Macbeth's Soliloquy : Act 2

Question 1

soliloquy

Answer 1

a device used by shakespeare to give the audience an insight into the inner workings of a character’s mind

Question 2

act 2 scene 1 - macbeth’s soliloquy

Answer 2

• just before the killing of duncan
• we are given insight into the mental turmoil of macbeth
• point of peripeteia for his character as it is when he begins to experience the effects of guilt

Question 3

‘is this a dagger which i see before me, the handle towards my hand? come, let me clutch thee’

Answer 3

• shows his internal conflict and confusion and foreshadows his later madness
• ‘the handle towards my hand’ - suggests he is ridding himself of responsibility over the murder as if it was being offered to him or forced upon him
• this shows us that he can acknowledge the immorality of his actions, yet ambition takes over

Question 4

‘fatal vision’

Answer 4

• ambiguous phrase
• the adjective ‘fatal’ - simultaneously alludes to the fatalities that will come as a result of the tragedy and the idea that his actions are decreed by fate
• the idea that his actions are decreed by fate suggests another example of macbeth abstaining responsibility as he dismisses it as conducted by higher powers or destiny

Question 5

what does macbeth refer to the dagger as?

Answer 5

an ‘instrument’

Question 6

‘instrument’

Answer 6

perhaps alluding to how the ‘instruments of darkness’ (the witches) with their dark musicality have brought him to this point of sheer inner turmoil

Question 7

shakespeare’s use of staging

Answer 7

• can be interesting as if the dagger is shown on stage, it draws the audience into macbeth’s madness
• contemporary audience would be confounded by the enigma of the supernatural and the power they hold - is the dagger a supernatural manifestation or a hallucination?
• if the dagger is invisible, macbeth’s madness becomes apparent earlier in the play

Question 8

essentially, macbeth uses the dagger as…

Answer 8

a scapegoat to expel himself of the blame for regicide as a coping mechanism for his premature guilt
in webster’s staging of shakespeare starring david tennant, the dagger was invisible - presented as a coping mechanism

Question 9

macbeth’s act 2 scene 1 soliloquy topic sentence

Answer 9

• macbeth’s soliloquy manifests as a point of peripeteia for his character as he descends into madness in response to the premature guilt he feels for the regicide
• shakespeare utilises this soliloquy to give insight into macbeth’s mental turmoil