Scene 1

• setting: hall of Macbeth‘s castle, after midnight
• Banquo mentions to his son Fleance that although he is tired, he wants to stay awake because he thinks that his sleep is responsible for some cursed thoughts that he has had lately
• when Macbeth enters, Banquo is surprised that he is still up and talks about a dream with the three weird sisters that he had
• Macbeth instead states that he has not wasted any thoughts on the witches‘ prophecy at all
• they agree on discussing the witches‘ prophecies at some later point in time
• after Banquo and Fleance have left the hall, Macbeth has the feeling that there is a dagger floating in the air right in front of him, the tip aiming in Duncan‘s quarter‘s direction
• when Macbeth attempts to grab the weapon, he fails and wonders whether the dagger is just an illusion or reality
• while staring at the dagger, he thinks that there is blood on the blade but immediately dismisses that thought as a sign of his unease over murdering the king
• although the night around Macbeth is laden with horror and witchcraft, he continues to do his bloody work and proceeds towards the king‘s quarters when Lady Macbeth‘s signal indicates that the chamberlains are asleep

Scene 2

• Macbeth leaves the hall and Lady Macbeth enters
• she goes on praising her boldness and imagines how her husband is killing the king as she speaks
• when Macbeth cries out loud, she is worried that the chamberlains might have awakened
• also, she ponders over a possible failure of Macbeth and cannot understand how Macbeth could fail when she had prepared the daggers for the chamberlains herself
• if she were a man, Lady Macbeth claims that she would have killed the king herself, but the king also looks like her father, which is why she couldn‘t have killed him at the same time
• Macbeth appears with bloody hands and claims that he has fulfilled his task
• Macbeth tells his wife that he noticed how the chamberlains woke up again to say their prayer and that he could not join their amen because the word was stuck in his throat
• when he killed the king, Macbeth says, he believed to hear a voice saying "Sleep no more, / Macbeth does murder sleep" (Act II, Scene 2, 34f.)
• since Macbeth is quite shaken over the events, his wife tries to calm him but gets really upset when she notices that he has forgotten to leave the daggers with the chamberlains
• when he refuses to bring the daggers back to the chamberlains, she fulfills this task by herself, exclaiming that she would be embarrassed if she would behave as cowardly as Macbeth
• Macbeth hears some strange knocking; he is frightened and wonders if water could ever wash his hands clean from the blood of king Duncan‘s murder
• Lady Macbeth enters the hall and the knocking sounds for two more times
• leading her husband back to their chamber in order to clean themselves up, she mentions that just a little water will clear them of what they have done

Function Scenes 1-2

• Banquo as a potential ally as well as threat to Macbeth‘s intentions
  
  • he knows about the witches‘ prophecy
  • Macbeth does not trust him and pretends to not having wasted a thought to the witches
  • however, he wants to talk to Banquo about the prophecy, possibly plotting to conspire with him
  • Fleance as Banquo‘s son is a reminder of the witches‘ prophecy that Banquo‘s children will sit on the throne at some point in time
• writing technique that propels the storyline forward: elision
  
  • scenes right before and after the murder are depicted, but not the deed itself
  • the deed itself thus seems more terrible
• Lady Macbeth as vulnerable
  
  • although she desires power and although she mocks Macbeth for his doubts, she is not able to kill the king
  • since she compares the king to her father, she still sees her king as an authority figure
• guilt-inspired hallucinations: dagger, knockings
  
  • knocking at the gate occurs four times and symbolizes the inevitability of admitting doom
  • ironic, because of the fact that it is Macduff who knocks at the gate (who also kills Macbeth at the end of the play)
• motif of blood
  
  • although Macbeth has killed a lot of people on the battlefield, he is anguished by the fact that the blood on his hands from killing king Duncan cannot be washed clean
  • Lady Macbeth claims that the blood can be washed away with a little water
  • when she suffers from hallucinations later in the play, she washes her hands obsessively, which is ironic since she believes in that very scene that only a little water can clear them off the deed

Scene 3

• a porter grumpily answers the knocking, comparing himself to a porter at the gates of hell
• Macduff and Lenox enter and complain about the slow response
• the porter explains that he has drunk alcohol and also goes on humorously about the effects of alcohol
• additionally, he states that alcohol provokes and unprovokes lustfulness
• Macbeth enters and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, claiming that the king wished to see him early in the morning
• according to Macbeth, Duncan is still asleep and he offers to take him to the king
• when Macduff enters the king‘s quarters, Lenox talks about the storms that pervaded the previous night
• Macduff comes running out of the chamber and shouts that the king is dead
• Macbeth and Lenox join Macduff and Lady Macbeth emerges and expresses her horror about the fact that someone has been killed in her castle
• chaos erupts and Malcolm and Donalbain enter the scene
• they learn that their father has been killed most likely by the chamberlains and Macbeth explains that he has killed the chamberlains
• Macduff is skeptical about all those deaths and Macbeth excuses his fury over Duncan‘s death and that he could not contain himself
• Lady Macbeth faints and is taken away
• Malcolm and Donalbain decide that they are not safe there anymore and they worry that they will get killed as well - they agree to flee
• Macbeth and Banquo gather the lords in order to discuss the happenings

Scene 4

• setting: outside Macbeth‘s castle
• the Thane of Rosse takes a walk with an old man and they talk about the strange events that have happened in the past few days
• although it is daytime, it is dark outside; an owl has killed a falcon; the king‘s well-trained horses behaved badly and ate each other
• Macduff appears from the castle and informs Rosse about Macbeth having been elected as king of Scotland by the other lords
• Macduff muses over the fact that the chamberlains must have been paid by someone to kill the king and draws the conclusion that it must have been the princes Malcolm and Donalbain since they have fled
• Macduff returns home and Rosse leaves to attend the king‘s coronation

Function Scenes 3-4

• comedic incident of the porter interrupts the previous, sinister scenes
  
  • breaks up the tension of the play
  • speaks in prose in comparison to the characters of noble birth, who speak in iambic verse
  • although his language emphasizes his less important role, his banter hints at many truths
  • the effects of alcohol that he talks about remind the reader of Macbeth‘s lust for power and moral confusion as well as his potential inability to carry out sexual intercourse
  • his comparison of the doors of Inverness to the gates of hell seems ironic given all the bloody incidents that have taken place in the castle
  • compares Macbeth with the devil with his greeting "Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub [the devil]?" (Act II, Scene 3, 76)
• as Lady Macbeth has fulfilled her role, she retreats and lets Macbeth take her place as the most compelling character of the play
  
  • he is troubled and confused which is indicated by his short sentences
  • once Duncan is dead, Macbeth rids himself of his fears and organizes the meeting with the other lords which is connected to becoming king of Scotland
• distrust and suspicion over the murder emerge
  
  • Lenox mentions that it seems that the chamberlains have killed the king which emphasizes his suspicion over the nature of the crime scene‘s appearance
  • Banquo also wants to investigate further into the murder
  • Macduff is the most distrusting character, questioning Macbeth why he killed the chamberlains and setting a statement by not attending his coronation
  • Macduff is established as Macbeth‘s potential enemy
• Malcolm, who has every right to ascend the throne now, flees and is thus portrayed as weak and passive
• unnatural occurrences as seen in the weather and the behavior of the animals amplify the vicious behavior of the characters
• darkness symbolizes the dark relationship between the tyrannic Macbeth and his future victims