Act-2-Scene-2.pdf, Study notes of English Literature

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Act Scene 2 -

Act 2, Scene 2 – •^ To summarise the key events in this scene.• To understand the meaning of key quotes• To explain what these key quotes tell us aboutMacbeth and Lady Macbeth

Act Scene 2 -

Sum up the main events of the scene in no

more than 6 sentences

This is a very tense and dramatic scenefollowing directly after the famous ‘dagger’soliloquy which ended with Macbeth goingto Duncan’s bedroom having heard the bell,his signal from Lady Macbeth to carry outthe murder. Macbeth is being questioned byhis conscience as he is suffering misery fromthe deed he has commited.

KEY QUOTES – “That which hath made them drunk hath made me

bold,/ What hath quench’d them hath givenme fire.”

TRANSLATION -

What has made the guards drunk has given me courage what has madethem helpless has made me feel strong.

WHAT DOES THIS QUOTE YOU SHOW ABOUTMACBETH AND/OR LADY MACBETH?

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

KEY QUOTES – “That which hath made them drunk hath made me

bold,/ What hath quench’d them hath givenme fire.”

TRANSLATION -

What has made the guards drunk has given me courage what has madethem helpless has made me feel strong.

This implies either that Lady Macbeth is excited and enthusiastic about the murders or,more likely, that she lacks natural aggression and so has had to give herself falseconfidence by drinking- this echoes the soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5. Lady Macbeth hasdrugged the grooms' possets, so that their sleep is the next thing to death. LadyMacbeth herself has also had some wine, but she feels bold and fierce, not drunk andsleepy.

COMPARE YOURANSWER TO THEONE BELOW

KEY QUOTES – “Hark! I laid the daggers ready;he could not missthem. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, Ihad done’t“

TRANSLATION -

What’s that! I laid the knives

out so there’s no way Macbeth could miss them.If Duncan hadn’t looked like my dad I wouldhave killed him myself.

Although Lady Macbeth has clearly been cunning in helping to plan the murderthis implies she feels guilty about it. She clearly feels sympathy towards Duncan asshe compares him to her father, someone you would respect and care for. [Thismomentary revelation of a spark of human sympathy foreshadows LadyMacbeth's descent into madness later in the play. It turns out that she's not nearlyso steely as she now believes herself to be.]

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

COMPARE YOURANSWER TO THEONE BELOW

KEY QUOTES –

“…tis the eye of childhood/ That fears a painted devil. lf he do bleed, I’ll gildthe faces of the grooms withal….A little waterclears us of these deeds”

TRANSLATION -

Only children imagine scary things that don’t really exist. If Duncan’sbleeding I’ll mark the guards faces…A drop ofwater will get rid of any sign of this crime.

WHAT DOES THIS QUOTE YOU SHOW ABOUTMACBETH AND/OR LADY MACBETH?

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

KEY QUOTES –

But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’? I had most need ofblessing, and ‘Amen’/ Stuck in my throat ……Macbeth shall sleep no more”

TRANSLATION -

Why couldn’t I say Amen? I

really needed God’s help and ‘Amen stuck in my

throat.. I’ll never sleep again…’

WHAT DOES THIS QUOTE YOU SHOW ABOUTMACBETH AND/OR LADY MACBETH?

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

KEY QUOTES –

” Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No,this is my hand will rather/ Themultitudinous seas incarnadine,/ Making thegreen one red..”

TRANSLATION -

Will all the water in the

ocean ever wash this blood off my hands? No, infact my hand will make all the seas scarlet,making them turn from green to red.”

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES^ The gruesome reality of the murder isconveyed to the audience here. AlthoughMacbeth has fought in battle he is horrified bykilling Duncan. He feels he will never be clearof the blood on his hands, symbolising hisguilty conscience.

COMPARE YOURANSWER TO THEONE BELOW

KEY QUOTES –

” Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No,this is my hand will rather/ Themultitudinous seas incarnadine,/ Making thegreen one red..”

TRANSLATION -

Will all the water in the

ocean ever wash this blood off my hands? No, infact my hand will make all the seas scarlet,making them turn from green to red.”

WHAT DOES THIS QUOTE YOU SHOW ABOUTMACBETH AND/OR LADY MACBETH?

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

KEY QUOTES –

” Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No,this is my hand will rather/ Themultitudinous seas incarnadine,/ Making thegreen one red..”

TRANSLATION -

Will all the water in the

ocean ever wash this blood off my hands? No, infact my hand will make all the seas scarlet,making them turn from green to red.”

As soon as Lady Macbeth has exited, we hear a knocking. Macbeth hears it, too,and it frightens him, but he can do nothing except stare at his hands. He looks atthem as though he had never seen them before, and he feels that looking at them islike getting his eyes gouged out. It is the blood on his hands that causes thishorrible 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

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES

PLENARY

Act Scene 2 – ANALYSIS OF QUOTES HOW DOES SHAKESPEARE CREATE TENSION IN THIS SCENE?

1. Why do we do not actually witness the murder of King Duncan?2. Why does this scene takesplace at night?3. What isnoticeable aboutwhat is happeningto the relationshipbetween Macbethand Lady Macbeth?
   4. What do we learnabout Lady Macbeth’ssofter side? What doesthis do to the audience?
      5. As she waits she decides that she heard a screech owl, andshe takes that as a good omen, because the screech owl isnature’s own ‘fatal bellman’. What is notable about thisquote?
2. How is waterused to describethe emotionsMacbeth feels?6. Whilst holding the daggerin his hand, Macbeth says‘This is a sorry sight’. Howwould the audience react tothis?