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Macbeth's State Of Mind


             The next stage in the dramatic structure is the rising action and this soliloquy is one that fits into it. The next speech at the end of act 1 is where Macbeth is dwells upon whether he should commit the deed or not. Before this soliloquy the Macbeth returns home to Lady Macbeth who is so confident about killing King Duncan and says that she will take it upon her hands. He watches her deceive the king and he sees how it is very wrong to kill this man in his own home. Macbeth begins to feel he doesn't know what to do, and has come to the conclusion that he doesn't have any real reason to kill Duncan. He finds that it's only his ambition to move up in status that pushes him towards the murder. Macbeth also worries about the fate of his soul after committing this crime where he says "But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we"d jump the life to come." He seems to worry about his afterlife very often in the play and its part of the controversy he faces in this act. Another reason for not murdering Duncan is that it would be wrong to do it in his own home, and that he would be mourned so greatly. Shakespeare uses imagery also to portray his state of mind by talking about the poisoned chalice that he will drink out of if he commits this deed, meaning that he will be killing himself. .
             The next speech is the famous dagger soliloquy, which also is part of the rising action in the dramatic structure. What lead to this soliloquy was the push by Lady Macbeth. She began to question Macbeth's masculinity by saying that he would be a real man and have some courage if he would just commit the deed and stop acting like a baby. Then he begins to have these hallucinations of the dagger, which he would kill Duncan with and cannot tell if he's imagining this or if it is real. He then begins to visualize the goddess of witchcraft disturbing his sleep, but by the end of the hallucination he hears a bell ring symbolizing his invitation to commit the deed.


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