After Act II
Discuss the omens in Act 2; what are they and what do they affect?
Discuss the Porter, interpret something he says as both foolish and serious.
Please include a citation as support - I shouldn't have to say this. Only one is needed so make it really relevant. Due Monday, September 7
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Act 2 is full of events that seem to mark the tone of the whole play. Macbeth murders King Duncan. Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan’s sons, flee to Ireland and England because they feel that whoever murdered their father will probably try to murder them next. Another major event is that Macbeth is made king by the other lords, and goes to Scone to be made king there. One major omen in Act 2 is Banquo. He is the only one who knows about the witches’ prophecy, and when the king dies, Macbeth is insecure about Banquo because he could turn out to be the one obstacle in safely obtaining the crown. Apart from that, Fleance, Banquo’s only son, is supposed to be king one day according to the prophecy. Another omen occurs when Macbeth murders the king because he isn’t able to say the word “Amen” when he hears the guards praying before going to sleep. Another omen is Macbeth’s hallucination of the bloody dagger. These two could be interpreted as Macbeth’s guilt over murdering King Duncan. The last and probably most important omen is the four times that the gate is knocked. I believe it represents the inevitable outcome of the wrongdoings committed in Macbeth’s palace. That outcome is that someone will inevitably find out who murdered the king and then Macbeth will perish. The porter changes the mood of the play for some time. He changes from a dark and sad mood to a funnier one. His good natured conversations with Macduff and with himself distract the reader for a second there about the things that have happened in Macbeth’s castle. He says that alcohol “provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but it takes away the performance: therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery…[it] sets him[man] on and takes him off; it persuades him and disheartens him, makes him stand to and not to stand to.”(II,3,32-33) Although the porter’s words about alcohol seem foolish and stupid, they are very true indeed because when you’re drunk you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.
The omens in Act II include it is daytime, but dark outside, last Tuesdayan owl killed a falcon, and Duncan’s horses went wild and ate one another. They affect Macbeth's ascencion to the throne as they put on air of misfortune around it.
The porter in this ac is a drunk and speaks in puns that make him sound foolish yet somhow serious. for example, “Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?”, he is comparing Inverness to hell.
Macbeth's Act 3 is full of action and events that make the plot of the story clearer. Finally the bloody play starts giving sense to its nickname. The first few murders happen in Act 2. Duncan, the king, is murdered by Macbeth who knows that if he kills Duncan he will be named king. He kills Duncan with a certain delight knowing that his future would be better. One particular detail that will separate this murder from the rest is that it was planned by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth plans this murder with pure malice. She plans everything with the most perfect detail, nothing was left unattended. The plan starts when Lady Macbeth purposely makes the king's guards get drunk. They then pass out as was planned. However there is one inconvenient, the guards wake up when Macbeth enters the room to kill Duncan. He is forced to kill them also because he can't leave loose ends. The murder goes on as planned and it is not until Macduff goes to the king's chamber that they realize the king and his guards have been murdered. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth keep their stealth because they apparently have a verifiable story with which they can disprove any accusation. Since no murderer could be found at hand the only ones who could be suspected of where Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan's sons. They were immediately accused and they fled one to Ireland and the other to England. However there are some aspects of humor in this act. The porter adds this spice with his funny dialogue. in his dialogue he says "Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the prrformance... (II,iii,31-33
)" The porter's words are very funny, but they bring within them great wisdom. When people get drunk everything becomes desirable because they have no control over themselves; however, for that same reason they lac performance. it happens all the time whenever you are drunk. In Act II many events help to guide the play towards its climax and we start to see the plot of the whole play.
There are several omens in Act 2. First off, the most important omen is the dagger that is pointing at Duncan but the handle points towards Macbeth, this reveals that it is Macbeth the one who will do the killing and Duncan the one who will be killed. The the dagger becomes bloodied and Macbeth tries to grab it but can't and wonders if its just his imagination. the blood symbolizes the bloody deed macbeth will eventually commit. Then at the end of Scene 1, Lady Macbeth rings a bell to call on Macbeth-this bell is like a death knell for Duncan. The gates that are being knocked 4 times represent the entrance of doom into Inverness and Macbeth's life. Later on we learn that Lennox says that there was a storm so strong that he couldnt remember any other like it; also there were "lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death , and prophesying with accents terrible of dire combustion and confused events" (II iii 58-60).
