Act 2

Question 1

What happens in Act 2 Scene 1?

Answer 1

• Banquo feels like something is wrong.
• He encounters Macbeth
• Banquo says he dreamt of the witches, Macbeth says he doesn’t think of them.
• Macbeth imagines seeing a dagger in front of him, leading him to Duncan.

Question 2

What theme does the dagger speach enhance for the audience?

Answer 2

• Appearance vs reality theme

Question 3

How is Banquo contrasted with Macbeth in Act 2 Scene 1?

Answer 3

• He is open about how he feels about the witches.
• Macbeth has surrendered his will to the witches, only Banquo’s dreams are invaded.

Question 4

What did the Jacobean audience believe was the “heat- opressed brain?”

Answer 4

• Heat was considered a fluid that could cause hallucinations.

Question 5

What quote shows that Macbeth is hallucinating and gone mad from the dagger speach?

Answer 5

• “Art thou a dagger of the mind, a false creation”

Question 6

Why did Shakespeare use the dagger speach (2)?

Answer 6

• Show how mad Macbeth has become from the witches.
• PTSD –> war- like brain (some productions show it like this.)
• Shows that he is trying to dettach himself from the action he is about to do.

Question 7

What does Macbeth do to the supernatural in his dagger speach?

Answer 7

• He blames the supernatural for the actions he is about to do.
  BUT
• “thou marshals’t me the way I was going”

Question 8

What happens in Act 2, Scene 2?

Answer 8

• Macbeth enters onto Lady Macbeth, carrying two bloody daggers.
• Macbeth’s guilt torments him
• Lady Macbeth attempts to rationalise his fears.
• Criticises Macbeth for brining daggers
• Knocking on gate…. PORTER

Question 9

How do Lady Macbeth and Macbeth speak when the murder was comitted?

Answer 9

• Short sentences
• PANICK

Question 10

Give a quote from Act 2 Scene 2 that shows how guilty Macbeth feels.

Answer 10

-“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand.”

Question 11

Why does Macbeth say that he “shall sleep no more?”

Answer 11

• Sleep was seen as a reward from God in Jacobean times.
• Macbeth is undeserving of this.

Question 12

How does Lady Macbeth respond to Macbeth saying that all Neptune’s ocean won’t wash the blood from his hands?

Answer 12

“My hands are of your colour but I shame to wear a heart so white.”

Question 13

How does Macbeth’s vocabulary change when he speaks about great Neptune’s ocean?

Answer 13

• At first it is vague, “multitudinous” –> cloud in his mind, unable to think straight.
• “Make the green red “–> Simple vocabulary, allows Macbeth and audience to come to the truth.

Question 14

Why is Duncan’s murder not shown for the audience to see?

Answer 14

• Shakespeare didn’t want anyone to come up with any ideas of how to kill the current monarch.
• Tragic hero: still seeing Macbeth as human - not fully hating him.

Question 15

What film adaptation shows the death of Duncan on screen?
What does this show?

Answer 15

• 1971 Roman Polanski version
• Shows royalty has lessened in importance.

Question 16

What was The Great Chain of Being?

Answer 16

• The idea that God set an order for everyone on Earth.
• If a bad king went into control, everything in that country would be in havock.

Question 17

What are the different metaphors The Porter speaks about in his speach?

Answer 17

• Greed: hoarded crops to sell at inflated prices.
• Equivicator: doesn’t lie or tell the truth–> reference to Gunpowder Plot
• Theft –> tailor stealing (motif of clothes)

Question 18

How is Macbeth’s greed shown by killing King Duncan?

Answer 18

• Cannot wait for fate to take its course –> greedy (unlike Banquo.)

Question 19

What does the equivicator from The Porter’s speach link to? i’m

Answer 19

• Jesuit Priest, Henry Garnet was hanged for lying about knowledge of Gunpowder Plot.
• Modern - day audience may not understand this allusion.

Question 20

What is the purpose of the Porter?

Answer 20

• Comic relief
• Develops key themes like: hell, ambition, deciet, theft, desire.

Question 21

What is the context of the Porter in Medieval plays?

Answer 21

• Porter admitted sinners to hell.

Question 22

What does Macduff say once he sees the King has been murdered?

Answer 22

“O horror, horror, horror.”

Question 23

What does Macduff say to Lady Macbeth when she asks what is happening?

Answer 23

“the repetition in a woman’s ear would murder as it fell.”
- Shows view of women IN the play
- Weak….

Question 24

What does Macduff say about the goodness of Duncan?

Answer 24

• He calls Duncan
• “Lord’s annointed temple.”

Question 25

How does Macbeth “react” to Duncan’s death in front of others?

Answer 25

• All the goodness of life is gone.
• He says he got angry and killed the guards out of hate towards them.
• He explains the indecency of the act.

Question 26

How does Lady Macbeth help Macbeth in Act 2 Scene 3?

Answer 26

• She faints to stop Macbeth from continuing to speak about The King, potentially making people suspicious.

Question 27

What do Malcom and Donlbain plan to do at the end of Act 2 Scene 3?

Answer 27

• Malcom goes to England
• Donlbain goes to Ireland.
• (could be seen as cowardly.)

Question 28

What is the narrative pace in Act 2 like?

Answer 28

• Very action- packed.
• ## Slows down in Scene 4, so we can sum up everything that has happened.

Question 29

What does the old man in Scene 4 speak about?

Answer 29

• How Macbeth’s actions have broken the natural order.

Question 30

What is the contrast between Ross and Macduff in Scene 4?

Answer 30

• Ross is attending Macbeth’s coronation.
• Macduff doesn’t want to attend–> Macbeth gets annoyed by this.
• Macduff is scared of what will happen when Macbeth becomes King

Question 31

What is the purpose of Act 2?

Answer 31

• Shows the chaos that comes from the murder and different characater’s reactions.