Macbeth Act 2

Macbeth Act 2

1. Characters that appear

   • Banquo
   • Duncan
   • Macbeth
   • Fleance
   • Lady Macbeth
   • Duncan's Guards
   • The Porter
   • Macduff
   • Lennox
   • Malcom
   • Donalbain
   • Ross (Old man)

2. Important Quotes

   • ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my 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 thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?’ - Macbeth (Soliloquy)
   • ‘Alack! I am afraid they have awak’d, And ’tis not done; the attempt and not the deed Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss them. Had he not resembled My father as he slept I had done’t. My husband!’ - Lady Macbeth (Soliloquy)
     • ‘Why, worthy thane, You do unbend your noble strength to think So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, And wash this filthy witness from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them, and smear The sleepy grooms with blood.’
       • ‘Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures; ’tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt.’
         • ‘My hands are of your colour, but I shame To wear a heart so white. I hear a knocking At the sout entry; retire we to our chamber; A little water clears us of this deed; How easy is it, then! Your constancy Hath left you unattended.’
   • Macbeth
   • ‘But wherefore could I not pronounce ‘Amen’? I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ Stuck in my throat.’
     • ‘O! Yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them.’
   • Lady Macbeth
   • Macduff
     • ‘O horror! Horror! Horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee!’

3. Shakespearean Context