LADY MACBETH: “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold. / What hath quenched them hath given me fire.”
- Meaning: The same alcohol that has intoxicated the guards has emboldened her.
- Theme:
- Manipulation & Deception – She drugged the guards to ensure the plan’s success.
- Irony – While alcohol has weakened the guards, it has strengthened her resolve.
- Literary Device:
- Parallelism – The structure of the two lines creates a sharp contrast between the guards’ weakness and Lady Macbeth’s strength.
“Hark!—Peace. / It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, / Which gives the stern’st good-night.”
- Meaning: She hears an owl’s shriek, which she interprets as an omen of death, like a “fatal bellman” (a night-watchman who rang a bell to announce executions).
- Theme:
- Fate & Death – The owl symbolizes doom.
- Literary Device:
- Foreshadowing – The owl’s cry predicts Duncan’s death.
- Personification (“gives the stern’st good-night”) – The owl is portrayed as delivering death’s final message.
“The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms / Do mock their charge with snores.”
- Meaning: The guards are so drunk they are unconscious and failing in their duty.
- Theme:
- Deception & Power – Lady Macbeth’s plan to frame the guards is working.
“I have drugged their possets, / That death and nature do contend about them / Whether they live or die.”
- Meaning: The guards are so heavily drugged that they seem caught between life and death.
- Theme:
- Control & Cruelty – Lady Macbeth has complete control over the guards’ fate.
- Literary Device:
- Personification (“death and nature do contend”) – Death and life are in a battle over the drugged guards.
MACBETH (offstage): “Who’s there? what, ho!”
- Meaning: Macbeth is panicking inside Duncan’s chamber, fearing discovery.
- Theme:
- Guilt & Fear – His nervousness contrasts with Lady Macbeth’s composed state.
LADY MACBETH: “Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, / And ’tis not done.”
- Meaning: She fears the plan has failed because Macbeth is taking too long.
- Theme:
- Impatience & Ruthlessness – Lady Macbeth only values the success of the crime, not morality.
“Th’ attempt and not the deed / Confounds us.”
- Meaning: If they fail, they are doomed; only completing the crime will ensure their safety.
- Theme:
- Risk & Consequence – Lady Macbeth knows hesitation is dangerous.
“Hark!—I laid their daggers ready; / He could not miss ’em.”
- Meaning: She made the murder as easy as possible for Macbeth.
- Theme:
- Manipulation – She planned every detail and left no room for error.
“Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done ’t.”
- Meaning: Lady Macbeth claims she would have killed Duncan herself if he had not looked like her father.
- Theme:
- Humanity vs. Ambition – This line hints at some remaining conscience in Lady Macbeth.
- Literary Device:
- Foreshadowing – This small hesitation contrasts with her later breakdown when guilt consumes her.
(Enter Macbeth with bloody daggers.)
- Stage Direction: Macbeth enters visibly shaken, carrying the murder weapons.
- Theme:
- Guilt & Horror – The sight of the daggers and blood makes the crime feel real.
MACBETH: “I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?”
- Meaning: Macbeth confirms the murder but is already paranoid.
- Theme:
- Immediate Regret & Fear – Macbeth is haunted by what he has done.
LADY MACBETH: “I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.”
- Meaning: She acknowledges night sounds, but unlike Macbeth, she does not view them as omens.
- Theme:
- Rationality vs. Guilt – Lady Macbeth remains practical, while Macbeth is consumed by fear.
MACBETH: “Did not you speak?” / LADY MACBETH: “Now.” / MACBETH: “As I descended?” / LADY MACBETH: “Ay.”
- Meaning: Macbeth is so paranoid that he is doubting reality, unsure if he heard voices.
- Theme:
- Madness & Psychological Breakdown – Macbeth’s mental instability begins here.
MACBETH: “Hark!—Who lies i’ th’ second chamber?” / LADY MACBETH: “Donalbain.”
- Meaning: Macbeth suddenly fixates on who is in the next room, still fearful of being caught.
- Theme:
- Paranoia & Suspicion – Macbeth is losing control, questioning everything around him.
MACBETH: “This is a sorry sight.”
- Explanation: Macbeth looks at his hands, covered in Duncan’s blood, and expresses regret and horror at what he has done.
- Analysis: This marks the beginning of Macbeth’s guilt. The phrase “sorry sight” suggests that he immediately feels the weight of his actions.
- Themes: Guilt, Regret, Consequences of Ambition
- Techniques: Alliteration (“sorry sight”) emphasizes the sadness and horror.
LADY MACBETH: “A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.”
- Explanation: Lady Macbeth dismisses his guilt, saying it’s foolish to feel sorry for what they have done.
- Analysis: She tries to control Macbeth, showing how she is initially the stronger of the two.
- Themes: Manipulation, Power in Relationships
- Techniques: Dismissive tone suggests control over Macbeth’s emotions.
MACBETH: “There’s one did laugh in’s sleep, and one cried ‘Murder!’ That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them. But they did say their prayers and addressed them again to sleep.”
