ISC Class 11 English Drama Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Summary, Theme, Explanation along with difficult word meanings
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ISC Class 11 – Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2
By William Shakespeare
Act 2, Scene 2 of Macbeth happens right after Macbeth kills King Duncan. It shows what happens immediately afterwards, with Macbeth feeling guilt and horror, while Lady Macbeth stays practical and takes charge. She quickly smears the blood on the guards to hide their involvement. The scene also includes the loud knocking at the door, signalling that others are about to discover what has happened.
- Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Summary
- Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Summary in Hindi
- Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Theme
- Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Explanation
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Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 Summary
This scene opens immediately after Macbeth has gone to murder King Duncan, and it focuses on the psychological turmoil of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the immediate aftermath of the deed.
Lady Macbeth is waiting anxiously for her husband to return. She speaks of how the alcohol that made Duncan’s guards drunk has also made her feel strong and courageous. She hears an owl shriek, which she calls the fatal bellman, signalling death. She is confident that the murder is taking place, noting that the guards are heavily drugged and snoring. She briefly expresses a moment of weakness, saying she would have killed Duncan herself if he hadn’t resembled her father sleeping.
Macbeth enters, holding the bloody daggers, a terrible mistake, as the plan was to leave them with the guards to frame them. He is completely overwhelmed with horror and guilt. He reports hearing voices from the neighbouring room, including one saying ‘Murder!’ He obsessively repeats that he was unable to say ‘Amen’ when the guards said ‘God bless us’, feeling that he has been completely cut off from God and blessing.
Macbeth continues to describe his terrifying auditory hallucinations, claiming he heard a voice cry out repeatedly to sleep no more as he had murdered King Duncan while the King was sleeping, which foreshadows the enduring psychological torment he will face.
Lady Macbeth is infuriated by Macbeth’s emotional breakdown and lack of composure. She scolds him for being insane and calls his focus on the voices as a silly thought. When she sees the daggers in his hands, she harshly demands that he wash the blood off and take the weapons back to the guards’ room to smear the sleeping grooms and frame them. Macbeth, paralyzed by fear and guilt, refuses to return to the scene of the crime.
Calling him weak-willed, Lady Macbeth takes the daggers herself, saying that the dead are just like pictures and only a child would be afraid of a painted devil. While she is gone, a loud, urgent knocking begins, startling Macbeth. He is terrified of the noise, lamenting the blood on his hands and wondering if all of the seawater could wash it clean. Instead, he believes his hand could turn the seas entirely red. Lady Macbeth returns, her hands now bloody too, but she is trying to reassure her husband, believing that washing the blood off their hands will physically and symbolically cleanse them of the deed and its guilt. She urges him to quickly put on his nightgown so they don’t look like they have been awake and to stop dwelling on his thoughts. The scene ends with Macbeth wishing the knocking could wake Duncan.
Summary of Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 in Hindi
यह दृश्य मैकबेथ के राजा डंकन की हत्या करने के तुरंत बाद शुरू होता है, और यह कार्य के तत्काल बाद मैकबेथ और लेडी मैकबेथ दोनों की मनोवैज्ञानिक उथल-पुथल पर केंद्रित है।
