| What is significant about the weather? | foreboding, mysterious, used to show the calm before the storm |
| What do you suppose is keeping Banquo from sleeping? | The prophecies of the witches |
| What is significant about Macbeth saying “I think not of them” after Banquo had admitted to dreaming about the Weird Sisters? | He’s not even telling Banquo what he thinks. If you be quiet, I’ll be quiet. he then thinks he wants to kill Banquo |
| What does Macbeth mean when he says to Banquo, “If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis,/It shall make honour for you?” | That Macbeth is going to ask for help, and if Banquo follows it, everything will go good for him |
| What is significant about Banquo’s reply? | sets up the foil, he’ll do stuff if it doesn’t undermine his honor |
| In his soliloquy after Banquo leaves, what does Macbeth tell us he sees? What could account for this apparition? | A dagger, to much drinking |
| Why does Shakespeare have Macbeth hallucinate? | Dagger shows supernatural things. His emotional and mental health isn’t where it should be |
| Compare Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s reactions immediately after the crime? | Macbeth is on edge, regretful. Lady Macbeth is not sorrowful at all. She acts very normal |
| Why does Lady Macbeth not commit the murder when she is in the room? | Duncan looks too much like her father |
| Macbeth, already troubled by the murder he committed, tells Lady M what he saw and heard. She tells him, “These deeds must not be thought of this way.” Why? | He was doing it for his rightful place, not because he just felt like killing Duncan |
| Macbeth’s response is frequently quoted. What is the sense of his response? | commenting on his murder of Duncan in his sleep. Foreshadows his inability to sleep later in the play. |
| How does Lady M get Duncan’s blood on her hands? | She took the daggers from Macbeth |
| What does Macbeth’s refusal to return to Duncan’s chamber echo? | His extreme guilt |
| The Porter’s scene is much debated by scholars. What do you suppose is the dramatic purpose of a comic scene is? why is the Porter’s soliloquy in prose? What lines contain the bawdy humor often found in these types of scenes? | Relief from the tragic events. Dramatic purpose: transition between scenes so others can change. It’s supposed to be funny, not poetic. Knock, knock, knock, who’s there? Supposed to appeal to the pit people. Line 25- alcoholic humor |
| How is the theme of a crime against nature reinforced in this scene? | constant reference to the devil |
| What does Shakespeare accomplish with Macduff’s allusion to a new Gorgon? | To reference Medusa because she turns men to stone and so would the sight of Duncan |
| How does Macbeth react to the discover of Duncan’s body? | dismayed and torn apart |
| How does Lady M react? | surprised that it happened in her house |
| Who is the one who points out the inappropriateness of Lady M’s initial response? To what dramatic purpose? | Banquo, it also suggests that he is responding to suspicion that it had to do with him. |
| What is the predominant image in this scene and what effect does it create? | The end of the world, creates horror |
| What double meaning might Shakespeare intend for Macbeth’s line: “He does: he did appoint so,” in response to Lennox’s asking, “Goes the King hence today?” | He does go hence, go die. did appoint so, planned to anyway |
| What is the purpose of this scene? 2.4 | Old man who represents everyone. He’s accepting Macbeth’s statement to show how the public perceives what’s going on. |
| What addition natural, or unnatural events further the crime against nature theme? | Dark when it should be day, an owl killed a hawk, Duncan’s horses went wild and cannibalizes themselves in the moore |
Act 2 Macbeth
August 26, 2019