Act 2, Scene 1 – ‘Is This A Dagger…?’
MACBETH
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? 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 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.
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.
Act 2, Scene 2 – After The Murder (Part 1)
Activities:
1. What is happening in this scene?
2. What are the connotations of a
‘dagger’? What does this suggest
about Macbeth’s state of mind?
3. ‘Thou marshall’st me the way I
was going’ – Do you think Macbeth is
in control of his own actions here?
Explain your ideas with reference to
the text.
4. ‘Witchcraft celebrates’ – What
tone/atmosphere is established
here? How would a contemporary
audience, with their religious beliefs,
react here?
5. Highlight language that relates to
the senses. Macbeth talks about the
sense of ‘sight’ throughout. Why?
6. ‘On thy blade… gouts of blood’ –
Blood becomes a recurring motif
throughout the play. What could
blood represent and/or symbolise?
7. In the final lines, Macbeth
imagines himself as murder itself. Do
you think this is the part of the play
where Macbeth transitions fully from
a bad man to an evil man? Explain
your ideas.
INCREASING CHALLENGE
Activities:
1. What is happening in this
scene?
2. Identify a metaphor in Lady
