Macbeth says to himself, ”. This means, if everything could be over with as soon as Duncan is killed, then it would be best for Macbeth to kill him quickly. Macbeth thinks, the assassination could be . ". In other words, Macbeth knows that he can get away with murder only here on earth. In the afterlife he knows he will certainly be punished. He also knows that the afterlife is very long, he refers to it as a huge ocean, and our life is only a "bank or shoal" on the edge of that ocean. Nevertheless, if he knew he would be king, he would take his chances with the afterlife.
. Of course, Macbeth has a good reason to be afraid. He is saying that in a warrior society such as his, there would be plenty of friends and relations eager to avenge the murder of any man, even if he weren't a king. To put it bluntly, Macbeth thinks that he's likely to get caught, and this is a factor that that could affect his decision. Only at this point does he start thinking of other reasons that he shouldn't kill the king. As the King's subject, as his kinsman, as his host, Macbeth is supposed to protect his king, not kill him. Also, Duncan has done nothing wrong. He is a good king, and he is "meek," not arrogant, so when he is killed, . Macbeth is thinking that there will be an outpouring of pity for King Duncan and this will make things even more dangerous for himself. On the other hand, his only motivation is his . This image gives us an idea of his inner emptiness. He is obsessed with the idea of becoming king. After that, he doesn’t have plans.
Macbeth was written by Shakespeare in 1606; so obviously, the language is archaic, using many out-of-date words. Through this scene it is noticeable that Macbeth avoids using the words “death” or “murder”. Instead, he uses euphemisms such as "surcease", "assassination","the deed" and "taking off". I suspect that he wants to hide from himself the true meaning of his actions. Shakespeare also uses many similies such as “like a new- born babe”, and metaphors like “trumpet-tounged”.
In this scene, Macbeth goes through some ethical transformations. He started out as a heroic man of good doings but his whole attitude completely changed when he first thought of murder. He has lost his sense of morality, and wants to proceed with the murder. However, It is evident that he still has doubts about the murder, and is not is not pure evil, but looking over his comments the scale is heavily tipped towards the murder of Duncan. He is still wise as he has taken time to think over the issue before he does the deed. His character has fallen to a point where he has the desperate courage to murder Duncan, but is afraid of the consequences. My first impressions of Macbeth were that he was strong and brave, but this scene has contradicted with me. I feel he has become weak because evil has begun to conquer him in its fight against Macbeth’s conscience.
During this scene Macbeth shows signs of anxiety, and confusion. As he thinks he begins to lose heart as he becomes aware of his strong relationship with Duncan.
At the end of Act 1 Scene 7 Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth why he is not dining with Duncan. Macbeth told his wife that he does not want to proceed with their plans. She was furious and asked Macbeth why he is so afraid take action. In addition, she declared him a sickly coward. She assured her husband that they will not fail in their mission. Lady Macbeth then said that they will poison King Duncan and his servants’ wine with sleeping pills and that Macbeth will murder Duncan in his sleep. Finally Macbeth was convinced by his wife, and agreed to continue with the plans.
At the beginning of Act 2 Scene1 Banquo tells Fleance that he is unable to sleep because of his troubling thoughts. He is wondering if Macbeth will realize the witches’ prophecies and take on his destiny. The pair met up with Macbeth, who was also roaming the hallways. He asked Macbeth if he had been thinking of the witches; Macbeth falsely responded in the negative. Again, he asked Banquo to talk with him at a later date about the strange events of that night, to try and put him off the subject.
After Banquo and Fleance leave him, Macbeth sends his servant to tell Lady Macbeth to ring a bell when Macbeth's drink is ready. The servant is supposed to think that the drink is some sort of spirit that he would have just before going to bed. Actually, there is no drink, and the bell is Lady Macbeth's signal that the coast is clear for Macbeth to go and murder the King.
In his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 2 Macbeth is so obsessed by his thoughts of the murder that he starts to hallucinate. He says, , and reaches for it. Of course he can't grasp it, and he realizes that he's seeing the dagger that he plans to use in the murder, a dagger which is luring him toward King Duncan's door, and a dagger where he sees drops of blood. He understands that , but he is not horrified. Rather, he wants to be as deadly as the dagger.
"Wicked dream abuse / The curtained sleep: witchcraft celebrates / pale Hecate’s offerings. " The darkness of the dark night suits Macbeth's mood. In the dark terrible dreams happen, and witchcraft celebrates its rites, and Murder is in the air.
In his imagination, Macbeth sees murder as a withered man who is "alarumed," called to action, by his sentinel, the wolf. Normally, a sentinel would keep an eye out for danger and warn people, but Murder's sentinel keeps an eye out for the opportunity to kill, and " his howl’s his watch," his announcement that another victim has been found for Murder.
"Thou sure and firm-set earth, / Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear / Thy very stones prate of my where-about, / And take the present horror from the time, / Which now suits with it. "
At this point, where Macbeth describes Murder as moving "thus with his stealthy pace," it's important to notice the "thus." It doesn't make sense unless Macbeth himself is now pacing like Murder itself, like the murdering Tarquin, "like a ghost." He asks the earth to be deaf to his steps, not to "prate (chatter) of my whereabout," because the silence of the night suits the horror of what he's about to do. Therefore we can see in Macbeth a man who wants to be a silent and deadly figure of horror.
But Macbeth hasn't done the murder yet; he hasn't even gone to the King's door yet, and he tells himself that . In other words, while he's saying all these threatening things, King Duncan still lives, and his words haven't yet encouraged him to actually do the deed. Then the bell rings, and Macbeth answers the call, finally he moves from his horrifying words to a horrible deed, when his wife's bell told him it was the time.
As I have already mentioned, the thought of murdering Duncan has begun to haunt Macbeth so greatly that he imagines that he sees a bloody dagger pointing towards Duncan’s chamber. Even though his hallucinations have made a decision for him he is still frightened of being caught. His character has not changed exceedingly from the first soliloquy, however he knows that if he does murder Duncan it will be soon. Therefore this makes him very anxious and worried, causing the hallucinations.
Macbeth’s soliloquy’s are dramatic devices which allow the audience to experience the conflict within Macbeth and gain an understanding of the reason for his behaviour and decisions. These particular soliloquy’s which occur before the murder of Duncan shows us a great internal struggle, as his conscience fights against evil. They also show us that Macbeth has brought his own fall upon himself.
Shakespeare uses the soliloquy’s at these moments as it enables the audience to find out Macbeths thoughts of committing the deed before he actually does it. Therefore they will know more about situation than the characters’, and this gives them great detail about the murder before it actually occurs.
