Macbeth Act 2, Scene 1

Macbeth Act 2, Scene 1

1. Macbeth: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?"

   • personifying the murder - not in his control - dagger is controlling him
     • Not accepting responsibility
   • 11 syllables - breaking iambic pentameter

2. Macbeth: "Come, let me clutch thee"

   • "clutch" - foreshadows moment he leaves Duncan's bedchamber "Clutching" the daggers
     • metaphor for Macbeth's bloodlust
       • cant let go of the act of killing
   • invisiges the dagger, not the crown - shows he is anticipating the bloodlust, not the kingship
   • 12 syllables - breaking pentameter
     • causing damage to his conscious

3. Macbeth: "A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?"

   • Macbeth realises that this is damage he is creating himself
   • "heat-oppressed brain"
     • Blaming himself for thinking about the dagger
       • not blaming witches
       • he understands that he is responsible for his own harmatia
   • "heat" - links to sergeant's description of Macbeth
     • "with his brandished steel, which smoked"
       • heat of battle
       • blood causes heat
     • bloodlust - his mind is out of control with bloodlust
   • 11 syllables
     • Macbeth realises that he is damaging himself

4. Macbeth: "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood"

   • "dudgeon" is the hilt
     • gouts of blood up to the dudgeon
       • Duncan's murder will be very bloody and messy - it will get on macbeth's hands
         • bloodlust

5. Never talks about Kingship in his soliloquy - only the blood - shows he mainly cares about bloodlust and has less regard for kingship

6. Macbeth: "... witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings"

   • never refers to the weird sisters as witches
   • Hecate - greek goddess
     • Macbeth is rejecting Christian teaching and God
   • Macbeth still believes he is repsponsible

7. Macbeth: "With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost

   • Tarquin is a Roman King
     • In Roman Literature, he was known to have a lot of lust
       • Links to Macbeth's bloodlust - Tarquin was already King and yet would still have extreme lust - Macbeth doesn't care about Ambition, he cares about Lust
         • his motive his bloodlust
           • this is because martial society rewards this desire - makes them successful
         • the lady he rapes kills herself
           • parallel with Lady macbeth
             • foreshadows L.Macbeth's suicide
               • she is a victim of patriarchal society
         • Shakespeare might be advertising his own book: "The rape of Lvcrece"
     • "Ravishing Tarquin" is the son
       • His father was a tyrant, who became king because his wife, Tullia, persuaded him to assassinate the existing king, her father
         • parallel with Lady Macbeth - she doesn't kill Duncan because he reminds her of her father
           • Shakespeare is blaming Tarquin, and Macbeth ( the tyrant) not Lady Macbeth
     • Pagan reference
       • Macbeth is evil - denying Christianity

8. Macbeth: "and it is done"

   • he can't articulate the fact that he will do it
   • "The bell invites me"
     • language denies responsibility
       • cant accept the guilt

9. Macbeth: "That summons thee to Heaven or to hell"

   • Talking about Duncan - he will go to heaven or hell
     • doesnt care - as if he doesn't really believe in them
     • Shakespeare is suggesting that Duncan may not be a good man - could go to hell
   • his last words - Macbeth doesn't believe in afterlife
     • doesnt believe his actions now decides his fate for eternity - only what happens in the living life
       • shows he is actually quite smart and has a lot of common sense