One of the ways Shakespeare builds up tension in Act 2 Scene 2 is the way he uses short sentences that aren’t straight to the point. For example when Lady Macbeth says “That which hath made me drunk hath made me bold”, leaving you thinking what she’s talking about. At the end he builds up tension by speeding up the sound effects and slowing down the speech so the audience begins to feel anxious and in their mind think, hurry up! For instance when the door keeps knocking and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to wash the blood off their hands and get into their room so they can act like they’re innocent before the people knocking come in and see awake and bloody. To build even more tension Macbeth stops and says “To know my deed, knock twere best not know myself, wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou could’st.” He is regretting murdering Duncan and is panicking while Lady Macbeth is calm and together trying to get Macbeth the same way. For example when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to take back the daggers he replies, “I am afraid, to think what I have done look on’t again, I dare not.” Then a little later after Lady Macbeth plants the daggers on the sleeping guards and comes back to wash the blood off her hands she shows her calm controlling abilities and tries to reassure Macbeth by saying “A little water clears us of this deed.” The most important thing, however, is Lady Macbeth is calm and in control and Macbeth is not.
Another way Shakespeare builds up tension is Act 2 Scene 2 is the imagery. For instance Shakespeare gives you the horrible image of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth covered in King Duncan’s blood after the murder. Shakespeare doesn’t write about how the murder was but Macbeth comes back covered in blood with bloody daggers, which is leaving the goings on of the murder to your imagination, and since Macbeth came back bloody Lady Macbeth says to him, “Go get some water, and wash this filthy witness from your hand.” Macbeth was also supposed to plant the daggers on the guards, but instead brought them back, which is why Lady Macbeth says “Go carry, the daggers, and smear the sleepy grooms with blood” and Macbeth says “I’ll go no more: I am afraid, to think what I have done look o’nt again, I dare not.” So Lady Macbeth had to take the daggers back herself and get bloody. When she comes back she says to Macbeth “My hands are of the colour: but I shame to wear a heart so white” Which is calling Macbeth a coward or cat. She then says “A little water clears us of this deed” which is reassuring her and him.
Tension is even built up through the sound effects. It is not very normal to have tension built by sound effects in a book but Shakespeare does it effectively, because in those days an owl and/or a cricket symbolised death. Breaking the silence in the environment that Lady Macbeth was in, when she was waiting for Macbeth to come back from killing Duncan, in Act 2 Scene 2 made her jump and, in a way, makes the audience jump which reminds her of the outside world and puts her on edge. The sound of the owl and the crickets also reminds the audience that Macbeth has upset the natural order. You could tell Lady Macbeth got scared while she was waiting for Macbeth because when the owl cries she says, “Hark peace: I was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman.” She also hears the owl scream, and the crickets cry which symbolises death. Another sound effect was the knocking door, which makes everyone jump. “Knock I hear knocking at the south entry: Retire we to our chamber” which was said in a way as if they were alarmed. Another example is “knock Hark, more knocking get on your nightgown lest occasion call us.” As soon as Lady Macbeth says, “Hark” the audience knows she’s scared and surprised and since it happened so suddenly and frequently it makes the audience jump and think who, and what is that, which is why sound effects build up tension in Macbeth.
One more noticeable way Shakespeare builds up tension in the scene is the way he leaves you to use your imagination. For example the way he doesn’t explain the way Macbeth kills Duncan he just leaves it for you to make it as gruesome as you want. You just know Macbeth is covered in blood after, which is a horrible image. “Will great Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one, red.” This means his hands are so bloody they would turn a whole green ocean red which gives the audience an idea on how bloody Macbeth’s hands are. Murder is a horrible image too, especially murder while in your sleep, and because Macbeth murdered Duncan in his sleep, which is the natural end to everyday, he thinks he has murdered sleep because of a voice he heard. “Sleep no more: Macbeth does murther sleep, the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, the death of each days life, sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.” The voice said something else that made Macbeth worried “Sleep no more to all the House: Glamis hath murther’d sleep, and therefore cawdor sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.” Sleep is a privilege only the innocent deserve and Macbeth is not innocent so he doesn’t deserve sleep. Macbeth is also unable to say Amen we know this from when he says “I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat” which means he feels guilty and reminds the audience of the monstrosity of a crime he has committed by killing the king, (regicide), which in those days was like going against Gods authority. Macbeth not being able to say Amen was another sign reminding the audience that he has committed a major crime and upset the natural order and will be punished severely which largely increases the tension.
Shakespeare created tension in a variety of ways in Act 2 Scene 2 ‘Macbeth.’ The most effective way, however, is the imagery but there are more ways. For example the sound effects, the length of the sentences and the punctuation. Not many writers can create tension with sound effects in a book but Shakespeare definitely can which is a good characteristic for a writer. If Shakespeare created tension in his plays so well imagine if he lived long enough to make a movie.
BY: KALLAI JOHNSON-HIBBERT
11.5
