Detailed Notes on Act 2

Macbeth’s Vision of a Dagger

•Banquo and Fleance enter, and Banquo asks about the time.

•Macbeth arrives and gives Banquo a diamond for his wife.

•Macbeth speaks of his will becoming a servant to defect.

•Banquo mentions his dream of the three Weird Sisters.

•Macbeth requests an hour of Banquo’s time to discuss this, but Banquo declines.

•Banquo and Fleance exit and Macbeth orders his servant to ring the bell when his drink is ready.

•Macbeth sees a dagger and reaches for it, asking if it is real or a vision.

Analysis of Macbeth’s Actions in Act 2 Scene 2

•Macbeth draws a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain.

•Macbeth proceeds to draw his physical dagger and marshal’s his way using it.

•His eyes are made the fools of the other senses.

•Nature seems dead and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.

•Witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate’s offerings and withered murder.

•Macbeth moves like a ghost, with Tarquin’s ravishing design.

•He exits, with a bell ringing, summoning him to Heaven or Hell.

•Lady Macbeth is emboldened by what has quenched them, and she has drugged their possets.

•Macbeth enters with the bloody daggers and admits he has done the deed.

•He wonders who lies in the second chamber and Lady Macbeth answers Donalbain.

Macbeth’s Realization of His Actions

•Macbeth realises that he has committed a grave act, and is afraid to think what he has done.

•Lady Macbeth reminds Macbeth that the sleeping and the dead are just as pictures and that he should not be afraid of a “painted devil”.

•Lady Macbeth takes the daggers and suggests that they smear the grooms with blood.

•Macbeth hears a knock and wonders who is there.

Macbeth Act II Scene 3

•Macbeth hears a knocking and decides to retire to their chamber to avoid being seen.

•Lady Macbeth remarks that her hands are the same color as Macbeth’s.

•The Porter of Hell Gate is heard knocking, and Macbeth says he will not answer it.

•Macduff and Lennox arrive and Macduff inquires about the late hour.

Macbeth Act 2, Scene 3

•Macbeth, Macduff, and Lennox discuss the effects of drink, with the Porter adding some comic relief.

•Macduff mentions that the King has commanded him to call on him, and Lennox asks if he is leaving today.

•Macbeth and Lennox discuss how the night has been unruly, with strange occurrences and prophecies of dire events.

•Macduff enters and reveals that Duncan has been murdered, with the murderer stealing the life of the building.

Macbeth’s Discovery of His Father’s Murder

•Macbeth and Lennox enter, and Macbeth laments that he had died an hour before, for all is but toys.

•Malcolm and Donalbain enter and ask what is amiss. Macbeth informs them that their father is murdered.

•Macduff and Lennox recount how the murderers’ hands and faces were badged with blood, and their daggers found on their pillows.

•Macbeth expresses regret for his fury that caused him to kill them, and states that no man can be wise, amazed, temperate, and furious all at once.

Macbeth Act 2: A Breached Nature and Daggers of Trade

•Duncan is found dead, his body covered in golden blood and gashes.

•Murderers stand over him, their daggers caked with gore.

•Lady Macbeth calls for help and is assisted to leave.

•Malcolm and Donalbain, frightened of the scene before them, agree to go to England and Ireland respectively.

•Ross and an Old Man enter and the Old Man reflects on the strange events he has witnessed in his lifetime.

•Day breaks, but darkness still shrouds the earth.

Macbeth and Duncan’s Sons Suspected of Murder

•Duncan’s falcon was killed by a mousing owl on Tuesday last.

•Duncan’s horses turned wild, breaking their stalls and fighting against mankind.

•Macbeth’s slain have been suspected of the deed.

•Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan’s two sons, have been reported as stol’n away and fled.

•Macbeth is heading to Scone to be invested as the new King.

•Duncan’s body has been carried to Colmekill.

•Ross will go to Fife while Macduff heads to Scone.

•Old man wishes them benison and to make good of bad and friends of foes.