Supernatural elements in Shakespeare plays frequently convey a double-meaning: (1) literal and (2) symbolic. Shakespeare apparently intends both types of meaning, and the plays become more fascinating and intriguing because of that. Such double-meaning also appears to be intended in regards to the vision that appears in the beginning of the second act.
As Macbeth is walking late at night towards the bedchamber of King Duncan, he experiences a vision. He sees a dagger (or knife) floating before his eyes. The handle is closest toward him; the tip is outward, pointing in the direction of Duncan’s bedchamber. During the Middle Ages people often believed that visions came from a supernatural source – either from God or the angels or from the devil or some other dark supernatural source. Today people more often believe that such visions are products of their own minds and imaginations. But in this case, Shakespeare clearly suggests that either the supernatural or psychological belief is possible. The dagger appears to be solid to Macbeth. But when he tries to grab hold of it, his hand goes right through it as if it were made of air (34-35). Yet it continues to float before Macbeth. The protagonist then refers to the dagger as a “fatal vision” (36). The expression could suggest the idea of disaster or ruin about to happen. It could be a supernatural omen to warn Macbeth. Or it could be a supernatural creation from an evil source to encourage Macbeth to perform the evil deed.
Even at this point, Macbeth is still troubled in his mind, uncertain what to do. He is still bothered by his conscience. Thus, Macbeth also wonders if the dagger is created by his own mind: “a false creation proceeding from the heat oppressed brain” (38-39). Macbeth is still struggling between his desire to be king and his desire to be good. And that struggle is having an effect on him physically. His mind and body both are in a fever. And when the mind is feverish, hallucinations can occur.
Thus, three interpretations of the dagger are actually possible here: (1) supernatural warning, (2) supernatural encouragement, or (3) psychological reaction. The audience, like Macbeth himself, must provide the answer.
The image of the dagger alters: drops of blood form on the blade. But Macbeth dismisses the image as a product of his mind (47-48).
Macbeth then muses that nighttime is the time of evil. It is the time for witchcraft, murder, and evil sacrifices to Hecate, the goddess of the moon and witches (51-51). Since night is the time for evil and since Macbeth intends to commit an act of evil, he realizes that he must act quickly. He has convinced himself to proceed. He has made up his mind once again. Macbeth is a man of action, not words; for “words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives” (61). This phrase suggests that deeds that are hot (meaning the time is ready for them) and that should be done right away instead become cold if one waits too long. The deeds never get done because the person wasted too much time on words (that is, talking or thinking). Simply, then, Macbeth is telling himself to act, not think. If he thinks too much he will hesitate for too long and miss his opportunity, his only chance, to kill Duncan.
The soliloquy ends with Macbeth listening to the bell of a clock. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, churches would ring their bells to announce the death of someone in the town or community. In some places, the church would ring the bell one time for each year the person lived. When Macbeth hears the clock, he instead likens it to a death knell for King Duncan, like the church bell ringing for the dead. Macbeth, then, will hesitate no longer. He will kill the king.
The murder scene is performed off-stage: the action of killing Duncan is not actually shown on stage. The action occurs only in the minds of the audience between the first and second scenes. The murder scene would have been rather gruesome and possibly offensive to King James (as will be explained later). So, the second scene opens, still late at night, immediately after Macbeth has murdered King Duncan.
The scene begins with Lady Macbeth wondering if Macbeth had actually committed the deed. She worries that even though she drugged the guards so that they would sleep heavily, they still might wake up before Macbeth has a chance to finish the deed (lines 6 and 9). Besides drugging the guards, Lady Macbeth also pulled their knives out so that Macbeth could easily pick them up (11-12). Lady Macbeth tried to make the deed as easy as possible for her husband to do, but she could not kill Duncan herself: “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (12-13). This is an important line in regards to Lady Macbeth’s conscience and sense of humanity. She could not murder Duncan because she thought about her own father and remembered that she was a daughter. She could not, after all, “unsex” herself so easily.
Later, when Macbeth is feeling troubled and guilty about the murder, Lady Macbeth advises him, in a line of significant foreshadowing, to stop thinking in that manner:
These deeds must not be thought After these ways. So, it will make us mad.
(31-32)
Neither Macbeth nor his wife will be able to clear their consciences, to remove their guilt. They are both equally guilty, and are both equally troubled by the murder. The difference between husband and wife is just a matter of timing. Both become “mad” because of their act: they just become so at different times.
Macbeth’s madness appears first, in the second act of the play. The dagger vision could be regarded as one indication of Macbeth’s madness. Macbeth also discovers that, after the murder, he cannot say “Amen” (26). The word amen is an interjection used by Christians at the end of a prayer to suggest approval or agreement. Macbeth cannot say it because it is part of a prayer, one of the words spoken to God. Macbeth might think that God will not allow him to say it because Macbeth committed a terrible sin (the supernatural explanation). Or Macbeth might not be able to say because of his own troubled mind, a mind that has become slightly mad (the psychological explanation).
A third indication of madness also appears in this scene: Macbeth hears voices. The voice he hears cries out that “Macbeth does murder sleep” (34). Macbeth briefly explains that sleep (or Sleep, like a personified god) provides rest and relaxation to minds troubled by the day’s events (35-38). The murder of sleep, then, means that people will no longer be able to find rest, solace, and comfort in their sleep. They will be continually troubled, both day and night, by the events of their life. Macbeth here is foreshadowing life in Scotland under his rule. Macbeth has murdered a good king, who has made life good for his people. But Macbeth will become a tyrant and a burden to his people. They will not be able to sleep comfortably at night with Macbeth as their king. Of course, the line also suggests that Macbeth himself will not be able to sleep anymore (line 41). With the burden of evil on his mind, repose and rest will no longer be available to him.
Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth is so troubled in his mind that he is still carrying the bloody daggers that he used to kill Duncan (46). Lady Macbeth here is strong, where Macbeth is weak. Macbeth has the burden of guilt now lying heavily upon himself. So, he can act no further. His wife, though, has not yet committed evil. So, she is strong enough to cover the guards (referred to as “grooms” in line 54) with blood and place the bloody daggers next to them so that they appear to be guilty.
Shakespeare continues to link Macbeth with his wife and reveal that they are connected by their shared guilt. Macbeth, still overcome with guilt, looks down upon his hands, covered in blood, and cries out, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (58-59). At this point Lady Macbeth, whose hands have also become bloody by handling the knives, ridicules her husband for his remark (62-63). But in the final act of this play, Lady Macbeth will make similar comments about not being able to wash the blood off of her hands. The blood on the hands thus becomes a symbol of their guilt. And the bloody pair of hands that cannot be washed also becomes a sign (semiotics) to link Macbeth’s guilt in Act II to Lady Macbeth’s guilt in Act V.