Question

Using the lines from act 2 explain the relationship between Macbeth and words from the Duncan's son

Answer 1

Macbeth expresses these confrontations after the finding of Duncan’s killed body. The words are an illustration of verbal irony. Verbal irony happens when a character speaks one thing which other characters understand in one specific way, but the spectators knows the truth but the characters do not. When Macbeth states, “Had I but died an hour before this chance,/I had lived a blessed time,” the noblemen assembled around to take him to mean that he is so saddened and sorrowed by Duncan’s death that he would somewhat have died himself than lived to see such a horrifying thing that had occur. The spectators knows this is not a correct explanation because Macbeth is the killer, but the characters in the play do not. Furthermore, if Macbeth had perished an hour before Duncan was slain, Duncan would still be alive. Macbeth would be in heaven in place of becoming a living killer convicted to hell, as Shakespeare’s spectators would have supposed.