लेडी मैकबेथ अपने पति के लौटने का बेसब्री से इंतजार कर रही है। वह बताती है कि कैसे शराब ने डंकन के गार्डों को नशे में डाल दिया था। इसने उसे मजबूत और साहसी भी महसूस कराया है। वह एक उल्लू की चीख सुनती है, जिसे वह ‘घातक घंटी बजाने वाला’ कहती है, जो मौत का संकेत देता है। उसे विश्वास है कि हत्या हो रही है, यह देखते हुए कि गार्ड भारी नशीली दवाएं ले रहे हैं और खर्राटे ले रहे हैं। वह संक्षेप में कमजोरी के एक पल को व्यक्त करती है, यह कहते हुए कि वह डंकन को खुद मार देती अगर वह उसके पिता के सोते हुए जैसा नहीं होता।
मैकबेथ खून से लथपथ खंजरों को पकड़े हुए प्रवेश करता है, एक भयानक गलती, क्योंकि योजना उन्हें घेरने के लिए गार्डों के साथ छोड़ने की थी। वह पूरी तरह से भय और अपराधबोध से अभिभूत है। वह पड़ोसी कमरे से आवाजें सुनने की रिपोर्ट करता है। जिसमें एक कहावत ‘मर्डर!’ वह जुनूनी रूप से दोहराता है कि वह ‘आमीन’ कहने में असमर्थ था जब गार्डों ने कहा ‘भगवान हमें आशीर्वाद दें’, यह महसूस करते हुए कि वह भगवान और आशीर्वाद से पूरी तरह से कट गया है।
मैकबेथ अपने भयानक श्रवण संबंधी मतिभ्रम का वर्णन करना जारी रखते हुए दावा करते हैं कि उन्होंने बार-बार एक आवाज सुनीः ‘अब और मत सोओ! मैकबेथ नींद की हत्या कर देता है। उन्होंने स्पष्ट रूप से नींद को एक पवित्र, पुनर्स्थापनात्मक शक्ति, ‘निर्दोष नींद’, ‘आहत दिमागों का बाम’ और ‘जीवन की दावत में मुख्य पोषणकर्ता’ के रूप में वर्णित किया है। ‘अब और नहीं सोने’ में उनकी असमर्थता उस स्थायी मनोवैज्ञानिक पीड़ा को दर्शाती है जिसका उन्हें सामना करना पड़ेगा।
लेडी मैकबेथ मैकबेथ के भावनात्मक टूटने और संयम की कमी से क्रोधित हो जाती है। वह उसे ‘मूर्खतापूर्ण’ होने के लिए डांटती है और आवाज़ों पर उसके ध्यान को ‘मूर्खतापूर्ण विचार’ कहती है। जब वह उसके हाथों में खंजर देखती है, तो वह कठोरता से मांग करती है कि वह खून धो ले और हथियारों को गार्ड के कमरे में वापस ले जाए ताकि सो रहे दूल्हे को धब्बा लगाया जा सके और उन्हें फ्रेम किया जा सके। डर और अपराधबोध से लकवाग्रस्त मैकबेथ अपराध स्थल पर लौटने से इनकार कर देता है।
उन्हें ‘उद्देश्य की दुर्बलता’ कहना! लेडी मैकबेथ खुद खंजर लेती हैं, यह कहते हुए कि मृत ‘चित्रों’ की तरह हैं और केवल एक बच्चा ‘चित्रित शैतान’ से डरता है। जब वह चली जाती है, मैकबेथ को चौंका देने वाली एक जोरदार, तत्काल दस्तक शुरू हो जाती है। वह शोर से डरता है, अपने हाथों के खून पर विलाप करता है और सोचता है कि क्या ‘महान नेपच्यून का महासागर’ इसे साफ कर सकता है। इसके बजाय, उनका मानना है कि उनका हाथ समुद्र को पूरी तरह से लाल कर सकता है। लेडी मैकबेथ लौटती है, उसके हाथ भी अब खून से लथपथ हैं, लेकिन वह शांत और निराश बनी रहती है, यह कहते हुए थोड़ा सा पानी हमें इस काम से मुक्त कर देता है। फिर यह कितना आसान है! वह उसे जल्दी से अपना नाइटगॉउन पहनने का आग्रह करती है ताकि वे जागते हुए न दिखें और उसके विचारों पर ध्यान देना बंद कर दें। दृश्य मैकबेथ की इच्छा के साथ समाप्त होता है कि दस्तक डंकन को जगा सकती है।
Theme of Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2
Guilt and Psychological Breakdown
This is the most powerful theme in the scene, and it immediately consumes Macbeth. His guilt manifests not only as regret but as paralyzing physical and mental breakdown. He cannot return the daggers, he is terrified by knocking, and most significantly, he suffers from auditory hallucinations. The cry of ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’ establishes that his crime has utterly destroyed his peace and condemned him to a life of waking torment. His inability to say ‘Amen’ signifies a spiritual cutoff, confirming his sense of damnation.
Blood as a Symbol of Irrevocable Sin
The physical blood on their hands instantly becomes the play’s most important symbol. For Macbeth, the blood represents permanent, cosmic guilt. He famously despairs that all the water in the world, ‘great Neptune’s ocean’, cannot clean his hands; rather, his bloodied hand would turn the green seas red. This hyperbole shows that he views his crime as staining the entire natural order. Lady Macbeth, initially dismissive, sees blood as a mere physical substance, stating, ‘A little water clears us of this deed’, but her later madness shows that Macbeth’s terrifying perception of blood was the accurate one.
