Tension in Act 2, Scenes 1 and 2 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Tension in Act 2, Scenes 1 and 2 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Shakespeare's Macbeth is a play that develops around tension all the

way through. Shakespeare manages to create tension in a variety of

ways in terms of the thematic aspects, linguistic aspects and dramatic

aspects.

Act II (scenes I and 11) is the part of Macbeth where Lady Macbeth and

her husband (Macbeth) actually carry out their plans and do the deed.

Instead of planning and talking about killing King Duncan of Scotland,

the Macbeths go ahead and actually do it. Tension is built up before

the killing in scene I and also in scene II when Macbeth reappears

having done the "deed". We can see the Macbeths' reactions and

feelings to their crime and if the characters are uneasy or on edge,

then it adds to the tension.

Act II, scene 1, starts off at night, in fact after midnight. In

Shakespeare's time midnight was considered to be the "witching hour".

Shakespeare's use of the concept of darkness is an excellent way of

creating tension because many people have a deep founded fear of the

dark. The darkness can be seen in the language, "The moon is down" and

in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth an eerie

atmosphere is created through dim lighting. This version of Macbeth

uses pauses and silence by the characters in order to create tension.

Also evil things come from the dark; Banquo says "All the candles are

out", meaning there are no starts in the sky. Banquo finds it

difficult to get to sleep because of "cursed thoughts". This language

shows us that Banquo is obviously very anxious and fear is plaguing

his imagination. The semantic field of sleep is ...

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hath made me bold". She doesn't know whether Macbeth has followed

through with their plans. She waits alone in anticipation on the

stage. This creates suspense and is crucial to the dramatic aspect of

the play. Macbeth on the other hand is off stage. Shakespeare

structures it cleverly so that the audience sees characters on their

own and together. He shows Macbeth's worry through his line, "Who's

there". This shows Macbeth's great concern that someone is there who

might disturb him and identify him as the murderer. Lady Macbeth

starts to become agitated and her optimism is gradually fading. She

wonders whether the plan might have failed - and Shakespeare shows

this by Lady Macbeth saying lines such as "I laid their daggers ready"

and "He could not miss them". These show her real desperation at this

point.