The effect of Macbeth's entrance on stage after he has
murdered Duncan is, in a word, dramatic--dramatic in that it accomplishes several
purposes in moving the play forward. With his appearance, we learn that Duncan is indeed
dead; Macbeth has followed through, as planned. Also, since Duncan's murder is not
staged, Macbeth's recounting of events takes the audience inside Duncan's chamber and
allows us to visualize and experience what just occurred
there.
His entrance is dramatic, also, because it
establishes Macbeth's immediate reactions after having killed the king. When we last saw
Macbeth, he was witnessing bloody daggers in the air, expressing thoughts of great fear,
and summoning up the courage to act:
Whiles I threat, he
lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath
gives.
When we next see him
as he enters the scene, he is deeply shaken and full of anguish, not for the king but
for himself. "Macbeth shall sleep no more," he cries. Thus his character is further
developed. We know that his having killed Duncan is not a deed he will throw off easily;
it will have emotional repercussions. Those repercussions are foreshadowed in Lady
Macbeth's warning to him:
These deeds must not be
thought
After these ways; so, it will make us
mad.
Macbeth's appearance
after killing Duncan advances and intensifies the drama because it gives us a glimpse of
the madness to come.
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