Macbeth
Re-read Act 2 Scene 4. What is revealed here about the play's themes? Is there any indication of the events which follow? Pay particular attention to the language and quote in support of the points you make.
In Act 2 Scene 4, the Thane of Ross and an old man are discussing the night of Duncan's murder and the unnatural events that have followed. Macduff enters the scene, bringing the other two men's information up-to-date. There are a variety of themes explored in Macbeth but this scene focuses on the unnatural. By highlighting the unnatural events, Shakespeare would have succeeding in showing the disorder following the death of the King.
Outside Macbeth's castle, Ross enters with an old man. The pair are in deep discussion with Duncan's murder fresh in their minds. The old man thinks back over the last seventy years and comments on how all past events now seem trivial in comparison to the murder of the King of Scotland. The old man appears only once in this dramatic and tragic play. His function could perhaps be that of the chorus in a Greek tragedy. This is because like the chorus, he comments on the recent action, shows how this recent action is reflected in nature and he also represents the view of ordinary people. The Greeks believed that nature reflected society. This idea was adopted by Shakespeare and is used in many of his plays. In Macbeth; the unnatural murder of the King shows disorder in society. The unnatural events which follow are the focus of the two men's conversation.
