Analysis of Macbeths Soliloquy :: Papers

Analysis of Macbeth's Soliloquy I have chosen one of Macbeths soliloquys from Act 1 Scene 7. This scene follows Lady Macbeth welcoming Duncan into the castle to have a banquet to celebrate the sucess of the battle earlier that day. Macbeth has left the banquet to ponder the idea of murdering King Duncan. Macbeths first lines suggest â€Å"If it ‘twere done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly† In these first lines there are many elisions making it very quickly spoken, Macbeth cannot bear to stay on the subject of murder for very long. Here Macbeth is saying, if only his troubles would end with Duncan’s murder, then he would go ahead and do the murder, quickly. He just wants to get it over and done with. The use of 'it' shows Macbeth using neutral, non-specific language to disasociate himself as far as possible from the murder. Macbeth fears the consequences of the murder and implies that he would go ahead with the plan for the murder, if he were sure that this would be the â€Å"be-all and the end-all, here† . Macbeth goes onto visualise himself as a fisherman we see this in the lines: 'But here upon this bank of and shoal time' He is 'netting' the consequences as he stands on the shoal of time, perhaps in an unspoken sea of eternity. This is a very powerful image. He then suggests that he would risk being damned to become king: 'We'd jump the life to come' There is a sort of recklessness and instability in the word 'jump', as if to jump off a cliff. 'Life' is a vague euphemism, for hell, Macbeth uses these a lot to avoid associating himself with the act of murder and its spiritual consequnces. The 'we' in this line could be seen the royal 'we' which would show he is already beginning to think of himself as king. Macbeth also fears the consequences of killing Duncan in this world: 'We still have judgement met here'