Eng.IV.H/Br. Byrd/Macbeth Unit --Dissecting Soliloquies
“The Raven Himself Is Hoarse” Macbeth Soliloquy Analysis
I: Lady Macbeth, Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5
Original:
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
“The Raven Himself Is Hoarse” Soliloquy Translation:
‘Even the raven – the bird of death – that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements
is hoarse,’ she said aloud. She closed her eyes and raised her arms to the sky. ‘Come, you spirits that
tend on mortal thoughts. Take all my femininity away and fill me from the crown to the toe top full
of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, stop me from feeling pity so that no natural feelings can get
in the way.’
She put her hands on her breasts. ‘Come to my woman’s breasts, you spirits of evil, and suck gall
from me where there should be milk. Come thick night and shroud me in the dunnest smoke of hell,
so that my sharp knife won’t see the wound it makes, nor that the light of heaven peep through the
blanket of the dark to cry, ‘stop! stop!’
Translations provided by: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/macbeth/
Eng.IV.H/Br. Byrd/Macbeth Unit --Dissecting Soliloquies
II: Macbeth, Macbeth Act 1 Scene7 (Original):
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on the other.
“If It Were Done When ‘Tis Done” Soliloquy Translation:
What should he do? He faced the tower wall and pressed his forehead against it. If it could be all
finished and done with when it’s done then it may as well be done quickly. If only the repercussions
of the murder could be controlled. If only all the danger could end with Duncan’s death -. If only the
death blow could be the end of it -. If only we could escape the consequences of our actions here on
earth – skip the life to come -.
Macbeth climbed up to the battlements and looked up at the sky. There were no stars.
The trouble was that we have choice: we have freedom of choice. But if we choose violent options
they come back to plague us. And it was that law, that even-handed justice, that was the problem.
When we poison others we poison ourselves.
Duncan. Macbeth sighed. What was he to do?
Translations provided by: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/macbeth/
Eng.IV.H/Br. Byrd/Macbeth Unit --Dissecting Soliloquies
The King trusted him completely. For two very good reasons: first as Macbeth was his cousin and
his subject -both very powerful arguments against murder – and then as he was Duncan’s host, who
should shut the door against his murderer, not bear the knife himself!
Macbeth walked slowly down the stairs and back into the courtyard. And anyway, Duncan was so
gentle as a man, and so strong as a king, that his virtues would cry out for revenge at the brutality of
his death. There would be outrage at the slaughter of such a good man: everyone would be so filled
with pity that the whole nation would grieve.
No, there was no excuse – only vaulting ambition, which threatened to overreach itself and bring
him crashing down.
III: Macbeth, Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1 (Original):
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutchthee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain’d sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder,
Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
Translations provided by: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/macbeth/
Eng.IV.H/Br. Byrd/Macbeth Unit --Dissecting Soliloquies
“Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me” Soliloquy Translation:
It was totally silent. And pitch black. It was now or never. Macbeth stared into the darkness. And as
he looked it seemed that a dagger hung there. He closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still
there. He peered. It didn’t waver. Was it really a dagger? Its handle towards his hand?
He tried to clutch it. His hand went right through it: it was still there and yet he couldn’t feel it. Was
it only a dagger of the mind, a false creation of a fevered brain?
He could still see it as he drew his own, real, dagger: it was pointing the way to Duncan’s room. He
knew he was seeing things and yet it was so real. And now there was blood on it, which hadn’t been
there before.
It was ridiculous. There was no such thing. He knew it was the violence in his mind that was coming
out in the form of a bloody dagger.
His mind was filled with images of fear and horror and he stood there, overwhelmed by them, until
a bell rang and brought him back to the business in hand.
‘I go, and it is done: the bell invites me.’ He began walking. ‘Don’t hear it, Duncan; for it’s a knell that
summons you to heaven or to hell.’
Rhetorical Analysis of Macbeth Soliloquies
Part I: Br. Byrd models analysis for Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy from Act One.
Translations provided by: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/macbeth/
Eng.IV.H/Br. Byrd/Macbeth Unit --Dissecting Soliloquies
Part II: Each student will complete the following steps for the analysis of his or her
assigned soliloquy (either “Is this a dagger” or “If it were done”) one a separate sheet of
paper:
A--Complete the SOAPS chart for your soliloquy
B--Identify any appeals to Logos, Pathos, or Ethos
C--Note any elements of style--diction, syntax, any poetic elements
D--Evaluation--now that you’ve analyzed the soliloquy, make a judgement call about it. Is it
an important speech, in terms of plot or characterization? Is it powerful poetry?
E--Now form a thesis, based on what you’ve found!
Translations provided by: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/soliloquies/macbeth/