-One of the more memorable scenes that stood out to me was after Macbeth murdered the king he "saw" the dagger and gave his monologue. This scene was a turning point in Macbeths sanity where he went from a noble leader and faithful to the king, where in the first act he was called out by his wife for his hesitation on killing the king. It's very powerful, a way I interpreted it was when he questioned if it were real or "a dagger of the mind" was as if he were questioning his own sanity, as if he had really just betrayed the king and committed murder. When Macbeth says "Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's off'rings, and withered Murder" I feel as if he is in a sense telling the witches that he has done what they asked so that their prophecy would come true. Also the last three lines of this monologue I really like and really leave the reader with an echo if you will. "A bell rings, I go, and it is done. The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell." The bell of course being from his wife giving warning to Macbeth, it "wakes" him up from this hallucination as he leaves with the final thought of will it be heave or hell, did the plan work? and sure enough it did.
-Another scene that I felt held some leverage was Act 2 scene 2 lines 47-59 Macbeth has come back from committing murder and not just anyone but the king, someone to whom he was hesitant to kill. Instead of a simple congratulations Lady Macbeth critiques Macbeth and belittles him. She tells him to go back and place the daggers to frame the servants yet Macbeth declines doing so as if showing some humanity where as Lady Macbeth says "The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil."
-One question I have and it might be a simple answer that I just happen to be over looking but its very obvious that Lady Macbeth is the one in charge, she complains about Macbeth doing things wrong or not wanting to do things, so my question is why doesn't she do it? Obviously it is her husband who will become king and she queen through him but why not just get the jobs done herself. Kind of like the old saying if you want something done right do it yourself. Another question that I have is that did no one question Macbeth killing the chambermaids? or am I just naive and times were different back then.
Alexander, good questions. They actually blame the chamberlains for the murders and Macbeth claims he murdered them in retaliation of seeing them with the daggers. Your posts were excellent and specific, just as I wanted so well done there. Also thanks for including act, scene and line numbers, although in the future you can just do a parenthetical citation (4.2.47-52). Anyway keep up this level of specificity and you will be great!
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