How Shakespeare Creates Tension & Suspense in Act 2 Scene 2

Macbeth involves 3 witches who make prophecies for Macbeth about taking the throne. Ambition and desire drive Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Later Banquo is killed due to Macbeth?s greed for the throne and jealousy of it being taken away and Lady Macbeth appears to go mad and die. Macbeth is then defeated. These themes of murder, ambition, greed and desire appear throughout the play among others. These themes are factors towards the portrayal of Lady Macbeth and contribute to changes that take place in her character and also how the audience responds to this.

The play opens with the appearance of three haggard old women, known as ‘The three weird sisters’ in an open place with the ominous presence of a raging storm.In dialogue imitating a spell, they make plans for their next meeting. The scene shifts to a military camp, where a wounded captain reports the current state of the war in Scotland to king Duncan. Here,he receives three pieces of vital information,first, that the rebel Macdonald,who led the Irish invaders,was slain by the heroic Macbeth. Second, that the traitorous thane of Cawdor was defeated at the hands of Macbeth, and lastly, that the Norwegian army was conquered which lead to victory for the scots. Impressed by Macbeth's courageous actions, the king decides to bestow Cawdor’s title

Lady Macbeth’s atypical and complex character directly challenged the archetypal principles and beliefs of the Jacobean era which as a result, drew major fascination through the ages. Lady Macbeth was Shakespeare’s device to not only stimulate audience’s emotions, but to also provide historical context and elicit dominant themes which reflected Jacobean society. Her ambiguous character and remarkable influences in the play raised a lot of controversy and fascination amongst both modern and Jacobean audiences. She can either be seen as linked to the witches in a feminist bid to overthrow the balance of power, or as a representation of the evil side of Macbeth. Nevertheless, it was her distinct characteristics and actions which ultimately

‘Macbeth’ is a tragic play written by Shakespeare that dramatizes tragic flaw of ambition and murderous intent in Macbeth, which is manipulated by his equally ambitious wife and the inherently evil witches. This leads him to murder King Duncan.

In Medieval times women were viewed as innocent beings who must be controlled by the men in their family; however, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth a woman is the mastermind behind the start of several horrendous deeds. Lady Macbeth was a woman with determination. When it was prophesized that Macbeth would be king, Lady Macbeth wished that her husband would immediately be at her side so she “may pour [her] spirits in [his] ear” (1. 5. 25). Lady Macbeth wanted nothing less that Macbeth to be king. In order for Macbeth to ascend to the throne, it needed to be emptied of King Duncan. Macbeth was an ambitious man but he was not evil, he would not commit murder to gain the throne; therefore, Lady Macbeth took it upon herself to see her husband crowned king. By making Lady Macbeth the mastermind behind a murder, Shakespeare disputed the typical role of women which labeled them as innocent and harmless beings.

"Macbeth" is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600’s. It revolved around the character Macbeth and his urge to become king of Scotland. Macbeth had to do anything possible to become the king including murder, lying, and deception. However, Macbeth committed these evil deeds due to some influential people in his life. Between Macbeth’s wife persuading him to do anything to become king and the witches prophesying over him causes Macbeth to try and bury the past and control the future.

2. Setting: Macbeth took place during the eleventh century (The Middle Ages) (“SparkNotes”), briefly in England, but mainly in Scotland. The social environment valued friendship among free, white,, and relatively equal men. There was a significant amount of religious conflict, women were held as inferior to men, and the monarch was an important figurehead. The atmosphere of the book is quite dark. For the most part, Macbeth’s ambition terrifies himself because he fears the consequences of his evil deeds. Therefore, this tragic play has a sinister atmosphere of despair. Macbeth is haunting and ominous, significant in the way it portrays Macbeth as a crazed lunatic with a dangerous ambition. Shakespeare wrote the play for his new patron, James VI of Scotland, honoring him through Banquo. The play still holds significance today as it teaches people to beware of dark power and extreme ambition.

