Is this a dagger which I see before me - eNotes Shakespeare Quotes Is this a dagger which I see before me Macbeth: Read on Owl Eyes This eText is now on Owl Eyes. Clicking this link will open a new window. Macbeth has made his decision to kill the King and take the crown as his own. Inspired in part by his own ambition, the decision to murder Duncan is aided by the prophecies of the Witches as well as the insistent urging of his wife. Still, Macbeth is wracked with guilt over what he is about to do, and his mind races with thoughts of such evil action. He begins to hallucinate and sees a bloody dagger in the air, which will be his instrument of murder. He goes on to comment on the wickedness of the world, thoughts which are interrupted by the ringing of the bell, a signal from Lady Macbeth that Duncan's guards are drugged and sleeping. He goes off to complete the dire deed. Shakespeare's Macbeth is notable for hallucinations, terrifying dreams, witches, prophecies and all of the combining forces of nature which lead to chaos and murder in the gloomy countryside of Scotland.

Macbeth's Soliloquies: Is this a dagger which I see before me 2.1 Macbeth's Soliloquy - Is this a dagger which I see before me (2.1) Please click on the text for commentary. 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-oppressed 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. Is this a dagger which i see before me -- Soliloquy - Macbeth Hypertext Commentary (Period 7) Macbeth Hypertext Commentary (Period 7) Act II, Scene 1 (Nikhil) ‎ > ‎ Is this a dagger which i see before me -- Soliloquy This soliloquy very nicely captures Macbeth's mental and emotional condition at the time.

He begins with the line, "Is this a dagger i see before me?" referring to a hallucination he is seeing of a dagger with its handle toward him. It is clear that Macbeth's lust and greed are pushing him over the brink of insanity. The soliloquy not only shows this, but also shows that Macbeth recognizes his own insanity, and his lust, when he says, "...art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" Macbeth goes on to recognize more flaws in his own personality and doings. He later describes the blade of the dagger as covered in blood, which obviously means he is feeling remorse, even before committing t he crime. He alludes to the darkness of his own heart and his crimes in other ways as well, such as when he says, "Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtain'd sleep...". Again, it is clear that he's recognizing the wrongness in his own deeds. He talks about how dark and grim the night is, even though he isn't explicitly talking about killing the king. The darkness in Macbeth's mind expressing itself as bad weather goes along with one of Shakespeare's common motifs.

What is probably meant to shock audience the most is the fact that, despite Macbeth's recognition of all his flaws and sins, he still goes goes through with his plan. Guilt and insanity are all weighing down on him hard, but he musters up the resolve,follows his hallucinations and murders Duncan. Shakespeare Resource Center - Speech Analysis: Macbeth Line Analysis | Readings Page | Home This passage has long been a personal favorite of mine. The rhythm is predominantly straightforward iambic pentameter , which makes it one of the easier speeches to illustrate the fundamentals of Shakespeare's versification. Add to it the pure psychological insight of a man standing on the precipice of regicide, alongside the vivid language and imagery, and it's not difficult to see why this speech is viewed as a paragon among the Bard's greatest soliloquies. Macbeth has long been one of Shakespeare's most gripping tales, dispensing with the usual subplots and humorous digressions in favor of a singular and direct plot action.

As one wag once put it, the premise may be reduced to "behind every great man is a wife fully prepared to goad him into murder if it enhances the couple's social standing." The psychology behind Macbeth is a bit more complex, however. The tale is a tragedy of ambition studied through the prism of temptation. As such, it stands as a starkly humanistic morality play, more observing of Macbeth's evil than editorializing upon it. The unspoken conflict is between free will and predestination; the subtle part of this study is the contrast of Macbeth and Banquo. Macbeth finds himself driven by external forces that seemingly conspire to abet his darker ambition. Banquo, on the other hand, resists temptation through his own choice, and yet passively fulfills his destiny even as Macbeth actively fulfills his own. Macbeth at first tries to distance himself from the dishonorable implications ("If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me/Without my stir.") and is reticent to commit the greatest treason. However, there are more than enough hints that the subject has been previously debated, either with his wife or his own conscience.

