State of Mind

Act 2 Scene 1

“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”

Shakespeare shows how someones mind can be changed and damaged because of guilt and regret. if the dagger were to be real in his mind that would damage and possibly kill him. his mind is dealing with the guilt by altering his vision making him believe it is real. he creates the dagger to move the blame to someone else and make him think it is not him doing the killing. he reaches out to the dagger only to find that it is untouchable as it is a “dagger of the mind” this suggests that not only will this dagger be killing Duncan but it will also damage Macbeth mind. The human mind is very complex, it creates false thoughts to deal with guilt and regret. it also shows in hindsight that using the dagger and killing Duncan may lead to his own demise.

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