Act 3, Scene 2

Summary

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth envy the peaceful dead
Macbeth reassures Lady Macbeth that their problems will be solved by a terrible deed that will happen that night

‘I would attend his leisure for a few words.’ - Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth has to ask the servant to speak with her own husband
Sense of alienation and isolated due to guilt, trauma, their actions - she is cut off from love and intimacy
Males the audience feel pity

‘Nought's had’ - Lady Macbeth

‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy’ - Lady Macbeth

Better to be the person murdered than to live with the murder (without happiness, with regret)
She already can’t handle the guilt
Showing signs of weakness - maybe she wasn’t as strong as she claimed to be
Emphasises how she forced herself to be strong enough to murder Duncan
Rhyming couplet draws attention to this quote (destroy and joy)

‘why do you keep alone,’ - Lady Macbeth

‘thoughts which should indeed have died’ - Lady Macbeth

Hypocritical as she still constantly thinking about the murder
Projects her own weaknesses to avoid confrontation (scapegoating)
Denial
‘died’ - dysphemism, not euphemism - shows that she isn’t THAT guilty yet (engineers Lady Macbeth’s gradual spiral into insanity).

‘We have scorch'd the snake, not kill'd it’ - Lady Macbeth

Job is only half done
Paranoia - believes they are still in danger
‘kill’d’ - another dysphemism - engineering Macbeths gradual spiral into insanity (insanity that is different to Lady Macbeth’s)
‘snake’ - often used in the play to symbolise treachery/betrayer of trust (Macbeth believes someone will betray him and he will face the consequences of his actions)

‘That shake us nightly’ - Macbeth

Admits that he is shaken but is willing to destroy the world - similar to what Lady Macbeth says earlier in the scene where she also admits weakness

‘Better be with the dead,’ - Macbeth

‘Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight’ - Lady Macbeth

She has hope that things will become normal/she will become sane
Self-preservation - cares more about her reputation than Macbeth’s mental health
Appearance vs reality theme prominent

‘make our faces vizards to our hearts’ - Macbeth

‘vizards’ - mask, disguise for protection
Paranoia - Macbeth is becoming more insane (especially knowing what will happen to Banquo later)
Finally realising that what he has done is bad and shouldn’t be discovered - redemption
He hates hiding his mind but accepts that he has to - possibly a good man with a moral conscience (contrasts his psychotic traits shown in Act 1, Scene 2)

‘full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!’ - Macbeth

‘scorpions’ - image of the thoughts uncomfortably crawling around in his mind
His actions are all he can think about
Possibly has anxiety or depression - humanised, the audience feels pity as he is suffering
Exclamative
‘dear wife’ - love, intimacy, fear

‘black Hecate's summons’ - Macbeth

‘What's to be done?’ - Lady Macbeth

She is feminine/the lady of the house again
The moment when the gender roles are switching and being put back into what is stereotypical for the Jacobean time period

‘dearest chuck’ - Macbeth

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are humanised in this scene
The audience feels pity for the characters due to them being written in a humane way
Lady Macbeth enters with a servant
They long to be dead and act childish because of it
Lack of self knowledge - didn’t'/doesn’t realise he can’t deal with kingship
Their life was also sustained by love of others

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