# Macbeth: Is this a dagger which I see before me > What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/monologues/is-this-a-dagger - Last updated: 2026-10-08 From [Macbeth](https://www.offbook.com/plays/macbeth) by William Shakespeare, Act 2, Scene 1. ## What is happening It is past midnight in Macbeth's castle. King Duncan, his guest, is asleep, and Lady Macbeth has dealt with the guards outside his room. Tonight Macbeth will kill the king and take the crown the witches promised him. Just before this, Macbeth met his friend Banquo, who admitted he has been dreaming about the witches. Macbeth brushed it off. Then he sent his servant to bed, telling him to have Lady Macbeth strike a bell when his drink is ready. That bell is the signal. Now he is alone in the dark, waiting. He sees a dagger hanging in the air, handle toward his hand, pointing the way to Duncan's room. He wants to know if it is real. Under that, he is working himself up to the hardest step of his life. - Lines: 32 - Words: 263 - At 150 words a minute: 1.8 minutes - Form: Verse ## The speech, beat by beat The full text in 6 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it. ### Lines 1–3: The vision and the grab 1. Is this a dagger which I see before me, 2. The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. 3. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. **In plain English:** Is that a dagger in front of me, with its handle turned toward my hand? Let me take hold of it. I can't grip it, and yet I can still see it. **Acting note:** There is a built-in stage direction here: he reaches, and his hand closes on nothing. Make the grab specific and real, not a vague wave. ### Lines 4–9: Real or imagined? 4. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 5. To feeling as to sight? or art thou but 6. A dagger of the mind, a false creation, 7. Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? 8. I see thee yet, in form as palpable 9. As this which now I draw. **In plain English:** Deadly vision, can I touch you as well as see you? Or are you only a dagger in my mind, a fake made by my fevered brain? I still see you, as solid-looking as this one I'm drawing now. **Acting note:** Line 9 is short. He pulls out his own real dagger, and the half-line leaves room for that action and the silence after it. ### Lines 10–15: It leads; it bleeds 10. Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; 11. And such an instrument I was to use. 12. Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses, 13. Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still, 14. And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, 15. Which was not so before. There’s no such thing: **In plain English:** You're leading me exactly where I was going, and you're the very weapon I meant to use. Either my eyes are fooling me or they're the only sense I can trust. Now there is blood on your blade and handle that wasn't there before. No: there is no such thing. **Acting note:** The blood is a fresh discovery and a shock. Then 'There's no such thing' is his attempt to snap out of it. Let those two moments be different. ### Lines 16–24: The night world 16. It is the bloody business which informs 17. Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world 18. Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 19. The curtain’d sleep; witchcraft celebrates 20. Pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder, 21. Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf, 22. Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, 23. With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design 24. Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, **In plain English:** It's the bloody job ahead that is putting this shape in front of my eyes. Over half the world, nature seems dead; evil dreams trouble sleepers; witches make offerings to their goddess; and Murder, woken by the wolf's howl, creeps toward his victim like a ghost, with the stride of the rapist Tarquin. At the end of line 24 he turns to the ground under his feet. **Acting note:** The pace changes here. The questions stop, and he starts to move. He talks about murder as 'he' and then walks like him, so the description becomes his own stealthy walk. ### Lines 25–29: Silence, and a warning to himself 25. Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear 26. Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, 27. And take the present horror from the time, 28. Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives: 29. Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. **In plain English:** Solid earth, don't listen to where my feet are going, in case the very stones gossip about where I am and break the horrible silence that suits this moment. While I stand here making threats, he stays alive. Talking only cools the heat that action needs. **Acting note:** Lines 28 and 29 rhyme. The couplet is him catching himself talking too much. Snap it shut. ### Lines 30–32: The bell 30. I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. 31. