02 January 2022 CONSEQUEN CES ACT 2 SCENES

02 January 2022 CONSEQUEN CES ACT 2, SCENES 2 – 4

ACT 2, SCENE 2 § Macbeth § Lady Macbeth In the following table, list any mention of hands, water, or sounds in the scene: Hands Water Sounds

STICHOMYTHIA § A type of dialogue in which actors exchange short remarks. § It is usually characterised by repetition and antithesis and delivered at speed. § It has also been called cat-andmouse dialogue and cut-andthrust dialogue. § The device was first used in the ancient Greek theater to intensify the drama of an exchange. § Nowadays it is mainly used for comic effect or to create tension. LADY MACBETH MACBETH LADY MACBETH My husband! I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak? When? Now. As I descended? Ay. Hark! Who lies i' the second chamber? Donalbain. This is a sorry sight. [Looking on his hands. ] A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. How does this reflect and enhance the dramatic tension in the scene?

MACBETH STATE OF MIND I have done the deed. This is a sorry sight. I could not say ‘Amen’. Macbeth shall sleep no more. I am afraid to think what I have done. How is’t with me when every noise appals me? Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst. What is Macbeth’s state of mind at this point? What adjectives would best describe Macbeth? Choose three quotes from this extract, and annotate the imagery, language, and connotations of the key words

ACT 2, SCENE 3 § As Macbeth and his wife leave the courtyard, the gate -keeper, who was woken up from his drunken sleep by the repeated knocking on the gate, staggers upon the stage. He is not quite sober yet; he is in no hurry to open the gate, and he improves the time by an imaginative speech about the duties of the guard of the gates of hell. § The porter seems to imagine himself in that position, and goes on to guessing who the criminals may be that are so loudly demanding entrance to hell.

ACT 2, SCENE 3 Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. [Knocking within. ] 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! 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. ]

ACT 2, SCENE 3 § Macduff and Lennox enter, and Macduff complains about the porter’s slow response to his knock. The porter says that he was up late partying and rambles on humorously about the effects of alcohol, which he says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and urination. He adds that drink also “provokes and unprovokes” lechery (offensive sexual desire) — it inclines one to be lustful but takes away the ability to have sex. § Macbeth enters, and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, saying that Duncan asked to see him early that morning. In short sentences, Macbeth says that Duncan is still asleep. He offers to take Macduff to the king. As Macduff enters the king’s chamber, Lennox describes the storms that raged the previous night, stating that he cannot remember anything like it in all his years. With a cry of “O horror, horror!” Macduff comes running from the room, shouting that the king has been murdered

ACT 2, SCENE 3 § Macbeth and Lennox rush in to look, while Lady Macbeth appears and expresses her horror that such a deed could be done under her roof. General chaos follows as the other nobles and their servants come in. § As Macbeth and Lennox emerge from the bedroom, Malcolm and Donalbain arrive on the scene. They are told that their father has been killed, most likely by his servants, who were found with bloody daggers. Macbeth declares that in his rage he has killed the chamberlains. § Macduff seems suspicious of these new deaths, which Macbeth explains by saying that his fury at Duncan’s death was so powerful that he could not restrain himself. Lady Macbeth suddenly faints, and both Macduff and Banquo call for someone to attend to her. § Malcolm and Donalbain whisper to each other that they are not safe, since whoever killed their father will probably try to kill them next. Lady Macbeth is taken away, while Banquo and Macbeth rally the lords to meet and discuss the murder. Duncan’s sons resolve to flee the court. Malcolm declares that he will go south to England, and Donalbain will hasten to Ireland.

ACT 2, SCENE 3 The authenticity of this scene has been denied by some famous critics and editors; but there seems no good ground for this suspicion. § Firstly, an interrupting scene of this kind is absolutely necessary to give Macbeth time to wash his hands and change his dress; secondly, the porter's speech contains several Shakespearean phrases, "old turning of the key, " "devil-porter it, " and "the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. " § The jokes about the farmer, the equivocator, and the tailor seem weird to modern audiences, but they are topical “jokes” which likely made the audience laugh when first spoken.

