Summary: Act 2, scene 3
A porter stumbles through the hallway to answer the knocking, grumbling
comically about the noise and mocking whoever is on the other side
of the door. He compares himself to a porter at the gates of hell
and asks, “Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?” (2.3.3). Macduff
and Lennox enter, and Macduff complains about the porter’s slow
response to his knock. The porter says that he was up late carousing
and rambles on humorously about the effects of alcohol, which he
says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and urination. He adds that
drink also “provokes and unprovokes” lechery—it inclines one to
be lustful but takes away the ability to have sex (2.3.27).
Macbeth enters, and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, saying
that Duncan asked to see him early that morning. In short, clipped
sentences, Macbeth says that Duncan is still asleep. He offers to
take Macduff to the king. As Macduff enters the king’s chamber,
Lennox describes the storms that raged the previous night, asserting
that he cannot remember anything like it in all his years. With
a cry of “O horror, horror, horror!” Macduff comes running from
the room, shouting that the king has been murdered (2.3.59). Macbeth
and Lennox rush in to look, while Lady Macbeth appears and expresses
her horror that such a deed could be done under her roof. General
chaos ensues as the other nobles and their servants come streaming
in. As Macbeth and Lennox emerge from the bedroom, Malcolm and Donalbain
arrive on the scene. They are told that their father has been killed,
most likely by his chamberlains, who were found with bloody daggers.
Macbeth declares that in his rage he has killed the chamberlains.
Macduff seems suspicious of these new deaths, which Macbeth explains
by saying that his fury at Duncan’s death was so powerful that he
could not restrain himself. Lady Macbeth suddenly faints, and both
Macduff and Banquo call for someone to attend to her. Malcolm and
Donalbain whisper to each other that they are not safe, since whoever
killed their father will probably try to kill them next. Lady Macbeth
is taken away, while Banquo and Macbeth rally the lords to meet
and discuss the murder. Duncan’s sons resolve to flee the court.
Malcolm declares that he will go south to England, and Donalbain
will hasten to Ireland.
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Act 2, scene 3 →
Summary: Act 2, scene 4
Ross, a thane, walks outside the castle with an old man.
They discuss the strange and ominous happenings of the past few
days: it is daytime, but dark outside; last Tuesday, an owl killed
a falcon; and Duncan’s beautiful, well-trained horses behaved wildly
and ate one another. Macduff emerges from the castle and tells Ross
that Macbeth has been made king by the other lords, and that he
now rides to Scone to be crowned. Macduff adds that the chamberlains
seem the most likely murderers, and that they may have been paid
off by someone to kill Duncan. Suspicion has now fallen on the two princes,
Malcolm and Donalbain, because they have fled the scene. Macduff
returns to his home at Fife, and Ross departs for Scone to see the
new king’s coronation.
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Act 2, scene 4 →
Analysis: Act 2, scenes 3–4
After the bloody imagery and dark tone of the previous
two scenes, the porter’s comedy comes as a jarring change of tone.
His good-natured joking with Macduff breaks up the mounting tension
of the play and also comments obliquely on its themes. Unlike all
the characters of noble birth, who speak in iambic verse, the porter
speaks in prose. His relaxed language seems to signal that his words
and his role are less important than those of the other characters,
but in his merry banter the porter hits on many truths. His description
of the confusion and lust provoked by alcohol caricatures Macbeth’s moral
confusion and lust for power. Moreover, his remarks about the ineffective
lechery inspired by drink eerily echo Lady Macbeth’s sexual taunting
of Macbeth about his ability to carry out his resolutions. The porter’s
joke that the door of Inverness is like hell’s gate is ironic, given
the cruel and bloody events that are taking place within the castle.
When he cries, “Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub [the devil]?”
the analogy between hell and Inverness becomes even stronger (2.3.3).
Instead of receiving a welcome and a blessing when they step into
Macbeth’s castle, guests are warned that they are putting themselves
in the hands of the devil.
Now that Lady Macbeth’s machinations have wrought their result,
Lady Macbeth begins to recede from center stage and Macbeth takes
her place as the most compelling character in the play. The clipped,
halting sentences with which Macbeth speaks to Macduff and Lennox
indicate his troubled mind and trepidation about the impending discovery
of Duncan’s body. For example, while Lennox offers a lengthy speech
about the wild weather of the previous night, Macbeth’s only response
is a terse “ ’Twas a rough night” (2.3.57).
And when Lennox asks Macbeth, “Goes the King hence today?” Macbeth
almost gives away his knowledge that Duncan is dead (2.3.49).
“He does,” answers Macbeth, before he realizes that his answer is
incriminating and changes it to: “[H]e did appoint so” (2.3.49).
Once Duncan’s body is discovered, it is as though a switch
has been flipped within Macbeth. He springs into action with a clear
eye toward his purpose, seizing control of the nobles and becoming
King of Scotland. Interestingly, Shakespeare does not show us the
scene in which Macbeth is made king. Just as he denied us the scene
of Duncan’s murder, he now skips over its most direct consequence,
Macbeth’s election. The news is conveyed secondhand through the characters
of Ross, Macduff, and the old man.
