The second act opens with Banquo and his son, Fleance, walking the halls at Inverness, unable to sleep. Banquo has been plagued by dreams of the Witches. As he walks with Fleance, he hands him the sword and dagger he is wearing. Shakespeare uses this scene to foreshadow Fleance’s eventual assumption of his father’s role. Symbolically, the torch is being passed from father to son.
Macbeth enters and is confronted by Banquo, who was unable to distinguish him in the dim light. Macbeth greets Banquo as “a friend.” This is ironic because in the next act, Macbeth proves to be much less than a friend. They discuss the prophecies of the Witches, Banquo saying he has dreamed of them, while Macbeth says he has not thought at all about them. Yet, they are all Macbeth has thought about. Macbeth has planned the murder of the King because of the prophecies.
After Banquo and his son have departed, Macbeth sends his servant to tell his wife to strike the bell when his drink is ready. This is his signal to enter Ducan’s chamber and kill him. As he waits, a vision of a dagger appears floating before him. He reaches for it, but is unable to grasp it. He thinks the dagger is a product of his “heat-oppressed brain.” The dagger beckons Macbeth toward Duncan’s room and it becomes covered in blood as Macbeth approaches the chamber of the sleeping King. Macbeth’s conscience creates the vision of the dagger, either to halt his plans by revealing the horror of the act or, as Macbeth believes, to beckon him forward. But, if Macbeth’s will be about to falter, Lady Macbeth’s signal, the ringing of the bell, provides him with the courage to finish what he has started.
Lady Macbeth greatly anticipates the return of Macbeth from the murderous act. While she waits, she gathers strength from the knowledge that she has drugged the drinks of Duncan’s servants. “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;/ What hath quenched them hath given me fire!” Because the servants will be unable to stop Macbeth, Lady Macbeth knows that their plot to eliminate the king will be unimpeded. Yet, the act of murder and a guilty conscience cause her to jump at the screeching of an owl. She then refers to the “fatal bellman,” a man that rang a bell outside a condemned man’s cell encouraging him to confess his sins. She is inferring that Duncan is a condemned man and should repent his sins. Also, she could be referring to Macbeth, as he will be a condemned man if he is caught committing the murder. Even if he is not caught, the murder of Duncan is a sin that condemns Macbeth’s soul.
Lady Macbeth asked to be “unsexed” in an earlier scene so that she may have the necessary strength to support Macbeth in his quest for the throne. However, when she placed the daggers by the sleeping Duncan, she was unable to kill him because he looked too much like her father. Her conscience surfaced and she deferred to Macbeth to complete the evil plan.
Having killed Duncan, Macbeth returns to his wife’s side in a dazed and confused state. He then tells his wife that as he approached Duncan, one of the servants cried out “Murder” in his sleep. This woke both the Donalbain says he will go to Ireland, while Malcolm agrees to go to England. They flee the castle in fear of their own lives while Macduff, Macbeth, and the others agree to meet to discuss the catastrophe.
Scene 4 The following day Ross and an old man discuss the strange events that have taken place. Ross says that Duncan’s horses became enraged, broke out of their stalls, and ate each other. Other unnatural events are going on with the birds and the weather. They fear all of this has to do with Duncan’s murder.
Macduff joins the discussion and it is revealed that Duncan’s body has been taken to the family plot at Colmekill and Macbeth has been named to succeed Duncan as King. The coronation will take place at Scone. Ross plans to go to Scone and Macduff leaves for Fife, of which he is Thane. Macduff fears the worst is yet to come.
Analysis The second act opens with Banquo and his son, Fleance, walking the halls at Inverness, unable to sleep. Banquo has been plagued by dreams of the Witches. As he walks with Fleance, he hands him the sword and dagger he is wearing. Shakespeare uses this scene to foreshadow Fleance’s eventual assumption of his father’s role. Symbolically, the torch is being passed from father to son.
Macbeth enters and is confronted by Banquo, who was unable to distinguish him in the dim light. Macbeth greets Banquo as “a friend.” This is ironic because in the next act, Macbeth proves to be much less than a friend. They discuss the prophecies of the Witches, Banquo saying he has dreamed of them, while Macbeth says he has not thought at all about them. Yet, they are all Macbeth has thought about. Macbeth has planned the murder of the King because of the prophecies.
