At the end of act 2 scene 2 we see once again the change in attitudes of Macbeth and his wife. Macbeth looks at the blood on his hands and asks ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?’ Wondering if he can every be rid of the killing he has done and Lady Macbeth reply’s ‘A little water clears us of this deed.’ This shows their differing attitudes, Macbeth is the less sure and determined of the two, looking impractically and worriedly at the blood, whereas Lady Macbeth is the more eager to just clean the hands and get on with things, wash away the horror of the murder. However we see as the play progresses the simple washing of the hands cannot clean Lady Macbeth of the horror of the murder, and the physiological scars she suffers. This is shown by the fact the Lady Macbeth is so haunted that she has to have ‘light by her continually’ and while asleep writes notes confessing the murder. We can see how at time of the murder Lady Macbeth feels it is just a practical object that needs to be overcome in murdering Duncan, however as the play progresses we see it is much more than that.
The murder also has a very significant effect on Macbeth. After the murder we see the obvious damage of it on Macbeth ‘To know my deed,’twere best not know myself.’ He now sees the greater impact of the murder, and his initial reaction is regret at it. However as the play progresses Macbeth realises he is in so far with his aim to become King turning back will be harder than going on. Therefore this leads on to Macbeth become more brutal in his attempts to become the king and have no opposition, and we begin to see Macbeth begin to kill more for the sake of hurting people rather that to help himself, as he does with Macduffs family.
After Macbeth has murdered Duncan he is in a very insecure and worried state. On stage this would be acted out by very sharp, awkward actions, with Macbeth not totally in control over his own body, such as in the RTC version, when at one point Macbeth turns the knives he is holding on Lady Macbeth, only to whimper away. The point when Macbeth brings out the knives is one that uses dramatic irony. The audience can see that Macbeth is covered in blood and holding the knives however Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not seem to release until later on ‘Why did you bring these daggers from the place?’ So when the characters on stage do realise that Macbeth is holding the daggers there is much panic ‘Go carry them and smear the grooms with blood.’ The effect is that the audience have seen all along that Macbeth has the daggers and want the characters to realise, but the characters don’t so it builds up tension, and shows the uncertainty in Macbeth. In the globe theatre when this part of the scene was performed in Shakespeare’s time, Macbeth would have stood on the upper part of the stage and Lady Macbeth stood on the floor at the bottom. Macbeth would have been looking down on Lady Macbeth, and the effect of this would be that all again could see Macbeth’s daggers including Lady Macbeth, however she is too overcome with the actual murder that she fails to notice to start with that Macbeth has the daggers, and they are separated and therefore more isolated. So the tension would be even more as they are further apart and arguing.
At the beginning of act 2 scene 2 we see a soliloquy with Lady Macbeth. She has been drinking ‘That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.’ Also Lady Macbeth seems to stagger around onstage, not totally in control of what see is doing. This is perhaps a sign that Lady Macbeth is finding it harder to commit the murder than she first though it would be, so she needs some drink to help her through. Lady Macbeth is talking to herself about things, ‘it was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman.’ This is and example of pathetic fallacy, Lady Macbeth has heard and owl shriek, like the fatal bellman, who used to ring a bell outside the condemned cell at Newgate prison, to signify that there would be an execution the next day, and the screeching owl is mimicking that. Also in the soliloquy we hear Lady Macbeth telling us how they are going to frame the porters ‘I have drugged their possets.’ Lady Macbeth shows us how she does not care for the porters ‘That death and nature do contend about them, Whether they live or die.’ This shows the brutal side to Lady Macbeth and she has no compassion for these porters, she believes she can just use them. This soliloquy of Lady Macbeth’s acts as a build up to the coming uncertainty of the scene, and also acts as a chance for Macbeth to get made up backstage with the blood and daggers.
Throughout Macbeth some themes reoccur in the language used by the characters. The most prominent theme is that of sleep. We are first introduced to the theme of sleep during act 2 scene 2 through Macbeth:
‘Methought I heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep,’ the innocent sleep.’ Here we see Macbeth worried by voices he has heard, and they are referring to ‘sleep’. Macbeth continues to refer to sleep as he talks insecurely to Lady Macbeth
‘Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house
Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no
More.’
Macbeth continues to refer to the theme of him murdering sleep, and the idea he shall be able to sleep no more. Macbeth is obviously very worried by the idea that he has murdered sleep, as he keeps referring to it. Lady Macbeth however is not impressed by his insecurity and reply’s
‘Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures.’
This once again shows the differing attitudes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in that she just wants to get on with clearing up the deed and stop worrying. However as the play progresses we see the theme of sleep come back. Lady Macbeth is the worst affected as she cannot sleep properly as the play progress and is frightened needing a candle by her all the time. The lack of proper sleep has a bad effect on Lady Macbeth as the play progresses, and she sleepwalks, the doctor quotes her lack of sleep as ‘A great perturbation in nature’ showing how sick she is. Eventually the lack of sleep drives Lady Macbeth to insanity and suicide ‘The queen my lord is dead.’ So Lady Macbeth who at the beginning thought nothing of Macbeth’s cries that he had murdered sleep, I eventually driven to death because of it.
Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth for King James 1st. As he was writing for he King Shakespeare was going to write a story where the action of killing the King came out badly, such as in Macbeth, where the murderer turns mad and then dies himself. Macbeth also after killing the King regrets what he has done ‘I am afraid to think what I have done.’ Also we see a pathetic fallacy when the king is killed ‘I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.’ So we see in act 2 scene to the murderer-regretting killing the king, and also nature crying for the loss of the king. Both of these obviously showing to the King what an evil thing it is to kill a king and making the King feel good about himself. Also making people in the crowd think what an evil thing it is kill a King. The play was written not long after the gun-powder plot, so the monarchy would at the time have been feeling quite worried, and plays like this would install confidence in the monarchy as they can see what a bad thing it would be for the King to be killed.
In act 2 scene 2 we see a crucial point in the play. In act 2 scene 2 Shakespeare aims to create for us a basis for the play to progress from the previous bit of the story has all been a build up to this scene, and this is where the play gets going. We see in the scene different themes occur such as sleep that are then carried on throughout the play, and form the basis of certain areas of the play such as the destruction of Lady Macbeth. In the scene we clearly see differing attitudes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to the murder, but as the play progresses we see how Lady Macbeth cannot just wash away the murder, and eventually her inability to sleep and clear her mind causes her to kill herself. The scene also provides the starting point for us to see how Macbeth takes over from lady Macbeth in the relationship, and he then takes on to organising the killing and she is left not knowing what is going on. Shakespeare manages achieve getting across the importance of this scene by using a variety of methods that all link together. The use of pathetic fallacy, showing the wrongdoing of the murder also links in with making Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel more insecure, and adds to the tension between them as they are both struggling to get the murder over with, whether fighting against each other or themselves. The physical actions on stage of the characters also add dramatically to the effect of the scene. The drunken state of Lady Macbeth, combined with the insecure blood covered Macbeth who is holding the daggers. They both move around up and downstage, and physically embracing each other in some versions trying to sort out what is going on. All this adds together to create a scene, which is full of things going on both on stage and within the characters, and as the play progresses we see these factors get more and more imposing on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth until the murder in this scene leads them both to death.
