When Macbeth enters after just carrying out the murder, Lady Macbeth is worried about his state as he is covered in blood. This is tense as someone might walk in and see Macbeth covered in blood and would suspect something. The state that Macbeth is in draws tension through the audience because he is so disturbed that he might give them away. It may change their views from seeing a brave man, a war hero, to seeing a fanatical man in a daydream. It gives a different perspective on the views of Macbeth. This is effective in the drama of the play since Macbeth’s character is playing the reverse of himself.
Further on in the scene, Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth has still got the daggers on him and tries to take them back: “give me the daggers” (line 56). When Lady Macbeth must put the daggers back, she has to leave Macbeth while he is in such a poor state. This is tense as and someone might catch her returning them or see Macbeth. When she is doing this she can’t warn Macbeth if anyone is coming because he is in such a deep trance. If someone does come they would see Macbeth dripping in blood. This is very tense as if this does happen, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will be caught and makes us wonder what will happen next.
When Lady Macbeth goes to put the daggers back, there is a knock on the door. This is the tensest moment in the scene as Macbeth is in a deep fantasy and therefore not moving in response to the knock. The audience know that someone is outside the door and that if Macbeth doesn’t move he will be caught dripping in blood. This is unexpected and a noise in the quiet. This is effective in the drama of the play as it can be done in different ways.
In Lady Macbeth’s first speech, she tells us about how she drugged the guards and how “that which have made them drunk, hath made me bold.” This is of dramatic interest because she needs to be made bold and is not naturally bold. Before she acted very fearlessly in front of Macbeth, yet on the inside she says that she isn’t, and that drink has to make her brave. This is shown clearly when there is an owl shriek as she is very shocked at first “Hark, peace!” When Macbeth says, "Who's there? What, ho!" she thinks they might of woken up and found out her plot: “Alack, I am afraid they have awakened, and ‘tis not done. The attempt and not the deed confound us.” (Lines 9-10) This builds interest in the audience as it makes them think will they be caught or not? Who is out there? When Lady Macbeth says “If he not resembled / my father as he slept, I had done’t” (line 13) she must have been in Duncan’s room earlier and seen him to able to say this. This is interesting because why was she in Duncan’s room earlier?
When Macbeth first appears after just killing Duncan, he is obsessed by his inability to say Amen and by a voice crying “sleep no more: Macbeth does murder sleep.” (Lines 38-39) This upsets him since sleep keeps mind in working order and without it he will go mad. Only people with a clear conscience can rest. It is surprising that Macbeth is so upset about killing Duncan as he has taken so many lives before, yet now he has been badly effected.
It is ironic that Lady Macbeth should mention ‘It will make us mad,’ (line 38)
as later on in the play, Lady Macbeth tries to clear a mark from her hands and can’t get rid of the blood. She always smells it but tries to cover it up with perfume. By then she is mad and guilty. In the first scene when we see Lady Macbeth, she called out “come thick night” and by this she wanted darkness. Further on in the play she is petrified of it because of the evil it holds. These are both dramatic irony.
As Macbeth is making himself weak thinking things of not being able to sleep and being cut off from his god, Lady Macbeth tries to make him see otherwise and tells him that he is “unbending” his “noble strength” to think so “brain-sickly” things. This is true since later on Macbeth frequently has hallucinations of which affect him badly and make him feel that he has to keep on killing to get these things out of his mind. It is ironic as Lady Macbeth persuaded him to do the murder and therefore undid his nobility.
Macbeth starts to realise the size of the crime when the voice tells him he can sleep no more. He starts to imagine things about babies and shawls. This signifies vulnerability and innocence, which Macbeth no longer has. Not only has Macbeth killed the king but also self harmed himself internally: emotionally and spiritually.
Throughout this scene, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have been reacting in different ways. While Macbeth has been regretful about killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth has tried to be supportive towards him and not ashamed of what they have done: “A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.” (Line 20) She has been taking control and very matter of fact towards
Macbeth, giving commands to him like a mother – “Go get some water / and wash this filthy witness from your hand” (lines 49-50) while before it was always him giving the instructions. Macbeth through this feels cut off from all things good and is always on edge, therefore never being relaxed again. The language Shakespeare writes in helps us define this as Lady Macbeth’s speeches are very short and clippie, while Macbeth uses repetition, long words, short sentences showing he has gone into himself.
Shakespeare doesn’t let you see Macbeth murder Duncan. This may be because it is difficult to do and puts too much tension upon the audience. If Shakespeare did show this murder being carried out, will Macbeth do it quickly or take his time? Another view upon this is that if we saw Macbeth murder an old man in his sleep, we might lose interest in him and want him to be punished, otherwise feel more sorry for him and feel a pity for what he is going through.
Shakespeare also poses a lot of questions during this scene for the audience to answer themselves. This gets the audience more active in the play and creates anticipation because the audience want to know if they answered the questions correctly: “I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?” (Lines 14-15) This creates a lot of keenness because the audience are wondering ‘what if someone did hear a noise, what would happen to Macbeth’. The questions Shakespeare uses during the play are very significant because these create a lot of expectation with in the audience and the play.
In Shakespearean times, the plays were all done in an amphitheatre around mid-day. This was done because it was the best time for light, while now there is electricity so light doesn’t come of accustom to us. For the audience then everything had to be explained in the drama of the play, as there were no backgrounds or many props. This is the main reason why Shakespeare has to extenuate in his language, to get the image across to the audience so they could understand without the surroundings what was going on.
Shakespeare crates tension and dramatic interest throughout this scene and does it in a number of different ways through drama and language. In my opinion he does it very well and gets the audience involved within the play. During this we have seen how Lady Macbeth and Macbeth react in different ways and learnt more about their characters. This is the most important scene in the play and is done clearly and is well explained.
