Guilt-inspired Hallucinations (ENTRY 4)

Act 2, Scene 1

Dagger

"A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?" Macbeth is having illusion of a dagger before committing the murder. This suggests that he is denying his own true nature. Deep down inside his heart, he does not want to commit this murder. In his soliloquy from Act 1, Scene 7; he gives two reasons for not killing the king. Firstly, he is his kinsman; secondly, he is his host. King Duncan is such a a humble leader, so free of corruption, that when he dies, angels will play trumpets against the injustice of his murder. "...He’s here in double trust:First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,/Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,/Who should against his murderer shut the door,/Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan/Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been/So clear in his great office, that his virtues/Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against/The deep damnation of his taking-off..."

"Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,/And such an instrument I was to use." He even has the illusion where the dagger leads him to Duncan's room. He needs some sort of motivation to encourage him to commit the murder. Without the illusion, he can't be convinced in murdering the king. Even Lady Macbeth who portrays as a stronger figure than her husband needs something to help her in committing the murder.

Act 2, Scene 2

Drinking

"That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold." Lady Macbeth has been drinking like the chamberlains. The difference is that the chamberlains are made drunk so that the murder can be carried out but Lady Macbeth needs the drink to give her courage. She drinks but not to level of being drunk. It provides her with the courage to compensate to her evil act. This is a sign that she is not that strong as the way she portrays herself. Like Macbeth, she is also in denial of her own true nature.

Sleep

"Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!/Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep,/Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,/The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,/Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,/Chief nourisher in life’s feast."

"Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house./'Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more'."

The feeling of guilt continues and even heightened after the murder. Macbeth is horrified by the voice he heard who says that he shall never sleep again for killing an innocent man in his innocent sleep. The voice is another illusion of Macbeth. He is full of guilt that he needs his inner voice to punish him.

Water

"Go get some water,/And wash this filthy witness from your hand." Lady Macbeth acts sensibly by asking Macbeth to wash away the blood, the evidence from his hands. Water can wash away the evidence. Does water wash away guilt? Her soliloquy in Act 5, Scene 1 tells us that she can't get rid of the guilt. I can't wait to spill out my thoughts about Lady Macbeth but I'll keep it for future post. Let me focus on Act 2 first.

Eye of childhood

"The sleeping and the dead/Are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood/That fears a painted devil." Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that dead people are like pictures and only children are afraid of scary pictures. But in scene 1, she mentioned, "Had he not resembled/My father as he slept, I had done ’t./If Duncan hadn’t reminded me of my father when I saw him sleeping, I would have killed him myself." She saw Duncan with 'the eye of childhood' herself and could not kill him. Her contradictory speeches suggest that she is not strong at all. All her attempts in convincing Macbeth to commit murder are also to convince herself that she is capable of evil act.

Knocking, blood, Water

"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."

Macbeth filled with guilt seems to see everything happens around him as forces of supernatural. In this scene, knocking is just being mentioned without any other information. But I have read scene 3, so I know the knocking has nothing to do with supernatural. The knocking that he is afraid of is a foreshadow. The person who knocks is Madcuff who will eventually kill Macbeth. Blood is also a symbol of Macbeth's guilt. Even the Neptune's ocean won't be able to wash away the blood instead the blood will turn the sea red.

"My hands are of your color, but I shame/To wear a heart so white." Lady Macbeth as strong as usual, accuses that her husband is weak. She is ashamed if her heart is pale and weak like the heart of Macbeth.

"A little water clears us of this deed./How easy is it, then!" Water is mentioned again here. Water may wash away the evidence but can it wash away the guilt as easy as the way Lady Macbeth says it?

Act 2 is really out of my expectation. There are so many symbols, illusions, actions and speeches in this act that are related to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's guilt.