Macbeth Journal: Act II

After reading the act, I was fascinated by the way Shakespeare portrayed the murder of King Duncan. Instead of revealing the act of regicide itself, Shakespeare sets Macbeth’s murderous deed in a rear chamber that is concealed from the audience’s view. I was amazed at the way Shakespeare conveyed such and important event in this fashion and upon further research, I discovered this theatrical technique of staging is known as elision. We see the scenes leading up to the murder and the scenes immediately following it, but the deed itself does not appear onstage. Duncan's bedchamber becomes a sort of hidden sanctum into which the characters disappear and from which they emerge powerfully changed. For example, after Macbeth has committed the treacherous deed, he appears on stage dazed with self doubt and regret. He seems psychologically haunted by the experience of murdering his beloved King. When Lady Macbeth urges her husband to go back and incriminate the guards with the bloody dagg...