As he says, “ We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases, we still have judgment here” he is talking about risking the afterlife but there’d still be judgement of him. He goes on to talk about “Bloody instructions, which being taught return to plague the inventor” This shows his obvious concern for future consequences and it also shows how he is thinking f every possibility, going through the reasons not to do it. What he says there mean that if he were to kill the King, he would be showing his “bloody” method to other s and it would come back to plague him. So that surely another would do the same to him if he became King by killing Duncan.
Then he says, “he‘s here in double trust” meaning that Duncan has two reasons to trust him, because he is his subject and like a family member, “strong both against the deed”, both being good reasons for not killing Duncan. The second reason being he is the host, “Who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife”. Macbeth here is saying that as his host, it’s Macbeth’s duty to protect Duncan from harm, not carry the knife himself. As you can see, Macbeth continues to give reasons against the murder. This indicates that he probably will go through with the murder and that he is trying to persuade himself not to, by thinking through the reasons why not.
Next Macbeth says, “Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking-off;” By saying this he is telling himself that his faculties, or powers as king have been used well and he has been a kind and great king, this being so clear that his strengths will “plead like angels” This being a simile describing how strong a case Duncan has for staying King. It basically means that the fact that he has been such a good King gives very good reason for him to stay King. “The deep damnation of his taking off” is Macbeth using another euphemism to describe his death. He goes on to use another simile, comparing Duncan to a “naked new-born babe”. This may sound odd but he is comparing killing to Duncan to killing a baby, both being completely wrong and shouldn’t be done. Also he’s linking the fact that both would be helpless and innocent.
Macbeth ends it by saying that the only incentive or spur is his burning, vaulting ambition, “which o’er leaps itself and falls on the other –“ He is cut off at the end but what this means is that while his only reason is his ambition, and like a horse rider, it could overleap itself, jump too far and fall down on the other side. This meaning that ambition could lead him too far, too deep before he could get out of the situation.
A lot is revealed about Macbeth from this speech, particularly his frame of mind. From this soliloquy we can see exactly what he thinks of this. He uses many pauses and hyphens, perhaps because he has a fast train of though, showing his uncertainty. This soliloquy shows in detail Macbeth's conflicting feelings about “the deed”. He has to use euphemisms to avoid even saying the word “murder”. His first thoughts are mainly the consequences of committing the crime. Firstly his concern is the possibility that once Macbeth takes the throne there will be others who will plot to steal it from him. He then goes on to think of any punishments he will face, then more reasons against the deed, such as Duncan’s great qualities. He ends it with the reasons for the murder, although they are quite feeble. This shows just how uncertain he is and how he tries to make himself do something he doesn’t necessarily want to do. The soliloquy I think would have a big effect on the audience, making them question whether he will go through with it and perhaps changing their opinion of him, and maybe making them dislike Lady Macbeth more for forcing him into it. I think modern audiences may have a little more pity for Macbeth at this point though I think contemporary audiences wouldn’t be thinking about his feelings as much but whether he will actually go through with it and the possible consequences. I think that Shakespeare needed a soliloquy here to swing the opinions of the audience. He uses it well to change opinions in the audience. By showing what Macbeth really thinks, it gives the audience a different perspective, allowing them to see how he changes throughout the play.
The second soliloquy in Macbeth is quite a famous one, with the dagger scene. The context of this is that he is on his way to kill Duncan, not having any more doubts over it. He passes Banquo and is informed that Duncan is asleep. He tells a servant to go to bed on the way and then he starts the soliloquy. The soliloquy starts with Macbeth seeing the dagger, as he is questioning if he is seeing a dagger. “Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle towards my hand?” is merely Macbeth thinking aloud. He tries to grab the dagger but cannot. He says, “ I have thee not, yet I see thee still” He seems remarkably calm at seeing a dagger in the air, it’s not exactly expected of Macbeth after seeing him being quite unstable in the first soliloquy.
Next he talks to the dagger, interrogating it almost: “art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight?” This is more of Macbeth really thinking aloud, providing a commentary in a way. It’s effective as it shows how calm he is as he just questions the dagger. Here he asks it if it is sensitive to touch as well as to sight. He also calls it a fatal vision, firstly because he knows he can only see it, not touch it and because he may be thinking it could hurt him but probably because dagger can be fatal. He then wonders if it’s just “a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.” Now he wonders whether it is just a hallucination, a false creation as he says. Heat-oppressed brain is used to say that perhaps it has been created because Macbeth is feverish as he explores all possibilities here.
He then says he sees the dagger “in form as palpable as this which I now draw.” As he says this he draws his own dagger and compares it to the dagger he sees. He finds it is a replica of his own. When he says palpable he means that the dagger he sees is very lifelike, but it can’t be touched, much like a hallucination. He goes on to say, “thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; and such an instrument I was to use.” Here he is saying that the dagger was leading him in the direction that he was going, and it was an instrument he was going to use. The thing that is effective about this soliloquy is that he goes over every reason why he might be seeing the dagger and how it’s linked to what he’s going to do, offering himself explanations. It is like a detailed commentary of his thoughts as I’ve said and it shows the audience more about what he is like.
By saying “Mine eyes are made fools o’ the other senses”, he means that he can’t rely on his eyes anymore, the dagger has made his eyes inferior to the other senses because he is seeing things that aren’t real. He questions what he can believe in. But by saying “or else worth all the rest”, he is saying that it could be that his sight is the only sense he can trust. Then he sees splashes of blood on the blade and wooden handle of the dagger, “and on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood”. He then says, “Which was not so before – There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs- thus to mine eyes” Here he’s saying that not blood has appeared on the dagger, he reminds himself it’s not real and states that it’s the bloody business in which it takes shape. Bloody business being a euphemism for the murder he is to commit. So he’s saying that the dagger, by looking the same as his and having blood on it, is reminding him of the murder he will commit.
