At the moment Macbeth’s state of mind is one of great fear at both his thoughts and feelings and at being discovered. This could mean that his eyesight is either much better or much worse that his other senses. His eyes are “the fools o’th’other senses”. Macbeth seems to be going mad at this juncture he realises that the dagger, which at this point is moving towards Duncan, is not real. This could show that he is concerned that if he stops moving he will become scared of killing Duncan and so will not. There is a lot of reference to movement in this soliloquy Macbeth speaks of “ravishing strides”, a “stealthy pace” and “Moves like a ghost”. Furthermore, during the soliloquy Macbeth thinks that the stones that his castle are made from are moving and if they were then they would certainly be crying out at the terrible deed that Macbeth is going through. This is what Macbeth’s dagger will look like once he has killed Duncan.
The dagger then changes to having blood all over it. Macbeth tries to grab the dagger but his hand goes straight through it as it is not real and only a manifestation of his guilty conscience.
Firstly he sees the dagger’s hilt pointing toward him, the blade points towards Duncan’s room. By Macbeth’s second soliloquy, in Act 2 Scene 1, he has decided to kill Duncan and is on his way to do so when he starts to see a dagger. This is relevant at the time because people believed that the King was chosen by God and that killing the king would be like killing a part of God, it would also upset the natural order.Īt the end of the Scene Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth his decision not to kill Duncan but adamantly this is met with rage and abuse as Macbeth is called a “coward” by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is scared to kill Duncan because he fears eternal damnation. When Macbeth makes his decision he has thought of all the possible outcomes. Another thing that Macbeth tells himself is that killing Duncan would be about as cruel as leaving “a naked newborn babe striding the blast” and that “tears would drown the land” at Duncan’s death, since he was such a good and just king.įurthermore, Duncan is portrayed as a kind and gentle king as he showers Lady Macbeth with gifts when he enters Macbeth’s hospitality. Because Duncan is at Macbeth’s castle he is “in double trust” first as Macbeth is “his kinsman and his subject” and then “as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife” himself. However Macbeth can think of no such reasons, the only thing the he can think of are things that serve only to keep Duncan alive and that killing him now would be the greatest act of villainy. Why Was Lady Macbeth Unable To Kill Duncan This soliloquy sees Macbeth contemplating whether or not to kill Duncan and Macbeth is desperately trying to think of reasons that would aid him in the killing of Duncan. Macbeth’s first soliloquy about his changing state of mind is in Act 1 Scene 7(lines 1-28).
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