ACT TWO
Scene One
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Inverness. Court within the castle.
Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE, bearing a torch before them
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? 10
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: 20
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! 30
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 40
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 50
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: 60
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.
aa)Characters Introduced: N/A
Deaths: N/A
Summary: Banquo and Fleance are still awake while Macbeth is lurking the halls, ready to inact the plan of killing Duncan. When He persuades Banquo and Fleance to Go to sleep, Macbeth Enters into the Dagger Soliloquy. in the Dagger Soliloquy, he talks about a floating dagger he sees in front of his face. He is hallucinating, and we start to see the insanity seep from Macbeth's mind. The degger floats down the hallways, luring Macbeth forward to Duncan. Macbeth unsheaths his dagger comparing it to the one his imagination has made. He heres Lady Macbeth's bell, the signal that all in the castle are asleep. Macbeth states that the death of Duncan will occur and Duncan will know whether he will go to "heaven or to hell."
Definitions:
Bosom: Heart
Important quotes:
Questions:
-
What is bothering Banquo?
-
What is Banquo's stance when Macbeth implies that he might want Banquo as an ally?
-
Look to the activity of staging the "Is this a dagger i see before me" soliliquy.
a) Break up the soliloquy into its four natural parts.
b) For each section, provide: Stage directions for the actors; lighting suggestions; and music or sound suggestions. You may want to provide sketches or comic strip visuals.
Scene Two
The same.
[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: 5
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. 10
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 15
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? 20
MACBETH When?
LADY MACBETH Now.
MACBETH As I descended?
LADY MACBETH Ay.
MACBETH Hark! 25
Who lies i' the second chamber?
LADY MACBETH Donalbain.
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 30
'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. 35
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. 40
MACBETH But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?
I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'
Stuck in my throat.
LADY MACBETH These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad. 45
MACBETH 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, 50
Chief nourisher in life's feast,--
LADY MACBETH What do you mean?
MACBETH 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.' 55
LADY MACBETH 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? 60
They must lie there: go carry them; and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
MACBETH I'll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not. 65
LADY MACBETH 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; 70
For it must seem their guilt.
[Exit. Knocking within]
MACBETH 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 75
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
[Re-enter LADY MACBETH]
LADY MACBETH My hands are of your colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white. 80
[Knocking within]
I hear a knocking
At the south entry: retire we to our chamber;
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it, then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended. 85
[Knocking within]
Hark! more knocking.
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
MACBETH To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself. 90
[Knocking within]
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!
[Exeunt]
Characters Introduced: N/A
Deaths: Duncan
Summary: Lady Macbeth boasts on how the alcohol has made her strong and sharp and the guards weak and tired. Macbeth enters and declares to Lady that he has done the deed of killing Duncan. Macbeth notes how his hands are covered in blood. Lady Macbeth says its stupid to say that it was a bad night, because he will be king. Macbeth goes on to say that he feels shunned out by god, and that he cannot ever be holy again. Lady Macbeth says not to dwell on the deed. Macbeth crys that he has murdered sleep and peace. He states that he will not sleep anymore or be peaceful. Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth still has the murder weapons in his hands, and she yells at him to finish his work and frame the guards. Macbeth refuses and Lady Macbeth goes to finish the deed. He says that No amount of water will be able to wash away the blood (as if blood were guilt) When Lady returns, she tells him to wash off all of the blood and get in his dressing gowns.
Important quotes:
Literacy Devices: Allusion/Popculture Reference
Questions:
-
In what state of mind are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the murder?
-
Why was Lady Macbeth unable to kill Duncan?
-
What are some of the things Macbeth imagined during the crime?
-
What does it mean that "Glamis hath murdered sleep."
-
What does Macbeth forget to do?
-
Does Macbeth go back to replace the dagger?
-
Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth's heart 'White'. What does she mean by this?
Scene Three
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 th'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. 42
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. 50
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, 60
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 and LENNOX
What's the matter. 70
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?
MACDUFF 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!
Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and treason!
Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake! 80
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself! up, up, and see
The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo!
As from your graves rise up, and walk like,
To countenance this horror! Ring the bell.
Bell rings.
Enter LADY MACBETH.
LADY MACBETH What's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? speak, speak!
MACDUFF O gentle lady,
'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak:
The repetition, in a woman's ear, 91
Would murder as it fell.