After Banquo and his son have departed, Macbeth sends his servant to tell his wife to strike the bell when his drink is ready. This is his signal to enter Ducan’s chamber and kill him. As he waits, a vision of a dagger appears floating before him. He reaches for it, but is unable to grasp it. He thinks the dagger is a product of his “heat-oppressed brain.” The dagger beckons Macbeth toward Duncan’s room and it becomes covered in blood as Macbeth approaches the chamber of the sleeping King. Macbeth’s conscience creates the vision of the dagger, either to halt his plans by revealing the horror of the act or, as Macbeth believes, to beckon him forward. But, if Macbeth’s will were about to falter, Lady Macbeth’s signal, the ringing of the bell, provides him with the courage to finish what he has started.
Lady Macbeth greatly anticipates the return of Macbeth from the murderous act. While she waits, she gathers strength from the knowledge that she has drugged the drinks of Duncan’s servants. “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;/ What hath quenched them hath given me fire!” Because the servants will be unable to stop Macbeth, Lady Macbeth knows that their plot to eliminate the king will be unimpeded. Yet, the act of murder and a guilty conscience cause her to jump at the screeching of an owl. She then refers to the “fatal bellman,” a man that rang a bell outside a condemned man’s cell encouraging him to confess his sins. She is inferring that Duncan is a condemned man and should repent his sins. Also, she could be referring to Macbeth, as he will be a condemned man if he is caught committing the murder. Even if he is not caught, the murder of Duncan is a sin that condemns Macbeth’s soul.
Lady Macbeth asked to be “unsexed” in an earlier scene so that she may have the necessary strength to support Macbeth in his quest for the throne. However, when she placed the daggers by the sleeping Duncan, she was unable to kill him because he looked too much like her father. Her conscience surfaced and she deferred to Macbeth to complete the evil plan.
Having killed Duncan, Macbeth returns to his wife’s side in a dazed and confused state. He then tells his wife that as he approached Duncan, one of the servants cried out “Murder” in his sleep. This woke both the servants up. One then said “God bless us!” and the other “Amen!” He is concerned that he could not say “amen” in return. He wanted to, but he found the words stuck in his throat. Macbeth is unable to receive the blessing he desires because of the sin he is about to commit.
After he has killed Duncan, his conscience begins to project voices that he thinks the entire castle can hear. “Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house;/ `Glams hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/ Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more. — Macbeth feels so guilty for the act that his mind projects voices that condemn him. He will no longer have the peace of mind that he had before the murder.
Lady Macbeth counsels her husband to ignore the voices that he thinks he has heard because dwelling upon them and the act he has just committed could drive him mad. She also tells him to return the bloody daggers to Duncan’s room. Macbeth is unable to face his crime again. so, Lady Macbeth takes the daggers back. She returns with her hands now covered with blood like her husband. By having Lady Macbeth handle the daggers and get blood on her hands, Shakespeare is showing that even though she never commits an act of murder, her participation in planning makes her just as guilty.
When they hear the knock at the door, both adjourn to their sleeping quarters to establish an alibi if someone should come looking for them. Macbeth again expresses his regret at killing Duncan when he says, “Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou/ couldst!”
In order to give the audience a moment to recuperate from the heavy drama of the last scene, scene 3 opens with the comic banter of the porter at the door. He talks with Macduff about the effects of drinking on the body. But besides a bit of comedy, the scene also serves to establish a diabolical atmosphere around Macbeth’s castle. The porter curses in the “name of Beelzebub.” He does not call to God, instead he calls forth the name of the devil. He then hypothesizes as to who is knocking at the door. He names three people who would knock at the gates of Hell; a farmer that hanged himself, an equivocator that commits treason, and a tailor who steals cloth. He even talks about the people who walk the way to the “everlasting bonfire.” These references to Hell serve to show the audience that Macbeth is creating a Hell within Scotland.
Macbeth then enters and Macduff goes to wake the king. While he is gone, Lennox—who arrived with Macduff—tells Macbeth of the turbulent night. The woeful weather outside mimics the horrible events inside Macbeth’s castle. Macduff then returns with the news of the king’s murder. Macbeth, faking astonishment, rushes off with Lennox to see the body. He later claims to have slain the servants, whom he had implicated in the murder, in a fit of rage over their heinous deed. Lady Macbeth continues her charade by fainting at the news.
Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, fear that the real killers were not the servants, but someone closer to them. They fear that whoever is ambitious enough to kill the king will come after them as well. “This murderous shaft that’s shot/Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way/Is to avoid the aim.” Malcolm flees to England and Donalbain to Ireland. Once they have fled Scotland, they are considered guilty in their own father’s murder.
There is a time lapse between the last two scenes of the second act. The Old Man and Ross discuss the events that have transpired over the last few days. They talk of strange portents and how ambition is the ruin of men. The audience can infer that Macbeth’s ambition will ruin him. This last scene also shows how Macbeth is still unable to look upon the body of Duncan. He goes to Scone to be crowned instead of Colmekill for the funeral.
