Macbeth Group

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lilies
lilies
Student

In Act 2 of  "Macbeth," what is the signal Lady Macbeth is to give Macbeth to let him know that she has taken care of the guards?

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Posted by lilies on Monday October 13, 2008 at 9:13 PM and tagged with act 2, lady macbeth, macbeth, plot, signal.

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  1. luannw Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    In Act 2, sc. 1, at the end of the famous "dagger" soliloquy, Macbeth hears a bell ring.  He says, "I go, and it is done.  The bell invites me. / Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to heaven, or to hell."  This bell he refers to is the signal from Lady Macbeth that the guards are sleeping.  At the end of Act 1, in sc. 7, when Lady Macbeth lays out the plan to kill Duncan, she makes no mention of a signal, so Macbeth's reference to the bell in Act 2, sc. 1, is the only time we hear of a signal.  Since she is the one, according to her plan, who is going to get the guards drunk and "drug their possets", it is understandable that she should summon her husband with a signal.  She doesn't do the actual killing, because she says that Duncan resembled her father as he slept, so she has to signal her husband to come do the killing.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/act-ii-summary-analysis
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/act-summary-analysis

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    Posted by luannw on Tuesday October 14, 2008 at 4:39 AM