- Explanation: Macbeth recalls hearing two servants stir in their sleep—one laughed, while the other cried “Murder!” but then prayed and went back to sleep.
- Analysis: Macbeth is paranoid, thinking the servants may have sensed the crime. This foreshadows his growing instability.
- Themes: Paranoia, Superstition, Fear of Justice
- Techniques: Imagery—Macbeth describes the scene in a vivid, eerie way.
LADY MACBETH: “There are two lodged together.”
- Explanation: She asks Macbeth to confirm that two people were in the room together.
- Analysis: She is practical, trying to assess the situation rather than dwell on guilt.
- Themes: Practicality vs. Emotion, Control
- Techniques: Short, direct sentence reflects her logical thinking.
MACBETH: “One cried ‘God bless us’ and ‘Amen’ the other, as they had seen me with these hangman’s hands, list’ning their fear. I could not say ‘Amen’ when they did say ‘God bless us.’”
- Explanation: Macbeth remembers that the servants prayed, but he was unable to say “Amen” with them.
- Analysis: His inability to say “Amen” reflects his spiritual corruption—he feels disconnected from God because of his crime.
- Themes: Guilt, Divine Punishment, Religion
- Techniques: Religious imagery—Macbeth’s loss of faith is emphasized.
LADY MACBETH: “Consider it not so deeply.”
- Explanation: Lady Macbeth tells him not to overthink things.
- Analysis: She believes guilt will only make things worse and wants to suppress it.
- Themes: Denial, Practicality vs. Emotion
- Techniques: Imperative tone (giving a command) shows her authority.
MACBETH: “But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’? I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ stuck in my throat.”
- Explanation: Macbeth asks why he couldn’t say “Amen” when he needed God’s blessing the most.
- Analysis: His conscience weighs heavily on him—he already fears divine punishment.
- Themes: Guilt, Religious Consequences, Morality
- Techniques: Metaphor—”stuck in my throat” shows how guilt physically affects him.
LADY MACBETH: “These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad.”
- Explanation: She warns Macbeth that if he keeps thinking about the murder, he will go insane.
- Analysis: Ironic, because later in the play, it is she who goes mad from guilt.
- Themes: Madness, Suppression of Guilt
- Techniques: Foreshadowing—Lady Macbeth herself will suffer from guilt later.
MACBETH: “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’—the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.”
- Explanation: Macbeth imagines hearing a voice saying that he has killed sleep, and now he will never rest again.
- Analysis: Sleep symbolizes peace and innocence—Macbeth has destroyed both.
- Themes: Guilt, Madness, Consequences of Murder
- Techniques:
- Personification: “Sleep” is given human qualities, making it seem like Macbeth has committed an even greater crime.
- Metaphor: Sleep is compared to a “balm,” “bath,” and “nourisher,” emphasizing its importance.
LADY MACBETH: “What do you mean?”
- Explanation: She doesn’t understand why Macbeth is so disturbed.
- Analysis: Her lack of guilt contrasts with Macbeth’s paranoia.
- Themes: Lack of Conscience, Contrast Between Characters
- Techniques: Short, blunt response shows frustration.
MACBETH: “Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house. ‘Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.’”
- Explanation: The imaginary voice continues to say that Macbeth (as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor) has murdered sleep and will never rest again.
- Analysis: Macbeth’s paranoia is increasing, and he is haunted by his actions.
- Themes: Guilt, Psychological Breakdown, Punishment
- Techniques:
- Repetition: “Sleep no more” emphasizes his growing fear.
- Personification: Sleep is treated like a living thing that Macbeth has killed.
LADY MACBETH
“Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength to think
So brainsickly of things.”
- Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth, asking who cried out. She reassures him, calling him “worthy thane” (a nobleman), trying to keep him from panicking.
- “Unbend your noble strength” means that by worrying, Macbeth is weakening himself.
- “Brainsickly” suggests that he is being irrational and overly emotional.
“Go get some water
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.”
- Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to clean the blood (“filthy witness”) from his hands. The blood is evidence of his crime, so washing it away is both literal and symbolic.
“Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there. Go, carry them and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.”
- Lady Macbeth scolds Macbeth for bringing the murder weapons back. He was supposed to leave them with Duncan’s guards to frame them for the murder.
- She orders him to return the daggers and smear the guards with blood to make them look guilty.
MACBETH
“I’ll go no more.
I am afraid to think what I have done.
Look on ’t again I dare not.”
- Macbeth refuses to return to the murder scene.
- He is too horrified by his own crime to even look at what he has done.
LADY MACBETH
“Infirm of purpose!”
- Lady Macbeth insults Macbeth, calling him weak-willed and cowardly.
“Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures. ’Tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil.”
- She takes control and says she will do it herself.
- She compares the dead to mere pictures, implying that Macbeth is acting like a child who fears an image of a devil.
- She tries to make him feel foolish for being scared.
“If he do bleed,
I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt.”
- She says she will smear Duncan’s blood on the guards.
- “Gild” (to cover in gold) is ironic because she will “gild” their faces with blood instead.
MACBETH
“Whence is that knocking?”
