Macbeth Act 2 and 3

So I lose none/In seeking to augment it, but still keep/My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,/I shall be counsell’d. Banquo to Macbeth: as long as Banquo doesn’t lose honor, he will do whatever Macbeth says.
Is this a dagger which I see beforw me,/The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee./I have thee not, yet I see thee still. Macbeth soliloquy: Macbeth imagines a dagger in front of him because he is thinking of killing Duncan.
I laid their daggers ready;/He could not miss ’em. Had he not resembled/My father as he slept, I had done’t. Lady Macbeth to herself: She made the mrder easier for Macbeth by laying the daggers out in Duncan’s bedroom, but she would have killed him herself if he didn’t look like her sleeping father.
List’ning their fear I could not say “Amen,”/When they did say “God bless us!” Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: Macbeth Macbeth has lost his relationship with God and is not worthy of prayer. The word being stuck in his throat shows his remorse for the murder.
Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house. / “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.” Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: He is feeling great anxiety because of the murder and heard voices telling him that he will no longer sleep due to his heavy guilt.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/The multitudinous seas incarnadine,/Making the green one red. Macbeth to himself: His hands will forever be “stained” with the blood, or guilt, of Duncan’s murder and not even all the water in the ocean could rid the deed from his hands.
My hands are of your color, but I shame/To wear a heart so white. Lady Macbeth to Macbeth: she is just as guilty of the murder as he is, but she is not as cowardly as he is in its aftermath.
Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Porter to Macduff: The porter is describing the three things that drinking causes a man to do to Macduff, who noticed that he is having a rough time getting up to answer the door.
The night has been unruly. Where we lay,/Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,/Lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death Lennox to Macbeth: Lennox is describing the night’s strange events, and Shakespeare made them happen to show how nature is reflecting the murder’s large impact on the world.
O horror, horror, horror!/ Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee! Macduff to the house: He is screaming in despair because he has just found the Duncan’s dead body.
Confusion now hath made his masterpiece./Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope/The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence/The life o’ th’ building! Macduff to Macbeth and Lennox: Macduff compares Duncan’s murder to someone breaking into God’s temple, representing the great nobility Duncan’s men hold him under.
Had I but died an hour before this chance,/I had lived a blessèd time, for from this instant/There’s nothing serious in mortality. Macbeth to Banquo, Lennox, and Ross: This is a double meaning that if Macbeth has actually died an hour ago, he wouldn’t have killed Duncan and would’ve lived a more blessed life, but he acts like he’s referring to how Duncan’s death is affecting him.
And when we have our naked frailties hid,/That suffer in exposure, let us meet/And question this most bloody piece of work,/To know it further. Banquo to Macduff, Macbeth, Lennox, Ross, Malcolm, and Donalbain: When all of them get undressed out of their nightclothes and into something more suitable, they will discuss what happened.
Our separated fortune/shall keep us both the safer. Where we are,/There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood,/The nearer bloody. Donalbain to Malcolm: The two sons of Duncan are discussing their plans to flee from the kingdom so they are not murdered as well.
But this sore night/Hath trifled former knowings. The old man to Ross: The old man is discussing with Ross how strange things have been happening during the night since Duncan’s death because the murder put the world into such large disorder.
Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,/As the weird women promised, and I fear/Thou played’st most foully for ‘t. Banquo soliloquy: Banquo is beginning to suspect that Macbeth killed Duncan to fulfill the prophecy the witches told them.
As far my lord, as will fill up the time/’Twix this and supper. Go not my horse the better,/I must become a borrower of the night/For a dark hour or twain. Banquo to Macbeth: Banquo is telling Macbeth where he will be and at what time while his banquet is going on so Macbeth can utilize the information later to murder Banquo and Fleance.
Fail not our feast. Macbeth to Banquo: This is an example of dramatic irony where Macbeth is telling Banquo not to miss the feast even though he knows Banquo will not live to make it there.
To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus. Macbeth soliloquy: Being the king cannot bring him happiness if he is not safely the king.
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,/Which in his death were perfecto Macbeth to the murderers: in the midst of him convincing them to stick through the plan of murdering Banquo, he says that he will be healthy when Banquo is dead.
