The tension is increased yet again by the loud knocking on the door. Macbeth in his highly anxious state knows now, he will never be cleansed of this murderous act which is shown in this quote by Macbeth, ‘Not all great Neptune’s ocean can wash them clean’. Macbeth feels regret guilty for what he has done leaving the audience to wonder if he would get caught because he is too scared. However, In the midst all this tension, Lady Macbeth keeps her head. In her highly nervous state, she is aware that it is still possible; that their evil acts may be discovered. Lady Macbeth appears agitated and ushers her disturbed husband to his chamber, where they can rid themselves of the signs of their horrific acts. Shakespeare makes the audience aware of how much more confident than Macbeth she is by taking control of the situation. This is shown in the quote by Lady Macbeth “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers”. Shakespeare makes it known that the relationship between Macbeth and his wife is beginning to disintegrate almost immediately. Macbeth appears to be losing his mind, whilst Lady Macbeth remains evil, cold, calculating and in control. The audience is scared of what’s going to happen to Macbeth when the thanes discover that king Duncan is dead. The close relationship between the audience and Macbeth makes us feel the anxiety that Macbeth is feeling. This scene creates anticipation and dramatic tension among the audience.
In addition, tension is created by having the characters keep running on and off stage which creates chaos, agitation and anxiety. The effect of one person just being on the stage is the best way to allow the audience to discover someone's thoughts and feelings by hearing them tell about their inner feelings and motivations. This is true because no one can understand how someone is truly feeling or what someone is thinking without listening to that person. For this reason, William Shakespeare utilizes the tactic of dramatic soliloquies. For example in this quote “Who’s there? What ho!” it symbolizes that Macbeth is scared that he might get caught which creates tension because everything was happening very quickly with a lot of chaos.
Further to this, Shakespeare uses short utterances and broken questions to create dramatic tension, such as “When? “And “As I descended”. This signifies Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not listening to each other therefore, they are confused and they do not understand each other. They are scared because time might run out and they might get caught. This emphasis on Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s nervousness and panic going through their mind. Shakespeare’s use of language and structure manages to create tension right up to the murder of King Duncan. He manages to gradually build it up and then increase it until finally the act of regicide takes place.
Shakespeare uses a vivid selection of imagery throughout the play, Macbeth. Using imagery allows the audience to get a "sense" of what their seeing, and the play can become a vivid picture in their mind. The use of blood, as an image, creates a visual setting and clear picture of the violence that occurred. For instance, Lady Macbeth is desperately trying to assure her husband that his overwhelming fear and guilt will go away. She explains in this quote that "A little water cleans us of this deed." Macbeth contradicts her by saying, "Will all great Neptune's oceans wash this blood clean from my hand?" By just washing your hands and rinsing off the blood, you cannot cleanse the wrong done. Macbeth will now live with the tragic guilt of his awful deed. This creates dramatic tension and is very effective because the audience will want to see how Macbeth would cope with what he has done.
Furthermore, Shakespeare also uses a metaphor to create imagery. It’s given that in the quote “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep. “It means the voice is telling the world to no longer sleep because it is unsafe – Macbeth is murdering King Duncan while he is sleeping. The voice is also foreshadowing that Macbeth will not be able to sleep in the future because of what he has done. This increases tension because the audiences are now wondering if Macbeth will ever be able to live without guilt.
In conclusion, the audiences at the end are concerned for Macbeth. The audience wishes he hasn’t killed King Duncan. The audience expects more tension in further scenes. In Act 2 scene 2 it is the most violent and intense part of Macbeth although we do not actually witness the murder of King Duncan. It is interesting that Shakespeare chooses to have Macbeth kill Duncan offstage which creates tension. The audience can only guess why he wrote the scene that way, Shakespeare wanted to focus not on the murder but on Macbeth’s reaction to it; the bloody details supplied by the audience’s imaginations will be much worse than anything that could be done onstage. In my opinion, making Macbeth unpredictable clearly made the audience more interested which again creates tension.
