At this point in the play I somewhat feel sorry for Macbeth because no one should have to go through a moral dilemma. I feel as if I was there in Macbeth’s shoes. You feel as though you want to be loyal to your good king but at the same time there’s an opportunity knocking at your door and it will never come back if nothing is done about it. Macbeth has to make a choice whether to kill the king and give himself and Lady Macbeth what they want, or murder a man so good in his heart ‘his virtues plead like angels’ “line 18-19”. Macbeth is in a win-win situation and it’s almost as if you want to make the decision for him.
In this soliloquy, Macbeth is just about to go and kill the king but before he does so, his mind has a few tricks to play on him. To begin with, Macbeth sees a dagger aiming towards King Duncan's room and the handle facing him. “Line 33-36”. Because Macbeth cannot grasp it, he thinks he is seeing things (which he is). His state of mind at this time in the play is very different to his state of mind in the 1st soliloquy. In this soliloquy, he is in a trance like state and he seems a little hesitant to go in and kill the king. In line 50; Nature seems dead, it is almost as if this deed he is about to do is unnatural. Macbeth feels this way because he believes no king can be removed from his throne except by God. He also believes that since the king is his guest, he shouldn’t be the one to kill the king. He soon evicts Lady Macbeth’s assessment of him as a coward “line 62-64”. He makes the ultimatum and goes in to murder the king. The 2nd soliloquy is similar to the 1st in ways of Macbeth being in another dilemma. Macbeth is feeling like his mind is playing tricks on him. He sees a dagger pointing towards Duncan’s room, which indicates that he is to go in and kill him, but yet again he makes excuses for not going in to kill him. Macbeth makes out that he must be feeling feverish “line 37-39” for him to see this dagger and no one else but it’s just a way for his mind to tell him that it is time to do the deed. The last soliloquy doesn’t really have a similarity to the 2nd soliloquy. The 2nd soliloquy is about Macbeth’s hesitation but the 4th soliloquy isn’t in comparison to it.
In the 1st soliloquy, Macbeth was almost coward-like in the way he kept making excuses not to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth also portrayed him in this image. In the 2nd soliloquy, especially towards the end, he seems almost brave and mighty. “Act 1 Scene 2 Line 16- for brave Macbeth”. He makes the decision to kill the king and take his promised place at the throne. In the last few lines, he removes any trace of cowardice from his system and becomes a rugged man. In the 2nd soliloquy- towards the end, Macbeth almost seems scary because he is going to kill the good king Duncan just so he can be king. It makes you wonder what other sorts of things he would do to get whatever it is he wants. The very last line he says in this soliloquy is the most frightening out if the two because he says it with such ease; “hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell”. In the beginning you start to get the idea that he may be crazy the way he sees the dagger and no one else can but at the ending of the 2nd soliloquy Macbeth has slowly but surely turning into a monster of a man.
In this soliloquy, Macbeth is almost scared to death by the fact that Banquo’s children may take his place on the throne. Because of the three weird sisters prophecy against Macbeth came true, about him becoming Thane of Cawdor and becoming King, so he has no reason to believe that this prophecy won’t come true. Macbeth is not really threatened by anybody else but he is scared of Banquo's children becoming king after him because he knows Banquo is the better man for the job. He doesn’t like the fact that he killed the king and his piece of mind only to be king for a little while and then have Banquo’s children takeover him. His state of mind is fearful and he has constant lack of security. He wants an image after him to take the throne from him but he and Lady Macbeth are barren. Between the 1st soliloquy and the 3rd, as I have mentioned earlier, the soliloquies are about trials and tribulations and trying to figure out the solution to a problem. Another similarity is that when Macbeth is weighing out the possibilities, he speaks highly of the people he is about to betray before he does betray them. “Act 1 Scene 7 Lines 16-25” and “Act 3 Scene 1 Lines 50-51”. In the 2nd soliloquy, there aren’t a lot of similarities between it and the 3rd soliloquy but there are interesting differences e.g. the 3rd soliloquy is about him thinking about what to do but the 2nd soliloquy he is almost in a trance as if trying to make sense of what he was experiencing at that time. The 3rd and 4th haven’t got that many similarities either but there are differences which occur in the way of the 4th soliloquy being all about accepting the end as it is and thinking about the end of his life meanwhile in the 3rd soliloquy, its about trying to make his life better.
