Macbeth

• "is this a dagger which I see before me"

  Macbeth hallucinates seeing a dagger in front of him on his way to kill Duncan reflects the guilt he is already feeling
• "Every noise appals me"

  • After Macbeth has murdered Duncan , he becomes paranoid about it
  • he begins to be startled by noises
• "sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!"


  Macbeth thinks he heard someone say this

  • Macbeth is feeling paranoid and guilty as he fears he will never sleep again
• "Face vizards to our hearts"


  Driven by his own ambition Lady Macbeth's opinion doesn't matter any more
• "doubtful joy" "restless ecstasy"


  • Oxymoron to show Macbeth and Lady Macbeth mixed emotions
  • They got what they want but now feel uneasy and guilty
• Macbeth: '"For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; / For them, the gracious Duncan have I murdered, / Put rancours in the vessel of my peace / Only for them,"'
• Paranoia


  Portrayed as a poison that is relentless and inescapable
• Macbeth's ambition

  Is punished, not rewarded
• "put rancours in the vessel of my peace"


  Suggests his guilt and paranoia has polluted his soul
• Macbeth: '"O, full of scorpions is my mind,"'

  
  

  -> imagery of corruption presenting his paranoia as infinite, small stings
• Macbeth is shocked by the blood on his hands,


  "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?''
• "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?


  • He knows their guilt goes beyond the literal "blood" on their "hand[s]", and that nothing can remove the metaphorical "blood" on their souls.
  • The reference to "Neptune", a non-Christian god, could reflect how he has turned his back on God.
• Macbeth's Hallucinations:

  Macbeth's famous soliloquy opens, "Is this a

  dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?" (2.1).


  The question shows that Macbeth cannot tell

  the difference between what is real and what is

  imagined, suggesting his guilt has already taken hold.
• Macbeth's hallucinations:

  Macbeth is faced with the reality of his guilt in the form of blood-soaked hallucinations.
• "Art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" (2.1),


  • suggesting he is aware that he can't trust everything he sees.
  • he isn't sure if the dagger is from his "mind" or not, implying he doesn't know what his mind is capable of. It seems his inability to cope with guilt makes him hallucinate.
  • The adjective "heat-oppressed" refers to the pressure guilt places on you. It connotes a fever, portraying guilt as a disease.
• When the Macbeth's murder Duncan, Shakespeare shows they have sacrificed any chance of serenity and well-being. It is concluded,

  "Macbeth shall sleep no more," (2.2).
• Macbeth realise's he has damned himself. He "shall sleep no more", so he has brought torment and torture on himself.
• Shakespeare shows how those who are guilty of sins are self-destructive.
• "Macbeth shall sleep no more,"

  • Macbeth sleeping "no more" is a symbol of his active, haunted conscience.
  • Sleep is "innocent", a "balm of hurt minds", so it cannot be enjoyed by a murderer bathed in blood, as Macbeth is.
• Cost of Guilt: Insomnia

  Macbeth's insomnia takes its toll on him, so that he longs for some semblance of peace,

  even death. He says, "Better be with the dead /After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well," (3.2),
• insomnia: He says, "Better be with the dead /Duncan is in his grave./After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well," (3.2),

  suggesting his attempts to feel

  content have only brought him more pain. Here Macbeth envies the "dead" and clearly

  mistakes death for a form of "sleep", which implies murder and death has taken over his

  mindset.
• When the idea of murdering Duncan first comes to Macbeth, he says in an aside,

  "Stars, hide your fires, / Let not light see my black and deep desires, / The eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be, / Which the eye fears when it is done to see," (1.4).

  
  

  Duncan already established "stars" as "signs of nobleness", so Macbeth is using the darkness to protect his innocent reputation.
• "Stars, hide your fires, / Let not light see my black and deep desires, / The eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be,'' (1.4).


  > The phrase "black and deep desires" evokes an images of decay, and suggests

  Macbeth is aware of his immorality while he nurtures it. By asking the "stars" to

  "hide [their] fires", it seems Macbeth is more concerned with avoiding judgement

  than embracing darkness.

  > "Let not light see" and "Yet let that be'' suggests the darkness is for his own benefit. He can't bear to look at what he is going to do, even though he wants it to happen.