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Macduff is met at the castle door by a drunken porter who talks of it having been a most unruly night.
Macduff then goes to awaken the king and returns with the horrific news that Duncan has been murdered.
Suspicion falls on everyone, while Lady Macbeth appears to faint under the strain. The king's two sons
decide to flee.
THE THEME OF BLOOD
Blood is one of the major themes of Macbeth. How many times can you find the mention of blood?
"What bloody man is that?" asks King Duncan when the captain comes to tell of Macbeth's heroics.
Macbeth's sword "smoked with bloody execution", the captain tells the king. Then the captain tells
them that Macbeth caused the enemy to "bathe in reeking wounds" so as to "memorize another
Golgotha".
Macbeth sees a ghostly dagger leading him to Duncan's chamber, its blade covered with "gouts of
blood".
After the murder, Macbeth asks in anguish whether "all great Neptune's ocean [could] wash this blood
clean from [his] hand".
Lady Macbeth returns the bloody daggers and states that, "if he do bleed [she would] gild the faces of
the grooms withal".
She returns "with hands of your colour" but she is "ashamed to wear a heart so white".
After Banquo's murder, Macbeth comments that he was "in blood stepped in so far, that, should [he]
wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er".
And then the ever-strong Lady Macbeth is overcome by the memories of Duncan's blood. She walks in
her sleep and is forever looking for water to wash her hands.
Even then the smell of blood remains strong on them.
How many other examples can you find where blood is mentioned in the play? Note them. Count them.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"Here's a knocking indeed! If a
man were porter of hell-gate, he should have
old turning the key."
- What does a porter do? (2)
[Need help?]
In large institutions like monasteries, cathedrals and castles, a porter was necessary to attend the door
so that visitors would not be kept waiting long before being permitted to enter -- or for urgent messages
to be received.
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- Why does the porter take so long to answer the knocking? (3)
[Need help?]
It is possible that the porter had drifted off to sleep and the knocking was needed to awaken him.
On the other hand, he appears to have had a considerable amount to drink -- probably his share in the
festivities of the previous night.
Polanski's movie has the porter taking time off to urinate against the wall before answering -- something
that would indeed consume more time, as well as adding comic relief to the situation.
It also seems that the porter was simply in no hurry to answer the gate but was more concerned with
talking to himself. Indeed, his essential role is to create some amusement in an otherwise unfriendly plot.
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"LENNOX: Goes the king hence to-day?
MACBETH: He does: he did appoint so."
- What is irony? Comment on the irony in Macbeth's words? (4)
[Need help?]
Irony is where the opposite happens to what is being stated on stage.
In this case Macbeth tells Lennox that Duncan is departing that very morning, yet he knows very well that
he has murdered the king.
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"The night has been unruly: where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird
Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake."
- Lennox speaks of the unruliness of nature. Explain in your own words all the occurrences which
support his claim. (4)
[Need help?]
Lennox mentions four things:
- terrible winds during the night which were powerful enough to destroy even the chimneys of the
buildings;
- very strange noises, together with voices foretelling dreadful happenings;
- the owl has spent the entire night hooting;
- there have even been earthquakes.
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"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!"
- Why does Macduff refer to "most sacrilegious murder" and speak of the king's body as "the
Lord's anointed temple"? (4)
[Need help?]
There was a tradition that kings were appointed and anointed by God himself. The king represented God
on earth.
To murder a king was therefore a sin against God himself : called "a sacrilege" because the body
of the king was equivalent to the Holy of Holies where God himself lived.
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"Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon: do not bid me speak;
See, and then speak yourselves."
- What is a "Gorgon"? Why does Macduff use this image? (4)
[Need help?]
A Gorgon was a mythological Greek monster which was so ugly that its magical powers would turn anyone
to stone merely by looking at it.
Duncan's mutilated body, says Macduff, is so ugly that it will turn anybody to stone if they look upon it.
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"Awake, awake!
Ring the alarum-bell."
- Macduff calls for the "alarum bell" to be rung. Why this particular bell? (4)
[Need help?]
A castle probably had many bells -- such as bells at the various entrances, a bell in the banquet room,
etc.
However, the castle would also have one great bell -- like the huge bell in the belfry of a traditional
church. This bell was to be rung only when the inhabitants of the castle were in great danger, such as a
fire or an attack by an enemy.
The ringing of this particular bell would cause all the inmates of the castle to come running to some central
point.
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"MACDUFF
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.
O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master 's murder'd!
LADY MACBETH
Woe, alas!
What, in our house?"
- Comment on Lady Macbeth's response. How would you have interpreted her
words? (4)
[Need help?]
It is a very strange response from the hostess.
If you were hostess and were to be suddenly told that your chief guest had been murdered, what would
your reaction be?
Hers was indeed a most tactless remark and Banquo reprimands her. But surely her words have already
given the game away: that she is not surprised at all by the murder?
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"O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them."
- Was Macbeth's killing of the two chamberlains sensible? (6)
[Need help?]
Macduff is certainly surprised by Macbeth's confession. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, appears to be
horrified at her husband's actions and she faints.
In any case, was it really necessary for Macbeth to kill them? After all, their hands were covered in
Duncan's blood, while their daggers would seem to have been the one's which had committed the horrific
crime. They were also very drunk.
In any case, they would not have been allowed to speak in their own defence.
Surely Macbeth's killing them would instantly attract attention to himself as a possible partner in the
murder?
He is therefore destroying all the evidence -- which is why Lady Macbeth faints. She realises instantly
how her husband's actions are going to be interpreted.
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- Comment on the fact that Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee Scotland -- one to England and the
other to Ireland? (4)
[Need help?]
You'd run too, wouldn't you? After all, your life would now be clearly in danger. Note that they choose to
go to widely differing destinations so that it will be less easy to murder both of them.
Malcolm, on the other hand, has just been nominated by Duncan as his successor. He is to be the next
king. What type of king would run away when his country needs him most?
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