Macbeth, tempted or not, becomes a man betrayed by his baser nature. What makes it tragic is Macbeth's knowing complicity in his own damnation. With this speech, Shakespeare foreshadows the toll that Duncan's murder will exact upon the conspirators. For now, the appearance of a bloody dagger in the air unsettles Macbeth. Even he doesn't know whether the dagger is real or a figment of his guilty imagination. It is, however, certainly a harbinger of bloodier visions to come. Macbeth will suffer more frightening apparitions in the scenes that follow, and Lady Macbeth will go mad trying to scrub away blood on her hands that only she can see. As Macbeth fears, the murder of Duncan is not a deed that will be "done, when 'tis done." The last vestiges of the honorable Macbeth die at the end of this speech. It is a fleeting match between Macbeth's ambition and revulsion. The bell ultimately tolls for Macbeth as it does for Duncan; the dagger of the mind is as potent a killer as the dagger Macbeth wields in murder. 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' the 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 curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd Murder, Alarum'd 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. Act II, sc. i Macbeth: Entire Play Exeunt SCENE VII. Macbeth's castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service, and pass over the stage. Then enter MACBETH Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me: Macbeth Soliloquy Analysis “Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me?” Macbeth Soliloquy Analysis You are here: Home / Shakespeare Quotes / “Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me?” Macbeth Soliloquy... Read Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me” soliloquy below with modern English translation & analysis. Spoken by Macbeth, Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1 Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutchthee.

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-oppressed 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’ the 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 halfworld Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtain’d sleep; witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder, Alarum’d 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. “Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me” Soliloquy Translation: It was totally silent. And pitch black. It was now or never. Macbeth stared into the darkness. And as he looked it seemed that a dagger hung there. He closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still there. He peered. It didn’t waver. Was it really a dagger? Its handle towards his hand? He tried to clutch it. His hand went right through it: it was still there and yet he couldn’t feel it. Was it only a dagger of the mind, a false creation of a fevered brain? He could still see it as he drew his own, real, dagger: it was pointing the way to Duncan’s room. He knew he was seeing things and yet it was so real. And now there was blood on it, which hadn’t been there before. It was ridiculous.

There was no such thing. He knew it was the violence in his mind that was coming out in the form of a bloody dagger. His mind was filled with images of fear and horror and he stood there, overwhelmed by them, until a bell rang and brought him back to the business in hand. ‘I go, and it is done: the bell invites me.’ He began walking. ‘Don’t hear it, Duncan; for it’s a knell that summons you to heaven or to hell.’ Shakespeare Resource Center - Line Analysis: Macbeth Overview | Readings Page | Home - / - / - / - / - / - Is this a dagger which I see before me, The opening line's feminine ending is a versified reinforcement of Macbeth's uncertainty at suddenly seeing the vision of a spectral dagger. Otherwise, the line scans normally. The dagger's appearance can be viewed ambiguously; is it an omen that Macbeth should proceed, or is it a final warning of his conscience? Macbeth's dismissal of the dagger later in the speech would suggest that he's trying to make himself believe that it's a good sign, but how would you interpret the appearance of a bloody dagger hovering before your eyes right before you were due to commit murder?

- / - / - / / - - / - The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. The trochaic inversion in the middle of this line is another verse technique that Shakespeare frequently employs following a caesura . The inversion sandwiches two stresses around the end of a sentence, and is useful in giving a greater emphasis to the beginning of the new thought (in this case, he wants to grasp it to see if it's real). Also, the ending scansion of a feminine ending on top of the end-stop of "Come, let me clutch thee" continues the weak ending tension mirroring Macbeth's doubt about this dagger (and what it may portend). - / - / - / - / - / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Straight iambic pentameter here. The unbroken rhythm of the verse works in conjunction with the end-stops of this line and the line above; this is not a throwaway line. The stresses also highlight the key words in the parallelism (have, not, yet, see, still).

Macbeth now has to make sense of this paradox; he plainly sees the dagger, it's right there in front of him, and yet he cannot lay hands upon it. The starkness of the line helps to punctuate the subtle change in Macbeth's tone as he tries to puzzle through this vision in the next few lines. Note that at this point, he sees a dagger and nothing more. - - / / - / - / - / Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible Note here how the regularity of the iambic rhythm and the enjambment of the lines through "heat-oppressèd brain" work together to quicken the tempo from the heavier phrasing and punctuation in the beginning. In this context, fatal doesn't quite denote "deadly" (although that makes a ripe double entendre) than it does "foreboding mischief and death; ominous" or, arguably, "instrumental to destiny." (Fatal derives from Middle French via the Latin fatum, meaning prophecy or doomliterally, what has been spoken.) Sensible here denotes "perceptible, tangible" when viewed in its relation to the end of Macbeth's question.

