Setting and Atmosphere: Macbeth

NB this is a PLAY,never a book!

This page will help you prepare for a coursework essay or for an oral interview on the setting and the atmosphere.

The night of Duncan's Murder, Act 2, scenes i - iii.

Background setting
At the end of Act 1, Macbeth has been persuaded by his evil and scheming wife to kill
King Duncan while he is a guest under their roof. This will be a short-cut to
Macbeth's ambition of becoming king of Scotland [which the weird sisters had
predicted in Act 1 scene 3]. We are shocked by this evil , treacherous intention -
especially as we saw Macbeth at first as brave, loyal and heroic.

Setting
The setting is a cold castle, on a black night, past midnight, with the howls of
predatory wolves and owls which spring suddenly and viciously on unsuspecting
animals. Duncan likes the castle ['a pleasant seat'] but we have heard Lady M say
'never shall sun that morrow see' so we are half prepared for evil and treachery and
the atmosphere is one of evil expectation and two-facedness [Lady M has welcomed
him at the same time as planning his death!]

Atmosphere
Shakespeare cleverly creates a sense of evil [blackness and blood] taking over
Macbeth, his wife and the whole castle. He builds up the tension to breaking point.
Finally, he uses daylight and an ordinary, unwicked porter grumbling about a
hangover to restore an atmosphere of normality and relax the tension.

Act 2 sc i
-it is pitch black, the colour of evil, and past midnight, the witching hour ['The moon
is down']
-the stage direction mentions a torch, so we picture flickering, scary shadows
-Banquo cannot sleep because he has nightmares ['cursed thoughts']
-tension and danger come suddenly with the sound of someone else ['Give me my
sword']; Banquo starts (jumps). It is Macbeth! Atmosphere is on a knife edge.
-Macbeth appears to try to bribe Banquo ['It shall make honour for you']

-now alone, Macbeth hallucinates a dagger pointing the way to Duncan's chamber:
this shows how wound up he is, and charges the atmosphere with tension and evil
-blood appears ['on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood']
-Macbeth reflects that only evil witches and predatory , murderous wolves are still
awake; he mentions 'ghost' and 'horror' ['Witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate's off'rings']
-the scene ends with Lady Macbeth's signal, a bell which, Macbeth says as if to
Duncan 'summons thee to Heaven or to Hell". The use of 'thee' to a King adds to our
sense of evil and tension mounts as he paces on.

Scene ii
-Lady Macbeth starts as she hears an owl ['the fatal bellman' - a sudden predator
under cover of blackness; bells ring when someone dies!]
-we wonder: was it Duncan's death cry? Atmosphere is spine-tingling horror
-Lady Macbeth's cold-blooded account to us (thinking aloud) of drugging the guards
(grooms) and laying their daggers ready shocks us, especially coming from a lady
-Macbeth dramatically rushes in, dripping daggers in his hand [red/black=evil]
he hears the King's children praying - this adds to the atmosphere of evil as we realise
that Macbeth has deprived children of a father as well as a nation of a good King
-he cannot say Amen to the boys' prayer because he is evil, unchristian, possessed
-he tells Lady M he hallucinated a voice telling him 'Macbeth shall sleep no more' -
conscience always disturbs the sleep of the wicked
-Lady M tells to get 'some water' to wash his hands
-Lady M suddenly sees the daggers - the tension mounts sharply
-she shocks us by schemingly, coldbloodedly saying SHE will take the daggers back,
and if the King is bleeding, she will smear blood on the grooms
-Macbeth realises the horror and evil of his regicide: 'Will all great Neptune's ocean
wash this [royal, virtuous] blood?Clean from my hand?'
-Lady M returns and maintains the evil atmosphere with her unfeeling
coldbloodedness 'I shame to wear a heart so white'
-she is cold and calculating 'retire we to our chamber/A little water clears us of this
deed'

Scene iii
Complete contrast: with lower class character, speaking obscene prose [not lines of 10
syllable blank verse] appears in thin daylight replacing the black, evil darkness. His
joking conversation with Macduff about the effects of alcohol completely relaxes the
atmosphere to a normal one where the worst thing is bad language and obscene jokes
['Lechery,Sir, it provokes and unprovokes: it provokes the desire , but it takes away
the performance' ]

We admire the way Shakespeare makes the porter, grumbling as he wakes up,
compare Macbeth's castle to Hell itself - little does he know how near the truth he is!