Mrs. Sharp/Ms. Edwards Period

English 9 name: Mrs. Sharp/Ms. Edwards period: Macbeth’s Decision Macbeth is at a crossroads. He must decide whether or not to go through with the plan to kill King Duncan. As you study the following soliloquy from Act II, scene 1, try to track his thought process. Use three different colored pens to mark the different ways Macbeth is feeling about (possibly) murdering the king. Assign a different color to each of the following:  The points at which Macbeth seems intent on murder  Places where he seems horrified by the prospect of murder  Times at which he seems undecided

Act II, scene 1. In a court of Macbeth’s castle (edited) MACBETH Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. Exit Servant Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand1? 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 sight2? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain3? I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon4 gouts of blood, Which was not so before. Thou sure7 and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate8 of my whereabout, Whiles I threat9, he lives: Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. A bell rings 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. Exit

Notes 1: cannot feel you in my hand 4: handle 7: solid 2: able to be felt as well as seen 5: one half of the world 8: gossip about 3: the mind under pressure from fear and worry 6: Hecate, queen of the witches 9: make threats