© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All rights reserved.NOTESWould murder as it fell.
[Enter Banquo.]
O Banquo, Banquo!
Our royal master’s murdered.
Lady Macbeth. Woe, alas!
What, in our house?
Banquo. Too cruel anywhere.
Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself,
And say it is not so.
[Enter Macbeth, Lennox, and Ross.]
Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant
There’s nothing serious in mortality:^24
All is but toys.^25 Renown and grace is dead,
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees^26
Is left this vault^27 to brag of.
[Enter Malcolm and Donalbain.]
Donalbain. What is amiss?
Macbeth. You are, and do not know ’t.
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
Is stopped; the very source of it is stopped.
Macduff. Your royal father’s murdered.
Malcolm. O, by whom?
Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it seemed, had done ’t:
Their hands and faces were all badged^28 with blood;
So were their daggers, which unwiped we found
Upon their pillows. They stared, and were distracted.
No man’s life was to be trusted with them.
Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.
Macduff. Wherefore did you so?
Macbeth. Who can be wise, amazed, temp’rate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man.
The expedition^29 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.^30 Who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage to make ’s love known?90- serious in mortality worthwhile
in mortal life. - toys trifles.
- lees dregs.
- vault world.
95100- badged marked.
105110- expedition haste.
breach (breech) n. hole made by
breaking through
115- breeched with gore covered
with blood.
CLOSE READ
ANNOTATE: Mark the adjectives
in Macbeth’s question on lines
109 and 110.
QUESTION: What relationship
do the adjectives have to each
other?
CONCLUDE: What excuse for his
actions do these words provide
Macbeth?The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act II 289LIT17_SE12_U03_A2_WC.indd 289 20/03/16 1:45 AMCLOSE READ
Point out that Macbeth has now started to
take charge, and has murdered the guards that
have been covered in Duncan’s blood. You may
wish to model the close read using the following
think-aloud format. Possible responses to
questions on the Student page are included.
ANNOTATE: As I read lines 109 and 110, I
notice and highlight the adjectives in Macbeth’s
question. I keep in mind that adjectives are
describing words so I will also pay attention to
whom or what these words refer to.
QUESTION: As I read the dialogue, I realize that
these adjectives describe a person’s emotions and
character traits.CONCLUDE: Macbeth claims that his rage and
love for his slain king caused him to kill the
guards, saying that it would be impossible for
someone to act wisely. He is using a general
description of someone in such a situation to
justify his actions.VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Archaic Words Remind students that many of the words in
Shakespeare’s plays are old, or archaic words that are no longer
used in the English language. In Scene iii, line 108, Macduff asks:
“Wherefore did you so?” Wherefore means “why” and not, as
most people think, “where.” As students read, encourage them
to look for other archaic words. They may find it helpful to record
these words in a glossary for quick reference as they read.Whole-Class Learning 289
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