Present – A courtyard in Macbeth’s castle
- Macbeth – Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, General in Kings army
- Lady Macbeth – Macbeth’s wife
- A porter
- Macduff – Nobleman
- Lenox – Nobleman
- Banquo – General in kings army and nobleman
- Donalbain – King’s son
- Malcolm – King’s son and Prince of Cumberland
Summary
- Porter and Macduff talk about how they all got really drunk last night at Lady Macbeth’s party
- Macduff wants to know if Duncan is awake, he goes to look
- Lenox and Macbeth talk about how it was a rough night
- Macduff comes back in horror and he tells them that Duncan has been murdered
- Everyone wakes up once a bell is rung to alert people that something is wrong
- Macduff tells everyone that Duncan has been killed
- Macbeth and Lenox go to investigate
- Macbeth kills the chamberlains who are passed out drunk and have bloodied hands and knives with them
- Lady Macbeth faints or pretends to faint
- Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee to England and Ireland because they believe that someone is going to come to kill them.
Quote
The night has been unruly. Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird
Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth
Was feverous and did shake.
Lenox – Act 2, Scene 3 pg55
Translation
The night has been chaotic, the wind blew down the chimneys when we were sleeping. People heard screams of death in the night and voices of people predicting terrible catastrophes that will bring about a new dark time. The owl made noise all night and some say there was an earthquake.
Explanation
Lenox is saying that something tragic happens in the night, that people heard screams of death and the wind wailed through the houses down the chimneys. The owls who whooed all night and overall it was just unusually unpleasant. This is a great example of dramatic irony because in the scene earlier we found out the Macbeth killed King Duncan that night and Lenox is basically just referencing to Duncans death without knowing it.
