Quotations – Act 2
Analyzing Quotations
Who is the speaker?
 What are the circumstances? (where,
when, why, to whom it is said)
 What is the meaning?
 What is the dramatic importance? What
does the quotation mean to the play?

Act 2, Scene 1
“It
must be all imaginary.
I’m so obsessed with
murder that I’m seeing
things” (Act 2, Scene 1)

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Macbeth is speaking to
himself
This happens outside
Duncan’s bedroom just
before Macbeth murders
the King.
Macbeth is hallucinating
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We learn about Macbeth’s
character and the way his
mind is affected by his
obsessive thoughts about
murder and his emotions
– especially guilt.
The bloody dagger is a
symbol of crime and
especially guilt.
The destructive impact
of guilt is a theme in the
play.
“Still the voice cried
“Sleep no more!”
to all the house.
“Lord Glamis has
murdered sleep,
and so Lord
Cawdor shall sleep
no more – Macbeth
shall sleep no
more!” (Act 2,
Scene 2)
Macbeth has murdered sleep

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Macbeth is speaking to
Lady Macbeth in the
courtyard just after he
kills King Duncan.
Once again, Macbeth is
imagining things.
Lady Macbeth warns him
that “…you’ll wear
yourself out thinking
about things so
dementedly”
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Macbeth’s guilt and fear
is obvious when he talks
about “murdering” sleep
– the “rejuvenator of life”
He knows what he has
done is very wrong!
But this also foreshadows
what will happen to
Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth – they can’t
sleep, and both go mad
“Is there enough
water in the
oceans to wash
my hands of this
blood? No!
More likely my
hands will stain
the vast green
seas blood-red.”
(Act 2, Scene 2)
Macbeth is speaking to
himself.
 Lady Macbeth has just
gone to return the
daggers and smear the
guards with blood.
 Macbeth is horrified by
his bloody hands
 This is in contrast to Lady
Macbeth who says “a
little water will wash
away all traces of the
deed”

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The image of the blood
red ocean is an
exaggeration, but it tells
us how guilty he is feeling
He believes that nothing
will ever “wash away” his
guilt.
He also says that “every
noise scares me” By the
end of the play, nothing
scares him anymore!
My hands are the same colour
“My hands are
the same
colour as yours
– but I’d be
ashamed to
have a heart as
white as
yours!” (Act 2,
Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth is
speaking to Macbeth
after she returns from
smearing the guards
with blood, a job
Macbeth refused to
do. He said “I’m
afraid to think of what
I’ve done.” Lady
Macbeth’s hands are
now bloody.
Lady Macbeth called
Macbeth a coward
earlier and that’s
what she means now.
 She is a tough
woman!
 The “white heart” is a
metaphor for
Macbeth’s lack of
courage – a great
image!

“A little water
will wash away
all traces of the
deed” (Act 2,
Scene 2)
A little water will wash away this
deed

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Lady Macbeth tells her
husband that the traces
of the murder can be
washed away with a little
water.
Unlike Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth seems
unaffected by the murder.
She is still calming
planning, taking charge
of matters.

This is an ironic
foreshadowing of what
happens later when Lady
Macbeth sinks into
madness caused by guilt,
hallucinates blood on her
hands, and washes her
hands over and over
again. By that time, her
husband does not seem
to care about anything!
“If Duncan
hadn’t looked
like my father
in his sleep,
I’d have done
it myself.”

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Lady Macbeth is talking
to Macbeth just after she
gives the guards wine
and makes them drunk
She says Duncan reminds
her of her father.
Otherwise she could have
murdered him herself.
This is in contrast to
Macbeth, who is terrified
by the prospect of killing
the king.
 We are reminded of the
words later when she
says “who knew the old
man would have so much
blood in him?”
 She is now sick with guilt
over their crimes.

“Here lay Duncan – his white skin streaked
with his precious blood, and his stab
wounds obviously fatal. There were the
murderes, steeped in the colours of their
trade, their daggers dripping blood. Who
could hold back, that had a loving heart
and the courage to show it?” (Act 2, Scene
3)
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Macbeth is speaking to
the men who have
gathered after the
discovery of Duncan’s
murder.
Macbeth is explaining
why he killed the guards.
The image of Duncan
with his white skin and
“precious” blood makes
us think of a martyr.
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Macbeth’s words are
ironic because we know
that he is the killer.
His words are a little too
dramatic – he sounds like
he is suspiciously
overdoing it.
Lady Macbeth’s response
– pretending to faint to
draw attention shows us
that she is always
thinking.
“We’ll be safer if we
go our separate
ways. Here,
smilers have knives
beneath their
cloaks. Our closest
relatives have most
reasons to murder
us.” (Act 2, Sc. 3)
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Donalbain is talking to his
brother Malcolm after King
Duncan’s body is discovered.
He is warning that their lives
are in danger because those
that seem friendly are their
enemies. Because Malcolm is
Duncan’s successor to the
throne, those who are related
to them (like Macbeth) have
the most to gain by killing
them.
Donalbaine will go to Ireland
and Malcolm will go to
England.
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However, by leaving they will
make some people suspect
that they are guilty. It will also
allow Macbeth to become King.
Donalbaine’s words also
remind us of the great paradox
and a theme of the play:
Nothing is what it seems!
The serpent lies beneath the
innocent flower.
Smiling faces hide assassins,
and
Fair is foul and foul is fair!
 “Ah,
good father,
the heavens are
showing their
displeasure at
mankind’s
behaviour!” (Act
2, scene 4)
It is the morning after
Duncan’s murder.
 Ross and an Old Man
are talking about
what happened the
night before.
 Ross says that the
heavens (God) is
angry because of the
murder.

It is daytime, but it is
dark, and other
strange things have
happened. (owls,
falcons, horses)
 Killing a king is a the
worst sin of all and
upsets God and
nature.
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