Sunday, April 19, 2015

Act II Study Questions

2.1
1.The opening gives a sense of forboding, things are not as they should be. The discussion serves to have Banquo acknowledge the weird sisters rather than claim they are a hallucination.
2. Macbeth is extremely stressed about having to Duncan and he is attempting to talk himself into committing the deed. He talks about it as if he is in a haze, a dream and he continues by making it a reality and committing the deed.
2.2

2.3 
1. The porter, in the third scene of act ii, is drunk and is pretending to be the Porter of the gate to hell. In the play, Macbeth has the trait of equivocation, where he manipulates his listener by circumlocution and the expectations of the other person without actually committing. For example, he does this when Lady Macbeth asks him to kill King Duncan.
2. The thematic function of Lennox describing the night as unruly was because that night was when King Duncan was killed by Macbeth. It was "unruly" not only for King Duncan but also for Macbeth because the guilt and fear of getting caught will always make him say and do things that might be suspicious, dark, and unruly. The scene is necessary to show Macbeth's transformation from the character before the murder vs. the character after the murder. This also connects back to what the witches had said earlier in the play: Fair is foul and foul is fair.
3. Macduff reports that the king has been murdered. Lady Macbeth appears to be horrified that this act could take place on his household. Macbeth is in encaged and kills the chamberlains. Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee Malcolm and will go to England and Donalbain will go to Ireland. They're fleeing because they fear they will be murdered.
2.4
1. The function of the dialogue between Old Man and Ross is to discuss the strange happenings that have been occurring such as how an owl killed a falcon, the horses went wild and are one another, and several other things.  This wicked behavior symbolizes and foreshadows the promotion of Macbeth to the thrown. 2. Macduff tells us from the castle that Macbeth has been made king by his fellow lords and that he will travel to Scone to receive the promotion and get crowned. He tells us that Malcolm and Donalbain are suspected of the murder of Duncan. They are suspected because they fled the scene. 

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