Act 2, Scene 3 (p.65)
"The night has been unruly. Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird
Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth
Was feverous and did shake."
The night as wild and disorderly, as though something in the universe was amiss. While I was asleep wind came through our chimneys and blew the fires out. Many said they could hear cries of grief, screams of those dying, heinous voices prophesying cataclysms that will bring a new age of terror. I could hear the owl squawking through the night. Some said that the ground shook like the earth had a fever.
In the quote above Lennox is describing to Macbeth the strange occurrences of the previous night. At the time Lennox is not aware that the previous night King Duncan was killed. These lines above foreshadow the discovery of Duncan's body. Shakespeare also uses dramatic irony to evoke apprehension in the audience. We, the audience, are aware the Duncan has been killed and his the cause of these bizarre events occurring that night, but Lennox is unaware. Lennox notes that "lamentings [were] heard" and that voices were predicting cataclysms, which foreshadows the entire play. This passage is important because Duncan's death does not only affect the people around him, but the balance of the world.
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