Macbeth Soliloquys

Macbeth - Act 1 Scene 3 (Line 130-145)

Macbeth has just started to witness the intelligence of the witches. This is where he first thinks about his possible future on the throne. Since the first two things that the witches predicted have come true, he is starting to think that maybe he will become King, as he says in the very first lines of the soliloquy, “Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act, Of the imperial theme.”(130-132). Macbeth cannot decide whether or not this existent of the supernatural is a good thing or a bad thing. It can’t be bad because he has become Thane of Cawdor, but it can’t be good because “I yield to that suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair”(138-139). Macbeth is saying that he is thinking about murdering King Duncan, a thought that is so terrible that it makes his hair stand on end and his heart pound in his chest. This shows that at this point, Macbeth does not seem capable of killing the King, as he says “function is smothered in surmise,”(144). At this point, Macbeth is almost in shock because of the horrible thoughts that are going through his head. He is standing aside from the other men and they notice that he is in a daze. Macbeth is unsure what to think at this point, but the thought of murdering King Duncan has been implanted in his head.

Lady Macbeth - Act 1 Scene 5 (Line 28-44)

Lady Macbeth realizes that her feminism is holding her back from killing the King. Her mind is filled with evil plans of murder, but she can only plan such things, she can’t take action herself. She says, “Come, you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here”(30-31), as though she thinks like a man, but cannot act like a man. She wants the same evil demons that gave her the idea of murdering the King, to turn her into a man so she could go through with the murder herself. She knows she would feel remorse for doing such a thing, so she wants demons to “Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse”(33-34). For some reason Lady Macbeth thinks that any man can murder another man and not feel remorse. In her mind, that is manhood. However, her husband feels just as awful about the thought of killing the King as she does. She says how she wants the night to come and cover the world in darkness so that she can kill the King with nothing able to stop her. Clearly Lady Macbeth is nervous that King Duncan is coming to her Castle because she knows how terrible her plans are. She is worried, however, that being a woman will stop her from being able to commit the crime herself. This is why she decides to use Macbeth as her assassin. What she doesn’t realize is that the blood will still be on her hands, as it was her plan to kill the King, Macbeth is just the puppet.

Macbeth - Act 2 Scene 1 (Line 33-64)

Macbeth’s imagination is getting the best of him in this soliloquy. So far, the supernatural have played a large part in the play, and Macbeth is starting to believe in things that most people do not think exist. He sees an imaginary dagger that in his mind is leading him to his crime. Macbeth believes that everything is happening for a reason, so he automatically thinks that because he sees a floating dagger, he has to go through with his crime. In this soliloquy he is contemplating his decision for the very last time. When Macbeth says, “I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.”(62), he is saying that the deed is as good as done, suggesting that at this point he has no choice. When he hears a bell, he thinks it is summoning him to commit his crime. Clearly this bell had nothing to do with the murder, since nobody else knew of Macbeth’s plan, but Macbeth’s confused mind infers that it is like a green light, and it is time to go through with the murder. It is obvious that Macbeth is in a very confused and unbalanced state of mind, along with the fact that he may have a fever. He can’t decide if the dagger is real or not, and shows his troubled mind in saying “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”(38-39). I think Macbeth may also feel that at this point if he does not go through with the murder, Lady Macbeth will be proven right about his lack of manhood. Now Macbeth has something to prove, and Lady Macbeth has set it up so that killing the King is the only way he can prove he is a real man.

Macbeth - Act 3 Scene 1 (Line 50-74)

This soliloquy is full of irony and hypocrisy. Even though Macbeth has killed King Duncan and taken the throne himself, he feels threatened by Banquo. He thinks that his life on the throne will be short-lived, because Banquo will do everything he can to make sure one of his sons gets the throne for himself, and quickly. The ironic part is that Macbeth starts describing Banquo’s characteristics, listing all the reasons he should be afraid of him, and part of it is that he knows Banquo very well and knows how capable he is of taking the throne. This ironic because Macbeth has taken King Duncan’s original position. Macbeth was one of Duncan’s favourited men, he knew he was intelligent and powerful, but there was no way he could see Macbeth coming to murder him. Now that Macbeth has betrayed Duncan, a man he was close to, he feels as though Banquo could do the same thing. If Macbeth had not committed his crime, he would have never feared Banquo. He knows that Banquo is just like him, and if Macbeth would commit treason for the throne, Banquo would do the same. This leads Macbeth to the conclusion that Banquo and his son must be killed to protect his own reign. So far, everything that the witches predicted has come true, so that leads Macbeth to believing that all of their predictions will come true, one of them being that Macbeth will not have a line of sons that take the throne, but Banquo will. This enrages Macbeth because now he feels like he has gone through all this terror and felt the guilt of killing King Duncan just to ensure that Banquo’s sons sit on the throne, which is what he means when he says “If ’t be so, For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind”, which makes Banquo a target for Macbeth.

Reach Out and Touch Poetry Analysis

Reach Out and Touch - Maxine Tynes

-the title "Reach Out and Touch" suggests an important action that may take place in the poem
-the narrator describes her hair as "the curly electric" suggesting frizzy and curly hair, common in black women
-she also describes her skin as "brown skin magic of my neck", possibly meaning that it seems magical to the children that her skin is brown, so maybe they have never seen a black person before
-the fact that the child is dipping his/her fingers in the "brown skin magic of my neck to see if it comes off" shows that the child is expecting the brown skin to be a result of dirt and that it should come off and the skin should be white underneath
-the mother of the curious child slaps his/her hands away and "hush-up of your questions" suggests that the mother is discouraging the child's curiosity in the black woman and does not want the child to learn about her or get involved with her
-the child is "wondering out loud why it doesn't come off." which is a clear indicator that the child is curious about why the woman's skin is brown
-when the narrator says "I turn and smile for you, but you're already lost/in the silence and the fear that motherlove wraps you in." she is saying that she tried to show the child that she is friendly and not to be feared, but it is too late because the mother has already sheltered the child from the woman and made him/her feel scared of the woman
-the last four lines of the poem are the narrator describing how she could have made the child feel comfortable with her, which in turn would have taught the child that black people are not to be feared
-because the child is so young, if the woman had "snugged up my big warm self up close" the child would feel more comfortable, because you can't just talk a young child into feeling comfortable with you when they can't understand what you're saying

Background Research
After reading the poem I felt it was necessary to research the author to find out if there is a connection between herself and the theme of the poem. The poem seems to be written about anti-racism, because she is trying to make a curious young white child more comfortable with black people. It turns out the author of the poem is a black woman who takes pride in her race. She liked to write poetry about social issues such as the racism experienced by earlier generations of black women, famine in Africa and the prostitutes working at night in Halifax. This makes it evident that the main theme that the author is trying to get across in this poem is racism.