Duncan's Death
Lead up to it
"When you durst do it, then you are a man" "tender as milk"
"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
Murder
“dark deeds"
"A dagger of the mind/...false creation"
Consequence of Duncan's murder
"Macbeth has murdered innocent sleep" "Sleep no more" the ocean would turn red - it cannot cleanse his hands
Imagery
- A large bird of prey is hawked at and killed by a mousing owl - Duncan's horses have turned wild, and started eating each other
Disruption to the chain of being as the unrightful king is appointed (Macbeth), resulting in
Symbol - blood
- dagger leads Macbeth to Duncan: with the handle pointing toward Macbeth and the tip dipped in blood pointing toward Duncan, Macbeth questions if it is real - link to the disruptive weather
Macbeth is raveled with guilt
Characterisation
- Lady Macbeth threatens to kill him herself and she would if it wasn't for the close resemblance between Duncan and her father's face
- Lady Macbeth’s tactics work: Even though Macbeth is disgusted by his wife’s ruthlessness, he resolves to kill Duncan
Characterisation
- Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan by preying on his sense of manhood and courage
device
- Macbeth believes he needs to kill King Duncan because he sees the king’s son, Malcolm, as a threat to the throne
- Macbeth has already felt confused about whether he needs to leave the Witches’ prophecy in the hands of fate or do some “dark” deeds to help their prophecies along
- however, when Macbeth hears Duncan declare his intention to make Malcolm his heir, Macbeth becomes convinced he needs to take matters into his own hands and kill King Duncan himself
"Stop up the...passage to remorse"
Soliloquy
- Lady Macbeth’s response to the news that Duncan will be paying a visit to her home