Macbeth Quotes Act 2

There’s husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out. (Banquo to Fleance) It’s dark tonight. There aren’t many stars out. Personification of the heavens being thrifty. Darkness motif.
Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand? (Macbeth soliloquy) Prior to killing Duncan, Macbeth has a “fatal vision” of a dagger and wonders if it is a “dagger of the mind.” Supernatural/Psychological motif.
Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it. (Lady Macbeth to herself) This is why Lady Macbeth couldn’t kill Duncan herself. First time we see her “soft side.”
Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more. (Macbeth quoting the voice her heard to Lady Macbeth) Macbeth won’t be able to sleep anymore because of what he has done. Sleep motif.
I’ll go no more; I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not. (Macbeth to Lady Macbeth) Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth to go wipe blood onto the grooms. He can’t bring himself to go back and see what he did.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? (Macbeth to himself) Macbeth feels like nothing in the world could ever rid him of the guilt of killing Duncan. Blood motif.
A little water clears us of this deed. How easy it is, then. (Lady Macbeth to Macbeth) Lady Macbeth finds the guilt easy to get rid of. Blood motif.
Wake Duncan with thy knocking; I would thou couldst. (Macbeth to knocking at the door) Macbeth expresses guilt for this action and regrets killing Duncan.
Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time. (Macbeth to Lennox, Donalbain, Lady Macbeth, Macduff, Ross, and Banquo) He says this upon being told about the dead king. He wants others to think he is innocent. Fair/Foul motif.
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. (Macduff to Lady Macbeth) – Lady Macbeth wants to know what all the commotion is about but Macduff thinks it is too grim to tell a woman. This is dramatic irony because Macduff doesn’t know that she is responsible for the murder but the audience does. Fair/foul motif. Male/Female motif.
Where we are, there’s daggers in men’s smiles; the near in blood, the nearer bloody. (Donalbain to Malcolm) Donalbain says they cannot trust the smiling faces around them; someone is a killer and because they are closely related to the king they are also in danger. Blood motif.
By th’ clock ’tis day, And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.Is ‘t night’s predominance or the day’s shameThat darkness does the face of earth entombWhen living light should kiss it? (Ross to an Old Man) Ross is commenting on how it is dark during the day and the Old Man says there are a lot of unnatural things going on since the king was killed.Nature out of Tune motif. Pathetic fallacy.
August 18, 2019