Act 2 scene 4

• In Shakespeare's time, it was believed that there was a natural order into which everything fell, just as there was an order in the animal world and amongst men, with the king at the top as God's representative on earth.
• Under the king were various noblemen, lords, gentry, and at the bottom were peasants and slaves.
• Any break in this order was considered a sign of how serious it was to upset the natural order of things.
• Ragicide, the act of killing a king, was considered one of the most significant upsets to this order.
• Macbeth commits regicide and eventually becomes the king.
• For the play to reach its conclusion, Macbeth must be removed and a rightful heir must take his place as king to restore the natural order to a state of balance.
• In this scene, the old man and Ross discuss the happenings in the play from outside the main character's point of view, and they talk about an interesting thing where a mousing owl caught and killed a falcon.
• Shakespeare uses images of a disturbance in nature to reflect the huge crime that's been committed against Duncan, a crime so significant it's affected the balance of nature.
• The language and structure of this scene are significant because of the way the old man speaks, using natural and sincere language, and Ross speaks in an almost artificial way, admitting his intention to follow the story being put about by Macbeth that Duncan's sons murdered their father and he will go to Scone to see Macbeth crowned king.
• Macbeth is not the only one who hides what he knows, it's a continuing theme in the play, this sort of hiding of the truth and living a lie.