“Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house”(2.2.39). The successful murder of the king sends people into a state of panic, “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!”(2.3.57-58). Throughout the act, people start to calm down, or the theme changes, after they piece together the murder, the guards would’ve never been expected to be the murderers, which confuses them.
Shakespeare uses many themes in his writing, in this act in particular the theme happens to be “The first suspect is not always the culprit.” The guards were suspected to be guilty because they were left framed on the scene, “Those of his chamber, as it seemed”(2.3.95). Macbeth, the true culprit, is not suspected to be the murderer because