Act 1

Act 2. Summary

Act 3

 

Scene i:
At the inner court of his castle, Macbeth and Banquo speak about the prophecies of the weird sisters. Macbeth downplays the significance of their encounter with the witches, but his bosom friend Banquo warns him about the evil that might grow out of their prophecies. When Banquo and his son, Fleance, exit, Macbeth alone has an hallucination in which he sees a bloody dagger floating before him. He expresses horror at the "bloody business' he is about to undertake, but is firm in his intention to proceed. Hearing a bell toll, he says that it is summoning Duncan to heaven or to hell.

Scene ii:
The scene continues in the inner court, as Lady Macbeth appears on stage and says that she has drugged the soldiers guarding Duncan's sleeping quarters. Macbeth comes back and tells his wife that he has done the foul deed. He also says that he fear's God's wrath, that he can no longer pray, and that a voice has said to him "sleep no more." She urges him to forget such "brain-sickly" things, and then scolds him for bringing the daggers used to kill Duncan with him, rather than leaving them beside the guards as she had planned. She departs to remedy this mistake. When she returns, they hear a knock on the castle door, but she says that they should ignore it and go to bed, thereby covering their crime.