- / - / - / - / - / To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but Feeling in this line denotes "the sense of touch." The answer to Macbeth's rhetorical question is, of course, "no" since he's already tried to clutch the dagger and failed. However, the potent combination of language and Macbeth addressing this dagger as if it were a character onstage forces the audience to visualize that dagger hovering in front of him. - / - / - / - / - / - A dagger of the mind, a false creation, "Dagger of the mind" can read in two ways. First, there's the literal contrast of tangible reality and Macbeth's imagination. Second, you have metaphor of Macbeth's guiltand doubtmanifesting itself as a vision as he waits upon the signal from his wife. False in this context plays upon a number of meanings. While the primary reading is "unreal," shades of "deceitful, inconstant; not to be trusted" are equally applicable. Keep in mind that Macbeth is asking three questions in the first seven lines, which reflects the struggle that Macbeth is still undergoing in coming to terms with his intended crime.

- / - / - / - / - / Proceeding from the heat-oppress�d brain? Macbeth acknowledges that the dagger that has appeared could be a trick of his imagination (in this case, perhaps induced by a fever). Proceeding is used in its meaning of "issuing or emanating," while heat-oppressèd is Shakespeare's poetic way of saying "fevered." The usage of fever is another simple but amazingly effective piece of imagery in this speech. Fever is a symptom of a disease in its literal meaning. As a metaphor, fever denotes a state of heightened or intense emotion or activity. The disease, in this instance, is ambition. - / - / - / - / - / I see thee yet, in form as palpable Macbeth acknowledges the dagger again. It's interesting how Shakespeare uses the repetition of "I see" throughout the early part of the soliloquy. It creates a rhetorical buildup of tension as Shakespeare creates a little more detail each time, then returns with "I see thee still" or "I see thee yet" as a refrain.

Palpable (Middle English: from the Latin palpare, "to stroke, caress") denotes "capable of being touched or handled," with a possible secondary meaning of "easily perceived" in this context. And just in case the verbal imagery of the dagger hasn't been working for the audience, Macbeth draws his own dagger to create supporting visual imagery. - / - / - / As this which now I draw. There are two points of interest here. First, the line is only three feet (or six syllables). This could point to a corruption in the text as it was transcribed prior to its First Folio edition. Although some lines throughout the canon are eight, six, or even four syllables, these are usually limited to two situations: the end of a speech or scene, or when Shakespeare is splitting the poetic line between two different speakers in a dialogue. Since this line represents neither scenario, the line may indeed have lost a foot or two between Shakespeare's writing of Macbeth and the first print edition of the text. Second, notice also how Shakespeare writes stage direction into this speech. It won't make much sense here if Macbeth doesn't draw his dagger somewhere around uttering the line.

- / - / - / - / - / - Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; In this line, Macbeth accepts the dagger as an omen. Marshall in this context means "to guide or usher," so that Macbeth is saying, "you seem to guide me where I was already headed." This reads both literally (i.e., the dagger is guiding him toward Duncan's chambers) and figuratively (i.e., the dagger is a call for him to stop debating). Incidentally, this usage of marshall as a verb derives from its origin denoting an official in charge of administration of cavalry; the etymology stems from Middle English via Old French mareschal, which seems to derive from the Old High Germanic marahscalc (where marah = "horse" and scalc = "servant"). Enough on marshall for now, lest we start beating a dead horse. - / - / - - - / - / And such an instrument I was to use. While the last two syllables of instrument (meaning "tool; agent or author") could technically scan as an iamb within the rhythm of the line, it seems a little sing-song here.

Hence, I've scanned the third foot as a pyrrhic . Other than syllables and scansion, do you think there's a reason behind Shakespeare's choice of the word instrument in this line rather than weapon or implement? - / - / - / - - / - / - Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, The twelve syllables of this line almost tempts the reader to scan it as an alexandrine , rather than pentameter . However, Shakespeare rarely employs twelve syllables at all in his works. In addition both stylistic analysis and critical consensus largely dismiss the idea that Shakespeare consciously employed the alexandrine line as a variant to his blank verse. Nor is it a particularly English tradition. When they are employed deliberately in English verse, alexandrine lines typically break at the midpoint with a caesura . There is no such syntactic parallelism in this line. It's just as easy to say (and as difficult to prove) that the line is a feminine ending in pentameter combined with a trisyllabic substitution in the fourth foot (rendering the line iamb / iamb / iamb / anapest / iamb , with an extra unstressed syllable).

