet 'tis one.
MACBETH
The labour we delight
in physics pain.
This is the door.
MACDUFF
I'll make so bold to
call,
For 'tis my limited service.
Exit
LENNOX
Goes the king hence
to-day?
MACBETH
He does: he did
appoint so.
LENNOX
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.
MACBETH
'Twas a rough night.
LENNOX
My young remembrance
cannot parallel
A fellow to it.
Re-enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF
O horror, horror,
horror! Tongue nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee!
MACBETH LENNOX
What's the matter.
MACDUFF
Confusion now hath
made his masterpiece!
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence
The life o' the building!
MACBETH
What is 't you say?
the life?
LENNOX
Mean you his majesty?
Approach the chamber,
and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon: do not bid me speak;
See, and then speak yourselves.
Exeunt MACBETH and LENNOX
Awake, awake!
Bell rings
Enter LADY MACBETH
What's the business,
O gentle lady,
Enter BANQUO
O Banquo, Banquo,
Woe, alas!
BANQUO
Too cruel any where.
Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
Enter MALCOLM and DONALDBAIN
DONALDBAIN
You are, and do not
know't:
Those of his chamber,
as it seem'd, had done 't:
O, yet I do repent me
of my fury,
Who can be wise,
amazed, temperate and furious,
[Aside to DONALDBAIN]
Why do we hold our tongues,
DONALDBAIN
[Aside to MALCOLM]
What should be spoken here,
[Aside to DONALDBAIN]
Nor our strong sorrow
LADY MACBETH is carried out
And when we have our
naked frailties hid,
Let's briefly put on
manly readiness,
Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donaldbain.
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1)
Macbeth, uses a metaphor to convey his sadness. He compares King Duncan to the "wine of life." (91) In
addition, he also compares Duncan's death to the pouring of this wine from a
cup. The empty cup, therefore, symbolizes King Duncan's absence.
2) Macbeth also uses a metaphor
when he tells Donaldbain about Duncan's death. Specifically, in
describing their father-son relationship, Macbeth compares their blood
connection to a fountain. Fountain here refers to King Duncan, because he is
the one who gave Donaldbain life. As a fountain pours forth with water,
Duncan poured forth his blood to create Donaldbain. Line 94-95,
“.
. . the fountain of your blood
Is
stopped; the very source of it is stopped.”
3) In line 98, Lennox
is describing the appearance of the guards who have just been discovered dead
and bloody. They are being blamed to Duncan’s murder:
“Their hands and faces were all badged
with blood,”
The key word
here is “badged,” which means “marked.” By using the word badge we imply that
the blood identifies (like a badge would) the identity of the killers and is
therefore a metaphor. Shakespeare
could have just said that the guards were bloody, therefore they were
probably the killers, but that would have been less dramatic and made less of
an impression on the reader.
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Act 2,
Scene 4
SUMMARY
Ross, a thane, walks outside the castle with an
old man. They discuss the strange and ominous happenings of the past few
days: it is daytime, but dark outside; last Tuesday, an owl killed a falcon;
and Duncan’s beautiful, well-trained horses behaved wildly and ate one
another. Macduff emerges from the castle and tells Ross that Macbeth has been
made king by the other lords, and that he now rides to Scone to be crowned.
Macduff adds that the chamberlains seem the most likely murderers, and that
they may have been paid off by someone to kill Duncan. Suspicion has now
fallen on the two princes, Malcolm and Donaldbain, because they have fled the
scene. Macduff returns to his home at Fife, and Ross departs for Scone to see
the new king’s coronation.
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SCENE IV. Outside Macbeth's castle.
Enter ROSS and an old
Man
Old Man
Threescore and ten I
can remember well:
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.
ROSS
Ah, good father,
Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act,
Threaten his bloody stage: 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?
Old Man
'Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
ROSS
And Duncan's horses--a
thing most strange and certain--
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
Old Man
'Tis said they eat
each other.
ROSS
They did so, to the
amazement of mine eyes
That look'd upon't. Here comes the good Macduff.
Enter MACDUFF
How goes the world,
sir, now?
MACDUFF
Why, see you not?
ROSS
Is't known who did
this more than bloody deed?
MACDUFF
Those that Macbeth
hath slain.
ROSS
Alas, the day!
What good could they pretend?
MACDUFF
They were suborn'd:
Malcolm and Donaldbain, the king's two sons,
Are stol'n away and fled; which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.
ROSS
'Gainst nature still!
Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up
Thine own life's means! Then 'tis most like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.
MACDUFF
He is already named,
and gone to Scone
To be invested.
ROSS
Where is Duncan's
body?
MACDUFF
Carried to Colmekill,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
ROSS
Will you to Scone?
MACDUFF
No, cousin, I'll to
Fife.
ROSS
Well, I will thither.
MACDUFF
Well, may you see
things well done there: adieu!
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
ROSS
Farewell, father.
Old Man
God's benison go with
you; and with those
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
Exeunt
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1) A simile that is
also present is in the old man's remark to Ross who describes the eerie
atmosphere of the earth, comparing it to the murder of Duncan:
“
'Tis unnatural
Even
like the deed that's done.” (12-13)
2)
Metaphors :
“
Threescore and ten I can remember well:
Within
the volume of which time
I
have seen hours dreadful and things strange”
(1-3)
Time is compared to a "volume," a book
in which recordings have been made.
3)
Metaphors : “Darkness
does the face of earth entomb” (9)
Ross implies that evil will cover the land, the
"face" of the earth.
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