William Shakespeare 's ' Macbeth '

Macbeth recognizes that the dagger is not real and accepts this. This is his first step into insanity. As he admits, his mind is feverish with excitement and perhaps dread, and he understands that this vision is ominous. His internal conflict has now begun to develop; his ambition is driving him to do something and subconsciously he knows it is not right.

Blood as a motif appears early in the play. In this particular part of the play, blood is shown to represent future acts of violence. While waiting for the signal to enter the king's chamber to kill King Duncan, Macbeth spots an imaginary dagger. Macbeth eyes down the dagger, and sees blood slowly creeping its way down. He proclaims, “And, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood,/ Which was not so before” (2.1.58-59). Macbeth is extremely hesitant about committing a regicide against King Duncan, and when he sees the dagger, he is already imagining it covered in King Duncan's blood. This paranoia is representative of the immense presence of violence and fear in the play. At the same time, Macbeth is already feeling guilty for even contemplating whether he should kill King Duncan. Macbeth ends up following through with his and Lady Macbeth’s plan: regicide of Duncan.

In the dagger speech (II, 1, 33-64) William Shakespeare conveys the message that Macbeth’s ambition overrides his morals to accomplish what he wants and what he thinks will give him happiness. In lines 33-41 of the dagger speech it portrays the message that Macbeth’s guilt is tearing him apart from the thought of what he is going to do. Shakespeare uses apostrophe of the dagger to convey the message. In the speech Macbeth addresses the dagger as if it was a person. This allows the audience to see the moral conflict of inside of Macbeth. Showing that he knows what he wants to do is wrong causing him to see what is not actually there. Shakespeare also uses rhetorical questions such as “The handle toward my

h is portrayed in the beginning of the play as a courageous hero, whose valour is depicted as "he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops." Although he puts on a fearless persona during conflict, his soliloquies reveal a character that it fuelled by greed and desire. Not only does Macbeth obliterate the notion of The Divine Right of Kings, but he goes against the Righteous Rule. Throughout the play, Macbeth lets irrational greed overcome his logical conscience. It is clear that Macbeth is reluctant to murder Duncan as he states, “We will proceed no further in this business,” yet his vaulting ambition and desire to become King outweighs his conscience. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth utters “I have no spur to prick the sides of intent, but only Vaulting ambition.” In his soliloquy, he continuously reasons with himself as “first I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against deed, then as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Shakespeare utilises the recurring motif of hallucinations to depict a dagger as a symbol of guilt and murder. Macbeth’s thoughts of murder create an imaginary bloody dagger, showing him the path to the king's chambers as he questions "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." As the tragedy continues, Macbeth transforms into a more conventional villain, and attempts to control Fate and Fortune. Macbeth’s ambition is further explored when he visits the witches and witnesses the four apparitions.

Despite Macbeth 's initial reluctance towards killing Duncan, he eventually chooses to execute his beloved king, demonstrating both his lust for hegemony and lack of respect for his superiors. Just before committing the treasonous act of murder, Macbeth stares at the "dagger of the mind," and as he does so, thick drops of blood appear on the blade and hilt. Calling out to the knife, he declares, “I see thee still, / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not so before" (2.1.45-47). Macbeth begins to question his sanity since a dagger appears before his eyes and blood suddenly materializes onto the hilt of the dagger but his greed, and slight delusion, suppresses correct judgement and does not stop him from committing regicide. Moreover, Macbeth’s reluctance

As the play goes, Macbeth shows a character of free will. Although his destiny was pre-determined for him by the witches, he took action to believe and to make sure that his prophecies will come true. Macbeth is a strong character with many deep desires that include gaining power, and so throughout the play with the many crimes he had committed, there was no turning back for him. In all, his decisions help shape the future ahead of him.

‘Macbeth’ a Scottish play known as one of Shakespeare’s best plays was written in 1611 by William Shakespeare, during that time King James the 1st was the king of Scotland, the Jacobean times was a time where people had a fascination with witches and witchcraft, ‘Daemonolgie’ was a book written by King James the 1st himself, this was about ways to spot a witch, which intrigued people. Since ‘Macbeth’ has a Scottish theme Shakespeare may have written this play to please King James since there is references to Banquo which is a direct descendant of King James, also it is said that Banquo wasn’t a very nice man but Shakespeare presents him as very loyal and kind person

This shows how Macbeth’s moral values are being tested, and whether Macbeth will be able to handle the consequences that his actions have. In addition, guilt can be symbolized through the invisible dagger Macbeth sees. Right before executing the plan to kill King Duncan, Macbeth gives a soliloquy in his bedroom. Another sign of guilt is seen right when Macbeth sees a imaginary dagger floating right in front of him “The handle toward [his] hand” and realizes it is “a false creation” (Crowther 2.1.33-39). Macbeth starts to become delusional when he sees the dagger that he is unable to pick up. This dagger makes him question whether killing the king is the right thing to do if he wants to become king himself. The guilt is starting to settle even before he is about to do anything. Macbeth was already unsure about listening to Lady Macbeth’s plan, but this vision of the dagger confirms that Macbeth should not kill King Duncan. Another key point is how the witches can be seen as a symbol for human’s most evil and dark side, which can see through Macbeth’s actions. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is perceived as a good fighter and loyal. But, through the prophecies that witches predicted of how Macbeth would become the king along with it would be the things that would destroy and

Significantly, the motifs of blood and daggers, in Macbeth, are constantly present throughout scenes in which the struggle for power takes place. Macbeth sees an “imaginary” dagger before him just before the assassination of Duncan this dagger a motif of the changes of power that take place: “…Is this a dagger which I see before me?... or art thou a dagger of the mind?” The theme of the supernatural and also the motif of the dagger being his ambition, serves as strong motivation for Macbeth to carry out what is necessary to obtain and sustain power.

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

Right before Macbeth kills Duncan, the stress of committing a traitorous act causes him to go insane and he sees a ghostly dagger foreshadowing his kill through the use of the motif, sleep and dreams. Before Macbeth commits to killing his king, he sees “a dagger which i see before me, The handle toward my hand?”(2.1.44-45) This is foreshadowing how he is going to kill Duncan and how important the dagger will be in later scene. Later on, before he is about to kill Duncan, he says that half the world is asleep and being deceived by evil nightmares This could be foreshadowing

Throughout the story Macbeth suffers with an internal conflict and develops a heavy conscience. In the beginning he debates if killing Duncan to become king, is worth it. He understands the morality of his possible actions and even says, “"I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed" (I.vii.14-15). The symbolic imagery before he kills Duncan, where he see a dagger hovering over him shows his contemplation. It shows his temptation and

Macbeth was, shortly after the murdering incident, driven insane by the immense guilt produced by his withered conscience. The dagger that was used in the killing of King Duncan haunted him before the murder took place. This tragedy in the play gives us both fear of where the sword came from and pity for Macbeth's character that had degraded to such a point that he has become paranoid.

Macbeth hallucinates the bloody dagger he will use to kill Duncan, right before he kills him. “Is this a dagger I see before me,/The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch/thee/… Thou marshall’st me the way I was going,/And such instrument I was to use” (2.1.34-44). Duncan’s murder is just one of many murders that will occur, which Macbeth commits to gain power. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses murders to develop the theme of violence throughout the play.

Macbeth is a tragedy written in the 17th century that shows what the desire for power can do to a man. Macbeth is expressed as being the villain. But, Macbeth is in fact a tragic hero, doomed by fate from the beginning into the madness he put himself in. If it not been for meeting the witches and persuasion of his wife, the play would have had a very different ending.