Then Ross and the Old Man are talking about how an owl ate a falcon: this symbolizes that a subordinate like the owl (Macbeth) will kill the most powerful of birds, the falcon (Duncan). They also talk about Duncan's horses eating each other-this represents that Duncan's subjects will fight against each other till one dies and will forget all loyalties to him.
The porter is the only character in Macbeth that speaks in prose; he is witty and at first compares Inverness to hell since he says that he is porter of Beelzebub. Later on he says that alcohol provokes and unprovokes lechery because it provokes desire but takes away the performance. He also says that alcohol "equivocates him in a sleep, and giving him the lie, leaves him" (II iii 37-38). Shakespeare uses the porter to reveal truths about alcohol and life through humor that can be interpreted seriously. i believe that alcohol creates an illusion and when we believe this illusion we may succumb to other temptations-alcohol plays the role of doom in the play since the camberlains were drunk and then were framed in the murder of Duncan and later on killed. Humorously, alcohol rouses people but when the time comes to do something with that liquid courage, alcohol messes up our motor functions and we can no longer do anything-it is like a mirage.
Act Two is full of foreshadows, warnings, actions and omens. It basically lays the foundations of what is yet to happen in the play. Most every omen in this act is portrayed during or after every major event. But one has to understand what happens in this act before looking further into the omens. In Act I, the three "weird sisters" predict that Macbeth will become king. This prediction takes the best out of Macbeth, as he, the once honorable and loyal man, kills King Duncan. This is a sign of his weakness, his inablility to stand up for what is right. However, when he later kills the two servants, he turns into the mastermind of the plan of murdering, not Lady Macbeth (who initially planned out Duncan's murder). An omen, or significant event could be when the servants said "'God bless us and 'amen' said the other..." and Macbeth "could not say 'Amen'" (II ii 26-29. Sleep, is also a symbol, as Macbeth said: "methought I heard a voice cry 'sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep'-the innocent sleep" (II ii 33-35). It is crucial, because it shows how everything is done during the night, and how all of the sudden, nothing was safe anymore. If someone felt tranquil in their sleep, he shouldn't, because there are murderers in the dark of the night.
There are also comments of how the owl ate the falcon, which is basically an allegory to what really had occured. One would think of a falcon as a powerful bird, and an owl as a wise one. So, Duncan would represent the very powerful falcon, murdered by the once loyal and wise Macbeth. Also, the fact that the two legal heirs to the throne, Malcom and Donalbain, leave, shows how maybe for now they are out of the way, but them still being alive can be a future obstacle for Macbeth. The Porter says, "Drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things....marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep and urine....provokes desire, takes away the performance..." (II iii 26-33). Here he is drunk, and telling Macbeth what he feels like and what drinking does to him. What he says here can be taken seriously, because during the night of when everyone was just as likely as anyone else to commit something, like murder. If everyone was drunk, under the effects of alcohol, they wouldn't remember what they were doing. It shows the truth of kind of what state Macbeth was in, he was "provoked by desire" to become king. It can be taken foolishly as well, as he is just making fun of and talking about what a great time he had drinkng during the party.
Shakespeare’s tragedies are filled with omens of death and Macbeth is no exception. The first omen is act two is possibly the strongest one as it sets into play the witches’ curse. This is the omen of Duncan’s death. Right before Macbeth is about to kill Duncan, an apparition in the form of a dagger leads him to his destination. As he gets closer and closer to his objective, the dagger’s hilt turns a blood red, exemplifying the terror that is about to happen. Another interesting Omen is how Macbeth has trouble saying the word, “Amen” after killing Duncan. “I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.” (II, 2, 32-33) Aside from the fact that this plainly marks his guilt, it also shows the reader that Macbeth still retains his sense of honor. His shame at not being able to say “Amen” is actually a relief as opposed to him being able to shamelessly say the sacred word after committing a murder.
The porter in Act II pretends to be a porter for the devil for a short while. During this time he lists a number of people who would be called into hell for one reason or another. He mentions a farmer, a conman, and a tailor. It is interesting that all the crimes listed stem from ambition- similar to that which Macbeth is most responsible for.
