Macbeth Act II Timeline of Events

Macbeth and the Mysterious Dagger

1 CE

In scene one of act two, Macbeth contemplates the killing of King Duncan. While questioning his thoughts and ideas, he imagines a dagger floating in the air and pointing towards the King's chamber. Macbeth reaches out to grab the dagger but realizes it is not real. Macbeth then realizes he is hallucinating and needs to stop overthinking his actions.

The Ringing of the Bell

2

Macbeth's hallucination is interrupted by the ringing of a bell by Lady Macbeth. The ringing of this bell indicates that everything is ready for Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Macbeth then draws his sword from his waist and heads to the chamber in which King Duncan is resting for the night.

The Killing of King Duncan

3

In this event, Macbeth kills King Duncan and comes out of the chamber with blood on his hands and holding the bloody daggers. He was to afraid to bring the daggers back and stage them on the guards, so Lady Macbeth insisted on doing so. She then ordered her husband to wash up and get ready for bed.

The Drunken Porter

4

In this event, the porter of the castle is very drunk and hears a knock on the door. Upon going to answer it, he speaks of strange incidents in which people have died and weird things have occurred. The porter then states that he would wonder what it would be like to be the porter of Hell. This shows irony because of how Hell and the castle are having similar mood and settings at this time in the act. The porter then lets Macduff and Lenox into the Macbeth's castle.

The Discovery of the Dead Duncan

5

After the drunk porter lets Macduff and Lenox into the castle, Macduff heads to wake King Duncan from his sleep. Once Macduff enters the chamber, he discovers the bloody King lifeless in his bed. He yells for Macbeth and Lenox to come see the horrible sight of their almighty King dead.

Macbeth's Madness

6

Once Macbeth and Lenox see the sight of King Duncan dead and the servants drunk and asleep with blood all over them, Macbeth pretends to become enraged. Macbeth kills the servants during his rage because he is trying to pass the dirty deed off to the servants of the now dead King. During all of this commotion, Lady Macbeth faints and everyone rushes to her aid.

Fleeing the Country

7

King Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, arrive at the castle and see their father dead. They fear that they may be the next ones targeted. They come up with a plan to flee the country to avoid being suspects or being murdered themselves. This raises some suspicion but it becomes clear that many do not view them as suspects in this murder of the King.

Discusion of the Death

8

In the final scene of Act II, Ross, Macduff, and an old man converse about strange and unnatural events occurring throughout the time of this murder. They mention the King's horses breaking out of their stalls and running away, only to eat each other shortly after. They also mention that an owl had attacked a falcon. Everyone is suspicious of what is happening at this time and they decide to return to their countries.