Reversal of Gender Roles and Power
In the tense moments following the murder, Lady Macbeth assumes complete command while Macbeth collapses into a state of panic. She is practical, decisive, and efficient, whereas he is entirely emotional and weak. Lady Macbeth repeatedly criticizes and belittles her husband, calling him ‘Infirm of purpose!’ and mocking his fear, ‘’Tis the eye of childhood / That fears a painted devil’. She proves her superior resolve by taking the daggers herself and returning to the murder scene, a physical act that emphasizes her dominance and Macbeth’s temporary unmanliness.
Disruption of Nature and Order
The act of killing a King was considered the ultimate violation of the divine order. The surrounding atmosphere reflects this unnatural deed. Lady Macbeth notes the ill omens of the ‘owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman’ and the crickets crying. Macbeth’s lament about destroying sleep speaks to the highest level of natural order. He describes sleep as a divine gift, the ‘Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course’ and by murdering it, he signals that his crime has thrown not just his life, but the entire moral and natural fabric of his world, into chaos.
Appearance vs. Reality
The scene’s conclusion focuses on the desperate need to immediately craft a convincing lie. When the knocking starts, Lady Macbeth’s priority shifts entirely to presenting an innocent appearance. She urges Macbeth to put on his ‘nightgown, lest occasion call us / And show us to be watchers’. The goal is to quickly disguise the murder with the appearance of being innocent people just woken from sleep. Macbeth acknowledges the cost of this deception, concluding that to live with his deed, ‘’twere best not know myself’, confirming he must bury his true, guilty self beneath a false public identity.
Setting of the Scene
The setting for Act 2, Scene 2 of Macbeth is deceptively simple yet highly charged, taking place inside Macbeth’s castle at Inverness, specifically in a passage or chamber near the royal apartment. The scene occurs late at night, shortly after midnight, emphasizing a time of darkness, secrecy, and evil. This is the most isolated and private setting in the entire play, as it focuses only on the two central conspirators, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, immediately following the regicide. The darkness and isolation amplify the tension, making the audience feel like witnesses to a forbidden, desperate conversation. The setting acts as a claustrophobic box, trapping the characters in their guilt and panic. The immediate surroundings are crucial, as the stage directions constantly remind the audience of the proximity of the murder and the rest of the household. We hear the sounds of the natural world, the owl and crickets outside, which are interpreted by Lady Macbeth as omens of death. Crucially, the sounds of life, the snoring of the drugged grooms and the cries of the sleeping guests, are heard just offstage, creating immense dramatic irony. The thin walls symbolize the thin line between their successful crime and their immediate discovery. Finally, the setting becomes a place of physical and psychological invasion with the introduction of the knocking at the South entry. This external noise violently ruptures the conspirators’ private world of guilt. The knocking, often interpreted as the sound of conscience, justice, or the outside world demanding entry, transforms the intimate, secure chamber into a trap, forcing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth out of their panic and into action to cover their tracks.
Macbeth Act II Scene 2 Explanation
Play
Lady Macbeth is waiting anxiously for sounds from Duncan’s chamber. She hears Macbeth’s cry. He dagger in his hand. After murdering the king, he has brought with him the blood-stained daggers which seems to have heard a voice from the adjacent room. Macbeth comes back to her with a blood-stained should have been left beside the sleeping grooms. Lady Macbeth consoles him. She takes from him the blood-stained dagger and smears the blood on the grooms to shift the blame of the crime on them. Then she asks Macbeth to wash the blood off his hands and to change into a dressing-gown.
Word Meanings
Anxiously: With worry, nervousness, or eagerness.
Chamber: A room, especially a private room or bedroom.
Dagger: A short, pointed knife used as a weapon.
Blood-stained: Marked or spoiled with blood.
Adjacent: Next to or adjoining something else.
Grooms: Servants who attend to a person, often used for stable or bedchamber servants.
Consoles: Comforts someone at a time of grief or distress.