- He hears knocking, which symbolizes his paranoia and fear of being caught.
“How is ’t with me when every noise appalls me?”
- He is so overwhelmed with guilt that even the smallest noise terrifies him.
“What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.”
- He looks at his bloody hands and feels as if they are so horrible that they could blind him.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?”
- Macbeth wonders if even the vast ocean could wash away the blood.
- This symbolizes his guilt—he feels nothing can cleanse him of his crime.
“No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”
- Instead of the water washing away the blood, Macbeth imagines his guilt is so great that it would turn the entire sea red.
- This hyperbolic (exaggerated) imagery shows how deeply remorseful he is.
Analysis & Themes
- Guilt and Conscience
- Macbeth is immediately consumed by guilt. He cannot say “Amen,” fears noises, and believes the blood on his hands is permanent.
- Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is practical and dismissive, showing no guilt at this moment.
- Masculinity and Weakness
- Lady Macbeth insults Macbeth’s manhood, calling him “infirm of purpose” and comparing him to a child.
- This reflects her belief that masculinity is tied to ruthlessness and lack of emotion.
- Blood as a Symbol of Guilt
- Blood appears repeatedly in this scene, symbolizing guilt and the impossibility of escaping the consequences of murder.
- Lady Macbeth thinks it can be washed away easily, while Macbeth believes it will stain him forever.
- Madness and Paranoia
- Macbeth’s fear of the knocking and noises foreshadows his descent into paranoia and eventual insanity.
- Lady Macbeth dismisses these fears, but later in the play, she too will be driven mad by guilt.
LADY MACBETH
“My hands are of your color, but I shame / To wear a heart so white.”
- Meaning: Lady Macbeth acknowledges that her hands are stained with blood, just like Macbeth’s. However, she criticizes him for being weak and cowardly (“a heart so white” → white symbolizes purity and fear).
- Analysis:
- Contrast → Lady Macbeth is emotionally strong, while Macbeth is overwhelmed by guilt.
- Symbolism → Blood represents guilt, while “white” symbolizes cowardice.
- Theme: Guilt and Conscience – Macbeth feels guilty, but Lady Macbeth dismisses guilt as weakness.
“(Knock.) I hear a knocking / At the south entry. Retire we to our chamber.”
- Meaning: Someone is knocking at the door, making Lady Macbeth anxious. She tells Macbeth they must go back to their room so they don’t look suspicious.
- Analysis:
- Foreshadowing → The knocking represents the consequences of their crime catching up to them.
- Imagery → The sound of knocking increases the tension and paranoia.
- Theme: Appearance vs. Reality – They must pretend they were asleep to avoid suspicion.
“A little water clears us of this deed. / How easy is it, then!”
- Meaning: Lady Macbeth believes washing their hands will remove all traces of their crime. She thinks the problem is solved.
- Analysis:
- Irony → She later suffers from hallucinations, seeing blood on her hands that won’t wash away (“Out, damned spot!”).
- Symbolism → Water represents cleansing, but in reality, guilt is not so easily removed.
- Theme: Guilt and Conscience – She underestimates the emotional consequences of murder.
“Your constancy / Hath left you unattended.”
- Meaning: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that his courage and determination have abandoned him. He is letting fear take over.
- Analysis:
- Personification → “Constancy” (steadiness) is treated as something that can leave a person.
- Contrast → Lady Macbeth remains calm, while Macbeth is shaken.
- Theme: Masculinity and Power – Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth’s manhood by calling him weak.
“(Knock.) Hark, more knocking.”
- Meaning: The knocking continues, increasing tension.
- Analysis:
- Symbolism → The knocking represents justice and fate coming for them.
- Onomatopoeia → The sound of knocking creates suspense and paranoia.
- Theme: Fate vs. Free Will – No matter what they do, they cannot escape consequences.
“Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us / And show us to be watchers.”
- Meaning: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to put on his nightgown so that if someone sees them, they won’t look suspicious.
- Analysis:
- Theme: Deception – They must pretend to be innocent.
- Symbolism → Clothing represents deception (similar to when Macbeth hides his “black and deep desires” earlier).
“Be not lost / So poorly in your thoughts.”
- Meaning: Lady Macbeth warns Macbeth not to get lost in his guilt and overthinking.
- Analysis:
- Theme: Guilt and Conscience – Macbeth’s guilt is immediate, but Lady Macbeth remains practical.
MACBETH
“To know my deed ’twere best not know myself.”
- Meaning: Macbeth says it would be better if he didn’t think about what he had done because it makes him feel like a different person.
- Analysis:
- Paradox → Macbeth suggests that knowing what he did makes him lose his identity.
- Theme: Identity and Change – Macbeth is no longer the man he was before the murder.
“(Knock.) Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst.”
Theme: Guilt and Regret – Macbeth immediately feels remorse, unlike Lady Macbeth.
Meaning: Macbeth wishes Duncan could wake up, meaning he already regrets the murder.
Analysis:
Irony → He killed Duncan to gain power, but now he wishes he could undo it.
Metaphor → The knocking represents guilt knocking at Macbeth’s conscience.
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