Macbeth Act 2, Scene 4 Summary

  • Ross chats with a conveniently placed wise old man, who is disturbed by the night's strange events—both the King's murder and the weird things going on in nature.
  • Ross says the heavens are clearly troubled by the unnatural regicide: even though it's the middle of the day, it's completely dark outside; an owl murdered a hawk; Duncan's horses ate each other. Okay, that seriously sounds like something out of The Exorcist.
  • Macduff, yet another Scottish nobleman, offers some exposition, too: he says the dead guards "were bribed" to murder the king (wrong); that Malcolm and Donalbain look pretty suspicious, having left town so quickly and all (can't argue with that, even though we know better); that Macbeth is on his way to Scone to be crowned King; and that Duncan is being put in a freshly dug grave.
  • Time for a new act.