Semantics aside, it seems unlikely that Shakespeare said at any time, "I think I'll use an alexandrine here." By the by, Macbeth's observation in this line and the next is that "either my sight is being deceived or all my other senses are." - / / / - / - / - / Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still, Scan "worth" as unstressed, if you like, which makes the line straight iambic pentameter . Both "else" and "worth" tend to take a similar relative stress to each other when the line is spoken, however, which leads me to scan the second foot as a spondee . Macbeth makes yet another address to the dagger, this time signifying the darker turn that the imagery of the speech will take. "I see thee still" is potent because of both its repetition and the forceful caesura following the third foot of the line. - / - / - / - / - / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Again, the straight iambic rhythm and mostly monosyllabic construction of the line helps to speed along the pace.

You can imagine Macbeth's heartbeat quickening here as bloody flecks suddenly appear on the dagger. Dudgeon (Middle English dogeon, from Anglo-French digeon, originally denoting "a wood used especially for dagger hilts") refers to the handle of the dagger; gouts (Middle English goute via Old French gout, from Latin gutta or "drop") means "drops." The meaning derives from the fact that the disease that still bears this name resulted from drops of morbid humors. For a bit of Shakespearean trivia, this line is the only usage of the word dudgeon in the entire canon. - - / / - / - / - / Which was not so before. There's no such thing: The pyrrhic / spondee scansion at the beginning of this line is based on the phrasing and syntax. "Not so" pronounced with equal weight makes more sense than just punching the "not" in the phrase. The caesura is important because the statement "there's no such thing" is the turning point in the speech.

Macbeth, who has seen the dagger and spent the first 14½ lines of this soliloquy waxing eloquent about its portent, takes a deep breathand abruptly dismisses the vision in four terse syllables. It's my contention that this is when Macbeth finally resolves to kill Duncan. Whether or not he's bucking himself up with false courage is a moot point. Macbeth takes in the sight of blood appearing on the dagger and decides that he's seen enough. - - - / - / - / - / It is the bloody business which informs Again, the scansion of the first foot as a pyrrhic is subjectively based on natural inflection rather than strict meter. Building on the sentiment of the previous line, Macbeth tells himself that his mind is playing tricks on his eyes because of stress and the nature of his intended crime. Inform in this line denotes "to form or shape; to manifest," although it reflects some of its more common meaning "to communicate or tell" at the same time. / - - / / - - / - / Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half world This line represents not one, but two classic uses of trochaic inversion .

Shakespeare is known to use a trochee at the beginning of a line in blank verse or coming out of a caesura as a standard variant to the meter. Here we have both. The term one half world refers the division between night and day (in this case, Macbeth is referring to night). / - - / - / - / - / Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse Ah, poetic reverie. Shakespeare will spend the next seven lines wrapping Macbeth's speech in dark imagery to set the mood. Although on a purely practical level the verse between "thus to mine eyes" and "thou sure and firm-set earth" might seem superfluous or merely embellishment, it is, after all, dramatic poetry. The verse in this part of the speech is all about tone, and the shift from emotional to rhetorical can be seen as signaling the change in Macbeth from trusted kinsman to murderer preparing himself for the deed. Nature seems dead refers to the effect of night and darkness, the silence of the night; metaphorically, Macbeth might also be referring to human nature.

Abuse (Middle English abusen, from Old French abus, via the Latin past participle abusus meaning "to misuse") had a broader definition in Shakespeare's day; in this context, it either means "corrupt" or "deceive," depending upon the scholar and edition. - / - / / - / - / The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates Here again we see a trochee following a caesura in a standard Shakespeare variation. Curtain'd sleep in this context is a double entendre that plays upon the literal meaning of bedcurtains and a more figurative meaning of "veiled" that suggests hidden from consciousness. Celebrate denotes the solemn performance of rites rather than its more festive connotations with which we associate its use. / / - / - / - / - / - Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd Murder, The reference to Hecate exhibits the Renaissance view of her as a goddess of night and witchcraft; pale reflects her association with the moon. The main image here is of witches performing sacrifices to Hecate during the night. This foreshadows Macbeth's encounter with the witches and Hecate in Act IV, sc. i.

