In Act 2, Macbeth murders Duncan and begins to experience temporal blessings and punishments.
- Macbeth knows the afterworld awaits the dead. He tells Duncan to mark the bell that “summons thee to heaven or to hell.” This is a Christian world with eternal rewards and punishments. One question: why is this a question? I thought Duncan was a saint!
- Lady Macbeth does not see death as a gateway to heaven or hell. She sees the here and now, and as of Act 2 Scene 2, Duncan is dead. That’s all that matters. She tells Macbeth “the sleeping and the dead / are but as pictures.” Yet she couldn’t kill Duncan herself because he “resembled” her “father.” This is a portent of Lady Macbeth’s guilt.
- Macbeth says that “To know my deed ’twere best not know myself.” This is because his conscience bears witness to not only what he’s done, but what such a deed merits in eternity.
- Scene 3 is a parade of reactions to murder. The diversity of responses mirror the possibilities of rewards and punishment that temporally follow good or evil deeds. The Porter jests because he’s clueless. Macduff talks about the murder in religious terms by comparing Duncan’s body to “the Lord’s anointed temple” and “a new Gorgon.” Lady Macbeth faints. Macbeth flaunts righteous anger. Banquo is thoughtful. Malcolm and Donalbain don’t cry or speak so they appear guilty.
- In Scene 4, the Old Man gives an interesting reading of the entire act: “God’s benison go with you and with those / That would make good of bad and friends of foes.” The Old Man voices Joseph’s sentiment from Genesis that what man meant for evil may be meant for God. This could mean redemption and forgiveness: the short-circuiting of sanctions. Or it could mean that take real punishments and use them as a blessing.
Experiments in Criticism 