The main theme of Macbeth is he a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. Macbeth says “Will all great Neptune's’ ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?” Macbeth cries after he has killed Duncan, even as his wife scolds him and says that a little water will do the job (Act II, Scene 2, Lines 58-59).The different reaction in Macbeth is stunned and seemingly in shock after he has killed Duncan. He tells his wife he heard voices. Some of those voices were real people talking in their sleep or saying their prayer before bed.

In the play, “Macbeth”, the character that stands out the most is Lady Macbeth. Her role in this story is significant, she is an evil, ruthless, and ambitious person. She is responsible for the murders that her husband commits because she was bloodthirsty for the crown. In fact, she then becomes more eager to get the crown than Macbeth himself and soon realizes that once you commit one violent act, there is almost no way of ever turning back. An analysis of Lady Macbeth reveals that she is a powerful character who adds complexity and depth to a play about murder, madness, and revenge.

The Tragedy of Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare during the early 1600s. The play is set in Scotland. The main character, Macbeth, is influenced by the witches’ prophecies and decides to kill Duncan, the current king, to become king. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a loyal and trustworthy thane. After encountering the witches, he became a traitor who would kill anyone to be king. The witches practice witchcraft, which is the practice of magic that uses spells and calls spirits. It well known during this period. Many people associate witchcraft with evil and demons because of their satanic rituals. They also believed that witches worshipped the Devil. Throughout the play, witchcraft is portrayed as evil from the chaos created by the witches and is shown through Macbeth.

Macbeth is a Scottish play by William Shakespeare. It is a classic, tragic play of power, ambition, loyalty, honor, greed, murders, and guilt. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a loyal and honorable soldier to king Duncan of Scotland. Later in the play, Macbeth is led by the ambition of power after the predictions of three witches him being the king. Macbeth is also influenced by his wife, lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed of power to make the predictions come true. To make the predictions come true Macbeth turns evil and tyrant from a loyal and honorable soldier, committing murders for his greed of power. Macbeth commits all the murders although he had second thoughts of not doing all this and felt guilty, but his greed of power has

In the book Macbeth was opposite of the lady Macbeth at first he had emotion and she knew that killing the king wasn’t a right thing to do but as soon she killed the king he became ruthless and he start killing more people because he thought by killing people no one would be able to replace him but yet he felt so wick and vulnerable inside. “will all the great Neptune’s ocean this blood clean from my hand? This my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. (II.ii.81-84) in this quote Macbeth is telling his wife how he is feels so guilty and he has so much blood in his hand that he can turn the sea red. Later on in the book Macbeth hires people to go and kill Banquo and his son because the which’s predicted

Before this scene, Macbeth sees gruesome visions of the murder he must commit before he has even done it. The “bloody business” according to Macbeth, is what is making him see bloody images. The description of his business as “bloody” makes one wonder about how he will choose to kill Duncan, and it also makes the reader wonder if Macbeth is so guilty about killing Duncan why could the murder not be done in a more humane way? Macbeth realizes before he kills Duncan that there is no going back once he kills, but anyway he submits himself to the web of evil. Right after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth has a breakdown when he fully processes what he has done, “Will all great Neptune 's ocean wash this blood // Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather // The multitudinous seas in incarnadine, // Making the green one red” (39). In this text Macbeth states that even if he washed his bloody hands in the ocean the blood would never actually go away, and that the blood from his hands would actually turn the entire ocean from green to red. This use of imagery involving blood pulls together a physical picture and also an idea that entices the audience: even if Macbeth cleans his hands of blood his actions will never truly go away. Macbeth even goes as far to say that he could turn an entire ocean red from his bloody hands, which can allude to the magnitude of his guilt. This speech and use of imagery can directly relate to the web of evil,

Act 2 shows Lady Macbeth as a cruel and evil character. The point that says ‘that which hath made them drunk hath may be bold it shows that she doesn’t show any guilt and that she is still very rude instead of being worried about the consequences about the stuff she has done. When Lady Macbeth says why do u bring these daggers from the place? They must lay there go carry the dagger to the sleeping people and smear blood on them. You could see that she is worrying about, being caught but do not has grief about what she has done.

What do you consider to be the most successful stage effect and language techniques used to create dramatic tension in Act 2, Scene 2?