This is a presentation of the poetic devices in a section of Macbeth When Macbeth gets ready to kill Macduff

1. From Macbeth
By: William Shakespeare

2. William Shakespeare
• Job: poet, play writer, actor
• the Globe theatre
• Many tragedies were written by him

3. Macbeth
• Early 1600s - “Tragic Period”
• shortest tragedy

4. Fun Fact!!
• the word “Macbeth” is believed to be
cursed

5. Key to Old English
(Jargon in a way)
• art thou: are you
• thy: your
• thee: you
• thou: you
• o’er: over

6. Overview
• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth want to
become King and Queen of Scotland.
• Macbeth succeeds in killing everyone that
does get in his way.
• However the prophecies Macbeth hears
are misleading and he ends up dead by the
hands of Macduff. This monologue (poem) is
when Macbeth doesn’t know that the
prophecies are fake and prepares to kill
Macduff.

7. Overview
• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth want to
become King and Queen of Scotland.
• Macbeth succeeds in killing everyone that
does get in his way.
• However the prophecies Macbeth hears
are misleading and he ends up dead by the
hands of Macduff. This monologue (poem) is
when Macbeth doesn’t know that the
prophecies are fake and prepares to kill
Macduff.

8. 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
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing.
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl 's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives;
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
[A bell rings.]
I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.

9. Now this is how poetry should be read...

10. Now this is how poetry should be read...

11. Rhyming
Correspondence of sound between
words or the endings of words
“...the bell”
“...for it is a knell”
“...or to hell”

12. Rhyming 2
“...he lives”
“...breath gives”

13. Rhyming 3
“...see before me”
“...let me clutch thee”

14. Metaphor 1
“the curtained sleep”
I think this means that a death
is being covered up

15. Metaphor 2
“A dagger of the mind...”
By this it means that your mind is
making up things. Something that
does not exist is being made in your
mind. So the dagger is like something
that doesn’t exist but doesn’t leave
the mind.

16. Metaphor 3
“...withered murder”

17. Metaphor 4
“...the wolf”
The wolf is known to be a scary animal. The
animal scares away others and warns its
enemies of its anger. In this specific play, this
person is probably hiding something and its
very secretive, so someone is being
protective of something.

18. Metaphor 5
“...heat oppressed brain”
This means that the character is
thinking really hard and is frustrated.
His mind is under stress and can’t
think straight

19. Simile
“moves like a ghost”
This means that something is
moving like its haunting something
and following it around really
quietly.

20. Allusion
“...dudgeon gouts of blood”
Blood cannot be dudgeon. The play
writer has given a descriptive
example of how the blood looked
and how the murderer killed the
other person saying that its an angry
piece of blood.

21. Connotation
“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”
Mainly “I have thee not, and yet I see
thee still” is being explained through
the next 3 lines. The literal meaning is
that it’s a hallucination. The other 3
lines are indicating this.

22. Symbolism
“Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.”
It means that these sharp words are spoken
when many deeds are needed to be done. It
seems like a sentence with deep meaning
with many interpretations.

23. “Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee

24. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fat vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?

25. As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.

26. Mine eyes are made made the fools o’ th’ other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still.

27. And on thy bland and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s offerings; and withered murder

28. Alaurmed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards His design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm set earth,
Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear

29. Thy very stones prate of my whereabout
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives;
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives

30. (A bell rings.)
I go, and itis done. The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
OR

31. Dagger
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 Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw.Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going,And such an inst
rument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses, Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still, And on thy blade and dud
geon gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There's no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er
the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings; and
withered murder, Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl 's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's ravishing strides,
towards his design Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear. Thy very stones
prate of my whereabout And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives;
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. [A bell rings.] I go, and it is done.
The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan,
for it is a knell That summons
thee to heaven, or to hell.

32. Thank you for listening
to my interpretation of
this poem
& I hope you will find your own interpretation
of this poem too : )