2.1: A Dark and “Daggerly” Night
Banquo
Fleance (Banquo’s son)
Macbeth
Banquo and Fleance are out in the court.
Macbeth joins them. Macbeth tells
Banquo that if he’ll stick with him, he
(Banquo) will be honored and rewarded.
Banquo responds that he will as long as
it’s nothing underhanded or something
that would call his loyalty to the king into
question.
When B. and F. leave, Macbeth sees a
dagger floating before him that leads him
off to Duncan.
“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.”
*Banquo’s comment on the stars not
being out is connected to Macbeth saying
the stars shouldn’t on his dark thoughts in
Act I, Scene IV.
*Banquo’s response to Macbeth shows B.
is honorable and loyal to the king.
*Macbeth’s hallucination of the dagger
shows that he’s stressed by the plot.
2.2: Murder Most Foul
Lady Macbeth
Macbeth
Lady M. drugged the king’s guards.
Macbeth comes in with bloody hands
having killed the king. He is guilt-ridden
and regrets what he’s done, and he
forgot to leave the guards’ bloody
daggers with the sleeping guards.
Disgusted, Lady M. goes back to plant the
bloody evidence. While she’s gone,
Macbeth realizes nothing can clean this
crime from his soul. Lady M. returns
claiming to have a clear conscience.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this
blood/Clean from my hand? No, this my
hand will rather/The multitudinous seas
incarnadine,/Making the green one red.”
--Macbeth realizes that nothing can free
him of the guilt he now feels.
*Lady M.’s nervousness and inability to
kill the king shows she’s not as stone cold
as she seems.
*Macbeth’s is already tormented by guilt
and regret, and he wishes he could undo
the murder.
2.3: The Crime Discovered
Porter
Macduff
Lennox
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Banquo
Malcolm (the king’s older son)
Donalbain (the king’s younger son)
Drunken porter provides comic relief.
Macduff discovers the king dead.
Macbeth, faking rage, kills the bloody
guards . Malcolm and Donalbain realize
they’re in danger and decide to run.
“This murderous shaft that’s shot/Hath
not yet lighted, and our safest way/Is to
avoid the aim.”
--Malcolm is saying that he and Donalbain
are targets and running is the safest thing
they can do.
*Dramatic irony when Macduff says he
can’t tell Lady M. what he saw as it would
make her faint. Also when Macbeth says
he killed the guards and grieves for
Duncan.
2.4: Bad Omens and Bad News
Old Man
Ross
Macduff
The O.M. and Ross discuss all the strange
things that happened the night Duncan
was killed, including Duncan’s horses
eating each other. Macduff enters and
says Malcolm and Donalbain are
suspected of the crime, and Macbeth has
been named king and is off to his
crowning.
“Well, may you see things well done
there. Adieu,/Lest our old robes sit easier
than our new!”
--Macduff is expressing his worry that
Macbeth won’t be a good king.
--The news of the weird events increases
the suspense and reinforces the unnatural
evil of killing the king.
--Macduff’s doubts about Macbeth
foreshadows what kind of king Macbeth
will be.