In Act 2, there are several omens. First of all, Macbeth visions a floating dagger pointing towards Duncan’s room. Later, the dagger bleeds and Macbeth wonders if he is hallucinating or if it’s real. This omen foreshadows the death of Duncan and it also shows the guilt inspired visions of Macbeth. The ringing of bells and the knocking at the gate foreshadows trouble and doom as well as murderous guilt. Moreover, Macbeth states “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.” (II, ii, 60~63) this shows how Duncan’s blood symbolize guilt and Macbeth states that he could not wash away this murder and that the guilty feeling will stay with him forever. Although the prose speaking porter may be a less important role in the Act, the porter speaks truths. The porter’s foolish statement of alcohol gives truths that alcohol provokes lust and confusion. This somewhat give comparison with Macbeth’s lust for power and moral confusion. It is both foolish and serious how the porter compares Inverness with hell. It is a foolish comparison but it is also serious and ironic in a sense that bloody murderous events took place in the castle. Ross and old man talk about strange things that happened few days ago. Like darkness in daytime, owl killing a falcon, and Duncan’s horses eating one another. These symbols represent gloomy darkness over the throne of Macbeth. It also symbolized Macbeth’s terrible act and tragic events. These omens foreshadow darkness and chaos.
Some of the omens that occur in Act II are the dagger and the weather. In Scene I when Macbeth is alone in his castle he has a vision of a dagger with the handle pointing at him. Then he sees blood dripping from the dagger and he is shocked with the horrible scene, although it is just his imagination. “Is this a dagger which I see before me … I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” (II, i, 33,35) This is an omen of the assassination that Macbeth is about to commit. This affects Macbeth’s actions and thoughts because he recognizes how evil his thoughts are, but he continues with the plan and just wants to get it over with. Another important omen, like in many works of literature, is the personified weather. “The night has been unruly… lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death...” (II, iii, 56,58) The weather was not pleasant therefore it foretells that something bad must have occurred, something like a murder. The weather affects people’s reactions because they believe that something has gone wrong. The importance of weather being an omen is that it portrays the beliefs and superstitions of those days.
In this act the porter that opens the gate is talking to himself about how a porter of hell would have to open the door quite often. He is imagining who would knock on hell’s door, and it would be someone who commits suicide, an equivocator, and an English tailor. He tells Macduff that heavy drinking has kept him up all night, and he mentions how drinking causes three things, which are nose painting, sleeping and urine. He also says the it causes sexual desires that cant be achieved due to the same reason. “It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.” (II, iii, 31-33)
In his second act, Shakespeare exposes his characters to various omens. Macbeth, however, encounters the most important one of this passage: Duncan's murder. Macbeth commits this crime because he knows that by doing so, he will be named king. However, Lady Macbeth is the brain of the murder. She is the one that plans how it should be done and influences her husband in killing the king. What is most surprising about Macbeth's act is that after having killed Duncan, he returns to the crime scene and also kills the guards because he is afraid that they will denounce him. The omen present here is the dagger pointing Duncan but the handle is pointing towards MAcbeth as if he is the one that the dagger is waiting for. A second omen described in Act 2 is the unpleasant weather that symbolizes the crime that is to come: "lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death , and prophesying with accents terrible of dire combustion and confused events" (II iii 58-60). A significant omen is also the fact that Macbeth finds himself incapable of saying 'amen' after killing Duncan, “I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.” (II, 2, 32-33).
The porter is an unusual character of Shakespeare's play. He is the only one to speak in prose and adds humor to the deathly atmosphere. Although the porter speaks these words will being drunk, they still have a deep meaning and enlighten the flow of the story: "Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate,
he should have old turning the key" (II,iii,1-3). All the porter's commentaries reflect the situation in which Macbeth lies.
