preview

Macbeth, Act II Scene II : When dealing with scene II act II from Macbeth, we can’t miss

Good Essays

Macbeth, Act II Scene II : When dealing with scene II act II from Macbeth, we can’t miss Shakespeare’s mastery in stagecraft. This story of crime and punishment culminates here in a climax of horror and terror, which exposes to the 17th century spectator the features of the two plotters of Duncan’s murder. Thus, the audience are invited to attend the inevitable and tragic downfall of these protagonists.
When the scene is about to begin, the spectator has been plunged into the horror of war, the bloody retribution of betrayal and the confusion caused by the presence of the supernatural.
Macbeth’s sword has just saved noble Duncan’s kingdom from disintegration. Riding back from the battlefield with his friend, General Banquo, his …show more content…

The tense initial monologue of Lady Macbeth makes the spectator physically aware of the analogy between Macbeth at work and the bird of prey. The sounds of the fatal bellman, the owl, echoes the bell that invited Macbeth to murder.
So while murder is in progress, the natural world and the unnatural world change places. The spectator is made to feel that there is a permutation between them : Nature and Death are at odds, not only regarding the sleeping groom’s appearance in their sleep, but also because the gates of Nature’s order are being opened up to chaos. The uncertainty settles down with no bordeline between « fair and foul », which entails the pertinence of questions that are raised later in the play. How far would Banquo have remained faithful ? Is Macduff a coward or a brave family man ? What about Malcom’s integrity ?

As regards the delineation of the characters on stage and outside, the spectator is invited to pay attention to what is said and what is left unsaid, to what is revealed consciously or what is betrayed by the delivery of each of them, their gestures whether coordinately or impulsively performed.
Obviously Macbeth comes back in a hypnotic condition. He can’t regain control of himself. When in the wings, his delivery was a staccato of questions betraying the sheer fright of being caught in the act, the incapacity of saying « Amen » suggests that, from now on, he has severed himself

Get Access