Commentary Act 3 scene 6 - Macbeth.

... Commentary Act 3 scene 6 This extract from Shakespeare's Macbeth is a choric scene, where the two speakers, the lord and Lennox examine the current situation where Banquo was just murdered and Fleance just escaped. The tone of the entire scene is unsure, because it depends how the actors say the their phrases. The two characters slowly reach an accord through careful, cautious language. Lennox starts the conversation with careful and elastic language. He begins with "Things have been strangely borne", the meaning of it starts a suggestive suspicion. Using adjective such as "gracious", and "right valiant", he describes Banquo and Duncan honorably, but not to Macbeth. This omission adds the sense of suspicion to Macbeth because that Macbeth's name is mentioned, but strangely without honorable adjectives. A sense of irony is presented in the passage that contributes to the suggestiveness of the passage. "the gracious Duncan was pitied of Macbeth, but

want to read more? →