Macbeth then continues by evoking the image of wither'd Murder, in which Shakespeare employs personification to transform the general concept of murder into an ancient, spectral presence (withered = "gaunt, specter-like"), stalking the land for his victims. - / - / - / - / - / Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, Alarum'd denotes a call to arms. Sentinel, as it does today, means "one who keeps watch or stands guard." The syntax of this clause and the ones that follow it can sometimes give casual readers trouble. The subject is Murder, who has a wolf for a lookout. Metaphorically, the wolf alarms his master because Macbeth is ready to murder Duncan. - / - / / - - / - / Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, Again, lest there be pronoun confusion, it's the wolf's howl and Murder's stealthy pace. Watch denotes the scheduled watchword or cryin this case, the howl of the wolfthat marks the passing of time for Murder. It also reinforces the notion that evil comes calling in the dark of night.

Shakespeare is veritably laying on the haunted house imagery by this time. First, we had a bunch of witches performing horrible sacrifices to Hecate; now we have the Grim Reaper stalking the land as a wolf howls in the night. Shakespeare, of course, had neither stage lighting nor a sound system to help him, so he had to do much of this kind of mood-setting within his speeches. - / - / - - / - / - / With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design Shakespeare seems to substitute an anapest for the third foot in the line. That scansion certainly makes more sense than to argue that the end of the line scans pyrrhic / trochee / trochee with a masculine ending . More importantly in this line, we have what may be the authorial equivalent of winking at the audience. Of course, Shakespeare wrote a fairly popular poem back in the day titled The Rape of Lucrece , which features an extended description of Tarquin creeping in the night toward Lucrece's bedchamber. Not only does this line evoke comparative imagery between poem and play, it serves as a wry nod to Shakespeare's own material.

The irony would likely not have been missed by an Elizabethan audience. / - - / - / - / - / Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, After a trochaic inversion , Macbeth ends his poetic riff on Murder stalking like a ghost in the night. The interesting thing about the imagery following the caesura is the contrast between the supernatural that Macbeth has experienced or evoked within the speech and his plea to "thou sure and firm-set earth." It's another signpost within the verses; Macbeth's resolve builds steam as the time for action draws ever nearer. / / - / - / - / - / Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear I've scanned the first foot as a spondee to give the equal emphasis to the first two syllables; it could technically scan as an iamb , but this scansion gives more punch to "hear" as the main verb of the sentence. Macbeth asks the earth to ignore him as he stalks toward Duncan's chamber.

- / - / / - - / - / Thy very stones prate of my whereabout Prate literally means "to tattle." Although it's tempting to read whereabout as "location," it actually denotes "purpose." Macbeth is saying that if the earth actually hears his footsteps, the stones themselves might betray his intention. It hearkens to the notion that murdering the king is a crime against Nature itself. - / - / - / - / - / And take the present horror from the time The verse "And take...with it" gives even scholars some pause about its literal and/or figurative meaning. In the interest of simplicity, let's examine a few salient words. Take most literally denotes "remove" (as in "take away") in this context, while present denotes "immediate" and horror speaks for itself. Time has to be viewed within the context of its entire phrase; it refers both to the current time (night) and the implication that the situation is the right opportunity. - / / - - / - / - / Which now suits with it.

Whiles I threat, he lives: Finally, the troublesome sentence that started four lines ago ends with the phrase "which now suits with it." Hence, my reading of the latter part of this verse is "the stones give me away and make me lose this perfect opportunity." I've read a number of different interpretations on this line and its predecessor, and Occam's Razor is the best policy considering the amount of ink already spilled on the subject. I think the simpler reading in this instance is best. Moving on past the caesura in the line, Macbeth comes out of his reverie with the realization that his threats aren't equivalent to action. / - - / - / - / / / Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. The initial trochee puts emphasis on words, and the rest of the stresses emphasize the parallel contrast within the line. Breath seems to play as a metaphor for both words and life. Depending upon the interpretation here, Macbeth either says, "words are no match for deeds" or "words are the death of deeds." The choice of interpretation probably has much to do with whether one is arguing that Macbeth is at all on the fence at this point in the speech.

