Macbeth Act II

“I am afraid to think what I have done.” (2.2.53)

Lady Macbeth got angry that Macbeth brought the daggers with him instead of leaving them with the sleeping chamberlains. She commanded him to go back in and leave the daggers with the sleeping grooms so it is obvious they killed Duncan, “Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood” (2.2.52-53). Because Macbeth was in shock after what he had done, he refused to go back to Duncan’s room. Lady Macbeth made a comment about the weakness of her husband and went back to put the daggers into Duncan’s room and to smear some blood on the chamberlains. From her command to Macbeth, it is obvious that Macbeth did not kill the chamberlains, because Lady Macbeth mentioned “the sleeping grooms…” Later in the play we learn that the chamberlains were also killed when Macduff came from Duncan’s room screaming after finding everybody dead, “They stared and were distracted” (2.3.101). This means that the only person entering Duncan’s room after Macbeth killing Duncan was Lady Macbeth. It must have been her who killed them. Because Shakespeare writes Macbeth as a play, we are lacking the description of emotions the characters must be going through, especially Macbeth, who must have been surprised the grooms are also dead. Knowing the only person who might have done it was his wife, he blames it on himself, “Oh, yet I do repent me of my fury, that I did kill them” (2.3.103-104). This results in a fact that Lady Macbeth is a cold, manipulative, and ambitious woman who cannot be stopped by anybody in achieving her bloody goals.