Act 2 scene 2

• Macbeth is a noble and well-respected man, brave, loyal, courageous in battle, ambitious, and through the actions of an evil woman, pushes that ambition too far.
• Macbeth sees the error of his ways and falls from his position.
• Macbeth is a brutal killer who decapitates people at the behest of the king, schemes and plots with his wife and the witches to murder a good noble man, goes against all decency and moral principle by killing his king, relative, and a guest in his own home, and kills many more people indiscriminately in order to keep his ill-gotten gains.
• The murder of Duncan occurs off stage, making it difficult to feel sorry for Macbeth if the audience were to witness the actual act.
• The first time we see Macbeth following the deed is when he returns holding the bloody daggers and says, "I have done the deed."
• Lady Macbeth admits she had tried to murder Duncan herself, but he resembled her father as he slept, so she couldn't bring herself to do it.
• Lady Macbeth is the only human emotion we see in the play.
• Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are on edge and appear painfully human in this scene.
• Lady Macbeth urges her husband to wash the blood from his hands, telling him a little water clears up us of this deed.
• The contrast between both characters in this scene is significant, with Macbeth's remorse leaving him in a state where he could easily be detected.
• The knocking at the gate is symbolic in a number of ways, representing the reality outside of the castle gates, the knocking at the gates of hell in Act One, and the disruption of the balance in nature due to the murder of Duncan.