Skip to main content

Why does Macduff refuse to tell Lady Macbeth about the murder?

Macbeth and his wife planned to be pretending to be sound asleep in their bed when Duncan's murder would be discovered. Macbeth, however, was forced to come down to the gate to find out why nobody was responding to the persistent knocking. The drunken Porter admits Macduff and Lennox just as Macbeth is arriving, so Macbeth finds himself forced to conduct the two men to King Duncan's chamber and stand outside with Lennox while Macduff goes inside to wake Duncan in accordance with the King's orders. When Macduff comes out and raises a great alarm, he is so overwrought by what he has seen that does not suspect anyone yet. Lady Macbeth is able to go through with the couple's original plan and put on an act of an innocent person who has just been awakened by the uproar. She asks,


What's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!     (Act II, Scene 3)



Macduff replies,



O gentle lady,
’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak:
The repetition in a woman's ear
Would murder as it fell.



He does not want to describe what he has just seen because he sincerely believes that Lady Macbeth is a gentle, innocent woman who could be so shocked and horrified that she would suffer a serious injury or possibly even death. At this point, Macduff believes Lady Macbeth has been asleep and that his outcry woke her. Macduff probably believes that Macbeth would have been sound asleep beside his wife if he hadn't awakened him with his knocking at the gate.


There is a sharp contrast between Macbeth and his wife's behavior. She does a much better job of acting innocent, surprised, alarmed, and aghast. She is not hampered by a guilty conscience or a code of honor like her husband. Macduff will have plenty of time later on to think about Macbeth's strange behavior from the moment he met Macduff and Lennox at the gate. Added to that will be the fact that Macbeth murdered Duncan's two attendants before they had a chance to argue their innocence, and the fact that Macbeth ended up becoming the new king. 


Lady Macbeth knows her husband will come under suspicion. She tries to help him out of a painful situation by pretending to be about to faint and calling, "Help me hence, ho!" Macduff is already becoming suspicious of Macbeth. He asks him why he killed the king's two attendants, and Lady Macbeth senses that her distraught husband is making himself look guilty by offering too much apology, explanation, and blatantly insincere rhetoric.

Labels

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

In chapter one of The Great Gatsby, what advice does Nick's father give him? How does this make him a good person to tell this story?

Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches... Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches into a discussion of how pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

How did the United States become an imperial power?

"Imperial power" is a bit of a vague label. It tends to mean several things at once, so let's unpack it. In the sense of "this country was built on conquest by force," the "imperial power" part of America actually predates the United States proper. The territories that would become the United States were imperial colonies, established by the great European empires of the 17th and 18th centuries. Much of the US Constitution and American governance generally goes back to England, history's largest and most successful imperial power, but vital aspects of American culture come from other imperial powers, such as France and Spain. Much of American culture comes from sources other than the old empires, but they were key influences on what the United States became. In the sense of "this country treats conquest by force as a fundamental component of its culture, economy and politics," the United States has always been an imperial power. Even earl...
Post a Comment
Read more

How and why does James Gatz become Jay Gatsby? Describe the young Gatsby/Gatz.

James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune,... James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune, whereas they arose from well-to-do families. Gatz became Gatsby through determination and discipline. At the end of the novel, the narr...
Post a Comment
Read more