Macbeth: Act II
Episode 40
Are you ready for regicide?? ‘Cause it’s time for Macbeth: Act 2! Professor Pipes is back to talk all things weird, witchy, and out-of-whack at Inverness!
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death, Murder
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes and today I’m here to discuss Act 2 of Shakespeare’s supposedly cursed play: Macbeth! Act 1 ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, so we should get right to it.
Previously:
Previously in Macbeth, our protagonist, you guessed it, Macbeth, was super awesome in a war and, unbeknownst to him, was rewarded by the king, Duncan, by being named Thane (or ruler) of Cawdor. Meanwhile, Macbeth heard a prophecy from some witches saying he’s Thane of Cawdor and is destined to be king, so, naturally, once he finds out that the first part came true, he starts thinking about murdering Duncan. Oh, and his wife is suuuuper into this plan. His buddy, Banquo, heard from those witches that his descendants would be kings. Meanwhile, Duncan decides to have a sleep over at Macbeth’s castle, so everything is in place for a good old-fashioned murder.
Summary:
In Act 2, scene 1, Banquo is walking the halls with Fleance, his son - you know, the son that could eventually be king! It’s after midnight, but Banquo isn’t ready for beddy bye time because he’s apparently been having nightmares lately. Speaking of nightmares, Macbeth enters. Banquo is surprised he’s still up since even the king is sleeping - good to know… Banquo reveals that he dreamed about the “weird sisters” (aka the witches) last night and Macbeth claims he’s hardly even thought about them at all! ...Riiiiiight… They decide to chat about the prophecies later on, though. Soon Banquo and Fleance leave and Macbeth asks a servant to go have his wife ring a bell when WINK “his DRINK is ready” and then immediately starts hallucinating, seeing a knife in the air in front of him. He tries to grab it, but, you know, obviously can’t. He states that the knife, now covered in blood, seems to be leading him to his bloody deed. He finally decides that the knife isn’t actually there and he’s just imagining things because of his evil plans. Macbeth mentions that, the longer he waits, the more he gets cold feet so, just as Lady Macbeth’s bell tolls, someone else’s metaphorical bell is tolling as well, Duncan’s, so Macbeth decides to go for it and heads off to kill him.
In Scene 2, Lady Macbeth enters just after her hubby leaves and she’s feeling pretty good about herself, proud that she got the servants drunk and drugged them. *Slow Clap What an accomplishment. She figures that Macbeth is currently killing the king, but she hears him call out and thinks for a moment that it’s the servants who’ve woken up! Oh shoot! Then she’s pretty dang annoyed because she left the knives ready for Macbeth, making his job so easy! I mean, she would have done it herself… if sleeping Duncan didn’t look like her dad. Macbeth then enters and is kind of freaking out about hearing a noise and also upset about his bloody hands. Naturally, Lady Macbeth is super kind and comforting and supportive. Just kidding, she calls him foolish. So sweet. Macbeth says he heard a servant praying, but Macbeth couldn’t join in his “amen.” Macbeth also mentions that he thinks he heard, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.” He keeps repeating this, clearly upset, so Lady Macbeth at first tries to calm him and tells him to wash up, but then she notices that he forgot to leave the knives with the servants, so she’s obviously pretty dang annoyed. Macbeth refuses to go back in to leave the knives and cover the servants in blood, so she insults him and goes to do it herself. Suddenly, there is a knocking, and Macbeth is, again, clearly upset about every noise and his bloody hands. Lady Macbeth comes back and calls her husband a coward. The knocking continues, so she tries to hurry him off to his room to clean up and Macbeth laments that he wishes the knocking could wake up dear old dead Duncan.
Things have gotten pretty dark and depressing, so I think it’s about time for some comedy, and that comes in scene 3 in the form of… the porter! The knocking continues in this scene, so the porter, very slowly, goes to get the door, but on the way he jokingly pretends that he is the porter at the gates of hell (not far off, man), and describes all sorts of bad guys knocking to get in, like a farmer, a liar, and a tailor: you know, the classic three baddies. Eventually he lets in two noblemen: Lennox and Macduff, who ask why he didn’t answer faster, to which the porter responds that he stayed up late and got drunk, but it’s all good ‘cuz he threw most of it up. After some rather raunchy talk about what alcohol does to you, Macduff cuts in to ask if Macbeth is up, but before he can get an answer, speak of the devil, Macbeth enters. Macduff says he’s there to get Duncan, so Macbeth leads him to his room and Macduff enters. Macbeth and Lennox chit chat about the “rough night” last night (understatement of the year) before Macduff comes back in, screaming that Duncan has been murdered! GASP! Macbeth and Lennox go into the room to see and Macduff continues waking up the whole castle. Lady Macbeth enters, followed by Banquo, and Macduff shares the terrible news. Lady Macbeth is all, “oh no! In my house? Why I never!” Soon Macbeth and Lennox return and Malcolm and Donalbain enter, presumably with pretty much everyone else in the castle. The sons are told that their dad has been murdered, likely by his servants, and Macbeth mentions that he killed the servants in a fit of rage (convenient, eh?). Pretty much everything is in chaos, Lady Macbeth feigns faintness, and they all decide to get their wits about them, get dressed, and get ready to meet back up to discuss this more calmly in a little bit. As everyone is leaving, Malcolm and Donalbain decide that they should flee, since they might be killed next! Malcolm decides to go to England and Donalbain to Ireland. Exeunt!
