Reactions

Does anyone else agree that some of the characters' reactions to the news of King Duncan's death were amusing/inappropriate/lame?

"The King has been murdered!"

Lady Macbeth: "Woe, alas! What, in our house?"
I guess people back then were as concerned with their reputations as people today.
*On second thought: I realized it's not so much about their reputation. She knew what she was getting into when she and her husband plotted the king's murder. I actually think that "What, in our house" was her feigning shock and horror that such a thing could happen under her roof...*

Malcolm: "O, by whom?"
Er...really? I love Shakespeare, but I think maybe he was high when he wrote this line or something. It doesn't seem like the appropriate reaction of the son of a murdered man to want to know who killed his father instead of trying to deny the truth or weeping or expressing disbelief and fury or whatnot.

Then again, Malcolm and Donalbain don't seem to care that much at all about their father's death; no, they are more concerned for their own safety and flee immediately without so much as paying respect (i.e. grieving) for their dead father. Malcolm actually refers to it as an "unfelt sorrow." COLD!

Another thing that struck me in particular from this act was Lady Macbeth declaring (I think I have a weird attraction this character...) that she would have killed the king herself had he not looked like her father in his sleep. And yet she chastises her husband for being weak. I think this reveals her own hypocrisy - she tells her husband he is weak for not being able to carry out his intent (at least, initially) to gain something which she desires as much as he, but she is not willing to stain her hands for it, it seems. (Although she does seem to be fine with smearing her hands in his blood once it is already flowing.)

And as for Macbeth's weird soliloquy - did he really see a dagger stained with blood in the air before him? Was he really hallucinating or was he just being... dramatic?