Dagger Speech In Macbeth

“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires”(I, 4, 52-53) This is exactly what the stars did in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth wanted Happiness in his life but to get that he used moral sacrifices that led to his demise and no purpose of living. This is demonstrated in the dagger speech and the Tomorrow speech that will be discussed showing his ambition for power and happiness to his demise. In the dagger speech (II, 1, 33-64) William Shakespeare conveys the message that Macbeth’s ambition overrides his morals to accomplish what he wants and what he thinks will give him happiness. In lines 33-41 of the dagger speech it portrays the message that Macbeth’s guilt is tearing him apart from the thought of what he is going to do. Shakespeare uses apostrophe of the dagger to convey the message. In the speech Macbeth addresses the dagger as if it was a person. This allows the audience to see the moral conflict of inside of

The Candle in the speech is a symbol of death and the wishes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. When Macbeth said “Out,out, brief candle!” This is the continuation of the theme of darkness. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth asked for darkness so no one could see their crimes they committed. However, as Lady Macbeth became ill she carried a candle everywhere because she was scared of the dark and now that she is dead the candle is out because Lady Macbeth is now at peace. The simile “ Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player ....... upon the stage and is heard no more.”(V, 5, 24-25) Shakespeare is comparing life to an actor because an actor is in a movie then shortly after is forgotten. Macbeth and everybody will be nearly a blimp in history. Lastly, shakespeare uses negative diction such as “idiot”(V, 5, 27), “fury”(V, 5, 27) and “nothing.”(V, 5, 28) This allows the audience to feel the negative connotation Macbeth has towards life and