Following the tragic death of King Duncan in Act II, scene iii we clearly see a theme of summon develop in the play Macbeth where Macduff present at Inverness (Macbeth's castle) out of all grief and chock at the assassination of His majesty King Duncan; scream at the top of his voice in efforts to wake noble men, sons and servants of the kingdom in order to summon them about the sudden dreadful incident that befalls Scotland unexpectadely. (lines 70-90 pg. 328-329)
Lady Macbeth also at this point contributes to summoning and waking from her "plastic sleep" as she puts on quite a show displaying a great amount of hypocritic grief and chock over the death of King Duncan. The sons (Malcolm and Donalbain) of the deceased King appear on set; also waking from their sleep and at a crucial moment where there has been treason and betrayal in the kingdom, the two sons left on set whisper in a disguisive manner leaving the castle as soon as possible. (lines 136-147 pg. 330-331)
"the bell invites me.
ReplyDeleteHear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell." 2,1. Macbeth in his soliloquy at the opening of the scene declares that "it is done" He has gotten to a point where he feels there is no turning point and in a poetic turn speaks of the knelling of the bells. The bells of death are calling for Duncan's death. Macbeth thinks he is ready to fulfill his destiny...the question is if Duncan is ready to go to heaven or hell.
"Here is a knocking indeed!" 2,3. The porter alerts us to the fact that the knocking is loud enough to summon one from sleep. He acknowledges the knocking is what had woken him up.He likens it to the kind of loud knocking that could be heard at the gates of hell.