I would want Macbeth to seem very disturbed and be into nothing else at the moment except debating with himself to whether or not he should kill the king. His tone of voice throughout his soliloquy would be strong as if he were trying very hard to persuade himself not to kill the king. He would speak quietly almost as a whisper but loud enough for the audience to hear him. The only time I would want Macbeth to speak louder would be on the words that I wish for him to emphasize, as well as for any certain parts of his speech that I think should stand out.
In Macbeth’s first section of his soliloquy, which ends in line 7 at ‘jump the life to come’, I would want Macbeth to have a tense and anxious voice when saying his lines, trying to emphasize the point that he wants all his worries to be over. I would want Macbeth to put the main emphasise on the words ‘done’ and ‘done’ in line 1, also in line 4 I would want him to emphasize the alliteration “surcease, success” with a pause in between those two words to create a larger dramatic impact. At this point of his speech I would want Macbeth to walk to the upper left and pretend to look out a window, and this is meant to represent Macbeth wishing that all was over, as if he were looking into the future looking away from his worries.
At the beginning of the second section that ends at line 12, I wish Macbeth to empathise ‘judgement’. I would want Macbeth to make his voice lower, still looking out the window, showing the audience that he is really thinking about the consequences that he would face if he went ahead and murdered the king. When in line 10 at ‘even-handed justice’ Macbeth would nod his head in agreement that he knows that he will have to face not only heavenly consequences but also earthly ones, and the nod represents the acceptance of these punishments that he knows that he will deserve upon performing the deed.
In the third section Macbeth leaves the window and walks to centre stage, Macbeth now emphasizes the points of why he should not kill the king, and those are ‘kinsman’, ‘subject’, and ‘host’. ‘Kinsman’ is to show that he is a trusted soldier of the king and has no reason to do anything bad to him, and as for ‘subject’ this is to show that Macbeth being a war hero is also a respected subject in the eyes of the King and his nobles. ‘Host’ is to show that the king is a visitor in the Macbeth castle and Macbeth should be protecting the King from intruders and making sure that no harm is come to him and that Macbeth should not be the one to bring harm upon the King himself. But to show the audience the reason of empathising these words he would also have to emphasise ‘trust’. In this section Macbeth’s tone of voice changes to a more calmer, rational and a matter of fact tone. Also Macbeth would emphasise ‘murderer’ and ‘myself, this is showing the contrast of two different things although they both relate to Mactbeth. This section shows the irony of the situation that Macbeth seems to be in.
In the fourth section Macbeth’s tone changes to a more frightened tone, as here he begins to think about the consequences of the ‘afterlife’ and he begins to get into imagination, although he carries on in a matter of fact tone. Macbeth should here emphasise ‘meek’, ‘clear’ and ‘great’ showing that the king is innocent and has done nothing bad and does not deserve to be killed, it also shows the contrast between the king and Macbeth. This shows the goodness of the king and the evil thoughts of Macbeth. At the words ‘…plead like angels, trumpet-tongued…’ Here Macbeth would have returned to the window and would look up at the sky at the word ‘angel’ which shows that he is taking into heart the heavenly consequences. Macbeth has more anger in his voice and, and at ‘deep damnation’ he stresses the word and speaks louder. Macbeth then compares the innocence of the king with ‘naked new-born babe’. At line 22 Macbeth begins to speak faster as here he begins to get carried away by his imagination, which has started as a dream but is now turning onto a nightmare.
In the last section in Macbeth’s soliloquy Macbeth speaks in a lower tone of voice because he is here back to reality, here he walks to bottom right of the stage. The only words that Macbeth is to emphasise is the only reason he can think of to go ahead and murder the king and that is his own ‘vaulting ambition’. He says these words rapidly as they are for killing the king which Macbeth knows that he really does not wish to do, and as for the other words that Macbeth is to emphasise are said slower and this is to show the many points of which not to kill the King, Macbeth knows that his ambition will lead to one main thing and that is his own downfall.
