Macbeth slips up by saying that possibly King Duncan would not be going anywhere when Macduff comes to collect him. When asked by Lennox if the king was going anywhere that day, Macbeth replies, “ He Does-he did appoint so”; Macbeth is saying that the King was going places that day, well at least he said he was. When Lennox speaks about the storms that happened on the night of the Kings murder Macbeth agrees with him but again he’s very curt and just seems to be agreeing with Lennox for the sake of it, not because that’s what he truly believes, “Twas a rough night” is Macbeth’s reply. Here the characters are talking about omens in nature, and in those days nature reflected events in the human world, so the storms on the night of the Kings death were seen as a bad omen. In another of Shakespeare’s plays, Julius Caesar, there are also omens of nature when Caesar is killed. “A tempest dropping fire”, the storm is described as so fierce that it had been dropping fire. “Yesterday the bird of night did sit even as noon-day, upon the market place Hooting and shrieking”, nobody would expect a nocturnal bird like the owl to be hooting and shrieking at noon, this signified that something terrible would happen later; the storm in Macbeth also foretold that there would be a horrific happening that night.
Macbeth is asking frequent questions and attempting to act innocently, “what is’t you say-the life” he tries to act very surprised when Macduff comes back saying that the Kings’ been brutally murdered. His long and complicated speeches sound prepared and unnatural; he is very eloquent, poetic and elaborate in the way he speaks.
“Had I but not died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time”, Macbeth tries to sound distraught by saying if he’d died an hour before the king was killed he would have been holy and happy. “The wine of the life is drawn, and the mere lees is left”, Macbeth uses a metaphor by comparing wine to life. He says that all that is left are the lees at the bottom of the bottle, and that all the good wine has been drawn away. He is implying that while the King was alive, he was drinking wonderful wine, but that after the King was killed, there was nothing to live for, from great wine to lees. Again, Macbeth uses metaphors, “the fountain of your blood is stopped”, he says this to Malcolm comparing his father, Duncan, with a fountain that is no longer working. Macbeth continues speaking in metaphors and his speeches sound unnatural. He asks rhetorical questions, “Loyal and neutral in a moment? No man”, Macbeth says this after he kills the guards believed to be responsible for the kings murder, he says that how could anyone control themselves when these guards have carried out such a terrible atrocity. “His sliver skin laced with his golden blood”, another metaphor is used by Macbeth, he over praises the King referring to precious materials saying that his skin is silver and his blood is golden, Macbeth gives the King a high value.
Macduff is one of the few characters who instantly believe Macbeth to be Duncan’s murderer. “O horror, horror, horror”, this is what Maduff cried when he found the King dead, it has dramatic impact and he says it to all three sides of the theatre. Macduff believes in the divine right of kings, this meant that the King was appointed by God and therefore was sacred; Duncan’s murder was a sacrilegious one, now all hell would break loose as the King was thought to be the source of all stability. Macduuf is in so much shock after finding the King’s body that he starts to jumble up his words, when Macduff says, “Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee” he means to put tongue with name and heart with conceive. He immediately goes to wake all the others to inform them about the horror which Macduff has found. Macduff shows some genuine shock as his speeches are short and to the point, unlike like Macbeth’s long ones. Macduff says that to look at the murdered body will destroy your sight with a new Gorgon. Gorgons were three sisters in Greek mythology with snakes for hair; they were so hideous that the sight of them turned people to stone. “Great doom”, so distraught is Macduff that he describes the Kings murder as the end of the world. As the owner of the castle Macbeth would have been expected to take charge of the situation, but he is too busy covering up the murder so Macduff takes charge, showing his leadership qualities. When Macbeth returns and says that he’s killed the guards due to the blood on their hands and daggers, Macduff wonders why Macbeth should have destroyed the only way of finding out how the king died. Of course, Macbeth knows that the guards would have denied the murder, because they were innocent, and possibly they may have had information which would place more suspicion on Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth does not show enough shock considering that the King has just been murdered in her house. “Help me hence, ho!” Lady Macbeth faints just after Macbeth has finished another lengthy speech. She could have fainted due to her genuine shock and realizing what she made her husband do, or she could have just pretended to faint to distract attention form a nervous Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s time women were regarded as the weaker sex. They were thought to be timid and gentle and not strong enough to handle any hard news. As soon as Lady Macbeth faints Macduff immediately says “Look to the Lady”, Macduff is the one helping Lady Macbeth when really Macbeth should be the person doing that, this shows that Macbeth is very apprehensive.
Banquo is quite saddened at hearing the news of the Kings death. He does not say much and is clearly in shock. Banquo is suspicious of Macbeth because he notices that he seems rather twitchy and Banquo remembers that Macbeth along with Lady Macbeth were up very late the previous night wandering around the castle. “I fight of treasonous malice”, Banquo knows that the murder was carried out with intent, and he says that he will stand and fight against such “treasonous malice”.
Donalbain and Malcolm are very shocked at the death of their father and fear that they might be next. “There’s a dagger in men’s smiles”. Donalbain leaves with a telling remark about how there are “daggers in men’s smiles” all around them. This echoes the “fair is foul” theme of the play and shows a level of perception on his part. Malcolm, who was the heir to the throne, flees to England, and Donalbain flees to Ireland. It makes us wonder if he saw through Macbeth’s act. Certainly it would be hard for Macbeth to maintain the impression that he is a good reasonable man, having just admitted to a frenzied killing of two sleeping guards.
