aCT ii, sCENE i
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Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw. Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going, And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses, Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate’s offerings, and withered murder, Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives. Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.I go, and it is done. The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell. |
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Overall Annotation:
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Below is a full annotation of Act II, Scene I:
Overview of the scene.
Late at night after the big dinner that Macbeth has thrown for King Duncan, Macbeth becomes filled with guilt and doubt about the plan to kill the King. Macbeth witnesses this dagger, floating in the air before him, just as he is about to ‘do the deed’. He is puzzled as it why he can see this dagger but cannot physically grab it. The scene continues with Macbeth wondering if the dagger is only “a false creation” of his disturbed mind.
The dagger then becomes bloody before his eyes. The vision of this dagger does not seem to alter his decision; he believes it is a sign ordering him to do the killing. He believes that the ‘bell’ is summoning him to kill the King which he then proceeds to do so.
Late at night after the big dinner that Macbeth has thrown for King Duncan, Macbeth becomes filled with guilt and doubt about the plan to kill the King. Macbeth witnesses this dagger, floating in the air before him, just as he is about to ‘do the deed’. He is puzzled as it why he can see this dagger but cannot physically grab it. The scene continues with Macbeth wondering if the dagger is only “a false creation” of his disturbed mind.
The dagger then becomes bloody before his eyes. The vision of this dagger does not seem to alter his decision; he believes it is a sign ordering him to do the killing. He believes that the ‘bell’ is summoning him to kill the King which he then proceeds to do so.
These are some of the language techniques used throughout this scene. For the definition of each word simply click the card to flip it over, for verbal pronunciation click on the word or definition.
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