Macbeth

Act 2 Q.3

Explain the irony of lines 100-112 in scene 3. Why is Macbeth's action significant?

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Please quote a line so I know exactly where you are. Line numbers do not always match in different publications.

Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them.

Macduff.

Wherefore did you so?

Macbeth. Who can be wise, amazed, temp’rate, and furious, Loyal, and neutral, in a moment? No man. Th’ expedition of my violent love Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan, His silver skin laced with his golden blood, And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature For ruin’s wasteful entrance; there the murderers, Steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers Unmannerly breeched with gore. Who could refrain That had a heart to love, and in that heart Courage to make ’s love known?

Macbeth is putting on a big act here. He tries to justify the killing of the guards by saying he loved Duncan so much that he lost his mind when he witnessed them, silver skin laced with his golden blood. Macbeth is the one that actually killed Duncan.