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Macbeth Soliloquy Essay

415 Words2 Pages

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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