What is This I See Before Me? :: essays research papers

What is This I See Before Me?Macbeths visions come along to be a manifestation of his growing guilt and insatiable ambition. He is being driven to madness by his suffer actions. The first cartridge holder we see this phenomena is just before Macbeth goes to cancel out Duncan at this time he refers to a agate liney dagger that seems to be floating in the air out before him. This is a prelude to all that will come. Just after he commits his first murderous sin Macbeth claims to hear voices in the house crying out, sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep and, Macbeth shall sleep no more (57). These mystic voices turn out to be quite prophetic. once more after Macbeth has ordered the murder of Banquo he sees a vision of the exanimate mans ghost sitting at Macbeths table, in fact in his very chair, a gesture that can be seen to have more that one meaning. All of these visions seem to be nothing more than fabrications of his own tortured conscience. They serve as vehicles for hi s uncouth desires and as reminders of his unhappy deeds. It seems that the both people most affected by these hallucinations are Macbeth and his wife. He patently is most directly affected besides after a eyepatch it becomes clear that they are taking there toll on her as well. Three of the major visions or hallucinations in the play were the dagger, the voices, and Banquos ghost. Is this a dagger I see before me the handle towards my hand? set closely let me clutch thee (51). Macbeth speaks these words as he stands waiting for the wane time to carry out his first gory deed. Covered with blood and pointed toward the kings chamber, the dagger represents the bloody course on which Macbeth is about to embark. (Macbeth Study Guide) It also seems to be a catalyst for his desire to kill Duncan in order to inherit the kingship. Macbeth sees the dagger as a patsy that he shall proceed with this wicked night. Thou marshalst me the way that I was going, and such an instrument I was to use. (53) The primary difference among this hallucination and those that followed is that this time Macbeth knows that it isnt real. He seems fascinated by it, but aware that it is only a dagger of the mind, a false establishment (53). He even suggests that it is a product of a heat-oppressed brain (53).