Regardless, the tolling of the bell in the next line sounds doom for DuncanMacbeth's ambition ultimately has won out. Is this a virtual dagger I see before me? | News Is this a virtual dagger I see before me? 6th September 2002 at 01:00 Share this Karen Faux sees how schools are using ICT to help pupils link play texts to performance Ghosts, murder, madness and revenge are some of the dramatic ingredients in Macbeth that can prompt stimulating debate. You might, for instance, ask your class for an explanation of why Macbeth murdered the king. Or just how evil do they think Lady Macbeth is? The replies will depend on how closely pupils have read the play, and therein lies the challenge. To teach drama effectively there has to be an emphasis on it as a performance. That means giving students the opportunity to participate in the drama as well as encouraging them to analyse the words. ICT can be a bridge between these different activities. The internet can provide a springboard for research into meaning and dramatic techniques, and interactive software provides a time-saving way of involving children in acting, directing, script-writing and design. The two together make a powerful combination.

At Bishop Wordsworth Grammar School in Salisbury, English head Craig Ennew has been using interactive Kar2ouche software to teach Shakespeare to his Year 9 class. What he particularly likes about its CD-Roms for Hamlet and Macbeth is their flexibility and the way they allow the teacher to control how pupils are using them. "We have 15 machines capable of running the software and it has proved enormously popular," he says. "I'll kick off a lesson with a 20-minute demonstration on how to use the programme and then outline a specific task, such as condensing a scene into a certain number of frames. It is then down to pupils to define the outcome." There are 15 interactive CDs for each title, including a range of suggested lesson activities in line with the national curriculum. Kar2ouche has developed its programmes in association with schools to make the study of drama more hands-on. The software features scenes and characters which can be compiled into presentations and animations. Pupils can read the lines of the play themselves and add these as sound files over the Shakespearean actors' voices. They can also insert their own text. "These CD Roms really help pupils to visualise scenes and relate to characters," Craig says.

"The main task given to them using the Macbeth programme was to present between five and 10 consecutive lines from the banquet scene, to show that they had fully understood them. This involved choosing the lines and drawing up a preliminary storyboard on paper, and deciding on how to divide the lines and link them to key events on stage." Some of Craig's pupils chose a series of stills to illustrate the progression of their dialogue while others animated the sequence by running up to 100 slides quickly together. "A number of students also ran explanatory text under their Kar2ouche presentations," says Craig. "This assisted in making the scene accessible to a younger audience which was a key requirement of my original brief." Following their work on the presentation, pupils were asked to explain their work in writing and to evaluate how they had used the Kar2ouche software. Feedback on the software was positive from everyone in the class. "All of the students felt the exercise had helped them to visualise the scene and in doing so had brought a greater understanding of the key themes and characters," says Craig. Zeba Clarke is director of drama at Hurstpierpoint College, an independent secondary school in Sussex. She says ICT has enabled her to make drama a big part of the English curriculum.

She has introduced ICT as a spur to many aspects of drama, ranging from performance and improvisation to the design of posters and advertising material. Zeba is enthusiastic about Australian CD-Rom Stagestruck as a way of helping pupils engage with the artistic and practical aspects of a production. "It's a very user-friendly package," she says. "The programme's database allows students to direct, write scripts and rehearse acts. There is also the potential to save scenes and email them to others." In an hour-long lesson pupils will spend 15 minutes working in groups on particular tasks associated with the programme, such as designing a scene or creating a character. At the end of the session Zeba demonstrates how these come together. "ICT tends to be more popular with boys but it is good to see these kinds of activities pulling girls in," she says. "It is also evident that non-acting students are sticking with the subject longer." From key stage 5 she encourages independent use of the internet for research on actors, playwrights and current productions. "Pupils are really keen on checking out the websites themselves and they love the idea of technology providing so much scope to explore different aspects of plays," she says.

"Once they start tapping into theatre sites and artist biographies they begin to feel part of an acting community." Zeba particularly praises Faber amp; Faber's edition of After Juliet, a play by Sharman Macdonald. The play is part of the publisher's Connections series commissioned by the Royal National Theatre and written by professional playwrights. Each book contains details of online educational resources, as well as Royal National Theatre website information where details of past productions and interviews with actors can be accessed. The play begins with a tense truce held between the Capulets and the Montagues after the death of Romeo and Juliet. Benvolio, Romeo's best friend is in love with Rosaline, Juliet's cousin, but Rosaline is bent on revenge. The play is written for a cast of 12, plus musicians and extras. "We used the suggested scheme of work on the Connections website to kick-start it for my year 10 class and took it from there," she says.

