In this essay "Act 2, Scene 2" will be assessed and discussed and the variety of the techniques that Shakespeare has used to create tension will be highlighted.
Macbeth, one of the most famous English tragedies was written by Shakespeare some time between 1603 and 1606. At that time King James I was the king of both England and Scotland and the play was first performed in front of the king. "Macbeth" is set in medieval Scotland and the actual story was taken from a book called "Holinshed's Chronicles". The story was about King James's ancestor, from whom he had inherited the throne of Scotland. There was a general concept with regard to kingship and loyalty, which was a belief in the appointment of the king by God! The worst crime possible was regicide or an attempt to assassinate the king. The people and the king also believed in the existence of Devil. They believed that the devil's aim was to use his power to deceive people and lead them to hell. Witches were known as the devil's servants and as the source of disasters and misfortunes. In such a period Shakespeare wrote his tragedy "Macbeth".
In this scene we see Lady Macbeth return from Duncan's chamber, where she makes the necessary preparations for the murder. She is pacing around the castle's ramparts in a nervous but excited state, waiting for Macbeth to come back from his night business (murder). She starts to speak to herself. She talks about her husband and says, "He is about it". As she moves around she tells us how she pictures the scene: the chamber and the unconscious guards; "The doors are open and the surfeited grooms do mock their charge with snores". Then she says how deeply she has drugged the guards so much so that life and death are contending whether they are alive or dead. Macbeth appears on a landing above for a moment and continues to descend the stairs. Lady Macbeth speaks. She is afraid that after all, the guards have awakened and Macbeth couldn't finish the job. Also she says she would have done the murder herself, if Duncan didn't look like her father as he slept. Macbeth asks her if she heard a noise, and she answers she heard an owl hooting and crickets cry. Macbeth asks who lies in the second chamber. "Donalbain" she answers. Macbeth looks at his bloody hands. He cannot believe that he has committed such an evil crime and he is ashamed of it; "This is a sorry sight." Lady Macbeth ridicules his thoughts. Then Macbeth describes the horror of the murder.
Macbeth is shocked and horrified by his deed, Lady Macbeth however is thinking clearly. She tells him to go and wash his hands to get rid of the guilty blood. She thinks they can be cleaned by a little water. She is appalled when she notices the bloody daggers in her husband's hands. They were supposed to have been placed next to the guards. Lady Macbeth tells him to carry the daggers to the place and smear the blood on the sleepy grooms but Macbeth refuses. He is intimidated by his deed. After Lady Macbeth mocks him, she ...
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Macbeth is shocked and horrified by his deed, Lady Macbeth however is thinking clearly. She tells him to go and wash his hands to get rid of the guilty blood. She thinks they can be cleaned by a little water. She is appalled when she notices the bloody daggers in her husband's hands. They were supposed to have been placed next to the guards. Lady Macbeth tells him to carry the daggers to the place and smear the blood on the sleepy grooms but Macbeth refuses. He is intimidated by his deed. After Lady Macbeth mocks him, she grabs the daggers and leaves the ramparts. A sound of knocking scares Macbeth. Lady Macbeth returns from the chamber and shows her hands. Now they are both covered in blood, she is as guilty as Macbeth. She tells him "My hands are of your colour: but I shame to wear a heart so white." They wash their hands quickly and return to their chamber.
One of the ways that Shakespeare builds up tension is the dreadfulness of the murder. Duncan is a king whose kindness and compassion make him popular, furthermore is a guest in Macbeth's castle. Duncan trusts his cousin, Macbeth, therefore it is Macbeth's duty to protect the king while he is in Macbeth's castle. Macbeth's responsibility is to prepare a comfortable place for the king. Instead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan to kill the king while he is sleeping in their home. Macbeth is ambitious even though he is the second most powerful man in Scotland, he and Lady Macbeth covet the crown of Scotland. Lady Macbeth and his ambition push him to kill the king against his nature. Macbeth sneaks into the chamber and commits the evil murder while king is asleep. Macbeth doesn't give Duncan a chance to defend himself. After he has murdered Duncan, Macbeth and his wife frame the innocent grooms as that they will be blamed for the murder. Shakespeare also doesn't write about what actually happens in the chamber; it must have been brutal for there to have been so much blood. He is covered in blood! Blood is dripping from the daggers, when Macbeth joins Lady Macbeth. They never use the word "MURDER" because all the way through this scene, they are afraid to get caught and they don't use the word as that they won't have to face what they have done. Macbeth knows he will never be cleaned of this vile deed. He says, "Will all great Neptune's Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" then he answers himself and says the blood will change the greenish colour of the seawater to red.
