English 9
Mrs. Sharp/Ms. Edwards
name:
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
2: able to be felt as well as seen
3: the mind under pressure from fear and worry
4: handle
5: one half of the world
6: Hecate, queen of the witches
7: solid
8: gossip about
9: make threats
M9