A PowerPoint Summary

Find Macbeth’s first soliloquy in Act I. Act 2, Scene 1 Banquo tells Macbeth he dreamt of the witches. Macbeth lies to Banquo, telling him that he “think[s] not of them.” Macbeth’s second soliloquy: “Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand?” Find Macbeth’s first soliloquy in Act I. What was Macbeth’s first soliloquy about?

Act 2, Scene 2 Macbeth murders the King while his guards are drunk asleep. Lady Macbeth observes that she would have done the deed herself “If Duncan hadn’t looked so much like [her] father as he slept.” (She has a weakness, but acts “tough”). Macbeth botches the job. He returns to his chamber bloody and with the murder weapons, which he was supposed to plant on the guards. Lady Macbeth, after chastising her husband as a “weak-willed creature,” plants the dagger and returns… now just as bloody as her husband. Remember: 1. “Macbeth has murdered sleep.” 2. “Can all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from off my hand?”

Act 2, Scene 3 In most of his tragedies, Shakespeare balances scenes of intense drama or action with lighter scenes – which often contain crude, offensive humor. Macbeth is no different. Act 2, scene 3 immediately follows Duncan’s murder and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s unexpected(?) admission that they feel guilt. This scene is commonly called the “porter” scene. The persistent knocking of Macduff and Lennox (two of Duncan’s very loyal thanes) wakens the castle’s porter, who shuffles toward the gate – still a little drunk from the night before – to admit the knocker. Why does the porter take so long to open the gate?

Act 2, Scene 3, cont. Macduff and Lennox have come to meet Duncan and leave with him from Inverness (the castle). Macbeth – who has “just awakened” – tells Macduff to go ahead and get Duncan. Macduff, of course, comes back screaming the news that the King’s been murdered. Macbeth acknowledges that he killed the King’s obviously guilty guards – he says he could not restrain his anger at their treachery. Macduff tells Lady Macbeth that the details of murder scene are so terrible that “the reciting of [them] in a woman’s ear would kill her as she heard [them].” Macolm and Donalbain – the King’s sons – agree to leave Scotland.

Act 2, Scene 4 Outside Macbeth’s castle, an Old Man and Ross (another thane loyal to Duncan) talk of the strange occurrences of the night before. “The heavens [were] troubled by men’s sins, punishing this bloody world.” Besides the night’s storminess, the two also observed that the sun was dark – “snuffed out by the darkness of night” – and that Duncan’s beautiful and well-bred horses killed each other and became cannibals. Macduff and Ross seem to agree that Malcolm and Donalbain’s quick departure from Scotland makes them look guilty. Macbeth, says Ross, is in Scone for his coronation. Macduff makes it clear that he has no intention of attending.