Another of the ways in which Shakespeare builds up tension is the way that characters behave in this scene. Lady Macbeth is pacing about in the ramparts nervously. She is afraid that their plan might fail of the plan and through this scene both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are terrified that they will be caught. Through out this scene Lady Macbeth is always afraid of two things; she is afraid of getting caught as they go about their "business". Also in this scene she is anxious about the possibility that she will not be able to realise her ambition because she doesn't trust her husband to go through with the murder that is why she thought of killing Duncan herself. As Macbeth and his wife join together after the murder, at first they do not speak in sentences. They use utterances which are highly charged with fear and excitement. This creates dramatic tension.
In this scene Macbeth is falling apart and terrified but his wife seems to be calm and in control. This is because Macbeth committed the murder and Lady Macbeth had only prepared the way for her husband. The way that Macbeth describes the murder and the way that he reacts when he sees his guilty hands, reminds him and the audience of the brutal murder which has horrified and shocked the audience. Another fact that astonishes the audience is way that Lady Macbeth behaves; despite the fact that she is a woman, she acts as if nothing important has happened although they have murdered the king of Scotland in their castle. This reminds the audience of 'Act I Scene V" where she asks evil spirits to "unsex" her and fill her with "direst cruelty" (page 37).
Shakespeare also used sound effects in the scene to create tension. The first sound effect is an owl hooting, while Lady Macbeth is pacing about in highly anxious state thinking about how the murder is going to end. She hears a screech owl, which breaks the cruel night and scares Lady Macbeth for a while. She calls the owl a "fatal bellman" which would have warned the audience that someone is going to die. If we look at this scene carefully, we will find Lady Macbeth is the one scared by real sounds, but she relates them quickly to the proper sources instantly, while Macbeth is the one that uses his imagination with his sense of hearing and this shows how apprehensive he is by what he has done. It helps to increase the dramatic tension in this scene.
Another sound effect is the loud knocking on the door when Lady Macbeth leaves her husband in the ramparts to place the daggers in the chamber. At that time Macbeth was thinking about what he had done and the sound terrifies him, "Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me". The repetition of knocks increases the tension more so as both Macbeth and his wife are anxious about the possibility that their horrific act still can be found out.
Imagery is another technique that Shakespeare increase dramatic tension in this scene. Firstly when Lady Macbeth is pacing around the ramparts she hears the shriek of an owl (usually a symbol of ill-omen) and she cries "Peace!" But she immediately takes the shriek as a good omen, because in Shakespeare's period, the screech of an owl was compared to a "Fatal Bellman". ("Fatal Bellman" who was the person sent to spend the night with a man sentenced to death and the bellman used to ring a bell until the execution morning.). It brings the imagery of death and execution to the audience's minds, which increases the dramatic tension in this part.
Another way that dramatic tension is created is when Macbeth describes the scene of the murder for his wife. First of all it is very interesting that Shakespeare chooses to have Macbeth kill Duncan offstage. The audience can only imagine what happens in the chamber. The bloody imagery that audiences create in their minds is much worse than anything that could be written. There is some imagery when Macbeth describes the scene of the murder. He was in the chamber holding the daggers, when one of the sleepy grooms wakes up and prays and the other groom replies "Amen", "One cried God bless us, and Amen the other..." But as Macbeth tried to say "Amen", he couldn't pronounce it. It was the time of his greatest need of blessing, he goes on but "Amen" stuck in his throat. Afterward Macbeth imagines a voice crying in his mind: "Macbeth does murther sleep, the innocent sleep" These two images show how cruel the deed is. He could not to respond to his daily prayer, the thing that he used to do everyday, also he will not be able to sleep anymore. Another image that can be examined is when Macbeth is alone in the ramparts waiting for his wife to return from the chamber. He looks at his guilty hands and imagines that they are coming to life. Macbeth imagines they are trying to pull out his eyes; "What hands are here? Hah: they pluck out mine eyes." By this imagery, Shakespeare tries to imply the terrible fact of the murder and the sin that is not going to be cleaned from them, sooner or later it is going to kill them.
Shakespeare has created tension in this scene in a variety of ways. One of the ways is the way that he describes the fact of the murder and how they are covered in blood and terror. Tension is also built up by the way that the characters behave in this scene; their use of short sentences and the contrast between the ways they react after the murder. Another way in which Shakespeare builds up tension is the use of effective sound effects through out this scene; door knocking and owl shrieks. Dramatic tension is also increased by the imaginations of both Macbeth and his wife. Throughout this scene Shakespeare has wisely chosen different techniques at the time and it still works today.
