![]() MACBETH: Our self will mingle with society and play the humble host our hostess keeps her state, but in best time we will require her welcome. MACBETH: You know your own degrees, sit down at first and last, the hearty welcome. They are not just being generous - their hidden agenda is to get the other nobles to support them. Later in the play the Macbeths host a banquet for the other Thanes. Rather than look after him as good hosts should do they send him to his grave. King Duncan is a guest in the Macbeth's home when they decide to murder him. Her unconscious words and actions give her away to the people watching. The blood on her hands is, of course, not real but in her highly charged emotional state she imagines that it is ('What, will these hands ne'er be clean?'). These events all become muddled together in one continuous speech which suggests that Lady Macbeth is losing her reason. She is thinking about the murders of Macduff's wife and of King Duncan and how Macbeth reacted when he saw Banquo's ghost. The Doctor and one of the ladies-in waiting observe Lady Macbeth as she sleepwalks and goes over events in her mind. GENTLEWOMAN: She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that. You mar all with this starting.ĭOCTOR: Go to, go to You have known what you should not. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o'that, my lord, no more o'that. LADY MACBETH: The Thane of Fife had a wife. ![]() Eventually she goes mad and she dies, probably by committing suicide. Lady Macbeth regularly sleepwalks and replays events in her mind as she tries to wipe away the memory of what she has done. Īfter the murder of Duncan has taken place, both Macbeth and his wife have trouble sleeping and are tormented by guilty dreams. Even though Macbeth cannot believe his eyes ('Mine eyes are made the fools o'th'other senses') and in reality realises he is having an hallucination ('There's no such thing') he is still fascinated by the dagger's appearance. Lady Macbeth thinks her hands are covered in blood. Blood is covering the blade and the dudgeon (handle). In one of the most famous scenes in the play, Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger just like the one he is about to use to kill king Duncan. It is the bloody business which informs / I see thee still, /Īnd on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Mine eyes are made the fools o'th'other senses, / It is difficult for them to admit to others (or even each other) what is happening - this might mean they would be suspected of madness. This is why Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are particularly affected. While some of these are conjured up by the Witches, others are as a result of a guilty conscience following acts of wickedness. The play is full of spirits, ghosts, optical illusions and visions. In Macbeth, Shakespeare examines how appearances can be deceptive and that the reality behind them is often unpleasant. All of these things contribute to the many contrasts which exist in the play almost nothing is as it should be. Ghosts, visions and apparitions occur regularly. The Witches mislead Macbeth, or they at least make suggestions which allow him to mislead himself. Wicked and violent acts such as murder are covered up or the blame is shifted onto someone else. Characters say one thing yet mean something else and use euphemisms to hide reality. ![]() In Macbeth, things are never quite what they seem. Banquo's ghost appearing in front of Macbeth
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