MACBETH - ACT II
Lady Macbeth is in her room waiting for Macbeth to kill King Duncan when an owl screeches.
[This signified that someone was about to die. Indeed Shakespeare, to refer to it, uses the words
“fatal bellman” because the bellman was the one in charge to ring the bell of a church when a person
was near death.]
From this she understands that the murder is happening. A little later she hears her husband’s voice
calling out and another male voice. Anxiety overwhelms her because she thinks someone has woken
up. She also regrets not having done the deed herself but the fact that the king looked so much like her
father stopped her.
Macbeth gets in the door with the blood-stained daggers. He explaines to the wife that the voice was
the king’s son’s voice who had been woken up by his brother’s laugh and screamed “Murder!”. Before
going back to sleep they prayed. Macbeth realizes that at the “God bless us” he couldn’t say “Amen”.
[This is when he starts having regrets because he becomes aware that, by killing the king, he had
damned his soul. Indeed, in Shakespeare’s time, the king was considered a divine being so it was as
if he had killed a part of God.
Here it is introduced the theme of guilt: Macbeth's paranoia and guilt are growing after murdering
King Duncan and his mind is tormented by his actions because he begins to feel the consequences of
his actions.]
Lady Macbeth tries to convince him not to think about it too much.
Later he also starts hearing some voices, the witches’ ones, saying “Sleep no more! Macbeth murders
sleep”. Lady Macbeth starts getting concerned and tells him to drink some water and go wash himself.
At this point she realizes that Macbeth has brought the daggers in their room when he should have left
them there and smeared the guards with blood so that they would appear guilty. Macbeth is petrified
so she has to do it herself.
[She is the most ambitious: she is convinced about the murder while Macbeth sometimes doubts
about it; she is also able to stay calm.
Macbeth is unable to look at the crime scene again and thinks he will be punished so he compares
himself to Oedipus.
Madness: Macbeth's mental tension begins to manifest itself clearly, suggesting that his actions lead
him down a path of destruction.]
Alone in the room, he hears three knocks on the door but he thinks they’re just in his mind. When
Lady Macbeth gets back in the room they both hear the knocks so they wear their nightgowns in case
someone finds them out of bed.
