Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 by William Shakespeare

Act 2 Scene 2 (line 17 to 53)

Background:

·         Macbeth has gone off to kill King Duncan when all are asleep in the dark of night. Lady Macbeth awaits his return.

·         Macbeth then comes back paranoid and nervous. There is guilt, although little, about his murder of the King.

·         He comes back and looks at his hand.

Analysis:

·         Macbeth’s hands at the time were full of blood. Looking at them he says “this is a sorry sight”

o   Ironically, despite Lady Macbeth saying “a foolish thought, to say a sorry sight”, it is this ‘sight’ that affects her the most as the blood is left on her hands when she held the daggers. Of course, because she convinced Macbeth to do the deed, she believes that the blood is truly on her hands. 

·         Macbeth talks about his hallucinations

o   “There’s one did laugh in ‘s sleep, and one cried, “murder!” that they did they wake each other. I stood and heard them. But they did say their prayers, and addressed them again to sleep.

§  Note how irrational he sounds already. This already signifies his slip into insanity.

§  Many refer this to a reflection of how Macbeth feels about being guilty, but this is not true. In fact, it is a reflection about how Macbeth fears being caught. This is accentuated by the fact within the hallucination one work up the other.

o   Note the reference to prayer within her hallucination

§  “But they did say their prayers, and addressed them again to sleep”

§  This is a reference to how, in addition to how Macbeth fears punishment of the flesh, he also fears punishment of the spirit. However that came secondary. This illustrates how short minded his thinking is and how he fears the former over the latter.

§  The fact that prayer addresses them to sleep is an indication of how prayer gives them peace and calm, something that Macbeth will never get to enjoy ever again as prayer would not bring him peace.

§  The use of the word “God bless us!” is a reference to how now the spirit of God is now limited to those except from him. This feeling of exclusion that he feels only adds to his paranoia, which is already subconscious considering that he hallucinating.

o    Note the metaphor for “Hangman’s hands”

§  At the time, the main form of execution was through hanging, and the executioner was often masked so as to be unable to identify him. This was often an undesired job as despite it not being classed as a murder in the eyes of the law, it was considered murder in the eyes of God. His hallucination takes a more religious turn as he talks about God. In this case, he feels like a hangman who has just committed murder in the eyes of God. Note the use of the ‘hangman’ rather than of a ‘murderer’ as it puts more focus on the religious implication.

o   “List’ning to their fear I could not say “amen” “

§  This is a reference to how Macbeth feels like he has been rejected by the divine as he has intruded on heaven’s path due to the King’s right to rule from the divine, the “Divine Right of Kings” as well as altar the “Great chain of being”

§  In terms of religion, the word “amen” is said at the opening and close of every prayer. The fact that he can’t say the word “amen” thus signifies his inability to say a prayer.

o   “But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘amen’? I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” stuck in my throat”

§  Note his sudden desperation after being forsaken by his own religion.

·         This has a bible allusion to it as well, as right before Jesus has died God has forsaken him. Similarly, after killing King Duncan, the gods have decided to forsake Macbeth, indicating that King Duncan indeed possessed the Divine Right of Kings. As a result, he is unable to say another prayer, thus being able to say the word “amen”

§  Note the phrase “stuck in my throat’

·         This is also a bible allusion. In the story of Adam and Eve, Adam gets the apple stuck in his throat. Despite Adam being a righteous man, he gets tempted by Eve to take the apple. Similarly, Adam is Macbeth, and Eve is Lady Macbeth. One could say that the letter is the serpent.

o   Note the child-like tone in his rants as they continue

§  Methought I heard a voice cry, “sleep no more”

·         Note that the choice of words are very childlike. “Methought” and the repetition of voices and the word “cry” make it sound like Macbeth is whining. Lady Macbeth, aware that Macbeth is in emotional trauma at the moment, tries to calm him down by listening to him. However, nobody is there to keep Lady Macbeth calm. Staying calm is something that is very hard to do when no one else around you is not. Therefore this task really puts Lady Macbeth on edge. 

§  “Macbeth does murder sleep – innocent sleep…”

·         Sleep always has innocent connotations. One can only sleep at the moment that nothing plagues your mind. This is emphasized in the words to follow, where the superfluous description of sleep and its connotations are added. 

