Act 3 Scenes 4-6

Scenes four through six of act four are full of imagery of strangeness. On page 138, after Macbeth sees the apparition of Banquo, he relays his fear of the strangeness that came before him. "The time has been, that, when the brains were out, the man would die, and there an end: but now they rise again, with twenty mortal murders on the crowns, and push us from our stools. This is more strange than such a murder is." Macbeth ordered a murder of Banquo, who was subsequently killed with twenty mortal wounds to his head. Banquo's ghost, risen from the dead, comes back to haunt Macbeth, and Macbeth states that such an occurance is stranger than death. The strange imagry of this passage is added to when Macbeth apologizes to his guests, saying that he is afflicted by a strange illness. The ghost continues to come back as he entertains his guests. On page 144, after Macbeth has returned to his bedchamber, he discusses Banquo's ghost with Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth: All causes shall give way, stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er: strange things I have in my head that will go to hand, which must be acted ere they may be scanned.
Lady Macbeth: You lack the season of all natures, sleep (nature/harvest/planting?)
Macbeth: Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse is the initiate fear that wants hard use: we are yet but young at deed.