Macbeth Act 2: Duncan's sons

When first reading Act 2 scene 3, I was struck by the apparent lack of sorrow in Duncan’s sons.  Donaldbain has no recorded reaction to the news, and Malcom says “Oh! By whom?”  Not, “Oh God! How could this be! Oh, the horror!” ect as one might expect from a son. He exclaims in surprise, but moves on to his question with no show of grief.  Malcom’s reaction is almost when comical compared with Macbeth’s. In comparison with Macbeth’s extravagant “Had I died an hour before this chance”, Malcom’s line sounds something like “Darn. Who did it?” How could Malcom react this way, hadn't his father just named him the heir to the throne? It seems that Malcom is a cold and ungrateful son.

                I think that Macbeth’s exaggerated reaction is the secret to the brothers’ almost non-existent ones. In their conversation aside Malcom says “To show unfelt sorrow is an office which the false man does easy”. Malcom does not trust the grief expressed by the men who discovered the dead King. He does not wish to partake in their superficial show of mourning. I don’t think that the brothers’ lack of open grieving necessarily means that they did not feel their father’s death, but is more a contrast to the mourning of the less sincere.

                Interestingly, it is those with the most sincere grief, such as Banquoe and the King’s sons, who are the quietest in this scene. By contrast, it is Macbeth, the murderer, who takes up these pages with lengthy speeches about his sorrow. Knowing this, I think that the brothers displayed a wisdom that their poor father didn't have in deciding not to trust the men they were with, and to leave quickly. They knew as their father did not that “There’s daggers in men’s smiles” (Donaldbain, 2.3 line 135). The brothers lack of expression, and even their hurried exit, was more sincere a show of grief than all the woeful ramblings of Macbeth.

Questions:

1). Macbeth is a killer. The Captains speech in the beginning of Act 1 tells of his great and bloody prowess in battle. So why he is the one coming back dazed from the King’s chambers, while his wife is almost exasperated with his squeamishness?

2). Why is Lady Macbeth is comically unsure of her husband’s competence? This is like my first question, but a little different. We see Macbeth ad this great war hero in Act 1, but here his wife is says she has set the daggers out in plain sight, surely he could not miss them! And yet she is afraid he has. In her asides she makes Macbeth out to be a bumbling idiot.

3). Is there any greater significance in Lady Macbeth’s comparison of Duncan to her father?