Smears: Coats or marks something messily or carelessly with a greasy or sticky substance
Dressing-gown: A loose robe worn before dressing or after getting out of bed;
Explanation of the above dialogues— Lady Macbeth was waiting nervously for any sounds that would indicate the murder of King Duncan had taken place. When she heard Macbeth cry out, he immediately returned to her, holding the blood-stained dagger in his hand. After killing the King, he was supposed to have left the weapon next to the sleeping servants. Macbeth told her that he had heard a voice coming from the adjacent room. Lady Macbeth tried to calm him down. She took the bloody dagger from him and used it to smear blood on the servants to make it look like they were guilty of the crime. Finally, she instructed Macbeth to wash the blood off his hands and to quickly change into a nightgown.
Play
Inverness. Court of Macbeth’s castle.
Enter Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold:
What hath quench’d them hath given me fire.
Hark! Peace!
It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman,
which gives the stern’st good-night. He is about it:
The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg’d their possets,
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
Enter Macbeth with two bloody daggers
Macbeth
[Within] Who’s there? What, ho?
Lady Macbeth
Alack, I am afraid they have awaked,
And ’tis not done: the attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! l laid their daggers ready,
He could not miss ’em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.
Enter Macbeth
My husband!
Word Meanings
That which hath made them drunk refers to the wine.
quench’d them: robbed them of their senses.
given me fire: inspired me.
fatal bellman: deadly announcer of death.
stern’st good-night: last good-night before death.
He is about it: refers to Macbeth.
surfeited grooms: overdrunk servants.
mock their charge: Fail or disregard their duty
possets: Hot drinks, usually made of milk curdled with wine or ale, which Lady Macbeth secretly drugged.
contend: Struggle or fight
Confounds: troubles.
Hark: an exclamation of anxiety.
Explanation of the above dialogues— The scene takes place in a court inside Macbeth’s castle in Inverness. Lady Macbeth enters, expressing that the same alcohol that has made the guards drunk has filled her with courage and determination. She urges silence, noting that the shriek of the owl, which she calls the ‘fatal bellman’ i.e. a sound signifying death means Macbeth is carrying out the murder. She notes that the doors are open and the overly indulged servants are snoring, having been heavily drugged. She observes that the grooms are so intoxicated that it is uncertain whether they are dead or alive, as ‘death and nature do contend about them’. Macbeth calls out from within the castle, asking who is there. Lady Macbeth immediately panics, worrying that the guards have woken up before the murder is complete, stating that an unsuccessful attempt would ruin them. She quickly assures herself that she laid out the daggers correctly, making them impossible to miss. She then reveals a moment of vulnerability, confessing that she would have committed the murder herself if Duncan had not resembled her own father as he slept. Macbeth then enters, visibly horrified and holding the two bloody daggers. Lady Macbeth simply addresses him as ‘My husband!’ She observes that the alcohol that dulled the guards has done the opposite to her, giving her courage and making her bold. Lady Macbeth identifies the shriek of the owl as the ‘fatal bellman’, an omen of death, which underscores the finality of Duncan’s murder. The image of the over-indulged servants snoring emphasizes the vulnerability of the King and the contempt Lady Macbeth holds for those who are easily swayed by pleasure. Moreover, it’s her filial feeling for a father figure that prevented her from striking the blow herself. Macbeth’s entry with the ‘two bloody daggers’ is a shocking tangible evidence of the crime, and a catastrophic error in the plan that instantly shifts the focus from psychological anticipation to the terrible reality of guilt.
Play
Macbeth
I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?
Lady Macbeth
I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
Macbeth
When?
Lady Macbeth
Now.
Macbeth
As I descended?
Lady Macbeth
Ay.
Macbeth
Hark!
Who lies i’ the second chamber?
Lady Macbeth
Donalbain.
Macbeth
This is a sorry sight.
[Looking at his hands]
Lady Macbeth
A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.
Word Meanings
Didst thou not hear: Didn’t you hear
the owl: a bird of ill-omen as indicated by its stealth, nocturnal habits and frightful shrieks.
crickets: a type of insects.
This is a sorry sight: my blood stained hands are disgusting.