In scene 4, Ross and an “old man” (ummm… rude!) are talking about how crazy and unnatural the world is right now. In addition to the murder, it’s so dark and stormy that the day looks like night, an owl ate a falcon, Duncan’s trained horses went wild, and one of them ate the other! Yeah! Crazy! Soon Macduff enters and Ross asks who killed Duncan. Macduff says it seems to have been the servants whom Macbeth then killed. They presume that the servants were paid to kill him by Duncan’s sons, since they have fled - a sure sign of guilt! Macduff also mentions that Macbeth has been named king and is heading to the king’s castle. Prophecy complete, and so is this act!
Characterization:
In this act we see a few more of the side characters doing their thing and reacting to the tragic news of their king’s death. It introduces or reminds us of characters who are going to play a more important role in the upcoming acts.
We again see Banquo, serving as a foil to Macbeth. Banquo is clearly upset about the witches and their prophecy. He says he’s been having nightmares involving them and, as a result, doesn’t even want to go to sleep. Meanwhile, Macbeth is using their prophecy as an excuse or as justification for his plans to murder Duncan. After that murder, Banquo’s morality is set in stark opposition to Macbeth’s evil, when Banquo states, “In the great hand of God I stand, and thence Against the undivulged pretense I fight Of treasonous malice,” meaning that he will stand with God, who will give him the strength and ability to fight against the evil, treasonous murder. Can’t get much more different, can they?
Macduff also starts to become kind of important as he is the first and only one to question Macbeth’s behavior. After Macbeth mentions that he killed the servants, Macduff asks, “Wherefore did you so?” meaning, basically, “Why in the heck did you do that!?!” Then, in the final scene, though he does state that it was likely the servants, paid by the sons, who killed Duncan, he still doesn’t seem 100% on board with the aftermath. When asked how things are going, he responds, “Why, see you not?” which, honestly, is some great sass. Then he says he’s not going to see Macbeth’s coronation, though Ross and others are. He concludes this conversation saying he hopes that things go well, “lest our old robes sit easier than our new” which suggests he’s a bit concerned that the new king - Macbeth - won’t be as good as their last, Duncan.
The majority of this act is focused on our collective Couple Goals: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. These two have a pretty typical relationship. No, really, it’s kinda sadly true! I mean, if you take away the regicide, what you’re left with is a toxic, abusive relationship. Unfortunately not uncommon. Neither of them is completely innocent of blame here, and they both seem to play off of each other, but in this act Lady Macbeth demonstrates typically abusive behavior: insulting and controlling. Like in act one, Lady Macbeth belittles, demeans, and guilts Macbeth in order to manipulate his behavior. However, it is also in this act when she first demonstrates some weakness. Although she states that she would have just killed Duncan herself, she admits that she couldn’t, because he reminded her of her father. So maybe there is some little bit of humanity left in her. But not enough to actually stop the plan or be kind to her husband. Meanwhile, Macbeth is showing clear signs of a mental breakdown, both leading up to and following his murder of Duncan. He is feeling fearful, worrying, and even hallucinating. Now I’m not over here pitying poor Macbeth, though. He straight up murdered people. His anxiety and mental instability are directly related to the choice he made. Interestingly, by scene 3, Macbeth has NO qualms with murdering a couple more innocent people, the servants, since their deaths are necessary to the ambitious plot that he has already set in motion.
Analysis:
Next, let’s discuss some of the themes and motifs at work in this act.
Act 2, while brief, still manages to demonstrate the complicated nature of Fate. It is, of course, in this act that Macbeth makes very deliberate choices that are meant to enable his destiny to come true. He was told by the witches that he would be king, so he does what he “has” to do to get there - murder the current king. And, sure enough, he is chosen to succeed Duncan after Malcolm and Donalbain run off. So does this mean that the prophecy was destined to come true? And it did? Or does it mean that the prophecy inspired an ambitious, and evil, streak within Macbeth that led him to make choices that brought about his kingship. Even the hallucination itself calls this into question. While it could be the result of Macbeth’s mental instability, that’s not how he sees it. He believes the knife is a sign sent to him in order to encourage him to go forward with his plan, saying, “Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going.”