·         The fact that Macbeth’s murders the innocent is violating the warrior’s code. Considering that Macbeth is a strong warrior in battle, this must have a heavy effect on him. He was not considering this before. Perhaps realizing this has also made him realise that there were multiple things that he did not consider before (like Banquo).

§  “Still it cried…”

·         Note the repetition of the idea of crying, putting Macbeth in a very pathetic state.

·         Note the reference to his newly attained titles. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more”. This is Macbeth’s way of saying ‘I have put my newly attained titles to shame. No thane would ever do this”. He has discussed this idea before and the fact that he is regretting a decision that he knows he evaluated before shows very irrational thinking at that moment in time.

Lady Macbeth’s comfort

·         Rhetorical question

o   “Who was it that thus cried?”

§  This creates a very supportive role.

·         I didn’t hear the sound? How could you have heard the sound too?

·         This already puts Macbeth at ease. This is seen by his sudden quietness.

·         Empowerment

o   Similarly when Lady Macbeth empowers Macbeth into carrying out the deed, she empowers him again so that he remains calm so that they can look innocent.

§  “Why, worthy thane…”

§  Note the sudden shift in power. Lady Macbeth is saying relatively little and has now become the supporting role again, contrasting the position of power in Act 1 Scene 7. She has taken the role of a loving wife, but with a twist as she is comforting her husband after she convinced him to carry out the highest form of treason.

§  This makes Macbeth feel better emotionally as the use of the title is to illustrate the idea that now that he has carried out the deed, he can ascend in stature. At the very moment, he already has the high stature that he has had before and the people still look on him favorably.

o   Lady Macbeth talks about how unbecoming it is for Macbeth to speak of such things especially with his stature

§  As Lady Macbeth knows about how much public image is to Macbeth, she starts behaving as if she is in front of someone very respectful when she typically acts as if Macbeth is an equal in any other situation. With this respectful tone, Macbeth dons the role of a Thane again as if he was in a public situation and acts accordingly.

·         “Go get some water, and wash this filth witness from your hand

o   Note the use of metaphor of the blood as a witness to the murder. Considering that blood can only be made due to the cutting of flesh, it acts as evidence for the murder itself.

o   Note the biblical allusion once again. Pilot, after sentencing Jesus to death, washes his hands of any sins that he has caused.  Lady Macbeth tries to evoke the same feelings in Macbeth so that he will not feel guilty about the issue and will thus be able to carry on as if nothing has happened.

·         “Infirm of purpose!”

o   Lady Macbeth has finally had it with Macbeth, even after trying to empower him. This only goes to show pathetic Macbeth is at this point that even his own counterpart is not able to console him despite understanding more about Macbeth than he himself. Perhaps this is due to this honor as a warrior and how he has violated it so deeply. However, we know for sure that this does not show a slight hint of guilt.

·         “Give me the daggers!”

o   This is a major role in the play. It is at this point that Lady Macbeth does more than words and actually acts within the plot itself. It is at this moment that Lady Macbeth has created evidence against her pinning her to the crime. If someone were to catch her at the moment she was carrying the daggers, she and her husband would be immediately arrested for treason.

o   Secondly, the daggers are bloody and it is this blood that Lady Macbeth has on her hands that she cannot wash away, despite having it done so shortly after physically. However mentally, the stain is still there, where she feels metaphorically like “she has blood on her hands”

·         Note the metaphor of the dead

o   “The sleep and the dead are but as pictures”

§  Considering that she plans to leave the scene as it is to minimize the evidence against her and her husband, the scene itself has become a picture in the mind of the murderers. However, it thus become a lasting picture, a picture that has been repeated in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s mind, albeit for different reasons. Macbeth’s fear of being caught and Lady Macbeth’s actual guilt.

§  In this situation, Lady Macbeth states that “’’tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil”. She indicates that the scene is one done by the devil himself, ‘painted’ by her and Macbeth. This may be a foreshadowing the guilt she is to feel. She called on spirits to help her, only to realise that she has helped the devil the whole time.

·         Note her plans of what to do with the blood

o   “If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt”

§  This gives an indication that Lady Macbeth will work very closely with blood as part of her contribution to the plot. Thus, it would not be unusual for her to get blood or her hands, on her clothes or on her body. This is the reason why the hallucinations of blood on her hands are so strong; they illustrate her contribution to the plot and remind her constantly that ‘the plan was hers’.