Jonathan Slinger:Whence is that knocking?
Jonathan Slinger:How is't with me, when every noise appals me?
Jonathan Slinger:Macbeth is obsessed throughout this scene with the things that he has heard.
Jonathan Slinger:Hark.
Michael Boyd:Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suddenly stop various times to listen to noises.
Michael Boyd:They stop in their tracks. It adds to the jerky rhythm, the unsettling rhythm of the scene that unsettles us as we watch it.
Jonathan Slinger:Hark.
Jonathan Slinger:Who lies i' the second chamber?
Aislin McGuckin:Donalbain.
Michael Boyd:Then, apparently people are speaking in Macbeth's head as he's in the corridors after he's just murdered Duncan.
Jonathan Slinger:There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried 'Murder!' That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them, but they did say their prayers and address'd them again to sleep.
Michael Boyd:Are they the noises Are they words from real people in a bedroom next door? Are they supernatural noises? And so on.
Michael Boyd:The business of you hearing voices in the corridor as you come through, what's in your brain as you're saying those lines or thinking about that as you come from having stabbed Duncan?
Jonathan Slinger:In my head I am absolutely in a paranoid fear that it is either Duncan's spirit revenging or coming back to haunt me or it's God, or the Devil basically coming and saying, "You are now damned, that's it."
Michael Boyd:Damned, so "Sleep no more" means sort of, ever-lasting, that's the kind of hell that you're imagining.
Jonathan Slinger:It's the beginning of my journey towards eternal damnation.
Jonathan Slinger:One did laugh in's sleep, and one cried 'Murder!' That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them, but they did say their prayers and address'd them again to sleep.
Aislin McGuckin:There are two lodged together.
Jonathan Slinger:One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other as they had seen me…
Jonathan Slinger:He has heard voices but even the fact that she says to him there are two people there So, you know "You have only–"
Jonathan Slinger:What she's saying is "You have only heard two real people." But the point is, one of them has said, "God bless us." one of them has shouted, "Amen." one of them has shouted, "Murder!".
Michael Boyd:Lady Macbeth is anxious to make it, "It's alright. It's just normal." Although that's not particularly normal. "They were awake in the next-- in the-- next door while I was doing that. That's alarming too.
Jonathan Slinger:Yeah.
Michael Boyd:There is no-- There is no way of taming this to normal because if they-- if it was just It's just two people saying, "God bless us." and "Amen." "You mean they were awake?"
Jonathan Slinger:Yeah.
Michael Boyd:That raises the stakes appallingly.
Jonathan Slinger:Every time I come up with something she tries to explain it in a rational, pragmatic way. But… But… I take it one step further.
Jonathan Slinger:It's this like, "Nothing is going to comfort me. Ok, alright so what if it is two people in a chamber? Then I wasn't able to say 'Amen.'"
Michael Boyd:Why could I not say 'Amen?'
Jonathan Slinger:But I couldn't say 'Amen.' Why couldn't I then So it's every time and then she says, "Don't worry about them, we shouldn't think about these things."
Jonathan Slinger:And then I'm on to this other voice, this disembodied voice which is telling me not to sleep. So it's kind of like I'm continually just ratcheting up the stakes of what I went through.
Michael Boyd:Of anxiety, yes.
3200:03:45:01 00:03:50:14Jonathan Slinger:Wherefore could I not pronounce 'Amen?' I had most need of blessing and 'Amen' stuck in my throat.
3300:03:50:16 00:03:54:01Aislin McGuckin:These deeds must not be thought after these ways, so it will make us mad.
3400:03:54:03 00:03:59:23Jonathan Slinger:Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep…'
Knocking
Michael Boyd:And then there is the knocking at the door, which turns out to be Macduff and Ross arriving to wake up the king, as they had promised him, but of course it takes on a much more sinister quality to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
3700:04:19:10 00:04:21:22[DOOR KNOCKING]
3800:04:22:13 00:04:29:16Jonathan Slinger:Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me?
3900:04:30:07 00:04:49:24Jonathan Slinger:If it was a practical thing of there is somebody at the door, then that is a very practical consideration but he doesn't seem to take that forward into the next line, if you know what I mean? He goes from [GASPS] to, "God, I'm getting so-- I'm so jumpy."
Aislin McGuckin:My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white.
[DOOR KNOCKING]
Aislin McGuckin:I hear a knocking at the south entry. Retire we to our chamber, a little water clears us of this deed, how easy is it then!
Aislin McGuckin:Your constancy hath left you unattended.
[DOOR KNOCKING]
Aislin McGuckin:Hark! More knocking.
Jonathan Slinger:Macbeth at that point, in that state of mind That's God. God's at the door. They're coming for me. He's coming for me.
[DOOR KNOCKING]
Jonathan Slinger:Wake Duncan with thy knocking I would thou couldst!
[DOOR KNOCKING]
Jonathan Slinger:You are now on the road to hell.
Video summary
Macbeth’s guilty conscience causes him to hear terrifying sounds.
The cast explore how Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation.
This short film is from the 鶹Լ series, Shakespeare Unlocked.
Teacher Notes
This short film offers further insight into the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the immediate consequences that the murder of Duncan has on both of them and their relationship.
As a whole class discuss:
- What noises does Macbeth imagine he hears in this scene?
- Does Lady Macbeth imagine any sounds?
- What noises are real and heard by both characters?
- What meaning does Macbeth make of the noises he hears, real and imaginary?
- What does he think will happen as a result of what he hears?
This short film is suitable for teaching GCSE English literature and drama in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/ 5 in Scotland.
Act 2, Scene 2 - Rhythm of the language (workshop) video
The cast discuss iambic pentameter and explore the rhythm of Shakespeare’s language.
Act 2, Scene 2 - The king is dead (workshop) video
The actors and director explore the Macbeths' very different responses to Duncan’s murder.
Act 5, Scene 1 - Candle in the dark (workshop) video
The director and actors experiment with the staging of the sleepwalking scene.
Act 5, Scene 1 - Sleepwalking. video
The doctor and lady-in-waiting witness Lady Macbeth sleepwalking.
Act 5, Scene 1 - Sleepwalking Queen (workshop) video
The director investigates how knowledge of Lady Macbeth’s secret changes the lives of others.
Act 5, Scene 1 - Unlocking the words (workshop) video
RSC Head of Voice, Lyn Darnley, helps Aislín McGuckin through a series of voice exercises.
About the 2011 RSC production. video
A look at the production and how the design is informed by the period in which Macbeth was written.
Act 1, Scene 7 - Persuading Macbeth (workshop) video
A look at the different ways of performing the scene when Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to kill the king.
Act 1, Scene 7 - To Kill the King. video
Macbeth debates the murder of King Duncan and decides against it. Lady Macbeth uses a battery of strategies to change his mind.
Act 1, Scene 7 - Whether to kill the king (workshop) video
Analysis of Macbeth’s soliloquy and key images in the speech.
Act 2, Scene 2 - Bloody Daggers. video
Macbeth has committed the murder and is overcome with guilt and fear.
