‘The attempt and not the deed / Confounds us!’ - Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth has been caught trying to kill Duncan, and that he has failed., ‘-Had he not resembled/My father as he slept, I had done ‘t.’ - If Duncan hadn’t looked like Lady Macbeth’s father asleep, then she would have killed Duncan herself - so this could be a sign of weakness in this powerful female character., ‘This is a sorry sight.’ - Macbeth feels regret now that he has killed the king., ‘A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.’ - repetition & sibilance = to emphasise the difference between how The Macbeth’s feel. Macbeth is consumed by guilt, but Lady Macbeth feels no guilt., ‘These deeds must not be thought / After these ways: so, it will make us mad.’ - foreshadowing = both the Macbeths will be driven insane by feelings of guilt during the course of the play., ‘Sleep no more! -’ - imperative - he is hearing voices - hallucination - which could be caused by feelings of extreme guilt, ‘Macbeth does murder sleep!’ - the innocent sleep - - personification of sleep, ‘Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,’ - metaphor - stresses the importance of sleep in keeping a human being fit and healthy, ‘Glamis hath murdered sleep - and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more!’ - - indication of a split personality/mental disorder brought about by guilty feelings - repetition, ‘.wash this filthy witness from your hand.- ‘ - personification of blood/reference to handwashing and guilt which originated in The Bible - which is repeated in Act 5, ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hands? No - this my hand will rather /The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red.’ - Macbeth feels overwhelming guilt for the murder of the King, and feels that he cannot wash Duncan’s blood off his hands, which represents how he feels responsible for his actions and cannot hide them. Biblical reference (again) which will be repeated in Act 5, ‘My hands are of your colour - but I shame/To wear a heart so white!’ - Lady Macbeth continues to insult her husband’s manhood. Insists that she is braver than him, continuation of gender role reversal, ‘A little water clears us of this deed: / How easy is it then? - Lady Macbeth falsely believes that by physically removing the blood from their hands by washing them, will also remove any feelings of guilt and responsibility (however, she is proved wrong in Acts 3 & 5),

Macbeth Act 2 scene 2 - quotes & their meanings

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