Act II

            In Act II of Macbeth one particular thing stood out to me.  What I am hypothesizing to be Macbeth’s slow descent into madness, or perhaps his beginning spiral of becoming out of control. In earlier scenes we have come upon Macbeth talking and mumbling to himself about killing Duncan, and his small moral conscious that tells him that this is a bad idea.  He of course still ends up ending Duncan’s life at the urging of his power hungry wife.  But in the scenes right before Macbeth murders Duncan, we once again come upon him talking to himself.  In this scene Macbeth claims to see a floating dagger before him wondering if it is “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (2.1, 38-39) The most likely conclusion to take from this scene would be that the stress is getting to Macbeth.  Ever since the witches had prophesized Macbeth seizing the throne he has constantly been on edge, musing over how it will come to pass, and why Banquo’s children will be kings and not his spawn. You can tell the prophecy is becoming a bit of an obsession for Macbeth, and as with most Shakespeare’s plays, I predict that this weakness will seal his fate.

Questions:

-       Many times Shakespeare’s characters have a fatal flaw. Who has them in Macbeth, and what are they?

-       After the king is killed, does Banquo suspect Macbeth and fear for his life as well?

-       Why would Duncan’s children be assumed to be the murders? (I get that they are suspected because they left. But Macbeth becoming king happened all too quickly.)