There are several omens associated with the murder of Duncan. As Macbeth approaches the deed, he says on that dreary night: "Nature seems dead, Witchcraft celebrates" (2.1.50-51). Moments later, Lady Macbeth hears an owl's hoot and the sound of crickets, which are both known to be traditional omens of death. The porter in scene opens the gates to Macduff and Lennox, right after the assasination of Duncan has taken place. He takes his time to do so very because of the quantity of alcohol he consumed that night. The Porter, to me, provides a bit of comic relief to Macbeth, in a moment of such drama and suspense as the killing of Duncan. He talks about what alcohol provokes in a person, and it is marry, sleep, urine and lechery. He is very funny and makes allusions to the devil and the underworld
In act II Macbeth trades his supposedly high, honorable, and well-known moral values for the crown of king Duncan through a well thought murder plotted by his life companion Lady Macbeth. He Wasn’t comfortable at all with the idea I must recall but he carries out the plan with a little push of her wife’s convincing words and the foretelling of the witches. Before completing this witty deed he has a vision of a bloody dagger floating of which he fails to grasp, and although he might of seen it as a response to his uneasiness and marked it as irrelevant, it represents an omen of death because he wont be able to change what the witches predicted like he failed to get hold of the dagger in his vision. Another ominous event that pops out is when Macbeth is unable to respond Amen when the guards see him murdering the king, since this foreshadows how Macbeth is going to be unable to redirect himself into the right path and his newly acquired sinister that will ultimately lead him to his downfall fitting in with with the prophecy (that Banquo’s is going to be king).
The porter had a bit much to drink of the night the death of king Duncan, but as we all know when someone gets tipsy they tend to spill out he truth but in a comical way, like the porter who made seem humorless and serious ideas and actions turn into a cause for laughs through the use of common riddles. “Knock,knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty”(II.iii.7-10), in this response to the constant knocking he uses a widespread riddle and mixes it with certain actions that are considered inappropriate, but he is able to transforms this seriousness by using the doors as if they were the gates of hell and in combination with the farmer he’s able to change the tone into a more humorous device by fitting them into the riddle
Shakesperes plays always contain certain symbols that become premmonitions for what is about to happen. In the first act for example, the three witches proclaim a prophesy and t6his becomes the thread of foreshadowing that ties the entire play. On the other hand, on Act 2 one of the most important omens is Macbeths vision of the daggar. It is interesting to compare how in different plays written by Shakespere often the sentiment of guilt in the character makes them hallucinate. In the case of Hamlet, which also involves murderer and guilt, the main character hallucinates with the ghost of his father. In this case, Macbeth overwelmed by his guilt sees something that disclose to the reader the fate of the story. "Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still"( Act II, ii, 33-37). This not only exemplifies Macbeth´s inner preocupations but it also tells the reader how the plot is going to change. This dagger which point towards Duncans room is an omen of how Macbeth will eventually kill Duncan.
In act two there are several different omens that represent the misforture that has taken place. Duncan's two tamed horses broke free and bit each other, the fact taht the sky was dark even though it was day all showed the misfortune and wrong doings that took place. Because of all the coincidenses of omens it showed that this was not entirely fates doing and showed that the three witches played a role in what had happened.
The Porter's speech was not only fun in humor but it also is a subtle way of proving that the chamberlaidens were in fact innocent because as he said "Marry sir...leaves him" (IIiii 26-34) it proves that the body is not able to fully function when you are drunk making it nearly impossible for the two chamberlaidens to have murdered a warrior such as Duncan in his sleep.
The main omens in Act 2 of Macbeth include the bloody dagger, natural phenomena, and the retellings of the Old Man. The bloody dagger is actually clean (and a hallucination) at the beginning, with its handle pointing at MAcbeth and the point leading the way to Duncan's future death bed. It simbolized Duncan's impending death by Macbeth.
In Elizabethan times, weather was used to portray emotion and foreshadow events. The scarily thunderous night is a symbol of evil- the Old Man says "Hours dreadful and things strange, but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings"(II,4, 1-4) This means that many bad and strange things have happened- but never something so awful as what Macbeth did.
Last but not least are the strange animal related events. An owl (a nightly creature) killed a falcon. This symbolizes how a seemingly harmless lord (Macbeth) killed a powerful person (Duncan) at night. Also, two horses were fighting with each other, which can either symbolize an external conflict with the King's men's loyalties or that the two guards were to busy with themselves to hurt someone else.
