Act 2 Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Act 2 Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Works Cited Not Included

Macbeth, one of the most famous English tragedies was written by

Shakespeare some time between 1603 and 1606. At that time King James I

was the king of both England and Scotland and the play was first

performed in front of the king. "Macbeth" is set in medieval Scotland

and the actual story was taken from a book called "Holinshed's

Chronicles". The story was about King James's ancestor, from whom he

had inherited the throne of Scotland. There was a general concept with

regard to kingship and loyalty, which was a belief in the appointment

of the king by God! The worst crime possible was regicide or an

attempt to assassinate the king. The people and the king also believed

in the existence of Devil. They believed that the devil's aim was to

use his power to deceive people and lead them to hell. Witches were

known as the devil's servants and as the source of disasters and

misfortunes. In such a period Shakespeare wrote his tragedy "Macbeth".

In this scene we see Lady Macbeth return from Duncan's chamber, where

she makes the necessary preparations for the murder. She is pacing

around the castle's ramparts in a nervous but excited state, waiting

for Macbeth to come back from his night business (murder). She starts

to speak to herself. She talks about her husband and says, "He is

about it". As she moves around she tells us how she pictures the

scene: the chamber and the unconscious guards; "The doors are open and

the surfeited...

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...ply the terrible fact of the murder and the sin

that is not going to be cleaned from them, sooner or later it is going

to kill them.

Shakespeare has created tension in this scene in a variety of ways.

One of the ways is the way that he describes the fact of the murder

and how they are covered in blood and terror. Tension is also built up

by the way that the characters behave in this scene; their use of

short sentences and the contrast between the ways they react after the

murder. Another way in which Shakespeare builds up tension is the use

of effective sound effects through out this scene; door knocking and

owl shrieks. Dramatic tension is also increased by the imaginations of

both Macbeth and his wife. Throughout this scene Shakespeare has

wisely chosen different techniques at the time and it still works

today.