Come, let me clutch thee” (Shakespeare 2:1:32-34). Macbeth’s desire causes him to hallucinate a dagger in front of him, tempting him to kill Duncan. The use of imagery creates a picture of the dagger in the reader's mind, making the reader feel fear of what determination will lead to next. The use of alliteration in Macbeth's soliloquies helps amplify the theme of appearance vs.
However, his desire for power has pushed him to such an extent that he is willing to embrace even the possibility of a supernatural weapon to aid him in his dark deeds. The phrase "come, let me clutch thee" shows how far he has fallen into madness and how deeply he is willing to embrace his twisted ambition. Furthermore, the imagery of the "bloody" dagger is symbolic of the bloodshed that Macbeth will soon cause. It foreshadows the murders that he is about to commit and reinforces the idea that his quest for power has warped his perception of reality. The dagger is also described as having its "handle toward my hand," which can be interpreted as a sign that Macbeth feels he is being led towards his gruesome fate by his own desires.
Is this his wavering conscience or destiny signalling to him? Shakespeare uses the personification here, where Macbeth asks to, “clutch thee,” implying that the dagger is beckoning him to commit the murder, again blaming external circumstances when really, interestingly, revealing his own intention. This visual imagery appears in the reader’s mind, crafted with a lure of power that even the bravest Macbeth could not resist. Shakespeare uses mimesis here, and mimics the reality of man in art: even somebody as infallible and heroic as Macbeth crumbles in front of unconstrained power and space. This is how weak and frail human nature is.
Lady Macbeth becomes gradually becomes more and more unstable throughout the play, her instability aids Macbeths tyranny. When we first meet Lady Macbeth, she is self-assured and determined, more than Macbeth himself. She is even willing to challenge and change her personality by asking forces of evil to "unsex" her in order to rid herself of any feminine factors that might weaken her individually to make Macbeth king. She eventually gives way to the guilt that results in an apparent suicide. It is correct to say she becomes more and more unstable, but she also becomes more moral, given that she begins in the play a mindset of planned evil and ends with guilt, possibly even remorse and compassion.
Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.
In this scene, Macbeth questions the reality of the world around him and even sees a dagger in front of him that is not truly there. And, although this may seem like damning evidence that he is not mentally stable, parts of this scene showcase the
The play, Macbeth, shows the among between sanity and insanity and the struggle between reason and delusion. Throughout this whole play, Macbeth slips into a state of lunacy slowing turning into a psychopath. The basis of understanding the play is through the first murder, King Duncan. Macbeth’s other two assassinations are just used as efforts to secure his throne. He begins accepting the evil inside him and succumbing to the temptation to murder and insanity.
People have always struggled with mental instability and temptation and pure desperation. Mcbeth is no different. Mcbeth has this hallucination which provokes one of Shakespeare's most pivotal speeches “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” This scene is so powerful that it marks the moment where Mcbeth is so driven by his mental instability, his temptation and pure desperation he was driven mad and finally decided to murder the king.
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.
Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a play that mainly focuses on one common theme of insanity. Macbeth gradually becomes plagued by intense guilt as his desire for power drives him to attain his goals by any means necessary, including committing murder. He kills Duncan in cold blood in order to become King, has Banquo killed by three murderers because he wishes to maintain his position as King, and finally, he has Macduff’s family slaughtered. Each of these occurrences takes place because of Macbeth’s will to be King, or they are a result of his guilt. Nonetheless, they are all completed of his free will, which is what causes him to deteriorate mentally.
Come, let me clutch thee. I have not seen thee, 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-oppressedèd brain? This shows that Macbeth had morals at this point in the play and was thinking about what he was doing.
There are many people in the world that experience mental problems and therefore affecting their personality. Not everyone though is as bad as Macbeth when it comes to mental deterioration. Macbeth is a very self-centered man and it leads him to change the person he once was. Although it is not seen much in the beginning of Shakespeare's play “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Macbeth’s mental state deteriorates as the play progresses, which can be seen when he is guilty of murdering King Duncan, being taunted by the ghost of Banquo, and his speech to the witches.
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).
Shakespeare, the well known playwright, is believed to have created the well know play known as “Macbeth” in 1606. Shakespeare has been previously renowned for diverse character development, and the play “Macbeth” is no exception. Personal being, having a sense of belonging, straying from materialism, and overall morality and decency towards others are four main characteristics of a well developed humane character. Throughout the progression of the play Macbeth’s character development is well portrayed as Macbeth’s character is altered after turning points in his life. Macbeth gains a sense of personal being with his morals he tried to live by.
The Tragedy of Macbeth incorporates character development to present William Shakespeare’s motive; throughout the play it allows the audience to see the message the play relays. The play is a tragedy and it specifically shows the tragedy of humans as they self destruct. There is a use of literary devices to create different aspects of each character allowing them to portray different images of themselves that wouldn’t be noticed initially. Compared to how the audience views each character in the beginning of the play, the image develops into something new as different aspects are revealed. The characters and their continuous changes become the essence of the play.
