Macbeth Powerpoint: Act II

1. Macbeth Powerpoint: Act II Dana Steketee and Nancy Li Period 4 Group 6

2. Scene I Quotes • Macbeth: “Now o’er the one half-world nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.” • Interpretation: This passage is saying that the half the world is asleep (it is night) and therefore, Macbeth can kill without anyone noticing. He acknowledges that he is about to shatter the night’s peace with his wicked ambitions.

3. Scene I Quotes (con.) • Macbeth: “I go, and it is done. The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven, or to hell.” • Explanation: The church bell represents two things; the bell tolled when Duncan was murdered, and Duncan’s fate of going to heaven or hell (hence it being a church bell).

4. Scene II • Macbeth: “Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.‘” • Interpretation: A voice inside Macbeth’s head is crying to the whole house that Macbeth (Thane of Glamis, and Cawdor) had disrupted Duncan’s sleep when he murdered the King; therefore Macbeth himself should not be allowed to sleep. That’s why we chose a picture of a sleepwalker.

5. Scene II (con.) • Lady Macbeth: “My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white.” • Interpretation: Macbeth is too afraid to go back to the murder scene and so Lady Macbeth goes and frames the guards. When she returns, she almost boasts, saying she has also stained her hands with blood and that she would be ashamed to be as cowardly as Macbeth. Picture: We picked something that literally was white, heart-shaped, and could be worn (although it looks silver).

6. Scene II (con.) • Porter: Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock; and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.” • Interpretation: The porter is talking to Macduff about how he was drunk and up all night until 3:00 a.m. Picture: This is a Vodka bottle (whisky) which shows how much the porter had to drink that early morning.

7. Scene III • Macduff: “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!” • Interpretation: Macduff just found Duncan’s body and has come back to Macbeth and Lennox to inform them of the horrible act.

8. Scene III (con.) • Macduff: “Confusion now hath his masterpiece: most sacrilegious murder hath broke open the Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence the life o’ th’ building.” • Interpretation: Macduff is comparing Duncan to a church. A church is a holy place and back then many people believed that the king was also holy. Therefore by killing the king, someone has committed a sin as great as breaking open a church. The picture shows a church with its roof about to collapse. It’s something precious to many that had been ruined, like King Duncan.

9. Scene III (con.) • Macduff: “’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: the repetition in a woman’s ear would murder as it fell.” • Interpretation: Macduff is warning Lady Macbeth that the news of a murder is too strong for such a fragile woman’s ears to hear. Picture: This is a picture representing the difference between men and women; yin and yang. Macduff believes that a woman is too weak to listen to such a strong statement.

10. Scene IV • Lennox: “Their hands and faces were all badged with blood; so were their daggers, which unwiped we found upon their pillows.” • Interpretation: Lennox reports that the daggers that killed King Duncan were on the guards pillows, still with his blood on them. To him, all the evidence (blood on the guards’ faces) proved the guards guilty. It seems Lady Macbeth’s cover up was successful.

11. Scene IV (con.) • Donalbain: “Where we are, there’s daggers in men’s smiles; the near in blood, the nearer bloody.” • Interpretation: “There are many deceivers who smile at us but still plot to murder us. The ones closest to us would most likely be the ones to do it.” Picture: This shows how smiles don’t always show a person’s true intentions. The smile doesn’t cover up the blood stain at all.

12. THE END THANK YOU