Question

In act II, scene IV, of Macbeth, the audience hears reports of an owl killed by a falcon and of a horse eating another horse. What is the likely significance of these events?

Answer 1

In scene 4 of the second act, Banquo is talking with an old man about how nature/the has been working in strange ways. They mention these acts to show how everything is going against its own nature; the day is dark regardless of the time, an owl killed a falcon (an owl which usually goes for smaller animals, like mice), and the horses ate each other. These sinister occurrences happened to convey how unnatural was the death of the King.