Monday, November 12, 2012

What implicit and explicit stage directions are used in Act II Scene 1 and Scene 2 of Macbeth, if any?

It can be confusing to rely upon stage directions printed
in the edition of any Shakespeare play you are reading -- The Arden, The Folger,
Penguin, etc.  The editors of these editions choose what stage directions to include in
their version of each script, and so it is hard to rely upon one single edition for the
"real" stage directions.


The place, however, that you can
look in a Shakespeare play for stage directions is the text itself.  Shakespeare relied
upon embedded stage directions, which means that the stage
directions are implied in what characters are saying.  Let's look at the embedded
directions in each of the scenes you
mention.


Act II, scene
i:


The scene begins with a sort of
anti-stage direction, Banquo and Fleance commenting on the fact that there has been no
striking of the hour.  To mention something that the audience doesn't hear might seem
odd, but it could also imply that Shakespeare intends a deathly stillness on stage at
the opening of the scene.


We know the exact moment of
Macbeth's entrance into the scene (and that there must be some noise that precedes him)
by Banquo's "Who's there?"  Shakespeare's theatre didn't, as far as we know, have
directors, but lines like this one were a useful way for Shakespeare to "direct" the
play from the page.


"Is this a dagger which I see before
me?"  This is a real question, and we have no way of knowing if there was some special
effect here, making a dagger visible to the actor playing Macbeth and the audience.  It
is entirely possible, but, when staging the play, this question must be considered in
choosing whether to materialize a dagger or not.


At the end
of this scene, Macbeth mentions "The bell invites me." which refers to the command he
has given a servant earlier in the scene, "bid thy mistress...strike upon the bell." 
So, there is a sound effect called for
here.


Act II, scene
ii:


This is a scene of much tension and some
confusion, so there are mentions by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth of sounds and noises that
both may or may not hear.  Shakespeare lets the audience know this when Macbeth enters
asking, "Who's there?" "Didst thou hear a noise?" and "Didst not you speak?"  Whether
these are actual sounds the audience can hear seems to be, like the dagger in the scene
before, up for discussion.


However, before Macbeth's
entrance, Lady Macbeth mentions hearing "the owl" and "the
grooms...snores."


Macbeth refers to the knocking that
enters the scene and continues with "Whence is that
knocking?"


There is also reference to the hands of first
Macbeth and then Lady Macbeth.  Macbeth says, "What hands are here?" and mentions how
red they are.  Lady Macbeth returns with, what must also be red hands.  She says, "My
hands are of your colour."


The knocking escalates (referred
to by both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth), adding urgency to the a very tightly wound and
intense scene.

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