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No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
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Act 2, Scene 3
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.
In the morning just prior to Duncan’s dead body being found by Macduff in Act 2, Scene 3, Lennox tells Macbeth about the violent weather and other ominous occurrences the night before, further connecting the weather to key events within the play. This is explained further in Quotes by Symbol: The Weather (the fifth quote).
O horror, horror, horror!
Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!...
Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thence
The life o’ th’ building!
In Act 2, Scene 3, a grief-stricken Macduff announces the murder of King Duncan after finding his bloody corpse. Read more about this passage in Quotes by Character: Macduff (the first quote).
Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak.
See, and then speak yourselves
In Act 2, Scene 3, Macduff voices this warning to his fellow nobleman Lennox after seeing the corpse of the murdered Duncan in the bed chamber. Macduff alludes to Greek mythology by telling Lennox he will “destroy his sight / With a new Gorgon.” A Gorgon was a monster with snakes for hair, the most famous of whom was Medusa. She was so fearsome that any man who looked upon her would be turned to stone.
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessèd time, for from this instant
There’s nothing serious in mortality.
All is but toys. Renown and grace is dead.
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
Macbeth makes this showy and utterly insincere speech about how he much he mourns the murdered Duncan in Act 2, Scene 3, saying that life itself has ceased to have meaning due to the death of one man (who Macbeth has murdered!). This passage serves as a demonstration of Macbeth’s natural talents in the dark political skills of subterfuge and duplicity.
Who can be wise, amazed, temp’rate, and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man.
Th’expedition of my violent love
Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood,
And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature
For ruin’s wasteful entrance; there, the murderers,
Steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breeched with gore. Who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage to make’s love known?
In Act 2, Scene 3, Macbeth delivers this wholly insincere speech to his guests after having just killed Duncan’s servants to cover up the fact that he killed Duncan himself. Read more about this passage in Quotes by Character: Macbeth (the fifth quote).
Where we are
There’s daggers in men’s smiles
Unconvinced by Macbeth’s claims that he killed Duncan’s servants in a fit of rage due to his deep sorrow at Duncan’s murder, Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, have a series of private asides to each other towards the end of Act 2, Scene 3. They agree to keep quiet for the time being but flee to safety until they can figure out what has happened and then act accordingly. In this famous quote, “daggers in men’s smiles” Donalbain is referring to how deceptive men can be, inferring that people can smile to your face as they are preparing to stab you in the back.
Act 2, Scene 4
Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage. By th' clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of Earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?
This quote from Act 2, Scene 4, describes the mysterious darkness of the skies on the day that King Duncan’s murder is discovered, which is yet another example of how the play connects the weather to important events transpiring in the play. This connection is discussed further in Quotes by Symbol: The Weather (the sixth quote).
Malcolm and Donalblain, the King’s two sons,
Are stol’n away and fled, which puts upon them
Suspicions of the deed
Macduff makes this statement in Act 2, Scene 4, which reflects the assumption that Malcolm and Donalbain were involved in their father’s murder, since they fled to England and Ireland respectively after his body was found. The young men fleeing for their safety is a boon for Macbeth, as it results in him being named king rather than Malcolm.
