that the death of King Duncan has made the world meaningless. Enter Malcolm and Donalbain:Just behind Macbeth comes Lennox, now joined by Ross, who was apparently sleeping in the castle. On their heels come Malcolm and Donalbain, the King's sons. Donalbain, the younger son, asks what's wrong, and Macbeth answers with a metaphor, "The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood / Is stopp'd" (2.3.98-99), while Macduff says simply, "Your royal father 's murder'd" (2.3.100). Malcolm asks who did the murder. Lennox replies that it seemed that the grooms did, because of the blood on their hands, on their faces, and on the daggers which were lying on their pillows. He says, "They stared, and were distracted; / No man's life was to be trusted with them" (2.3.104-105). We know the truth that Lennox doesn't. The grooms were staring at all that blood, and they were distracted because they were still feeling the effects of the drug that Lady Macbeth slipped into their drinks. In that state they weren't any good as bodyguards, but they didn't appear guilty of premeditated murder, either, so it's a shock when Macbeth says, "O, yet I do repent me of my fury, / That I did kill them" (2.3.106-107). We understand Macbeth's motivation. When he was doing the deed he had heard noises. Maybe the grooms had made those noises, and maybe the grooms, even in their stupor, might have seen or heard something. And even if they hadn't, it was just better to shut them up for good. When Macduff asks why he killed the grooms, Macbeth speaks as though he is his own defense lawyer, and says that anyone would have done the same thing. He describes how Duncan was all covered with blood, and how the grooms were all covered with blood, and then asks rhetorically, "Who could refrain, / That had a heart to love, and in that heart / Courage to make's love known?" (2.3.116-118). So Macbeth depicts himself as a man of love and courage. Before anyone can ask just how much coura...