Explanation of the above dialogues— Macbeth entered and announced to Lady Macbeth that he had completed the deed i.e. the murder of Duncan. He immediately asked her if she had heard any noise. Lady Macbeth replied that she had only heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. She then asked him in turn if he had spoken. Macbeth asked her when she thought he had spoken. She replied then. Macbeth then clarified if she meant as he was coming down the stairs from the King’s room. Lady Macbeth confirmed that she did. Macbeth then urgently asked who was sleeping in the second chamber, the room next to Duncan’s. Lady Macbeth calmly informed him it was Donalbain. Looking at his bloody hands, Macbeth declared that his appearance was a miserable, sorrowful sight. Lady Macbeth quickly rebuked him, stating that calling it a disgusting sight was a foolish and weak thought. Here, the broken speech is highly effective in mirroring the couple’s internal fear and anxiety. They are not communicating smoothly; they are checking, verifying, and nervously seeking reassurance in the immediate aftermath of the traumatic act. The fear of being overheard or discovered is quite visible. His abrupt question about Donalbain shows a frantic, calculating mind quickly assessing the risk and the witnesses. Even the sight of the blood instantly triggers his deep moral guilt. Here, Lady Macbeth is truly pragmatic to understand that any display of guilt is dangerous and must be immediately suppressed.
Play
Macbeth
There’s one did laugh in’s sleep, and one cried ‘Murder!’
That they did wake each other: I stood, and heard them:
But they did say their prayers, and address’d them
Again to sleep.
Lady Macbeth
There are two lodg’d together.
Macbeth
One cried ‘God bless us!’ and ‘Amen!’ the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say ‘Amen!’
When they did say ‘God bless us!’
Lady Macbeth
Consider it not so deeply.
Macbeth
But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’?
I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’
Stuck in my throat.
Lady Macbeth
These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
Macbeth
Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep,’-the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
Word Meanings
There’s one: Macbeth tells of what he heard as he was passing a bedroom on the way back from Duncan’s room.
thought: considered.
Methought: It seemed to me.
knits up: soothes.
ravell’d: twisted.
sleeve: part of garment.
Balm of hurt minds: balm that cures the troubled minds.
nature’s second course: the first course is work and the second course is rest.
Explanation of the above dialogues— Macbeth reported that one of the men in the next room had laughed while sleeping, and another had cried ‘Murder!’, causing them both to wake up. He explained that he stood there and listened as they said their prayers and then went back to sleep. Lady Macbeth confirmed that there were indeed two men lodged together in that room. Macbeth explained that one man cried ‘God bless us!’ and the other responded ‘Amen!’ He felt as though they had seen him standing there with his bloody, executioner-like hands. He confessed that while listening to their fear, he was unable to say ‘Amen’ when they said ‘God bless us!’ Lady Macbeth quickly urged him not to dwell on these things so deeply. Macbeth, still distressed, asked why he was unable to utter ‘Amen’. He claimed he had desperately needed a blessing, but the word had gotten stuck in his throat. Lady Macbeth warned him that they must not continue thinking about the murder in such a way, or it would certainly drive them insane. Macbeth continued, saying he believed he had heard a voice crying repeatedly, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’. He then spoke poetically about sleep, calling it innocent, describing it as the healer that untangles the complex threads of worry, the brief rest that ends each day’s life, the soothing bath for hard labor, the comforting balm for hurt minds, and the primary source of nourishment in life’s feast. The blood on his hands has physically and spiritually separated him from God. Here, it shows the stark contrast between the couple, while Macbeth is consumed by the internal, spiritual reality of the crime, whereas Lady Macbeth insists on ignoring it, arguing. Sleep is a metaphor for the destruction of innocence and peace.
Play
Lady Macbeth
What do you mean?
Macbeth
Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house;
‘Glamis hath murder’d sleep’, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more!
Lady Macbeth
Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think
So brainsickly of things. Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie thcrc: go carry them, and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
Macbeth
I’ll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on’t again I dare not.
Lady Macbeth
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures; ’tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt.
[Exit. Knocking within
Word Meanings
unbend your noble strength: weaken the strength of the noble mind.
brainsickly: irrationally.
witness: evidence.
