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Scene 1 (page 368) Synopsis: Banquo and his son wander about Macbeth’s castle after midnight. They meet Macbeth and give him a diamond for his wife as a gift from Duncan. They leave Macbeth alone, where he speaks another soliloquy. He imagines that he sees a bloody dagger leading him to Duncan’s chamber. It reminds him of the real dagger in his hand. Lady Macbeth signals that she has completed the preparations for the murder. With a heavy heart, Macbeth proceeds to Duncan’s chamber.
Look closely at Macbeth’s soliloquy on p. 370-1 lines 33 through 50 and 55-63) Paraphrase (first person!) the soliloquy specifically, thought by thought .
Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
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I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. __________________________________________________________________
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
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I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this which now I draw [he draws his dagger] ;
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Thou marshal’st me the way that I was going, and such an instrument I was to use.
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Mine eyes are made the fools of the other senses or else worth all the rest.
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I see thee still, and on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood, which was not so before.____________________________________________________________________________________________
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There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes.
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Done for you:
Now o’er the one half world nature seems dead and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep. “ The night seems deadly and I am living a nightmare.”
Thou sure and firm-set earth, hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear thy very stones prate of my whereabouts and take the present horror from the time, which suits with it. “ Please floor, don’t let me make a sound as I head to Duncan’s room. Don’t keep me from doing the deed. This is the time of night that best suits such a horrible deed.”
Whiles I threat, he lives. Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. I go and it is done. The bell invites me. Hear it not
Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell.
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Scene 2 ( pages 371-373) Synopsis : Macbeth returns from the murder and describes it to his wife. Lady Macbeth returns the bloody daggers to Duncan’s chamber and places them in the hands of the sleeping guards. She returns and then she and
Macbeth hear knocking at the castle’s gate. They immediately rush to their chamber and pretend to have been sleeping.
Why didn’t Lady Macbeth kill Duncan herself? ______________________________________________________
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Lines 40-42: Macbeth is foreshadowing his own future. Paraphrase the line.
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2.
Why does Macbeth bring the daggers back to his wife?
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3.
Describe at least one time when the metaphor of washing blood from impure hands appears in this scene and in what context?
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Scene 3 (pages 373-379 ) Synopsis: Two lords, Macduff and Lennox, arrive at Inverness early in the morning. The porter (gatekeeper) is drunk and imagines that he is guarding the gates of Hell. Macbeth greets them and sends Macduff to wake Duncan. Macduff discovers the murder and screams in horror. Macbeth rushes to the scene and pretends to be so overcome with rage that he kills the two sleeping guards. Meanwhile everyone congregates and discusses what has happened. Lady Macbeth faints from all the turmoil. The King’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, fear for their own lives and leave the castle. Donalbain flees to Ireland, Malcolm to England.
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How does the night’s weather reflect the events at Inverness? ____________________________________________
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2. Lines 46-53: What are the examples given of troubled nature?
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3. Why is Macbeth’s gambit (killing Duncan’s guards) unlikely to fool his more discerning thanes?
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4.
Line 88: Appearance vs. reality theme . WRITE THE LINE
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4. Line 111: Do you think that Lady Macbeth’s fainting spell is real? Why or why not?
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Scene 4 (page 379) Synopsis: An old man and Ross discuss several unnatural events that followed Duncan’s murder.
Macduff enters and says that Malcolm and Donalbain are suspected of bribing the guards to murder their father. He also mentions that Macbeth has been named the next king.
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Who is the new king of Scotland? _________________________________________________________________
2.
Can you find and explain your interpretation of one line of Macduff’s that (in context) shows that he suspects
Macbeth of Duncan’s murder? _____________________________________________________________________
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3. Lines 14-18: Once again there is trouble brewing in nature because of Duncan’s murder, which is reflected in the unnatural events in nature – a common Elizabethan belief. List the chaotic events that have been happening ever since Duncan’s murder: _______________________________________________________________________
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Write at least one specific question or observation you have at this point in the play.
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