It is clear from Acts I and II of The Tragedy of Macbeth that Macbeth has a vivid and often quite accurate imagination. Write an
essay explaining how Macbeth’s imagination works in Act II. What things does he imagine? How does his imagination affect his actions? Use examples from Act II to support your ideas.
Sample Answer: Students should explain how Macbeth’s imagination works, giving examples from the act to support their ideas. For example, they might mention the dagger he imagines, which actually seems to lead him on to do the deed and in a sense helps him go through with it. They might also mention the voice he imagines after the murder saying that “Macbeth does murder sleep,” as his guilty conscience asserts itself and ensures that he will suffer more after the deed than before; it frightens him so much that he cannot complete the final details of the plot.
<span>In
Act 2 there is a scene where Macbeth just killed Duncan and is
heading back to lady Macbeth covered in blood. They have a conversation about the incident
that took place and suggest that the fact that he could not return
the weapon was because he felt guilty. He also kept muttering about
all the blood on his hands, coming from the king, on the daggers.
He
imagined hearing noises when he first comes in imagining people in
the castle that could be witness to his crime. He also said that when
he was committing the crime, he thought he heard someone say “Sleep
no more... Macbeth has murdered sleep”. This was also an indication
of guilt from his conscience .