Speaking of this hallucination, it fits right in with our next theme: Appearance. In Act 1 it was already made clear that things are not always as they appear, and that idea continues into this act as well. I mean, the obvious example of this is the murderous plot itself. Macbeth kills Duncan, but he and his wife are able to make it seem as though the servants are at fault, tricking just about everyone. Then they are further able to convince everyone that they are completely shocked by Duncan’s death and so upset that Macbeth murders the “murderers.” Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing. However, as I already alluded to, the hallucination of the knife is a kind of physical example of this theme. When Macbeth first sees it, he states, “Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses, or else worth all the rest.” In other words, he’s not sure whether he can trust what he is seeing. He’s unsure if his eyes are the only sense not working or the only one that is. Then, after killing Duncan, he looks at his own hands and asks, “What hands are here?” demonstrating a disconnect between seeing and believing. This inability to trust appearances has so far caused trouble for the people around Macbeth, but now he is falling victim to it, too.
Gender yet again plays a role in this Act, though it isn’t as evident as it was in Act 1. Yet again we see a reversal of traditional gender roles with Lady Macbeth, who is proud of the evil role she played in the murder plot and who is in control of her husband’s behavior. However, it’s not as simple as that. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth align with and go against the assumptions and roles typically associated with their genders. Act 1 already pushed the narrative that ambition and evil are masculine traits, and Macbeth did commit the evil, ambitious murder. However, he was pushed to do so by his wife, AND the guilt left him almost incapacitated afterward. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, calculating, and evil, traits that Shakespeare’s characters kept associating with men. However, she also couldn’t go through with the murder itself, leaving that to her husband, which suggests some fragility, a trait typically associated with women. Interestingly, Macduff says he can’t talk to Lady Macbeth about the murder, since, “the repetition, in a woman’s ear, would murder as it fell.” Little does he know, she’s the one who’s behind the murder in the first place. Clearly, according to Shakespeare, genders aren’t boxes into which only specific traits fall. The characters are complicated tapestries, made up of qualities that are clearly not “masculine” or “feminine.” Dang! Shakespeare figured that out hundreds of years ago, and yet people are still out there saying “he throws like a girl.”
Next up, let’s talk about the widespread consequences of unchecked Ambition. The obvious first result of Macbeth’s ambition has been Duncan’s murder, which is clearly awful. Duh! However, it is not the only result. Macbeth cannot shake the resulting guilt. When the servants are praying, he cannot pray with them, and is clearly troubled by this. Then he starts hearing voices, echoing his evil act and his guilt. Then he’s afraid he can’t ever wash the blood off his hands. However, the consequences reach further than just Macbeth feeling bad about what he did. It seems that they have thrown the whole natural world into chaos. I mean, is it a coincidence that suddenly the day is so dark that it looks like night. Or that, on the night of Duncan’s death, there was some insane wind that sounded like screams predicting horrible events to come? Or that a freaking horse ate another horse!? I mean, what in the world? Everything is in disarray because Macbeth has thrown off the natural order of things by murdering the king! Clearly, his ambition has resulted in some crazy stuff. I guess the lesson here is that you shouldn’t cut in line if you don’t want your pets to eat each other. Anyway, much as the porter says that alcohol “provokes the desire but it takes away the performance,” Macbeth is drunk on ambition. It provoked his desire to be king, but will he be able to perform as such? I guess we’ll have to wait and see in the next act.
But, before we get there, I should probably mention the motif of Blood. It was evident in the first act, too, what with the bloody descriptions of battle and the captain bleeding out in front of Duncan, but it continues here in an even more ominous way. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth has a vision of a knife, which then becomes covered in blood as he watches it. Then, after murdering Duncan, Macbeth asks, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” and then says that it can’t, and instead, the blood from his hands will dye the seas red. Lady Macbeth assures him that a little water will wash away the blood, and their guilt, but we’ll soon see that it isn’t that easy.
Food for Thought:
Before we finish for the day, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought. Consider these questions as you review Act II of Macbeth.
First, what evidence is there to suggest that Macbeth is to blame for the tragedy? And what evidence is there to suggest that fate is playing a role?
Second, what is the purpose of the porter? Why might Shakespeare have chosen to include a comedic character at this time?
Third, what is Macbeth’s mental state during this Act? How has he changed and how does he change during this act?
Fourth, how do religious beliefs influence people in this act? What purpose do they serve?
Finally, in this act, and in the entire play, one crime spirals out of control, causing crime after crime. How have we seen this already? How has one crime led to more? What might Shakespeare be suggesting?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. Now go forth, read a bunch, and be good people.