Macbeth has turned into an even more vicious force that is willing and will do anything possible to get what he wants. In this soliloquy he is upset by the fact that he and Lady Macbeth are barren but he feels that even if they had any children, it wouldn’t make very much of a difference because of the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s children will replace Macbeth after he dies. Macbeth knows that Banquo is the better man for the job but he doesn’t like the idea of Banquo being king even after the witches’ promised him the throne. After all Banquo has everything else. He has a loving family and children but all Macbeth has is his wife and he needs the kingdom to sort of make up for the absences in his life. His brutality really comes out in “Line 60-end”. At this point in the play, if I was a citizen, I would not be able to trust Macbeth anymore. Macbeth has decided to take matters into his own hands instead of letting fate run its course. Macbeth seems angry that life’s not working out the way he expected it to. He feels that nothing else is a threat to him in the whole kingdom except for Banquo and his children. Macbeth has now reached the level of a brute man.
In the last one of Macbeth’s soliloquies, Macbeth is in a state of total depression. He has just found out that Lady Macbeth has killed herself due to her going mad because of the murder that has gone on in the castle. Macbeth is in complete despair and is acting as though he has blocked out all of life. Macbeth is not really expecting Lady Macbeth’s death at this time “Line 16-18” and it comes as a complete shock to him. Macbeth turns into having a very nihilistic view about life. Macbeth doesn’t want Lady Macbeth to die because she is very important to him. She’s the one who gives him the drive to go for his goals. In a way she is his backbone and without her, he feels that he will crumble. The similarity between all four soliloquies is that they are all about ‘death’. In the 4th soliloquy, he makes a statement in “line 24”about life being a play and we all have our part in it, but it will be over soon. In all the soliloquies Macbeth is never in a sane state of mind. He has always got something he is thinking about or something is worrying him. In the 3rd soliloquy, Macbeth is worried about Banquo’s seed becoming king in his place, because he believes in what the witches said but in the 4th soliloquy; he says he shouldn’t have believed in what the witches said “Line 21-22”. A similarity between the 2nd and 4th soliloquy is that in both soliloquies, Macbeth thinks that he is going mad in one way or another. In the 2nd soliloquy, he thinks his mind is playing tricks on him but in the 4th soliloquy, he thinks that he will go mad if he doesn’t have Lady Macbeth at his side telling him what to do and what his next line of movement is. One of the few similarities between the 1st and 4th soliloquy is that Macbeth feels that all this would never have happened if he hadn’t started thinking of what life would be like if he was king.
In the last soliloquy of the play, Macbeth has finally reached the boundaries of his elasticity. Macbeth can be stretched no more. He has just been shocked with the news of Lady Macbeth’s death. Macbeth feels that this is the end of the line for him. Because he doesn’t have his support (Lady Macbeth) he feels he can’t cope anymore. This is shown in the way Macbeth uses the last word of every line to sum up his lifestyle at the moment. Macbeth has certainly learnt his lesson and he knows it “Line 21-23”. In “line 23-25” Macbeth describes life as being a play on stage that when the actors part is over, he will be heard no more (death). I almost feel sorry for Macbeth because it is as if he is lost in a world without any friends and actually looking forward to the time of death. In “line 18” he mentions the word ‘tomorrow’ as if the word has lost its meaning. However Macbeth has certainly got his just desserts because of what he has done to other people. Macbeth knows that he will die soon without Lady Macbeth by his side.
