Soliloquy in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" -- an Important Dramatic Convention

Soliloquy is a solo speech in a dramatic language in order to communicate “the inner structure and working of mind in a character”. It is described as “the outcome of natural situations on the state of character’s emotions”. Characters do, and at some length what person never do – speak alone for a considerable length of time, and in verse too. But the soliloquy has the unique ability to suggest the subtleties of the hidden self of the speaker. In the Elizabethan dramatic tradition soliloquy became widely use as a vehicle for subjective utterance and became an important dramatic convention. Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Dr. Faustus all contain important examples.

         

Much like a monologue a soliloquy and its imaginative space convey a great deal of information about characters their inner most thoughts, feelings, passions and motives. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth too much of the psychological and philosophical interest of the play reside in them. The soliloquies of Macbeth are more like interior debates, a fascinating aspect of Macbeth’s motivation.

          Shakespeare uses ample soliloquies in Macbeth to show the soul of the tragic hero trapped in the conflicting desires and motif. In the very first soliloquy of Macbeth we find him contemplating over the murder of King Duncan and its possible consequences. Just before the murder of kind Duncan, Macbeth ponders over the very thought of it and says :

          “When it is done, then ‘twere well

          It were done quickly: If th’ assassination

          Could trammel up the consequenees, and catch

          With his surcease success……..”

                                                          (Act I Scene VII line 1-7)

If there were an end of the matter as soon as the assassination was committed, then it should be done immediately; if it were not follow by a net of evil consequences, and bring success immediately, if it would lead to no punishment in this life then he would risk judge in the after life. What seems clear is that Macbeth is constantly changing his mind. His imagination is in the grip of a powerful tension between his desire to see himself as king and his desire of the immorality of the immediate consequences, which he knows will be disastrous.

          In the next soliloquy just before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth sees the fearful vision of a blood stained dagger leading to him to Duncan’s chamber. He addresses the hallucination of the dagger. He tries to grasp it but cannot and knows it is the product of his overheated brain.

          “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

          To feeling, as to right? Or art thou but

          A dagger of the mind, a false creation

          Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?” (Act 2.Scene1.Lines 36-41)

It’s important to stress the imaginative tensions in Macbeth’s character before the murder and to appreciate his divided nature. That’s why summing up his motivation with some quick judgment about his ambition  is something one should resist. That resolves the issue too easily. In fact, Macbeth, in a sense, is tricked into murdering Duncan, but he tricks himself. That makes the launching of his evil career something powerful and complexity about the nature of evil in the play.

          However, Lady Macbeth thinks a little water will solve their immediate problem; Macbeth knows that is not too easy. He cannot live with what he is done and remain the same person. He says in a find soliloquy:

          “Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood

          Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather

          The multitudinous seas incarnadine

          Making the green one red”. (2.2.59-62)

Just after killing Duncan Macbeth continues to murder his way in the frantic desire for peace of mind enroute evils. The great bond that links him to other human beings does virtually disappear, so that the pursuit of his desire for inner peace makes him careless and less for anything life has to offer. Macbeth spinning his dehumanization utters the most poignant soliloquy:

          “I have lived long enough. My way of life

          Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf,

          And that which should accompany old age,

          As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,

          I must hot look to have, but in their stead

          Curses, not loud but deep, mouth honour, breath

          Which the poor heart would fain deny and dare not.”

                                                                             (5.3.23-29)

Thus at the news of his wife’s death, he responds in low key and bitter. In one of the overly greatest speeches in all of Shakespeare, he accepts the news with a horrifying calm:

          “She should have dies hereafter.

          ………

          tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

          creeps in this petty pace from day to day

          ………

                                      out, out, brief candle.

          Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

          That struts and freets his hour upon the stage,

          And then is heard no more. It is a tale

          Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

          Signifying nothing.”                 (5.5.16-27)

This famous speech acknowledges fully the empty mockery his life has become. His life has become an insane farce, not because he no longer has any power or physical security, but because he has ceased to care about anything, even about his life.

          The theatrical metaphor quoted in the last soliloquy resonates throughout play. Macbeth has, in a sense, tried to seize control of the script of his life, to write it in accordance with his desires, in the clear knowledge. Thus all of the soliloquies of Macbeth become a close scrutiny of study of evil and of a conflicting soul of Macbeth’s personality.

      Ardhendu De