Macbeth+Act+2+-+3

=Summary: Macduff and Lennox come to Macbeth’s castle, Inverness, to visit the King and are delayed by a humorous porter who compares himself to the porter at the Gates of Hell. Macduff finds King Duncan dead in his chamber and in his frenzy wakes the castle to deliver to news. The Macbeth’s feign ignorance and dismay over Duncan’s death: When Macbeth and Lennox go to see for themself the dead King, Macbeth murders the two guards out of supposedly anger and Lady Macbeth faints. The Macbeths dramatized dismay raises suspicion in Malcolm and Donalbian and the two flee: Malcolm to England and Donalbian to Ireland = =Questions: Does Lady Macbeth faint to draw attention away from her husband’s over acting? Or does she faint from all the stress and the pressure and is it a sign of her not being as tough as she appears?=

=Language: " Here lay Duncan, his silver skin lac’d with his golden blood; and his gash’d stabs look’d like a reach in nature for ruin’s wasteful entrance.” (2. 3. 111-114) = = Macbeth is lamenting over Duncan’s murder and is placing him upon a pedestal through his choice of diction. Calling the late King’s skin “silver” and making him seem almost godly with “Golden blood”. He also relays the Elizabethan belief of the disaster that follows roles being flipped. = = The Big Idea: =  · Appearance vs. Reality   · The Macbeths’ feign ignorance and horror over Duncan’s brutal murder to mask their crime. While some characters fall for their act, the King’s sons, Donalbian and Malcolm do not and flee.   · Gender Roles   · Although Lady Macbeth has the dominant role in the marriage, the Macbeths both adapt the typical gender roles to mask their hand in the murder. LM is the typical female when she faints and Macbeth plays the typical male murdering the two guards out of anger =Character Development:= = Lady Macbeth: Lady Macbeth shows her feminine fragility in this scene during her fainting fit. If she did actually faint, it would show the audience that she is not as strong as she does appear. = = = = = Macduff: In this scene the audience is introduced to Macduff. Macduff will play a major role later on in the play and when he questions Macbeth on his motive for killing the two guards before they could question them it shows his suspicion of Macbeth. This suspicion of Macbeth will grow from here through the end of the play. Connections: = =  Macbeth uses the two guards as a scape goat….

….just as the girls from Salem blame Tituba for their actions in the woods. VOCABULARY Equivocator- deceiver Badg’d- Splotched Auger-hole- the tool a carpenter uses for boring small holes.