Explanation of the above dialogues— Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth what he meant by his strange speeches about sleep. Macbeth explained that the voice continued to cry, ‘Sleep no more!’ to the entire household, adding that because Glamis i.e. Macbeth’s title had murdered sleep, Cawdor i.e. his other title would also sleep no more, and therefore, Macbeth would sleep no more. Lady Macbeth asked him who had cried out such things. She then scolded Thane, telling him that he was weakening his noble strength by thinking about things so foolishly or sickly. She instructed him to go immediately to get some water and wash the filthy evidence i.e. blood from his hand. She sharply questioned why he had brought the daggers with him from the murder scene, insisting they needed to remain there. She then ordered him to go back, carry the daggers, and smear the blood on the sleeping servants. Macbeth utterly refused to go back, saying he was afraid even to think about what he had done and dared not look upon the sight again. Lady Macbeth immediately called him for lacking resolve and demanded he hand over the daggers. She asserted that the sleeping and the dead were harmless, being merely like pictures. She compared his fear to that of a child who fears a devil that has only been painted on a canvas. She stated that if Duncan was bleeding, she would use the blood to paint the faces of the grooms, because it needed to appear that they were guilty. Lady Macbeth then exited with the daggers. Immediately after she left, a sound of knocking was heard from within the castle.
Play
Macbeth
Whence is that knocking?
How is’t with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Re-enter Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
My hands are of your colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white.
[Knocking within]
I hear a knocking at the south entry: retire we
to our chamber: a little water clears us of this deed.
How easy is it then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended.
[Knocking within]
Hark! more knocking:
Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers: be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
Macbeth
To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself.
[Knocking within]
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!
[Exeunt]
Word Meanings
Whence: from where.
appals me: frightens me.
Neptune: The god of the sea.
multitudinous seas: all the seas taken together.
incarnadine: make blood red.
green: green colour of the sea.
To wear a heart so white: to have a heart so pale and cowardly.
left you unattended: forsaken you; left you.
to be watchers: to remain awake.
lost So poorly in your thoughts: engrossed weakly in your thoughts.
Explanation of the above dialogues— Macbeth cried out, asking where the knocking was coming from. He wondered aloud about his own terrified state, asking what kind of man he had become if every small noise appalled him. He looked at his hands and exclaimed that they were so horrific that they seemed to be plucking out his own eyes. He then desperately questioned whether even all the sea water in the world could wash the blood clean from his hand. He immediately answered his own question, concluding that his hand would instead turn the vast, green ocean red. Lady Macbeth re-entered and noted that her hands were now the same color as his blood but she was ashamed to have a heart as cowardly as his. She announced that she heard knocking at the south entrance and urgently told him that they must retreat to their chamber. She reiterated her belief that ‘a little water clears us of this deed’, declaring how easy the cover-up would be. She then chastised him, saying his usual courage had abandoned him. Another round of knocking was heard. Lady Macbeth urged him to listen, noting the sound of more knocking. She ordered him to put on his nightgown quickly, so that if they were called upon, they would not look like they had been awake. She demanded he stop getting so hopelessly lost in his thoughts. Macbeth, still despairing, muttered that the only way to cope with having done the deed would be to stop acknowledging who he was. The final round of knocking was heard, and Macbeth cried out a desperate, regretful wish: that the knocking could wake Duncan. They both then exited. The sudden, urgent sound of knocking is the ultimate dramatic device in this segment. It violently shatters the internal, private horror of the couple, forcing them to confront the external reality of their crime. Macbeth’s query about whether ‘all great Neptune’s ocean’ can wash his hands clean establishes the vastness of his guilt. The hyperbole of transforming the blood from a physical stain into a cosmic contaminant shows that his guilt is too vast and permanent, that it has the power to stain the entire universe, defying any natural form of purification. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth reduces the crime to a logistical problem solvable by water, highlighting her inability to grasp the spiritual and psychological weight of murder.
Conclusion
Act 2, Scene 2 of Macbeth happens right after Macbeth kills King Duncan. It shows what happens immediately afterwards, with Macbeth feeling guilt and horror, while Lady Macbeth stays practical and takes charge. She quickly smears the blood on the guards to hide their involvement. The scene also includes the loud knocking at the door, signalling that others are about to discover what has happened. Students can take help from this post to understand Act 2, Scene 2 and also learn the difficult word meanings to get a better grasp of Macbeth. This post includes a summary of Macbeth, which will help students of ISC class 11, to get a quick recap of the play.