Secondly Shakespeare creates dramatic tension in act 2 scenes 2 by showing Macbeth changing. In act 2 scenes 2 Macbeth becomes guilty, for example when Lady Macbeth says “go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand.” This could mean that Macbeth feels guilty because the phrase “filthy witness from your hand,” means go clean the guilt from your hands and this is being guilty. Furthermore the blood represents guilt in this scene. However in act 2 scene 2 Macbeth changes from being guilty to being mad, such as when Macbeth says “what hands are here! Ha! They pluck out mine eyes.” I infer from this that Macbeth goes mad because he wants to pull his eyes out and this is unordinary. This creates tension because the audience will be happy that Macbeth is feeling guilty and going mad because it is like a punishment from God furthermore the audience believe that Macbeth should get punished. They believe that Macbeth should get punished because he went against divine right and that is going against God, in the Shakespearean times people were really religious.
Another way Shakespeare creates dramatic tension is by using symbolism of blood and what owls represent in those times. In the Shakespearean times people believed that owls were signals for death, for example when Lady Macbeth says, “It was owl that shrieks’ the fatal bellman, which gives the strernist good-night.” This implies that owls were signals for death because the words “fatal bellman” means signals death and Lady Macbeth is talking about owls. This creates dramatic tensions because the audience know what owls represent and plus Macbeths hands were covered in blood and this suggests that he killed King Duncan. The audience would be shocked because Macbeth comes with blood on his hand and there is a owl there which means Macbeth had killed Duncan and that is regicide and going against divine right.
In addition Shakespeare uses stagecraft such as makes up and sounds to create dramatic tension. In act 2 scene 2 Shakespeare uses owls which represent death to create dramatic tension, for example when Lady Macbeth says “It was the owl that shriek’d.” This could mean that Shakespeare uses owls to create dramatic tension because Lady Macbeth says it was an owl. Also in this scene there is a knocking at the door and it gets more frequent. This creates dramatic tension because Macbeth might get caught any minute because he has blood on his hands. The blood is the main make up for this play; it was on Macbeths and Lady Macbeth hands plus on the daggers. I infer from this that Macbeth had killed Duncan. This is shocking to the audience because Macbeth killed the king and that s going against God, and going against God is breaking the divine right, changing the natural order.
Furthermore Shakespeare uses religious imagery to create dramatic tension. In act 2 scene 2 Macbeth has gone against his religion and God also has disrupted natural order for example when Macbeth says “I have done the deed.” This suggests that Macbeth has gone against God because the deed that he did was killing King Duncan. This creates dramatic tension because in the Shakespearean times there was something that audience believed in and that was the divine right. The audience would be shocked that he went against the religious belief.
In act 2 scene 2 Shakespeare uses five things create dramatic tension. These five things are the main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and how they change, symbolism of blood and owls, stagecraft and lastly religious imagery. This play is relevant to the modern world because like in the play, modern people want power. In the Shakespearian times men were more superior to women but now it is different, women have the same rights as men. Lastly not everyone believes in the divine right and they have different religions.
