Is Macbeth mad in
2.1?
In act
two scene one, it appears as though Macbeth is mad. The things he says shows he
most definitely is. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle
toward my hand?” (2.1, 33-35) When he says this he is imagining a dagger in
front of him, in which is obviously a figment of his imagination. “I have thee
not, and yet I see thee still.” (2.1, 35) These quotes are proof he is mad
because a sane person doesn’t see things that aren’t actually there and
consider killing someone. “And such an instrument I was to use.” (2.1, 43) In
other words these quotes and several others show that Macbeth is crazy.
If I were a director,
how would I stage the dagger scene and why?
If I
were a director, there is a specific way I would stage the dagger soliloquy to
emphasize how mad Macbeth is. I would make the scene of him saying the soliloquy
intense through the whole thing. I would do this by giving him almost psychotic
characteristics. Such as jitteriness when speaking, seeing objects that aren’t actually
there (dagger), and the way he is presented. By presented I mean I’d want him
to look scary, I’d want him to not seem all there. Especially when he says “Is
this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me
clutch thee:” (2.1, 33-34) There are several ways to justify that Macbeth is
crazy. But this is how I would express it if I were a director.
