Threescore and ten I can remember well,
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange, but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.
I can remember seventy years well. In all that time, I have seen dreadful hours and strange things, but this terrible night has made all my previous knowledge seem like nothing.
I'm seventy years old and I remember things, but I've never seen anything like what happened last night. Everything I've learned in my whole life doesn't compare to this one night.
seventy years i've seen things but not like this not like last night everything else is worthless now
Ha, good father,
Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage: by the clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.
Is’t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it?
Yes, good father, you see the heavens, troubled by human acts, threaten his bloody stage. By the clock it is day, and yet dark night stranglesfasting the traveling lamp. Is it night's dominance, or the day's shame, that darkness covers the face of the earth, when living light should kiss it?
Yes, you're right, old man. The heavens themselves are upset by what we did. They're threatening the king's bloody theatre. It should be daytime but the darkness is strangling the sun. Is night taking over, or is the day itself so ashamed that it's hiding? The earth is covered in darkness when sunlight should be kissing it.
the heavens are angry it should be day but darkness strangles the sun the earth is hiding
’Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.
It is unnatural, just like the deed that has been done. On Tuesday last, a falcon, soaring at the height of her power, was hunted down and killed by a mousing owl.
That's unnatural, just like the murder was. An owl — an owl! — killed a falcon last Tuesday. A night bird killed a day hunter. That's backwards.
unnatural just like the murder an owl killed a falcon everything is backwards
And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain)
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn’d wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending ’gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
And Duncan's horses — something most strange and certain — beautiful and swift, the finest of their kind, turned wild in nature, broke out of their stalls, flung themselves about, fighting against obedience, as though they would make war with mankind.
And Duncan's own horses — I can't believe I'm saying this — those beautiful, fast horses, the best ones there are, they went crazy. They broke out of their stalls, started thrashing around, refusing to obey, like they were fighting against humans.
duncan's horses the best ones went wild they broke free fighting against obedience war with mankind
’Tis said they eat each other.
It is said they eat each other.
They're even eating each other.
they eat each other
They did so; to the amazement of mine eyes,
That look’d upon’t.
Here comes the good Macduff.
They did so, to the amazement of my own eyes, which saw it. Here comes the good Macduff.
Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes. I couldn't believe it. Oh, here's Macduff.
i saw it i saw them early each other here's macduff
The unnatural events in 2-4 — darkness at noon, owl killing falcon, horses eating each other — are not simply 'atmosphere.' For Shakespeare's Jacobean audience, they were cosmological data.
The Elizabethan and Jacobean worldview inherited from medieval theology a concept called the 'Great Chain of Being': a hierarchical order in which God sat at the top and all creation was arranged below in a strict, interlocking hierarchy. Angels, then humans (ordered by rank: kings, nobles, common people), then animals, plants, minerals. Each level of the hierarchy was linked to those above and below it in a chain of mutual dependence and proper relationship.
The king occupied a specific structural position in this chain: he was the link between the human world and divine authority. The king ruled 'by divine right' — not merely as a political arrangement but as a cosmic one. To kill a king was therefore not just murder; it was a severing of the chain. The human link to divine order was broken. Nature would feel this.
This is why the natural disorders in 2-4 are given such weight. They are not metaphors for political disorder; they are symptoms of cosmological rupture. The darkness at noon, the predator hierarchy inverted (owl kills falcon), the domesticated animals reverting to savagery — these are nature reading the violation that humans cannot yet fully comprehend.
Shakespeare uses this framework throughout the play: the weather, the animals, the earth itself respond to Macbeth's crimes. When legitimacy is restored at the end of Act 5, it is expected — and the play implies — that nature will reorder itself accordingly.
Why, see you not?
Why, can you not see?
Isn't it obvious?
you can see it
Is’t known who did this more than bloody deed?
Is it known who did this bloody deed?
Do they know who killed the king?
who did it
Those that Macbeth hath slain.
Those whom Macbeth has killed.
The guys Macbeth killed.
macbeth killed them
Alas, the day!
What good could they pretend?
Alas, the day! What possible advantage could they have gained?
That's terrible! What were they trying to accomplish?
what did they want it makes no sense
They were suborn’d.
Malcolm and Donalbain, the King’s two sons,
Are stol’n away and fled; which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.
They were bribed. Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons, have fled and are hiding, which throws suspicion on them for the deed.