And though I could/With barefaced power sweep him from my sight/And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,/For certain friends that are both his and mine,/Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall Macbeth to Murderers: he is justifying why he cannot go through with the murder by telling them that although he could use his power as a king to get rid of Banquo, their mutual friends would be upset with him if he did.
We have scorched the snake, not killed it./She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice/Remains in danger of her former tooth. Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: Although they have killed Duncan, the problem is not solved until Banquo and Fleance are killed…but he is not telling Lady Macbeth this.
Naught’s had, all’s spent,/Where our desire is got without content,/’Tis safer to be that which we destroy/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. Lady Macbeth to herself: She is beginning to have anxiety about the murder as well and realizes it is better to be the one murdered than the one who did the killing and live in fear.
Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,/Till thou applaud the deed. Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: He is telling her that when she discovers that he murders Banquo and Fleance, she will be happy.
O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!/Thou may’st revenge- O slave! Banquo to Fleance: The murderers begin attacking Banquo so he tells Fleance to flee. To some, this is considered the climax of the story.
Then comes my fit again. I had else been perfect,/Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,/As broad and general as the casing air. Macbeth aside: if Fleance had been killed, he would’ve been completely safe. But because Fleance escaped, he remains a constant threat and could come back to haunt Macbeth.
There the grown serpent lies. The worm that’s fled/Hath nature that in time will venom breed;/No teeth for the present. Macbeth aside: Although Fleance is not at immediate danger to him now, he will grow to become a threat to Macbeth.
The table’s full. Macbeth to Ross and the men at the table: Macbeth is imagining Banquo’s ghost sitting in the chair Ross presents to him because of his remorse for the murder.
Thou canst not say that I did it. Never shake/Thy gory locks at me. Macbeth to Banquo’s ghost: Macbeth is panicking about Banquo’s apparent presence but knows he is unable to reveal Macbeth’s deed.
This is the very painting of your fear./This is the air-drawn dagger which you said/Led you to Duncan. Lady Macbeth to Macbeth: Lady Macbeth passes Macbeth’s sighting of Banquo as another hallucination and wants him to compose himself for the party guests.
It will have blood, they say. Blood will have blood. Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: Macbeth is paranoid about Banquo haunting him, despite him being dead, and is encouraged by an old saying describing the death having their revenge.
I am in blood/Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/Returning were as tedious as go o’er. Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: He has made it so far in to killing for their happiness that stopping now would be just as difficult as continuing to murder.
We are yet but young in deed. Macbeth to Lady Macbeth: They are beginners in committing crime, and their killing has just begun.
Saucy and over old, how did you dare/To trade and Traffic with Macbeth/In riddles and affairs of death,/And I, the mistress of your charms,/The close contriver of all harms,/Was never called to bear my part,/Or show the glory of our art? Hecate to the witches: Hecate is annoyed because she was not consulted by the witches about their scheming with Macbeth and she would like to be involved.
Whom, you may say, if ‘t please you, Fleance killed,/For Fleance fled. Lennox to another Lord: Because everyone suspects Malcolm and Donalbain of Duncan’s murder for fleeing, he makes a sarcastic remark about how Fleance must have killed Banquo because he fled as well.
Did he not straight/In pious rage the two delinquents tear/That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep? Lennox to other Lord: Lennox is conspiring about the legitimacy of Macbeth’s reasoning and whether it was necessary for him to kill Duncan’s murderers despite their defenseless states and lack of defense.
The son of Duncan-/From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth-/Lives in the English court and is rechecked of the most pious Edward with such grace/That the malevolence of misfortune nothing/Takes from his high respect. Lord to Lennox: One of Duncan’s sons lives with a highly-riveted King Edward who is too honorable to take in someone that he believes committed such a harsh crime as murder. He is also suspicious of Macbeth and refers to him as a tyrant, which has a negative connotation.
Some holy angel/Fly to the court of England and unfold/His message ere he come, that a swift blessing/May soon return to this our suffering country/Under a hand accursed! Lennox to Lord: Lennox is hoping that Macduff should return to Scotland and free them from Macbeth’s tyrannical rule.
August 15, 2019