How Does Shakespeare Use Soliloquies In Macbeth

The Use of Soliloquies in Macbeth In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses soliloquies to give further insight into the characters. These soliloquies help to bring out the aspects of each character’s personality that is otherwise hidden. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are prime examples of Shakespeare’s purpose when using soliloquies. Throughout the story, by what he says in dialogue alone, one can assume that Macbeth is a coward whose violence is sparked by the three witches and his wife. However, through his soliloquies, one can learn that his decision to murder king Duncan was a long emotional struggle for him. Even after the murder was over, he still worried that people would discover him. His decision to kill the king is finalized when Macbeth
says, “If it were done when ‘tis done, then t’were well/It were done quickly. It th’ assassination/Could trammel up the consequence and catch/With his surcease success, that but this blow/Might be the be-all and the end-all here,/But here upon this bank and shoal of time,/We’d jump the life to come.
But in these cases/We still have judgement here.../This even-handed justice/Commends th’ ingredience of our poisoned chalice/To our own lips.../I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/And falls on th’ other” (Shakespeare 1.7.1-28). This paricular soliloquy shows Macbeth’s motivation to murder and his decision process, however there is another of Macbeth’s more famous soliloquies later in the play which has a completely different tone. Right after Seyton tells Macbeth of his wife’s death, he says somberly, “She sholud have died hereafter./There would have been a time for such a word./Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow/Creeps in the petty pace from day to day/To the
last syllable of recorded time,/And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!/Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets 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” (Shakespeare 5.5.20-31). Although the majority of the writing portrays Macbeth as a tyrant, this soliloquy shows his passionate love for his wife. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies show that, consciously, she seems tough and violent, inside she feels just as guilty about the murder of king Duncan as her husband does.
This is proven in her sleep when she mutters, “Out, damned spot, out, I say! One. Two./Why then, ‘tis time to do ‘it. Hell is murky. Fie, my/lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear/who knows it, when none can call our power to/account? Yet who would habe thought the old man/to have had so much blood in him?/...What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No/more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all/with this starting.../Here’s the smell of blood still. All/the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.../To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the/gate. Come, come, come, come. Give me your/hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to/bed, to bed” (Shakespeare 5.2.37-72). Her soliloquy presents her guilt to the audience, whereas her earlier dialogue would lead readers to believe that her character was persuasive, manipulative, and callous to
murder. Conclusively, Shakespeare’s frequent use of soliloquies shows the characters’ true colors to readers, yet leaves the other characters oblivious to facts that are apparent to the audience. This provides plenty of dramatic irony, which also enhances the story and adds a touch of humor to an otherwise dark story. Without these soliloquies, readers might never know of Lady Macbeth’s guilt-ridden sleep and Macbeth’s intense feelings towards his wife. The soliloquies which are so strategically scattered throughout the story are extremely beneficial in characterization, since without them readers might never know the depths of the characters’ personalities.