Present:
- Old Man – literally just an old man
- Rosse – a nobleman
- Macduff – a nobleman, Thane of Fife
Summary
- Old Man talks about how in all of his 70 years he has never experienced a night as bad this night
- Rosse says that it is dark but it should be light – the sun hasn’t come up but it should of by now
- Old man talks of how a falcon was killed by a mousing owl
- The old man continues on to talk about how all of Duncan’s horses had gone wild and run away
- Macduff enters and they all gossip about who killed Duncan
- And then Macduff talks about how Malcolm and Donalbain fled which makes them suspicious of killing Duncan
- Rosse then points out that since they fled it means that they won’t become king so there was no point in killing Duncan if they were just going to flee and wouldn’t benefit from his death
- Macduff talks about how Macbeth is going to Scone to be crowned
- Rosse asks Macduff if he is going to go to Scone to watch
- Macduff says no and that he is going to Fife instead.
Quote:
’T is unnatural,Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last,A falcon, towering in her pride of place,Was by a mousing owl hawked at, and killed.– Old Man Act3,Scene2 – 10
This is referred to a change in power, an apex predator like a falcon being killed by a lower creature such as a mousing owl. This is a pathetic fallacy, a pathetic fallacy is when characters perceive nature or the world around them to be reflecting what happening in the human world or reflecting a character’s thoughts or emotions. In this pathetic fallacy, the characters in the scene don’t know that what happened with Macbeth killing Duncan but are simply observing nature and noticing something obscure that just happens to be reflecting something that happened previously in the play that they don’t yet know about.
