Macbeth's state of mind.

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Shakespeare -Macbeth.

Macbeth's state of mind changes drastically throughout the play, this is shown most evidently through the soliloquys. There are references to world order in each of the soliloquys I will be exploring, which reinforces the character of Macbeth and the way in which an audience sees him.

In Act I scene VII, Macbeth seems quite stable in his mind, this could be because he is able to find reasons for his thinking, one of them being his vaulting ambition. It states, "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself and falls on th'other." This suggests that if it wasn't for his ambition motivating him, Macbeth would not go through with what he is intending to do. He also criticizes ambition, saying that it forces people to rush into things, causing unwanted circumstances. This shows that he doesn't agree with the idea of killing Duncan, that he thinks its wrong, and that his only reason for even thinking about it, is his ambition.

In this particular soliloquy, he appears to be reasoning with himself, weighing up both outcomes, whether he is to kill Duncan, or if he should not. It says, "This even-handed justice commends th'ingredience of our poisoned chalice to our own lips." By using the word 'justice', it suggests that whatever Macbeth does to Duncan, will eventually come to fall on himself, because justice is unbiased, equal to everyone. This is one of the main reasons why Macbeth is pondering whether to kill Duncan, because if justice catches up with Macbeth in the end, then what will be the point of killing him?

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In Act II scene I, the structure of the soliloquy emphasizes the ascent from uncertainty to complete confidence in his decision to kill Duncan. The use of unstressed syllables at the end of the lines in the first half of the soliloquy, gives feminine endings, which shows that Macbeth is uncertain, because of him being male. However in the bottom half of the soliloquy, he starts to use masculine endings, with each line ending in a stressed syllable, putting emphasis on the last word, which shows he has confidence in what he is saying.

Although Macbeth seems more confident in ...

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