Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 2 Scenes 1 and 2 Essay

Introduction The Macbeth play was written around 1603 by William Shakespeare. During this play, Macbeth and Banquo started off as best friends, after they met the three witches, they gave Macbeth some predictions about his future. Macbeth was delighted whereas his wife, Lady Macbeth becomes power crazed about this. She persuaded him to kill the king, Duncan (in Elizabethan times, it was the biggest crime that can be committed). Afterwards his mind started to play tricks on himself, so he decided to go back and revisit the three witches; they then told him three new prophecies. Others now have suspected that Macbeth killed Duncan, so when Macduff went to England, he decided to kill Lady Macduff and her children. When Macduff came back and heard that his family is all killed he was furious and decided to have his revenge. When he arrived, to kill Macbeth, Macbeth on the other hand thought he cannot be harmed due to one of the prophecy that the witches told him but all at the end Macduff won. During the Elizabethan, all of audience believed in many supernatural things such as, witchcraft, religion, owls etc. In this play, the witches show us that they are creepy and unreliable due to all those set ups for Macbeth. This constructs a feeling for the Elizabethan audience that they are horrifying things. Shakespeare presented Macbeth as a brave and loyal person towards the King, he respected the King and is a really good fighter, but later on the play, he started to be controlled and changed into a horrific person. Lady Macbeth made Macbeth kill many innocent people; she is power crazed and evil and would do anything to be the queen. Start of this play, the themes mainly about murders and how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth changed. Section 1 Throughout Act 1 Scene 3, Macbeth was delighted when he heard the three witch’s prediction of his future, ‘Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more’, this quote demonstrates that he wants to know more about his future and he is keen to find out what great things will lie ahead of him. Furthermore, he called the three witches ‘imperfect speakers’, this might due to the fact that he does not really know what they are as he might not seen them before. In addition, the word ‘imperfect’ lets me think of that the three witches are not telling the truth and are hiding some secrets. Macbeth uses a high tone of voice when talking to the three witches, ‘Speak if you can’, from this quote it creates a feeling that Macbeth is from a higher social class who is looking down onto the three witches, perhaps he is trying to give the impression that he is the Thane of Glamis. Macbeth also seemed to be confused that the witches told him, he will become the Thane of Cawdor, ‘But how of Cawdor?’, from this quote it portrays that Macbeth do not really know how he will become the Thane of Cawdor, he currently is quite happy that he is Thane of Glamis. Shakespeare put in this historical question to make people hooked in, as the audience will ask themselves lots of questions such as, how is he going to become the Thane of Cawdor?, how do those witches know? Etc. When the witches finished talking to Banquo and Macbeth, the three witches vanished into the air, ‘Melted, as breath into the wind. Would they have stayed’, this quote shows us that Banquo and Macbeth wondered what happened to them, Shakespeare uses this is due to that during the Elizabethan audience would really believed in witchcraft, this makes people wonder more and ask themselves further questions. Macbeth started off in a really good relationship with his friends and the king. King Duncan really respects Macbeth also Macbeth was a fine fighter for him. ‘O worthiest cousin’, this quote demonstrates that Duncan trusts him a lot and that he is really loyal towards the king. Duncan likes Macbeth, he even call him ‘cousin’ which in my point of view is that Macbeth is like one of Duncan’s cousin and is really kind towards him. The king called him by the title ‘My worthy Cawdor’; this quote suggests that Duncan knows that he is a brave, loyal person. The word ‘Cawdor’ which indicates that he actually is really pleased that Macbeth is the Thane of Cawdor. Near the start of the play, after Lady Macbeth read the letter, she thought that he would not make it to become the king as he is very weak and too kind, this shows us that the relationships between these two are weak, ‘It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness’, this quote indicates that she thinks Macbeth is too kind and would not have the strength to become the King, from this we could really tell that their relationship is very awful. On the other hand, Macbeth and Banquo was best friends near the start of the play, they were two friends that would never break up, ‘Worthy Macbeth’, this quote gives the impression that he really trust in Macbeth and that he is also confident in him, he knows that they would always be friends. Lady Macbeth started off in Act 1 Scene 5 where after she read the letter, she did not have any hope in Macbeth at all, ‘That I may pour my spirits in thine ear’, this quote signifies that she want to tell him what to do so he will not ruin this up as she does not have any trust in him. She described him as being weak and cannot do anything right, ‘It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness’, from this it portrays that she think he is like milk which is pure and white and he does not have any darkness in him. Shakespeare made Lady Macbeth seem really nasty, he probably wants us to know