They were paid to do it. The king's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, ran away, so it looks like they're guilty.
they were bribed the sons fled so they look guilty case closed
’Gainst nature still:
Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up
Thine own life’s means!—Then ’tis most like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.
Against all natural law! Such mindless ambition devours its own means of survival. Then it is most likely that the crown will fall to Macbeth.
That's insane! They destroyed themselves trying to be king. So it looks like Macbeth will get the crown.
they destroyed themselves ambition devours its own so macbeth gets the crown
He is already nam’d; and gone to Scone
To be invested.
He has already been named king and is gone to Scone to be invested with the crown.
He's already king. He's gone to Scone for the coronation.
already king gone to scone for the ceremony
The most politically sophisticated thing in 2-4 is what Macduff doesn't say. He doesn't accuse Macbeth. He doesn't challenge the official explanation. He answers Ross's questions directly and accurately — giving the official story about the sons, confirming the coronation plans — and then makes one small geographic choice: Fife, not Scone.
This is how opposition works when the accused has just taken power and has already demonstrated willingness to kill multiple people. You don't make speeches. You don't boycott dramatically. You answer every question with the official answer and let your location speak.
Macduff's 'lest our old robes sit easier than our new' is the only dissent he permits himself — and it's embedded in a fabric metaphor that sounds like aesthetic preference. Anyone who wants to hear it as political dissent can. Anyone who wants to hear it as nothing can. Macduff has plausible deniability.
It won't protect Macduff. Macbeth's spies report his absence. His family pays the price. But the pattern of resistance that will ultimately defeat Macbeth begins here, in a brief exchange outside a castle, with a man who decided he had somewhere else to be.
Where is Duncan’s body?
Where is Duncan's body?
Where's the king's body?
where is duncan
Carried to Colmekill,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
Carried to Colmekill, the sacred burial place of his ancestors, and the guardian of their bones.
They took him to Colmekill — that's where all the old kings are buried. It's sacred ground.
carried to colmekill sacred ground where the kings are buried
Will you to Scone?
Will you go to Scone?
Are you going to the coronation?
going to scone
No, cousin, I’ll to Fife.
No, cousin, I'm going to Fife.
No. I'm going to Fife instead.
no i'm going to fife
Well, I will thither.
Well, I will go there.
Well, I'll go.
i'll go
Well, may you see things well done there. Adieu!
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
Well, I hope things go well there for you. Farewell! Lest the old king's customs sit easier on us than the new king's.
I hope it goes well. Good luck. And maybe the old ways were better than what comes next.
good luck hope things go well there old robes sit easier than new ones
Farewell, father.
Farewell, father.
Goodbye, old man.
goodbye
God’s benison go with you; and with those
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
God's blessing go with you, and with all those who would make good from bad and turn enemies into friends.
God bless you. And God bless anyone trying to make good come from this evil and turn enemies into friends.
god's blessing with those who make good from bad turning enemies to friends
The Reckoning
Act 2 closes with its quietest scene: a brief, choric exchange between Ross and an old man, with Macduff arriving to confirm the political aftermath. Its function is dual — to show nature's response to the regicide, and to establish the official story that is now in place. The natural world has gone wrong. Darkness at noon. An owl — nocturnal hunter, associated with death and the supernatural — killing a falcon, the daylight hunting bird. Duncan's own horses breaking free and eating each other. These are not just mood-setting details; for a Jacobean audience, they would have been signs of genuine cosmic disorder. The king was the link between human society and natural order; his unnatural murder disrupts both realms simultaneously. Macduff's news closes the political loop: the Duncan's sons have been framed and are in flight; Macbeth is heading to Scone for the coronation. Macduff won't attend — 'lest our old robes sit easier than our new' — a line whose surface meaning is polite (the old king's ways may suit us better than the new king's) but whose real meaning is suspicion barely suppressed into metaphor. Macduff's absence from the coronation is the seed of his later status as Macbeth's most dangerous enemy.
If this happened today…
The morning after a CEO's mysterious death. The company's official line is that his sons fled, proving guilt. The new CEO is being installed. Most people show up to the installation because that's how it works. One senior manager finds a reason not to attend. He mentions, to anyone who'll listen, that things seem... different now. The lights flicker. Someone's prized show horses have been found dead in their stalls, with bite marks on each other.