Act 1 scene 2

• The wounded sergeant in Macbeth provides important information about the play.
• Macbeth and Banquo are described through their actions in battle, and this is the first time the audience hears about these characters.
• Shakespeare presents the character of Macbeth to us through the opinions of other people.
• Macbeth is a universally loved character at the beginning of the play, but through his own actions, he ruins everything.
• The bloody sergeant describes Macbeth as brave, and he tells Duncan about how Macbeth was so skilled in battle that his sword didn't even have time to cool down from all the blood he was spilling.
• Macbeth literally unzipped the rebel leader Macdonald from his belly to his chin, chopped off his head, and put it on a stake.
• The Scottish nobleman Thane of Cawdor betrayed Scotland and sided with the King of Norway in an attempt to invade, and he was stripped of his title which was then given to Macbeth as a reward for his bravery and loyalty.
• Macbeth is described as a loyal and brave man, but by the end of the play, he portrays his king and his country, which is an example of foreshadowing or echoing, a technique that Shakespeare uses throughout the play.
• The treason of the Thane of Cawdor foreshadows what Macbeth himself will go on to do.
• The last line in this scene reinforces how brutal this world is and how low a value is put on life, as Duncan orders Cawdor's death in five words: "Go pronounce his present death".
• The element of the supernatural is present in this scene, and the element of a fierce battle and a masculine aggressive environment is also present, building up more and more tension for the audience.