Act 2 Flashcards
Summary
M kills D in his sleep, but is so shaken that Lady M has to take charge, framing D’ servants. The body is discovered in the morning, and D’s sons Malcolm and Donaldbain flee to England and Ireland. Macbeth assumes the title of King of Scotland and Banquo grows suspicious.
S1 “Is this a dagger…”
“Is this a dagger I see before me,
The handle towardmy hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art though but a dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?” (M just before killing D)
S1 “Hear it not…”
“Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.” (M just before killing D)
S2 “Could I not pronounce….”
“But wherefore I could not pronounce ‘Amen’?
I had the most need of blessing and ‘Amen’
Stuck in my throat.” (M’s regret for killing D)
S2 “Sleep no more…”
“Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep,
Sleep that its up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast” (M’s regret for killing D)
S2 “A little water…”
” A little water clears us of this deed.
How easy it is then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended.” (Lady M saying how easy it is to wash her hands of killing D)
S3 “Had I lived an hour…”
“Had I lived an hour before this chance,
I had liv’d a blessed time” (M after D’s body is found, feigning innocence. Irony of the statement very obvious)
S4 “A falcon towr’ring…”
“A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place
Was by a mousing owl haw’d and kill’d.” (Old man saying how the chain of being is broken after D has died)
S4 “Duncan’s horses…”
“Duncan’s horses […]
Turn’d wild in nature, broke their stalls “ […] “‘Tis said they eat each other.” (Chain of Being broken)