THE EQUIVOCATOR § Shakespeare made direct references to the Gunpowder Plot in Macbeth. To commemorate the discovery of the dreadful scheme, King James had a medal created picturing a snake hiding amongst flowers. § Another significant allusion is to a Jesuit priest named Father Henry Garnet, who had hidden his knowledge of the conspiracy. When Father Garnet finally confessed, he insisted that his previous lies were not really perjury because he lied for “God’s sake. ” For this excuse, he became known as the great “Equivocator” and was quickly hanged. § Later on, when Macbeth’s Porter wonders what kind of people would enter the gates of hell, he declares: 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. A person who speaks ambiguously or doesn't tell the whole truth

EQUIVOCATION The Witches consistently commit the crime of equivocation in the play – their prophecies are ambiguous, and leave much room for interpretation. § Why did Shakespeare choose to make the lines of the Witches ambiguous? What message was he relaying to the audience about the Witches? § What could the following lines mean? § Fair is foul, and foul is fair § When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. § Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. § Not so happy, yet much happier.

APPEARANCE VS. REALITY How does Shakespeare present theme of appearance vs. reality in Act 2, Scene 3? Highlight every line that represents theme of appearance vs. reality in the extract

MACDUFF MACBETH LENNOX MACDUFF LADY MACBETH MACDUFF O horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee! What's the matter. 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! What is 't you say? the life? Mean you his majesty? 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! Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, And look on death itself! up, and see The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo! As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, To countenance this horror! Ring the bell. Bell rings. Enter LADY MACBETH What's the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley The sleepers of the house? speak, speak! O gentle lady, 'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: The repetition, in a woman's ear, Would murder as it fell. Enter BANQUO. O Banquo, Our royal master 's murder'd!

LADY MACBETH BANQUO MACBETH DONALBAIN MACBETH MACDUFF MALCOLM LENNOX MACBETH MACDUFF Woe, alas! What, in our house? Too cruel any where. Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, And say it is not so. Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS. 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 Is left this vault to brag of. Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN. What is amiss? 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. Your royal father 's murder'd. O, by whom? 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 Was to be trusted with them. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them. 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, 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.

ACT 2, SCENE 4 § Ross, a thane, walks outside the castle with an old man. They discuss the strange and ominous happenings of the past few days: it is daytime, but dark outside; last Tuesday, an owl killed a falcon; and Duncan’s beautiful, well-trained horses behaved wildly and ate one another. § Macduff emerges from the castle and tells Ross that Macbeth has been made king by the other lords, and that he now rides to Scone to be crowned. Macduff adds that the chamberlains seem the most likely murderers, and that they may have been paid off by someone to kill Duncan. § Suspicion has now fallen on the two princes, Malcolm and Donalbain, because they have fled the scene. Macduff returns to his home at Fife, and Ross departs for Scone to see the new king’s coronation.

Old Man Threescore 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, 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, 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. 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. 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. Negative lexis

SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENA § Shakespeare extracted three of the four omens associated with King Duffe's murder from the Holinshed’s Chronicles, and applied them to the murder of Duncan. § Holinshed writes: "Monsterous sights also that were seene within the Scottish kingdome that yeere were these: horses in Louthian, being of a singular beautie and awiftnesse, did eate their own flesh, and would in no wise taste anie other meate. . . There was a sparhawke also strangled by an owlq. Neither was it anie lesse woonder that the sunne, as before is said, was continuallie covered with clouds for six monthe space" (237). § As Henry Paul points out in his book The Royal Play of Macbeth: "[Shakespeare] improved Holinshed's portents (1) by assigning the horses to Duncan, thus dramatizing the events; and by converting the strange behaviour of the horses into a protest against the inhumanity of man. . . (2) by transforming the hawking owl into an image of the witches malign power; and (3) by confining to the murder day the darkness which the Chronicle ruinously diluted by protracting it for six months" (200). Who/what could the two animal – the falcon and the owl – represent? What is the significance of the owl killing the falcon?