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This is my account of Macbeth's downfall from a popular, successful soldier, quote What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won, who has received great honours for his loyalty, his courage, his bravery and his nobility. At the end of the play the only respect he has is because of the fear that his subjects have of him. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies // some say hes mad, others that lesser hate him. I will go through Macbeth's soliloquies and chart his character as it changes. A soliloquy is a speech made only to oneself, or even only thought.
Macbeth's first soliloquy is in Act I, Scene III. Two of the things that the witches predicted have come true and Macbeth is contemplating how the third will come true. He thinks about killing Duncan, but he knows that these are only thoughts and he dismisses it and decides to leave it to chance and time. Present Fears // Are less than horrible imagining. Whose (Duncan) murder is yet but fantastical. We can see that his mind is confused and distorted, because of what has happened and what may happen, and here we see the first signs of ambition, even though it is dismissed.
My thought. // Shakes so my single state of man. The second soliloquy is in Act I, Scene IV, when the Thane of Cawdor has been killed. Duncan describes him as a man on whom I built an absolute trust. This parallels Macbeth, who he trusts, when he betrays him. Duncan pronounces his son as the prince of Cumberland and the heir to the throne. This throws Macbeth's mind into even more confusion, as this is a step which (he) must oer-leap.
He also, in the soliloquy, knows that his thoughts are evil, and he does not want good to see them. Stars, hide your fires, // Let not light see my black and deep desires. In the third soliloquy Macbeth is still contemplating how he obtains the throne, but now he knows that murder is the only way, yet he fears judgement and damnation. We see here that Macbeth has a conscience, and his mind cannot take the simple fact.
He begins bringing up lots of excuses as to why he should not do it, but inevitably his ambition gets the better of him. Hes here in double trust: // his kinsman and his subject, // then as his host, // who should against his murder shut the door, // Not bear the knife myself. I have no spur // to prick the sides of my intent, but only // Vaulting ambition. On the battle field, where emotions are not needed and a hindrance, Macbeth would know what to do.
However, this conflict is going on inside his mind, and he is not fully competent in this field. By the time of the forth soliloquy, he has changed character completely. He is no longer the fearless, brave and courageous soldier he once was. This is the famous floating dagger soliloquy, possibly the most important. This is probably his mind getting him ready for such and act, psyching himself up, by modern terms. In the first half of the soliloquy he is talking about the dagger.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible // to feeling as to sight. A dagger a false creation. // from the heat-oppressed brain. Then Macbeth starts talking about how the dagger appears to lead him to Duncan's room, when it reappears with bloodstains on it. Thou marshall me the way that I was going. The second half of the soliloquy Macbeth is talk about the devious act of murder itself, and what it causes and what it means. He talk about all things that are bad and evil.
Witchcraft Pale Hecate (witch goddess) Murder Wolf Tarquin. He compares these things to a present horror. He gives murder a name, and he personifies it, and makes it an object. All of these soliloquies show how ambitious he is, but also how ary of what will happen to him. He is a soldier, and this kind of killing he is not used to. He can kill an enemy on the battle field, but not an enemy in the back.
His fifth soliloquy is all about Macbeth's insecurity with Banquos. He is scared of the fact that the witches predicted that Banquos children would become king, and Macbeth has no children. Left a barren sceptre in my gripe. For Banquos issue (children) I have filed my mind What he means by this is that he has done all the dirty work, only for someone else to take his reward from him.
Just before Macbeth's sixth soliloquy he confronts the witches again and they warn him of Macduff, they tell him that he will not be harmed by someone of woman born, and that none shall harm him until Great Birnham wood comes to Dunsinane. They show him a vision of eight kings, all ushered by Banquos spirit. Macbeth concludes that he should kill Macduff, but upon hearing news that he has fled, decides to attack Macduff's castle, and kill everyone in it. This marks another change in Macbeth's character, as he becomes a murderous tyrant.
The castle of Macduff // give to there oth sword // His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls // that trace him in his line. Time is beginning to run ahead of Macbeth's actions, and now he resolves to become again the man who acts without thinking too much. The seventh of these soliloquies is difficult to describe as a major phase in the deterioration of Macbeth's character, but what we do learn from it is that Macbeth has realised how he is getting tired of it all, and how when most aged people have everything, he has very little. And that which should accompany old age, // As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, // I must not look to have. When Duncan pronounced him as the Thane of Cawdor, he used the metaphor that Macbeth was a seed and he was planting him, and he would grow. Macbeth has not been allowed to grow normally because he was too greedy.
Now it is the autumn of his life and he bears no fruit where as all the others do. Macbeth's eight, and last soliloquy is one of looking back, and Macbeth concentrates on the past, as opposed to before when he always thought of the future. He begins by saying how he remembers how he used to be afraid, and now is hardly moved by something that would have scared him. The time has been, my senses would have cooled // To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair // would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir // As life were int.
Upon hearing news of his wifes death he realises he cannot escape the clutches of time, and all hope is lost. Macbeth, a man of speed and action, cannot escape its petty pace. When we look at Macbeth's soliloquies as a whole we can gradually see the deterioration of his character. We can see inside him when ideas are brought forward, he becomes tempted, and his conflict with temptation, as well as his conflict with ambition. After he has killed Duncan, he realises that there is no going back, and so instead of trying to redeem himself he takes it further, and makes himself even more of a stranger to himself.
Yet he knows what he is doing is wrong, and he fears what will happen to him, and he is still human, although form his actions we see him becoming a blood-crazy monster, a despot. Although he makes constant references to evilness and darkness, this is equalled by his devotion to God and religion, if not praising then fearing him.
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Research essay sample on Act I Scene Thane Of Cawdor
