Macbeth Scene 2 summary

Scene 1  Macbeth and Banquo are talking about the three witches and what they've told them. Macbeth downplays the significance of what the three witches said. Banquo warns him about the evil that could come from what the three witches said. Banquo and his son exit and leave Macbeth, he has a hallucination in which he sees a bloody dagger floating before him. Macbeth Hears a bell toll and that it is summoning Duncan to heaven or to hell.

Scene 2 Lady Macbeth appears and says that she has drugged the soldiers guarding Duncan's sleeping quarters. Macbeth goes and kills king Duncan and comes back. He tells his wife that he fear's God's wrath.Also that a voice has said to him "sleep no more." Lady Macbeth leaves to go frame the guards.

Scene 3 Macbeth sees Macduff and asks him whether the king is awake yet. On hearing that the king is still asleep, Macduff leaves to wake him. Macduff returns with the news that the king is dead. Lady Macbeth and Banquo come in and Macduff informs them of the king's death. Macbeth laments the king's death, proclaiming that he wishes he were dead instead of the king. When Malcolm and Donalbain arrive, Lennox blames the guards by pointing to the incriminating bloody evidence. Macbeth states that he has already killed the bodyguards in a grief-stricken rage. Malcolm and Donalbain decide that their lives may be at risk and that they should flee Scotland. As Lady Macbeth is being helped, Banquo talks to the others and discusses the murder at hand. Malcolm decides that he will flee to England while Donalbain will go to Ireland.

Scene 4 Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is dead, but the boy argues that if his father were dead, she would be weeping. She keeps insisting that his father is dead because he is a traitor. As they argue a messenger comes in and warns her that danger is coming toward the castle and that she should take her children and flee. She has nowhere to run to, and the murderers come in disguised in horrible masks. The murderers ask her where her husband is, and she tells him that she hopes that Macduff is in a place where they shall never find him. The murderers call Macduff a traitor and the young boy calls them liars. One of the murderers stabs the boy and kills him. Lady Macduff runs screaming 'Murder,' and the villains chase after her.