Which brings us to the Porter- who makes a metaphor from Hell/Inverness (which by the way sounds like infernum)- who talks about drunkedness. One thinks he is just plain wasted, but in reality he serves the part of planting a seed of doubt about whether or not the guards committed the crime. They were drunk, which might mean that they were "provoked [by] the desire but it takes away the performance"- so they could not have done it because they lacked the "permofming ability".
There are several omens in Act II. One of them is the dagger that is pointing toward Macbeth’s hand. This dagger he can see but cannot touch. This symbolizes how he is going to kill but has not done so yet. The bell he hears also is an omen to Duncan’s death. He even says to himself Duncan do not listen for the bell is “that summons thee to heaven or to hell” (II, i 64). The way Lady Macbeth faints when she sees the dead guards is an omen. It represents how she did not know the guards had been killed and how Macbeth kept a secret. This can represent how in the future he will be keeping more secrets from her. Another omen is Malcom and Donalbain leaving. This shows how they are suspicious and how everyone is in danger. Malcom even states “to show an unfelt sorrow is an office which the false man does easy” (II, iii 117-118).
The porter who is drunk acts as a comic relief in between all the tragedy, yet he still has some deep insight. He is also the only one whose lines are in prose not in verse, which means that important things are being stated. Also when a person is drunk, it is said that all the truths are revealed since he cannot control his actions. The Porter is pretending to be the porter for hell and during this time I can see how Shakespeare is revealing truths about evils in the society in those times like of the English tailor “stealing out of a French hose” (II, iii 6).
Act 2 mainly focuses in the murder of King Duncan. While the murder itself is not represented in the play, there are some omens that refer to this action. The imaginary dagger that Macbeth sees pointing at King Duncan means that Macbeth will kill Duncan. The Old Man who talks about the owl that ate the falcon represents this murder too. Another one may be Macbeth's own bloody hands after having killed Duncan. Macbeth is afraid that he won't be able to wash the blood which represents the guilt that he will carry.
The porter may not be taken seriously because his words are the words of the drunk which make him sound funny. But his words actually bring wisdom too. He most accurately compares Iverness to hell, which is ironic because of the events that occured that night. He reinforces this comparison when he says "Who's there, i' th' name of Belzeebub?" (II, iii, 3).
Act 2 resembles the insightful struggle of Macbeth. Even though Macbeth is still struggling he knows, and we know he'll kill Duncan, through the omens, like the darkness of day, and the escaping of Duncan's horses. There is also a sign which is the bloody dagger pointing at the king, and the handle pointing at Macbeth, that is the inner thought of Macbeth which felt compelled to murder, even though he didn't know yet.
The porter is also an omen, he is guarding the doors of hell, and it it is Macbeth that will step inside of it.
The omens represent the subcontinent decision of the assassination of the king.
Act two is a very crucial point in the play, it is where Macbeth goes through with his desire for the crown and kills Duncan. Macbeth feels shaky at first before committing the crime, however soon after Duncan is discovered dead he doesn’t seem to repent. In this act we see the beginnings of the end of Macbeth, according to the witch’s prophecy. He seeks the crown and commits this wrongful act, at times not sure if it should be committed, but in the end he follows through. As a result of this; just as Hecate had prophesized, Macbeth indeed gets his crown. In this act after the murder is committed you can feel that there is something wrong and that, it was the mere beginning of Macbeths worries. Soon after the murder there is a knock on the door, and the drunken porter has to get up to open, and being drunk this takes a few knocks before he is able to tend the visitors. Before opening the door he says “but this place is too cold for hell. Ill devil porter it no further.” (II, III, 15-16) It is interesting that he said that since inside, within his chamber king Duncan lay dead. So the castle could very well be interpreted as hell. Since the porter is so drunk he talks about how the drink provokes three things, “nose painting, sleep, urine, and urine, lechery, sir…” (II, III, 30-31) this is a more foolish thing that the porter says which is expected from a drunken man. In this act there are two omens which kind of depict the misfortune that had been going on at Macbeth’s castle. They represent the wrong doing and how things are not normal at this place. The first one was a falcon which killed an owl above the castle instead of a mouse as usual. The other one were Duncan’s horses which escaped and ate each other, something rather unusual. These unusual omens are signs as to the wrong doing of Macbeth and help set a mood for Duncan’s death, which is as out of place as his horses eating each other or a flacon feeding on an owl.
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