"It doesn't require any knowledge of Shakespeare's original and the emphasis on approaching it as live performance has made it a good subject for GCSE mock practicals." Importantly, the online scheme of work surmounts the barriers presented by stylised and potentially inaccessible language. Practical exercises, using group discussions and role-play highlight plot and character relationships and from there students can move on to a number of interesting activities. They can click on pictures from past productions of Romeo and Juliet to guess the identity of characters by their poses and gestures. Or in trying to imagine how characters such as Rhona and Alice from After Juliet physically look, they can enter Vogue magazine's site and select the images they feel are most appropriate. Having experimented with ICT in drama for the past year, Zeba is now keen to develop it further. Her lifeline, she says, has been Yahoo's drama teacher group and she has also discovered a wealth of information about theatres and touring companies through time spent surfing the net. "ICT is not a replacement for the live experience but is best viewed as a tool to enhance performance and appreciation," she says. "Drama is essentially about communication and ICT sits very comfortably with that." Macbeth, and Hamlet. Kar2ouche.

Role-play and scene manipulation help children appreciate key themes and gain practical experience. For five stand-alone users (comes on five CDs) pound;159. A 30-user concurrent network licence (comes on one CD) pound;399. Discounts are available through a membership scheme. Tel: 01865 811099 Stagestruck, by Amanda Morris. Produced by the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in association with the University of Wollongong, this CD-Rom is not yet under licence in the UK but can be obtained from NIDA at or through the University of Wolverhampton. pound;26 approx. Tel: 01902 321000 National Theatre Connections Yahoo!Groups drama teacher group http:groups.yahoo.comlistdrama_uk Subscribe to get access to the content on this page. If you are already a TES/ TESS subscriber please log in with your username or email address to get full access to our back issues, CPD library and membership plus page. Not a subscriber? Find out more about our subscription offers.

Famous Shakespeare Quotes: Top 50 Shakespeare Quotes Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. ( Twelfth Night ) Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. ( Julius Caesar ) Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made. Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange. (The Tempest) A man can die but once. (Henry IV, Part 2) How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child! (King Lear) By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap to pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon, or dive into the bottom of the deep, where fathom-line could never touch the ground, and pluck up drowned honour by the locks. (Henry IV Part 1) If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? (The Merchant of Venice) I am one who loved not wisely but too well.

(Othello) If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottage princes’ palaces. (The Merchant of Venice) We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. (The Tempest) 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. ( Macbeth ) Beware the Ides of March. ( Julius Caesar ) Get thee to a nunnery. ( Hamlet ) If music be the food of love play on. ( Twelfth Night ) As merry as the day is long. ( Much Ado about Nothing ) To thine own self be true. ( Hamlet ) All that glisters is not gold. (The Merchant of Venice) Nothing will come of nothing. (King Lear) The course of true love never did run smooth. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) Lord, what fools these mortals be! (A Midsummer Night’s dream) Whoever loved that loved not at first sight?

(As You Like It) There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. ( Hamlet ) A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! (Richard III) Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day. (Macbeth) Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings. (Julius Caesar) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18) Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. (Sonnet 116) He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus; and we petty men walk under his huge legs, and peep about to find ourselves dishonourable graves. (Julius Caesar) But, for my own part, it was Greek to me. (Julius Caesar) Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

( Hamlet ) The barge she sat in, like a burnish’d throne, burn’d on the water. (Antony and Cleopatra) Off with his head! (Richard III) Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. (Henry IV, Part 2) Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. ( The Tempest ) This is very midsummer madness. (Twelfth Night) Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. (Much Ado about Nothing) I cannot tell what the dickens his name is. (The Merry Wives of Windsor) We have seen better days. ( Timon of Athens ) I am a man more sinned against than sinning. ( King Lear ) Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney-sweepers, come to dust. ( Cymbeline ) This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle…This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. ( Richard II )

Question: Who has the line "Is this a dagger which I see before me" in a Shakespearean play?
Answer: Macbeth