Macbeth Act II Notes

Act II, Scene i The scene opens with Banquo and Fleance (*Fleance will be king one day). Macbeth enters and lies to B. by saying he hasn’t thought of the witches. M. asks to meet and discuss the prophecies with B.

II.i continued Banquo’s response: “So I lose none / In seeking to augment it, but still keep / My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,/ I shall be counsell'd.” – I’ll take your advice as long as my heart is free of guilt and my loyalty remains to the king (shows how B. is a foil to M.)

Macbeth’s soliloquy from II.i His guilt is making him hallucinate and see a bloody dagger floating down the hall. M: “Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses” – I cannot trust my eyes, since my other senses tell me there is no dagger – looks can be deceiving. He awaits Lady Macbeth’s signal – a bell that means that she has drugged Duncan’s guards.

Act II, Scene ii Lady M: “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;/ What hath quench'd them hath given me fire.” – though Macbeth is confused and feeling guilty already, Lady M. is feeling excited for the murder.

II.ii continued Lady M.: “Hark! I laid their daggers ready;/ He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done't.” – She shows some humanity here by not killing the king since he looks like her father (foreshadowing of a change in character?)

II.ii continued Macbeth enters, bloody and still holding the daggers. M: “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,–”

II.ii cont. Macbeth says he’ll never be able to sleep anymore after the murder of Duncan. Sleep is the “balm of hurt minds” – the thing that soothes a troubled mind. Since M. will not sleep anymore, his mind will never be put as ease. He will always feel guilty. Lady M takes the daggers and leaves to smear the guards with blood.

II.ii cont. M: “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/ The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,/ Making the green one red.” -- All the water in the ocean will not clean the blood off my hands. The water will turn red first – M. will never be free of guilt. Blood on hands = symbol of guilt; water = symbol of purification

II.ii cont. Lady M.: “My hands are of your colour; but I shame/ To wear a heart so white.” I too have blood on my hands (guilt), but I’d be ashamed to be as cowardly as you – once again insulting his manhood.

Act II, Scene iii The scene begins with the porter (gatekeeper) – lower class man, comic relief, does not speak in iambic pentameter. 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.”

II.iii cont. Lennox is saying that the night has been stormy, there were screams in the air, the owl was loud, and the earth shook – because of the unnatural death of the king, the natural world was in chaos (theory of natural order). Macduff finds the king’s dead body. Lady M. “faints” after hearing the news.

II.iii cont. Lennox and Macbeth go into the king’s room. Macbeth kills the king’s guards in “a fit of rage” – but really is just covering his tracks. The men swear to fight against this murderer.

II.iii cont. Malcolm and Donalbain, knowing their lives are in danger, decide to sneak away (M. to England, and D. to Ireland) where they will be safer. They realize that none of the men can be trusted (unlike their father who had too much trust).

Act II, Scene iv Ross and an old man discuss the strange happenings surrounding the murder. 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.

II.iv cont. Duncan’s horses run wild and turn cannibal – theory of natural order – the natural world turns to chaos with the unnatural death of the king. Macduff enters to say that Malcolm and Donalbain are suspected of bribing the guards to kill Duncan. Macbeth will be crowned king.