Then he thinks more about the nature of the deed, the evilness of it; “Now o’er the one half world, nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep”. What he is saying here is that because it is night, half of the world is in darkness and everything seems dead and that this is where evil preys. He mentions wicked dream, possibly nightmares, linking them to evil. He uses a strong word, abuse, this making it sound even worse making the statement more powerful. It doesn’t sound nice, “wicked dreams abusing sleep” and it reflects the evil that is in the night. He then says, “Witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate’s offerings”. Again he is using the idea of evil lurking in the darkness of night. Witches traditionally only really come out at night, you very rarely hear a story of them in the daytime. Again this is highlighting the connection of darkness and evil. Macbeth links the darkness of the night outside the castle with the deed he is about to commit. Murders somehow seem worse if it is done without anybody knowing who did it, and this usually happens at night. It all ties in with what Macbeth is talking about. Hecate actually is a witch goddess.
Macbeth then personifies murder as withered, “Alarmed by his sentinel, the wolf, whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace“. It may be quite surprising for the audience and shows how Macbeth’s character is changing. The fact that he openly talks of murder shows a change in his character, a stronger character mentally. As he personifies murder, his sentinel is described as the wolf, another creature you associate with evil and the darkness. The wolf is violent and carnivorous, often seen as a sort of guard for something. When Macbeth says stealthy, this again reflects the darkness and could represent the unseen stab in the back he is going to deliver to Duncan.
“With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design, moves like a ghost”. Here he refers to murder and the wolf, taking ravishing strides towards its purpose. Tarquin was a Roman King whom Shakespeare also wrote a poem about. Tarquin was guilty of rape and seen as evil and confident. Moving like a ghost is another reference to darkness, ghosts are silent and again only appear when the sun is down. This is also a simile.
Macbeth finishes talking about the darkness and goes back to the present situation, forgetting the dagger and thinking of the deed. “Thou sure and firm-set earth, hear not my steps, for fear, thy very stones prate of my where about.” Now he is just about to leave and is talking to the solid earth, telling it not to hear his footsteps or which way he goes because the stones speak of his where about. Of course Macbeth knows nobody can see him but he knows that the earth and the heavens know of his crime. He then says, “Whilst I threat, he lives: words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. He is basically saying hear that he should wait no longer for as long as he stalls, Duncan lives. He does say though that the more he talks about it, his courage wears down more so he must go soon. A bell then rings and he says “I go, and it is done: the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan: for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell” The bell is like a prompt for him to go, he says he goes and it is done just like that, showing his newfound confidence. He tells Duncan not to hear the bell for it will be the last thing he hears. The bell, for him, signals that it is time for him to go to heaven or hell.
Soliloquy 2 uses a lot of commas, unlike the hyphens used in the 1st. This shows that Macbeth is thinking of all possibilities, unlike the frantic thinking of the 1st. The commas also reflect the calmness. He thinks of all possibilities and builds on them. There isn’t any real deliberate rhythm to this soliloquy but does contain some rhyming couplets, reflecting his almost excited mood. He seems anxious to get on with it at points. The focus of the soliloquy, the dagger shows the audience what Macbeth’s mind is like and this actually causes him torment near the end of the play. As talk of the murder is about to make him lose his courage, Macbeth is brought back down to earth by the bell, this is actually a signal from his wife, showing that Duncan is asleep and it’s time for him to go.
A lot is revealed here about Macbeth’s mind, his powerful imagination mainly. This again pops up later in the play making it an important point. The soliloquy shows Macbeth’s change in character since the last one and he seems a lot stronger mentally. Macbeth though seems a bit worse off overall in his mind as now he is hallucinating. He seems ok on the surface but the fact he is seeing things could lead the audience to think there are long-term effects.
I think that the effects on the audience would be that the audience would be questioning whether Macbeth is mentally strong to go through with it. I think that would be the contemporary view while modern audiences would be more affected by the fact that Macbeth is seeing an imaginary dagger. I think by including this soliloquy, Shakespeare shows how Macbeth has changed since the last one and how he is being affected mentally over time.
The two soliloquies are quite similar in many ways, they both revolve around the same subject for one thing, this being the murder of Duncan, and both include Macbeth contemplating the idea of murdering Duncan. Although in the first soliloquy, he is worried, and quite against the idea, though you get the feeling that he feels he has to go through with it, in my opinion this is the reason why he spends the first soliloquy going through reasons not to is because I think that he subconsciously feels that he has to do this, of course I doubt that he’d think about that idea himself because of his loyalty to his wife.
The second soliloquy is different though, as he is much more confident on the idea, yet you get the feeling that he still isn’t too sure. He talks of murder pretty confidently but you get the feeling that he does it to reassure himself. For example he says, “Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives”, this meaning he doesn’t want to talk of it any more because he will lose his nerve, showing signs that he is only saying this to convince himself more, indicating that he still is unsure so he has to still convince himself. To me, it seems that he is convincing himself because of that fact he feels that he has to do this.
I think that with the 1st one, it would change more of the audiences views because it is, in my opinion more dramatic, and a bit easier to understand, and his emotions would show what he is going through, yet in the 2nd I think less would have their opinions changed because he seems a lot calmer and more confident and I feel that those more confident with their understanding of the play would have a deeper understanding of how Macbeth is actually changing underneath the surface, while others may just see it as him being more confident and him changing for the better. It shows the different ways Macbeth can be interpreted, either as him being pushed into this, perhaps having an effect on him later on, the dagger illusion being just the start while it could be interpreted as Macbeth becoming more confident of himself, and slowly losing his emotion of guilt. It could be interpreted that this was the first step to him becoming the cruel and unforgiving character he later becomes.
