This soliloquy is dramatically effective because we already know, from the previous act, that Macbeth is struggling with the morality of murdering Duncan. Indeed, the intervention of Lady Macbeth is what really pushes him into committing the act. So the vision of a dagger that appears before Macbeth strongly suggests that he is still emotionally torn, that he feels that a force "marshals't" him toward the murder, and that it is beyond his control. The appearance of this image adds to the internal struggle that the audience knows Macbeth is experiencing.
The soliloquy is also highly effective in setting the mood. Banquo and Macbeth's servant have just departed for the night, and everyone has made their way to bed. It is eerily quiet, and Macbeth knows that the time has arrived. His speech is full of disturbing imagery associated with the night, darkness, and evil. He says that "Nature seems dead" and references "pale Hecate's offerings." He describes a wolf's howl and describes himself moving "like a ghost." So the speech does much to set the tone for the events that follow.
The "Is this a dagger which I see before me" soliloquy in Shakespeare's Macbeth is dramatically effective for many reasons, but I'd like to focus on Shakespeare's use of apostrophe. As a recap, an apostrophe (not to be confused with the punctuation point) is an address, either to a character who isn't present, or to an abstract idea or personified object. Shakespeare uses apostrophe to great effect in many of his plays, and his use of it in Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1 is one of the best examples of the literary device (and also my personal favorite).
Macbeth uses an apostrophe to address the hallucination of a dagger. Since this soliloquy occurs directly before he murders King Duncan, it's a very dramatically effective moment. For example, the hallucination of a knife comes to personify Macbeth's murderous ambition. Moreover, it proves that Macbeth is beginning to become unhinged and is preparing to slide into insanity. As such, the apostrophe in this soliloquy creates ominous foreshadowing that hints at the violent deeds to happen off-stage, and it also gives us an insight into Macbeth's personal degeneration. As such, the soliloquy as a whole becomes a tense moment upheld by robust poetry.
Because the soliloquy is a long one, there are many other ways that it is dramatically effective, and I'd encourage you to explore those different possible ways for yourself. However, for me, the soliloquy's apostrophe to the imagined dagger is its most dramatically effective moment.
https://literarydevices.net/10-memorable-uses-of-apostrophe-by-shakespeare/
No comments:
Post a Comment