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Macbeth Soliloquy Essay

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In The Tragedy of Macbeth Act II, Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s soliloquy to demonstrate the moral decay/ decline/ degeneration of Macbeth. Upon seeing a dagger floating in the air, Macbeth quickly attributes fatality to it. He asks, “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/
To feeling as to sight?” The vision of the dragger is linked to death and violence and foreshadows what is to come in the play. This encourages Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Then, he doubts it is a real dagger but rather an illusion. He questions, “Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation, /Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” He is seeing things because his mind is confused and worried. This makes Macbeth hesitate if he should kill King Duncan because he is distressed if he’ll get caught. He …show more content…

He marvels, “Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going” The dagger is pointing the way to Duncan’s room. Macbeth sees it as a sign that he should kill the King. This motivates Macbeth even more to kill King Duncan. He then notices blood on the dragger. He “I see thee still And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,? Which was not so before.” Macbeth now sees the blood on the dragger which wasn’t there before. He takes it as another sign that he should use it to kill King Duncan. Seeing all these signs make Macbeth feel the need to kill King Duncan. In a gesture of retreat, he will not be able to sleep. He says, “Wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep.” Macbeth feels that he cannot sleep because he is thinking about killing the King. If King Duncan kills the king he will not be able to sleep because all of he can think about is the murder that he committed. Resolved, Macbeth kills King Duncan and is

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In Act 2, Scene 1 Macbeth sees a vision of a bloody dagger pointed toward Duncan. This signals the entrance of dark and twisted ambition into Macbeth’s mind, showing that his greed led him to believe that killing Duncan was reasonable. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” (Shakespeare 15)

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Duncan announces to Macbeth that he will be staying at Inverness castle. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth plan Duncan’s murder, but before killing Duncan, Macbeth has a vision of a bloody dagger and a conversation with himself where he says, “ I see thee still, on thy blade gouts of blood, Which was not so before… It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes” (Shakespeare 2.1.57-61). The idea of the bloody dagger is to point out that there is a temptation and a perfect opportunity to kill Duncan. The dagger is a “false creation” that Macbeth creates in his mind and he sees it covered in blood which gives him the confidence to kill Duncan.

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Even if he was pressured into killing Duncan he did it anyway. After he has committed the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is plagued by guilt and remorse. This suggests that he recognizes the gravity of his actions and is

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The first way Macbeth shows this Motif is when Macbeth sees a floating dagger pointed at him. For instance when the narrator says, “Is this a dagger I see in front of me, with its handle pointing toward my hand? Come, let me hold you”(Act 2 Scene 1). What this means is that Macbeth had the drive to kill King Duncan in his sleep.

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Macbeth Act 2 Motif In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the sleep and dream motif is associated with anxiousness and the feeling of insanity which show a dark and tense mood. The motif sleep/dream can also link to the feeling of insanity which show a dark, tense, and frightening mood. When Macbeth is talking to himself in his chamber and is thinking about killing Duncan, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand?

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The voices he hears that threaten: “Macbeth shall sleep no more” indicate a relationship between guilt and madness. Therefore, the manifestation of the dagger suggests that he feels guilty because of his attempt to murder Duncan. There are three major transitions of thought. First, he contemplates about the dagger’s existence; the second is the invocations of dark images; finally, there is the bell that cuts off Macbeth’s contemplations. The transitions between topics indicate that while Macbeth feels guilty for the murder, his determination makes him ignore

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Macbeth, by Shakespeare, is a story of a great warrior named Macbeth who was told by three witches that he would become king. This prediction makes him think it is justified to kill the current king and once he is king he believes that he is invincible. In Macbeth, many symbols are used such as a dagger that isn’t there, hallucinations of blood, and ghosts to show the overwhelming guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have over the murders to highlight the theme that guilt can drive people to insanity when kept in secret. First of all, Macbeth is alone and has decided that he is going to kill King Duncan. All of a sudden he sees a dagger but can’t feel it and says, “I have thee not, and yet I see thee still” (Shakespeare 2.1.35).

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This manifestation of the dagger could be caused by Macbeth’s future guilt of killing the king because he has expressed thoughts to Lady Macbeth that Duncan was a good and innocent king. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth was paranoid and scared so he hurriedly went back to his room and had an illusion that he described as “With all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No This my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red” (Shakespeare 2.2.78-81). After killing King Duncan, he returns to his room and hallucinates a much more large pool of blood on his hand than the sea. Blood is a symbol of the guilt that he is forever scarred on him so that’s why it was hard for him to wash it off because most of the blood was not

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Throughout the book Shakespeare depicts Macbeth's sanity as deteriorating after he commits the heinous crime of plotting a usurpation. This can be seen through the quote ‘’ Is this a dagger?’’ This shows Macbeth's mind slowly declining with guilt and paranoia from coveting from the throne. It also foreshadows Macbeth’s resultant downfall. The readers are positioned to question the sanity of Macbeth and his mental status.

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After Macbeth hears the witches’ prophecies he becomes overly ambitious with being king, ultimately starting his trail of bloodshed. When King Duncan visits Macbeth’s castle, he is presented with an opportunity to seize the crown for himself. Macbeth is conflicted on whether or not he should kill the king and eventually sees a “dagger” in his mind signaling to him that he should kill the king (Shakespeare 2.1.50). Macbeth was so desperate to become king that he was searching for any sign to tell him to go through with this fatal decision. The bloody dagger in this scene symbolizes the death of King Duncan, but also foreshadows the trail of bloodshed that is to come as Macbeth attempts to maintain his

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In Act 2 Scene 1, Macbeth prepares to kill Duncan, but cannot bring himself to do so as he starts to hallucinate, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle towards my hand? I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” A dagger is a weapon that is used to kill people. This visual imagery encourages him to blame his intention to kill Duncan on the coincidental appearance of the handle combined with the handle towards him. The fact that Macbeth tries to find something to blame no matter how intangible it might be portrays the immense guilt that he’s facing.

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The people love him, Macbeth is his host, and he is afraid of getting caught. Despite these considerations, however, Lady Macbeth convinces him. She tells him that they will murder Duncan at night, and they will blame it on the guards. After Macbeth agrees to the plan, explains that he has “no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on the other…” (I, sc vii, 25-27).

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Macbeth would envision a dagger before him asking himself “is (that) a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand”(act.2 scene.i). The dagger was a metaphor for his ambitions and motivation to make himself king with the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth. After King Duncan was killed, Macbeth felt he was evil at that point where he “belief(ed) he (was) to evil to blessed by god”(act.2 scene.ii). The guilt he felt would drive him to the point of madness and brought into question if he was human after that or something that could not be redeemed.

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In the past scene Macbeth is being hesitant in going through with the assassination of King Duncan. Macbeth has a moment where he talks to himself after he sees a floating dagger and says “Is this a dagger which I see before me/ The handle toward my hand?/Come, let me clutch thee./I have thee not, and yet I see thee still./Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/ To feeling as to sight?or art thou but/A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?.” (II.I, 44-49).

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Finally, the vision of a bloody dagger that emerged right before the murder emboldened Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Prior to murdering Duncan, Macbeth was hesitant about following through with his wife 's merciless task. He doubted that he was able to murder one of his most loyal friends, until he saw the vision. On page 43, Act II, scene I, Macbeth sees the apparition: "Is this a dagger that I see before me with its handle turned to my hand?" Macbeth contemplates whether it is a figure of his imagination prompted on by his already guilty conscience, or a supernatural encounter that is compelling him to do the deed.

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