Act
II, Scene 1, II. from line 42 to the end of the scene sculpts the
madness and conflicting desires of Macbeth's mind.
As he readies himself to kill Duncan, the King, and steal his throne, Macbeth begins to hallucinate that he sees a dagger before his eyes. Blood soon appears upon it, and he convinces his mind that it is truly a figment of his imagination...or perhaps, it is his other senses that are lying to his eyes. Later, Macbeth asks the Gods to watch over him and veil him in a cloak of darkest night to keep heaven from seeing the act of which he will soon commit. As the bell (knell) rings, he tells a far off Duncan “it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell,” and slinks toward his victim.
This
passage develops the moment where Macbeth has truly forsaken goodness
and decides to choose evil: He is not forced in any way. It also
signifies the first sign of Macbeth losing his sanity as he imagines
the dagger with “gouts of blood”.
Figurative
Language molds this scene into a very visual one: although no dagger
is truly present to the audience, imagery makes one materialize. This
imagery also intensifies in detail as Macbeth's mind becomes allied
with evil. Through personification, murder becomes living and death
becomes its weapon of choice in its “alarum'd” state in Macbeth's
hands. Personification, however, makes the threat of nature, an
overbearing presence, dangerous to Macbeth as he fears “thy very
stones prate of my whereabout.” “Words to the heat of deeds too
cold breath gives” speaks that voice is no longer a component of
the assassination but that action is the only choice, bringing to
life the fires of death and the chilling effects of a sharp speaker.
In
microcosmic effect, this is most certainly the moment where Macbeth
decides to ultimately kill his King. Betrayal and evil now plague the
once innocent layers of the Thane's heart. In the end of this scene,
Shakespeare shows how it is our own choices that ultimately lead to
our undoing...of both our minds and our lives.
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ReplyDeleteHi Abigail!
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis! This passage includes much figurative language on many different levels. Macbeth's vision of the dagger demonstrates many things on a symbolic level: his internal struggle with what he is about to do and his acknowledgement of how evil the act is. There are also various allusions that reference evil and witchcraft (can you recognize any of the allusion?).
Looking forward to reading more of your responses and hoping your summer is going well :)