Help with Macbeth Act III Scene IV nr 2? Please?

Question

Hi everyone! Thanks so much to everyone that helped me with the previous selected extract in the play - it really helped me! Anywayz, now it turns out I have to analyse anpther short section in the play for English class (Gr 10, 16 yrs) too apparently :S If anyone could offer any suggestions to literary terms or connections to greater themes in the passage (just like the last one) I would be very thankful - I don't really understand the passage's relevance :S

M Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer's cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine are blanched with fear.

R What sights, my lord?

LM I pray you speak not, he grows worse and worse
Question enrages him. At once, good night.
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.

Plz help - very much appreciated :D since I find this difficult :(

Answer 1

Macbeth is freaking out, because of the presence of Banquo's ghost as his banquet.

At this point, Macbeth ASSUMES that everyone else in the room can see the ghost, too...but, of course, he's the only one that sees it.

Naturally, the assembled party guests want to know what's causing Macbeth's unrest ("What sights, my lord?"), and Lady Macbeth tries her best to usher the guests OUT before Macbeth says anything incriminating.

Answer 2

Macbeth has just seen the ghost of Banquo. Lady Macbeth has tried to dismiss it as nothing. Ross wonders at what Macbeth has seen. Lady McB tells Ross to leave Macbeth alone as his questions are causing Macbeth to be distracted.

Lady MacB is trying to keep control of a situation quickly going out of control

Answer 3

At Forres, Macbeth and his wife welcome the thanes of Scotland to the banquet. Immediately prior to the feast, one of the murderers appears at a side door and reveals to Macbeth the truth about the mission: their success in the killing of Banquo and their failure to murder Fleance. Macbeth recomposes himself and returns to the table. As he raises a toast to his absent friend, he imagines he sees the ghost of Banquo. As with the ethereal dagger, the ghost of Banquo appears to come and go, propelling Macbeth into alternating fits of courage and despair. Lady Macbeth invites the thanes to depart and, once alone, tries one last time to soothe her husband. But Macbeth’s paranoid mind is already on to the next murder, that of Macduff. To ascertain his future with greater certainty, he makes clear his intention to visit the Weird Sisters once more.

Here is an explanation of the significance of this scene:
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/id-65,pageNum-52.html