that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth never get on with each other so that it gives us a bad feeling that she is evil and horrible towards other people. Lady Macbeth is also two-faced, she is talks about how to get rid of King Duncan and come up with lots of plans but when she meets the King, she is really kind and pleasant, ‘All our service’, from this quote it shows us that Lady Macbeth is kind and loyal, she wants to give good impression towards the king so that King Duncan will think that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are very helpful and kind towards people. This gives the audience a feeling that she is very evil and full of darkness. Section 2 For Act 2 Scene 2, it was set during the night when it is dark, ‘with a torch-bearer before him’, this quote suggests that during that time there was no light, only one that the servant is carrying, by setting it in darkness gives people the feeling that someone is going to get murdered, in addition, it gives the Elizabethan audience a feeling of something frightful is about to happen. Shakespeare wants the audience to consider that the place is starting to get suspicious due to that it is dark, ‘There’s husbandry in heaven, Their candles are all out’, this quote indicates that the night is really dark, darker than normal, as he is saying that there is no stars. This gives the audience a feeling that something is like messing with the heaven, this builds up the tension for the play also it hooks the audience to it. Near the start of this scene, Banquo had a feeling that something frightening is about to happen. When someone was coming, Banquo asked for his sword and held out his sword straight away, ‘Give me my sword’, this quote implies that Banquo does not know who it is and he suddenly prepared himself for unexpected visitors. This lets people think of that Banquo is really worried, but he does not know what is going to happen. Shakespeare uses this to give the audience a feeling that Macbeth is up to something and due to late night and still has not gone to sleep. Banquo had a feeling that something is not right which causes him can’t sleep, ‘And yet I would not ‘, this quote gives the impression that Banquo is expecting something to happen so he cannot get to sleep. Banquo mentioned about the three wield sisters, ‘I dreamed last night of the three weà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½rd sisters’, this quote portrays that Banquo is testing out Macbeth, he wants to know what reactions Macbeth will have, as Banquo knows that one of the prophecies became true, he is testing out Macbeth to see if he thinks about them. The audience would know that Macbeth thinks about the witches a lot, Shakespeare wants people to understand what kind of person Macbeth is. From this part of the play onwards, the audience would start to see that their friendship is starting to break due to them testing each other because they are trying to find out more about each other. Macbeth responds to it as if he is really surprised about it, ‘I think not of them’, this quote indicates that he quickly tells Banquo that he does not, he do not want Banquo to be suspicious about him as he is about to kill the king. Macbeth wants to talk the three witches, ‘We would spend it in some words upon that business, If you would grand the time’, this quote shows that clearly Macbeth talk about the three witches, also this quote indicates that he is testing Banquo as well to see if he wants to talk about the three witches. In addition, I believe that Macbeth is starting to feel guilty about what he is about to do, he knows he does not want to but have to do it. Macbeth also tests Banquo’s loyalty to him,’ If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis, It shall make honour for you’, this quote suggests that Macbeth is testing Banquo’s loyalty to him, he wants Banquo to listen to him but Banquo does not want to betray Duncan, maybe he does not want their friendship to break up, he knows that it will end. Shakespeare keeps the audience entertained by making them worrying about if everything will turn out well, . This makes Banquo suspicious about it, as he does not know why he is saying that as Macbeth knows that Banquo will still be loyal towards the king. Shakespeare uses this to show us that both of them are testing each other to see what and how they will respond to it. Section 3 Shakespeare made Macbeth in a nervous state of mind, ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me’, this quote signifies that Macbeth is already seeing the crime that he is about to commits. He is confused, does not know why he can see the dagger, he thinks the vision is telling him to kill Duncan. Shakespeare uses this to show us that Macbeth’s mind is playing tricks on him, is encouraging him to commit the crime and that he has some evilness in him. The audience would think that he is now crazy and seeing things which is just his mind persuading him to do it. Macbeth is now asking lots of question, ‘Proceeding from the heat-oppressà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½d brain?’ this quote portrays that he does not know why he can see the dagger, he is wondering that it might be his brain is over-heated, this makes the audience wonder more about how he can see it, they might even ask themselves question. Shakespeare wants the audience to have a picture in their minds of Macbeth following the dagger and to give us a vision that he can see it but cannot touch it. A quote could be ‘And such an instrument I was to use’, this quote represents that Macbeth got the dagger from his pocket and he is about to use it. Shakespeare made the soliloquy long is to show us how nervous he is, he might want us to think about Lady Macbeth and how evil she is, by persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan. Macbeth shows us that he is really mixed up, he cannot sort out the right from the wrong, and just simply following his wife’s orders. Shakespeare uses a lot of imageries in this part of the soliloquy to increase the tension, ‘And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,’ this quote indicates that the dagger starts to get dripping blood yet he has not committed a crime. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to build up the tension for when Macbeth kills the king, maybe he wants to create a feeling like as if we were there next to Macbeth, this hooks in the audiences’ attention. Macbeth been controlled by the witches, ‘Pale Hecate’s off’rings and withered murder’, this quote demonstrates that the goddess of the witches is like controlling him to kill the king, he does not want to do it but the witches are making him do it. The Elizabethan audience believed in witchcraft, they understood that witches are evil. In my opinion, I think that Macbeth knows it is wrong to do but Lady Macbeth convinces him to do it. In Macbeth’s imagination, he sees murder as a withered man, ‘Alarumed by his sentinel wolf’, this quote portrays that he is called to action to kill Duncan. The audience would think that he is been called for the opportunity to kill another victim. Shakespeare uses this to compare Macbeth with other murders and creatures, he wants us to understand the murder he is about to do is massive and that he is like other murders (such as Murder’s sentinel) going to commit a huge crime. At this point, Macbeth describes the murder as moving, ‘thus with his stealthy pace’, this quote shows that he is now pacing like murder itself, walking towards the king’s bedroom. He wants the place to be silent, ‘With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design’, this quote indicates that he is like Tarquin asking the earth to be unable to hear, so he can like ‘moves like a ghost’ towards the king’s room. Shakespeare uses Tarquin is because all the Elizabethan audience would know that Tarquin was the murderous rapist in Roman, this builds up the tension for when he kills Duncan. Due to the present silence of the night suits the horror of what he is about to do, we see Macbeth, a man who wants to be in the silent and deadly figure of horror. As Macbeth still has not done the murder yet, and he has been saying many threatening things, all the things he said inspired him to do the deed. Then when he heard the bell, ‘A bell rings’ this quote shows that Macbeth finally moves from horrifying words to a horrible deed only when Lady Macbeth’s bell tell him it is time. Section 4 At the start of the scene, Lady Macbeth was excited, ‘That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold; What hath quenched them, hath given me fire’, this quote suggests that she listens intently, as though she could actually hear the murder being committed. The word ‘them’ refers to are the King’s two personal guards. Lady Macbeth has drugged the grooms’ possets. Lady Macbeth, herself has also had some wine, but she feels bold and fierce, this gives the audience a feeling that she feels happy now that the king has died. From this, it shows us the darkness inside Lady Macbeth. But Lady Macbeth also seems to be nervous about it, ‘An Owl shrieks’ and ‘Hark, peace! It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern’st good-night. He is about it’, from these quotes it portrays that she jumped and thought that she was caught when the owl shrieked, she think it as a good omen due to the screech owl is a nature’s own ‘fatal bellman’, the noise of a screech owl foretells the death of a person, therefore, Lady Macbeth is happy about this. Shakespeare also tries to make the Elizabethan audience jump as well because people did not like owls and crickets which they thought that they are horrible animals that bring evilness. She was still nervous when Macbeth arrived, ‘I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?’, this quote indicates that she is still frightened and nervous, she asks lots of questions, this shows the lack of security. She even asks her husband if he heard it or not. When Lady Macbeth sees her husband, she thinks that he is a fool, ‘A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight’, this quote represents that she thinks that he is worrying too much about it, she is telling him that it is great. Lady Macbeth does not want Macbeth to be weak. This makes the audience think that she is trying to calm Macbeth down as his mind is like somewhere else. She tries to be kind to Macbeth to quiet him down, ‘Why, worthy thane, You do unbend your noble strength to think’, this quote signifies that she calls him by the title to make him feel happier and she saying that he is strong and brave, as she knows he likes to be the Thane of Cawdor. Shakespeare uses this to try making the audience think that she is cruel and mean on the inside but kind on the outside. After he calmed down, she changes back into a nasty woman, ‘Go get some water And wash this filthy witness from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers from the place?’, this quote demonstrates the ‘filthy witness’ is the blood from Duncan, which acts as a witness to Macbeth’s crime. She is telling Macbeth to do all the work, maybe she does not want to be involved in this. She is also annoyed at Macbeth for bring back the daggers, she demands him to take it back. The audience might think that she does not want Macbeth to be caught, she wants Macbeth to make the grooms look guilty instead of them. Shakespeare wants us to think that she is taking care of all the things and knows what to do, this gives the impression that she is bossy. ‘They must lie there. Go carry them†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ this quote shows us that she wants Macbeth to do it instead of her. The audience would think that she does not want to get her hands dirty and let her husband do all the work, it gives us the impression that she is looking down on Macbeth and he is like her assistant. Macbeth feels really guilty about the murder he has committed, ‘they pluck out mine eyes Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hands?’ this quote portrays that Macbeth feels guilty about what he has done, he known that the crime will never be forgotten, from this we could really tell that he feels sorry for the king, Shakespeare uses hyperbole, metaphor and historical question in this quote to create a image that makes the audience feeling that all the water in the universe cannot erase the witness he has committed also it makes it more realistic. It frightens him when he looks at his hands, he looks at them as though he had never seen them before, and he feels that looking at them is like getting his eyes gouged out. It is the blood on his hands that causes this horrible fascination, and he feels that the blood can never be washed away. Before his hands are clean, they will make all the seas of the world turn red(shows how big his crime was ). Macbeth describes how the blood will turn seas red, ‘The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red’, this quote signifies that nothing will clear away the witness, he will always remember it. We now know that Macbeth feels guilty comparing to Lady Macbeth who thinks it is easy and effortless. ‘A little water clears us of this deed. How easy is it then!’, from this, we could understand that she thinks there is nothing to worry about as no one will ever find out. She said it fast and simple; this gives the audience a feeling that she is not loyal to the king and is full of evilness. She said it easily and effortlessly, Shakespeare uses this to show us that she has no kindness and uses this to compare to Macbeth where he described it complicatedly/complex. Lady Macbeth tried to bring back her husband into the reality by comparing herself with him, ‘My hands are of your colour, but I shame To wear a heart so white’, this quote indicates that her hands are red, too (because she has been busy smearing the King’s blood on the grooms), but that she would be ashamed to have a heart as white as Macbeth’s. A white heart is white because it has no blood, and the person with a white heart is a coward. As she delivers this insult, we hear the knocking again, and Lady Macbeth takes her husband away so that they can wash up. In her opinion, it will only take a little water to make them innocent. The audience would think that Lady Macbeth is being too unforgiving and cruel on Macbeth, also she tells him that it’s childish to be afraid of the sleeping or the dead. Lady Macbeth also tells him he must put on his night-gown, so that if they have to get up and talk to whoever is knocking, it won’t look like they’ve been up all night. The word ‘knocking’ makes me feel that someone is watching them talking about the murder, also Shakespeare added in many ‘knocking’ sounds is because he might want us to think that Duncan has not died yet to calm the audience. He is unresponsive near the end of the scene, ‘To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself’, this quote demonstrates that he seems lost in his thoughts, when Lady Macbeth tells to snap out of it, he thinks about what she has become and the thinks they have done. Now he fully understands what he has done and knows that what a monster he has become. This makes the audience notice that he does not want to know that monster (himself), he knows that he cannot help to do anything better. At the very last, we hear the knocking again, Macbeth wishes none of it had ever happened, as he calls out ‘Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst’, this quote indicates that the knocking showed up a few times which Shakespeare might want us to think about why there is knocking, to ask ourselves questions. Conclusion Shakespeare maintains fear and horror throughout the play by reference to the supernatural, such as animal(owl, cricket), this help the play as the Elizabethan audiences does not like these kinds of creatures as they find them evil. He also uses lots imageries such as metaphors, similes etc. to make the audience entertained and hook into the play and also it helps to build up the tension. Shakespeare has also included soliloquy, hyperbole, asides and the use of the tone of voice, these make the play more realistic and them creepy but enjoyable to watch. Macbeth is a person who is scared at fear, at the beginning of the play, Macbeth is described as a brave, loyal man who is kind, but his wife manipulates him by accusing him of being a coward, and throughout the play he denies his own fears. I think that Macbeth is a fine war lord who is loyal to the king, but he shows some of his cruel side, mostly during the middle part of the play. At first, it appears that Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner that is evil and cruel, but after the murder of King Duncan she loses her grip on her husband and becomes weird as she could not even control herself. She is a two-faced woman who pretends that she is kind and lovely to people, especially the king.