Enter BANQUO.
O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master 's murder'd!
LADY MACBETH Woe, alas!
What, in our house?
BANQUO Too cruel any where.
Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself,
And say it is not so.
Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS.
MACBETH Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant,
There 's nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 100
Is left this vault to brag of.
Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN.
DONALBAIN What is amiss?
MACBETH You are, and do not know't:
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
Is stopp'd; the very source of it is stopp'd.
MACDUFF Your royal father 's murder'd.
MALCOLM O, by whom?
LENNOX Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't:
Their hands and faces were an badged with blood;
So were their daggers, which unwiped we found
Upon their pillows:
They stared, and were distracted; no man's life 110
Was to be trusted with them.
MACBETH O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.
MACDUFF Wherefore did you so?
MACBETH Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:
The expedition my violent love
Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood;
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
For ruin's wasteful entrance: there, the murderers, 120
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breech'd with gore: who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage to make 's love known?
LADY MACBETH Help me hence, ho!
MACDUFF Look to the lady.
MALCOLM Aside to DONALBAIN. Why do we hold our tongues,
That most may claim this argument for ours?
DONALBAIN Aside to MALCOLM. What should be spoken here,
where our fate,
Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us?
Let 's away;
Our tears are not yet brew'd.
MALCOLM Aside to DONALBAIN. Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion. 130
BANQUO Look to the lady:
LADY MACBETH is carried out.
And when we have our naked frailties hid,
That suffer in exposure, let us meet,
And question this most bloody piece of work,
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us:
In the great hand of God I stand; and thence
Against the undivulged pretence I fight
Of treasonous malice.
MACDUFF And so do I.
ALL So all.
MACBETH Let's briefly put on manly readiness,
And meet i' the hall together.
ALL Well contented. 140
Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain.
MALCOLM What will you do?
Let's not consort with them:
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy. I'll to England.
DONALBAIN To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer: where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
MALCOLM This murderous shaft that's shot
Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way
Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse;
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, 150
But shift away: there's warrant in that theft
Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left.
Exeunt.
Characters Introduced: Porter
Deaths: N/A
Summary: The Porter serves as comedic relief in this scene, he blabbers drunkenly abouyt how alcohol makes sex difficult, among other things. Later, Macduff asks Macbeth if the king is awake, Macbeth tells them that he hasn't woken yet. Macduff seems suspicious of Macbeth. Macduff finds Duncan Slain in his Chamber and The alarum bells are ringing and Lady Macbeth faints on the scene. Banquo is in disbelief. When Donalbain and Malcolm enter, Macbeth and Macduff share the terrible news. grief stricken and unable to grieve on spot, The royal Brothers decide to flee to escape being killed, since everyone will start to assume that they killed thier father. Malcolm Flees to England, Donalbain to Ireland. Macbeth gives a very convincing speech of grief to all who are gathered in the court yard, and they promise to find out who has done the terrible deed. Banquo is very intent on finding the killer and putting them to justice.
Important quotes:
Literacy Devices: Allusion/ Pop-Culture Reference
Questions:
-
What is the porter describing at the beginging of scene three? why?
-
Pathetic Fallacy is when the setting (or the Gods or nature) sympathizes (reflects) with the actions, speeches or thoughts of the characters on stage. Find three examples of Pathetic Fallacy used in this scene and quote them. Why is this literary device used here?
-
How do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth react publicly to the death of Duncan? provide a direct quote to support your point.
-
Why is it important that the king's sons are intending to flee? where do they intend to flee to?
Scene Four
Outside Macbeth's castle.
[Enter ROSS and an old Man]
Old ManThreescore 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, 5
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, 10
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. 15
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. 20
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? 25
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: 30
Malcolm and Donalbain, 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 35
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? 40
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. 45
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 50
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
[Exeunt]
Characters Introduced: Old Man
Deaths: N/A
Summary: The old man comments on how strange the night has been, and that in all of his days he has not seen anything stranger. Ross asks Macduff if he is going to the coronation of Macbeth. Macduff responds, "no. I to Fife."
Important quotes:
Literacy Devices: Pathetic Fallacy
Questions:
-
How does Shakespeare emphasize that Duncan's death has upset the order of Nature? Name the Literary Device that is used to do this and provide two examples.
-
In this cene Macduff chooses to go to fife instead of scone. why is this important.