Question

scene 2 line 1 #3 \that which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; what hath quenched them hath given me fire. hark! peace! it was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman which gives the stern’st good - night.\—lady macbeth why is lady macbeth bold? what is the significance of the owl and bellman?

Explanation:

• Lady Macbeth explicitly links the guards' drunkenness to her newfound boldness in her line, as the alcohol has numbed her moral hesitation.
• In the context of Shakespeare's time, owls were widely associated with death and misfortune. The "bellman" was a figure who delivered death sentences, so framing the owl's cry as this bellman reinforces that the shriek is a premonition of Duncan's murder, setting a menacing, fatal tone for the scene.

Answer:

1. Lady Macbeth is bold because the alcohol that intoxicated the king's guards has emboldened her, removing her inhibitions to carry out the plot to murder King Duncan.
2. The owl is a symbol of death and ill omen in Elizabethan literature, signaling the imminent murder of Duncan. The "fatal bellman" is a reference to the town crier who would announce executions; here, the owl's shriek acts as this grim announcer, marking Duncan's impending death.