There is much that Macbeth expresses through his soliloquy, including guilt, ambitiousness, and the relationship between the ideas of fate and free will. Macbeth, in working himself up to the murder of his king, is filled with hesitancy and doubt. He begins to see a hallucination before his eyes, that of a bloodstained dagger pointing to Duncan's sleeping chambers. Macbeth is immediately aware of the illusory nature of the dagger, calling it a product of his "heat-oppressed brain." However, as Macbeth continues, he recalls the witches and considers fate and the evil things in the world. It is here that it becomes unclear whether the dagger is indeed a result of Macbeth's guilt, or if it is a supernatural vision, sent to push him forward towards his own fate. After all, Macbeth is constantly doubting his ability to kill his own king, and perhaps it is the dagger that finally convinces him that the crime might as well have already been done. Macbeth says at the end of his soliloquy:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
This phrase means that the more he talks about doing the deed, the more he feels his courage to actually do it faltering. However, the phrasing is interesting. Macbeth is forcing the sensible and rational thoughts out of his mind in order to commit a crime that is made entirely of passion with no forethought to the variable future. He may as well be saying that "If I actually think about what I'm about to do, I won't do it." This would lead anyone to do just that, but Macbeth seems to believe that turning back at this point would be impossible even though it could easily be done. This is because Macbeth has already committed in his heart to fate, perhaps his own or perhaps that of the witches' making. From this point on, where free will ends and fate begins, or vice-versa, is hard to discern.
One of many tense and supernatural moments in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth's speech at the end of Act 2, Scene 1 is his famed dagger soliloquy. In this scene, Macbeth hallucinates that he sees a dagger as he makes his way to Duncan's room to murder him.
Macbeth's speech reveals his hesitation and internal conflict about murdering Duncan. Though he had previously agreed to kill Duncan, his words now show that perhaps he was not as confident in the plan as he had previously led himself to believe.
Throughout the soliloquy, Macbeth appears to speak to the dagger, even acknowledging that he may be hallucinating:
"Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? Or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creationProceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?"
As he draws closer to Duncan's room, blood appears on the dagger:
"I see thee still,And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,Which was not so before."
Blood, a recurring motif throughout the play, symbolizes Macbeth's guilt regarding the murder. At this sight, Macbeth then attempts to convince himself that the dagger is nothing but a hallucination caused by his musings about the murder:
"There’s no such thing.It is the bloody business which informsThus to mine eyes."
Throughout the soliloquy, Macbeth's hesitation, feelings of guilt, and anxiety are expressed. He clearly feels conflicted about having to murder Duncan, but does so anyways.
Macbeth's soliloquy at the end of act 2, scene 1 is the famous "dagger" speech. Fueled by his ambition, Macbeth plans to kill the king in his sleep in order to become the king himself, but in this speech he expresses hesitancy and guilt at the thought of carrying through with his plans.
This guilt manifests in a hallucination of a dagger. Macbeth narrates his actions as he imagines that he sees the fatal instrument in the air in front of him ("Is this a dagger which I see before me?"), yet when he tries to grab the handle he discovers he cannot ("I have thee not, and yet I see thee still"). In response to this vision he draws his own dagger from his belt as a point of comparison. This will be the weapon that he uses to kill King Duncan. In the lines,
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
it becomes clear that Macbeth believes the hallucination to be a portent, guiding him towards the murder he is about to commit. It points his way forward.
As he continues to hallucinate, the "dagger of the mind" begins to drip with blood, a symbol of his guilt. The tone of the monologue is fearful, with Macbeth repeatedly trying to snap out of it, so to speak, and convince himself that he's just seeing things:
There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes.
Though here Macbeth seems to argue that the hallucination is caused by his impending crime, he then goes on to talk about witches and witchcraft. The fearful tone combined with the violent imagery makes it unclear whether this hallucination is supernatural in origin or indeed just a manifestation of Macbeth's guilty conscience. Both are possible within the world of the play.
Macbeth's musings on the vision and the deed he is about to commit are interrupted by the sound of a bell, a signal from his wife that the king's guards are drugged to sleep and the time for action is now. If the hallucinated dagger was a portent meant to warn Macbeth not to murder the king, he ultimately ignores it, proceeding with his original plan despite any guilt or hesitation he may feel.
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knellThat summons thee to heaven or to hell.
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