Why Is Macbeth's Brief Soliloquy

How does the 1.7 Soliloquy deepen the audience’s understanding of Macbeth’s conflicted state of mind?

Today, I stand before a nation in mourning, grieving the passing of its King, Macbeth. He shall surely be remembered in history as a noble and courageous soldier and leader who fought with a fierce loyalty and belief in Scotland. Although his reign was not trouble-free or lengthy, Macbeth inspired a unique and individual pride in his country and made every decision with careful thought, holding firmly to his ideals and principles to the very end. Scotland has lost a distinctive and unrivalled leader and those of us who knew him personally are now without a friend whose character shall always be remembered.

I consider Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy from Act Two, Scene One to be one of the most revealing speeches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This is because it demonstrates the effect that a character’s actions have on the way they think about moral issues. The speech takes place while Macbeth is on his way to kill King Duncan. At the beginning of the speech, Macbeth is feeling guilty about what he is about to do. This is shown by the fact that he is seeing a dagger that is not there. His use of rhetoric in the statement “Is this a dagger I see before me, / the handle towards my hand?” shows the reader that Macbeth is uncertain about the substantiality of the dagger. Macbeth has clearly been thinking about the effects of the murder so much his conscience has presented him with an image of that which he is dreading. His statement “heat-oppressed brain” also tells the reader he has been so wrought up about the murder, he is hallucinating

Finally, the final use of imagery related to the theme of darkness and light is seen when Macbeth begin his soliloquy by comparing his life to a lighted candle. The flame of the candle is a metaphor for short life or sudden death and it demonstrates how our reality is nothing but emptiness and darkness. Our very existence is merely just a brief moment of light and life, the flame of a candle. We are surrounded by darkness before birth as well as after death. We believe that our desires and ambition has great meaning, but once that candle is blown out, our aspirations are meaningless. This is what Macbeth is referring to in the quote, telling us that he wishes that his flame burns out as well; losing all interest in everything he aspired to be and earn.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” is a universal truism throughout our society, that has been said an infinity amount of times. Every single person in your life is there for a certain reason. If they aren’t getting want they want from you then they have no reason for sticking around. They’re always around when they need something from you, but when you need them, “BAM!” they are gone!

Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is about the leading male protagonist succumbing to his ambition and need for power. Though Macbeth is liable for his own actions, he is not solely responsible for the events that eventually result in his downfall. Macbeth is corrupted by his wife, Lady Macbeth, as well as the three weird sisters. Macbeth’s contribution towards his downfall is his strong ambitious nature. Lady Macbeth is the person who induces Macbeth to assassinate King Duncan. The three weird sisters (witches) play with Macbeth’s ambitious nature and sense of security. Macbeth’s downfall is due to himself and two external factors.

Visualize being in MacBeth’s place, you are announced Thane of Cawdor after your heroic leadership on the battlefield, why would you thirst for a higher rank? Although you may be content with your position, there are many reasons why you would want more power. Your rank becomes very close to that of a king, so you decide to go for it, after all, all you have to do to be king is to kill Duncan. As your sight of kingship would become realistic, your rapacity grows, and you start making nefarious decisions that would affect your disposition. As an effect of your changed mindset, your nobles start to become suspicious that you are deranged. Little do they know they are all pawns in your game of life and your scheme to become king is going impeccably

one should have to go through a moral dilemma. I feel as if I was

This speech is one that is one of the most revealing in Macbeth - it illustrates Lady Macbeth’s values throughout the beginning of the play. Her anger when Macbeth tells her he does not want to continue with the plan to murder Duncan demonstrates the importance that she places on loyalty and keeping of word. “I would…dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn.” - Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth’s willingness to sacrifice her own child should she have promised to do so is a demonstration of valuing loyalty - not only to people, but to her own word. This anger is also displayed through her telling Macbeth that his decision makes him less than a man, evidence of her belief that men were supposed to be ruthless and cunning. This belief was founded earlier in the play, where Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits to ‘unsex her’. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth criticises Macbeth for attempting to back out of the plan just when the time was right to commit the murder, which she planned herself. This

When he says this, he has more or less lost all hope and apparently does not care about his life; however, he soon reaches his epiphany. Macbeth's epiphany is when he tells Macduff that he should not fight with him because he will kill him since he cannot be harmed by a woman born

In this soliloquy, we learn how Banquo's ambition begins to collide with what's wrong and right. After Duncan's mysterious death,  Banquo is considering the possibilities of Macbeth's actions and expresses his emotions aloud to him. Banquo is the only character that is completely aware of the witches prophecies and Macbeth's involvement with them. In this excerpt he decides not to share his suspicions, revealing his loyalty for Macbeth. His words give more insight on how much faith he is beginning to have in the sisters after a state of doubt.

Macbeth becomes paranoid that Banquo know what he has done. If the weird sisters prediction is right about Banquo being a father of a king which would be a threat to his crown. He reveals his plan to Lady Macbeth.

Everyone learns to memorize, in some ways it is what the majority of schools teach to their students, especially when dealing with younger ages. Memorization is key to tests all over: SATS, MEAS, NECAPS etc. When learning Macbeth’s soliloquy Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me I used the same techniques that I use to memorize anything. When I was younger I quickly came to realize math was a strong point, with the exception of memorizing the formulas. I would go into a test read a problem and know the basics behind it, although I would be unable to complete the question without a specific equation. From this I created a process to memorize anything.

In this passage, Shakespeare uses the metaphor of sleep and purgatory, the symbol of the dagger, and the motif of deception and temperature to characterize Macbeth as conflicted and insane, ultimately to foreshadow the metaphorical demise of Duncan and Macbeth. In this passage, Macbeth has promised to murder King Duncan. He plans to do it this night, while everyone is asleep. As Macbeth sees a floating dagger on his way to kill Duncan, he questions saying “Is this a dagger which I see before me,”. Through the use of the phrase “Is this”, which means Macbeth is questioning himself, Shakespeare characterizes Macbeth as hesitant and conflicted. As Macbeth tries to figure out if the dagger is real, he wonders if it is his own brain and says “Or

The play ‘Macbeth’ uses soliloquies with great effect to express the thoughts of individual characters, particularly in the case of the protagonist, Macbeth. In Act V Scene V, strong words from Macbeth convey to the reader two themes of the play.  This soliloquy demonstrates the play's use of irony and the use of the disparity between the great opposition of light and darkness as symbols for both life and death.  This soliloquy is quite significant to the play as a whole since it demonstrates two very important themes as well as leading to a better understanding of Macbeth.