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell 32. That summons thee to heaven or to hell. **In plain English:** I'll go, and it's as good as done. The bell is calling me. Don't hear it, Duncan: it's a funeral bell that sends you to heaven or to hell. **Acting note:** The bell rings before line 30. It is his wife's signal. Take the time to hear it; everything changes on that sound. ## Hard words | Word | Line | Meaning | | --- | --- | --- | | *clutch* | 2 | grab, grip | | *sensible* | 4 | able to be felt or touched | | *heat-oppressed brain* | 7 | feverish, overheated mind | | *palpable* | 8 | solid, touchable | | *marshall’st* | 10 | you lead or guide | | *dudgeon* | 14 | the handle or hilt of a dagger | | *gouts* | 14 | large drops | | *informs* | 16 | takes shape; creates this image | | *Hecate* | 20 | the goddess of witchcraft | | *Tarquin* | 23 | a Roman prince who raped Lucrece; a byword for a stealthy, violent attacker | | *prate* | 26 | chatter, gossip | | *knell* | 31 | a bell rung for a death or funeral | ## How to perform it - Your objective is to reach Duncan's room and do it. Everything either pulls him toward the door or holds him back. Questions dominate the first half; statements and decisions take over the second. Track that shift. - Decide what you actually see and keep it in one exact place. Leaving the dagger invisible lets the audience share his doubt. If you place it precisely in the air and your eyes return to the same spot each time ('I see thee still,' 'I see thee yet'), the audience will see it too. - Don't announce the famous opening. He is seeing something impossible for the first time. Wonder, fear, excitement and dread are all possible readings. Choose one and let the next lines change it. - Use the verse. The short line 9 gives you a beat to draw the real dagger. Where a line ends with no punctuation (lines 4, 5, 8, and 16 to 19), carry the sense over. Breathe after 'brain' (line 7), after 'before' (line 15), and before 'Thou sure and firm-set earth' (line 24). Lines 17 to 24 are one long, creeping sentence; fill up before it and let it unroll. - Lines 28 to 29 and 31 to 32 are rhyming couplets, and rhyme often marks a decision. The first stops his talking; the second, after the bell, seals Duncan's fate. Don't sing them, but let them click shut. - Common mistakes: no clear focus point for the dagger; playing madness from the start; rushing the night-world section; shouting the last couplet. He is in a sleeping house, about to walk into a king's bedroom. ## Using it in an audition This speech appears on lists of overdone Shakespeare monologues, so panels will compare you with every Macbeth they have seen. If you choose it, bring a specific take, a precise dagger in the air, and clean verse. Our 90-second cut ends at line 29 on the couplet 'Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives,' a natural stop before the bell. It suits men from their 20s to 50s; Macbeth is a soldier in his prime. Pair it with something lighter or more outgoing, such as a comic Shakespeare role or a contemporary piece spoken to someone. Macbeth, Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1. William Shakespeare. Public domain text. ## How long it runs | Pace | Words a minute | Run time | | --- | --- | --- | | Deliberate | 130 | 2.0 minutes | | Conversational | 150 | 1.8 minutes | | Brisk | 170 | 1.5 minutes | These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the [monologue timer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/monologue-timer). Cut points that stop at a full sentence: near 90 seconds (after line 29). ## Practice it: first-letter version Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the [first-letter memorizer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/first-letter-memorizer). ```text I t a d w I s b m, T h t m h? C, l m c t. I h t n, a y I s t s. A t n, f v, s T f a t s? o a t b A d o t m, a f c, P f t h-o b? I s t y, i f a p A t w n I d. T m m t w t I w g; A s a i I w t u. M e a m t f o’ t o s, O e w a t r; I s t s, A o t b a d g o b, W w n s b. T n s t: I i t b b w i T t m e. N o t o h-w N s d, a w d a T c s; w c P H o, a w m, A b h s, t w, W h h w, t w h s p, W T r s, t h d M l a g. T s a f-s e, H n m s, w w t w, f f T v s p o m w, A t t p h f t t, W n s w i. W I t, h l: W t t h o d t c b g. I g, a i i d; t b i m. H i n, D; f i i a k T s t t h o t h. ``` ## More from Macbeth - [How many lines does Macbeth have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/macbeth/macbeth) - [Lady Macbeth: The raven himself is hoarse](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/the-raven-himself-is-hoarse) - [Macbeth: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/tomorrow-and-tomorrow) - [Every role in Macbeth, by size](https://www.offbook.com/plays/macbeth) ## Sources - [Macbeth: IS THIS A DAGGER?! (2.1.31-39) #DaggerDrawn #SlowShakespeare (University of Cambridge, Faculty of English)](https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/daggerdrawn/2021/10/28/macbeth-is-this-a-dagger-2-1-31-39-daggerdrawn-slowshakespeare/) - [A Look at Macbeth's Dagger Speech (Act II, scene 1) (Stratford Festival)](https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/Learn/Teachers/TeachingResources/PerformancePlus/Macbeth/data/lessons/lesson-Dagger-speech.pdf) - [Staging It: 'is this a dagger...' (Shakespeare's Globe)](https://cdn.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2019/09/Macbeth_PSWDB_Microsite_is_this_a_dagger.pdf) - [Language, Imagery & Themes in Macbeth | RSC Shakespeare Learning Zone](https://rsc.org.uk/shakespeare-learning-zone/macbeth/language/analysis) - [A Short Analysis of Macbeth's 'Is this a dagger which I see before me' Soliloquy (Interesting Literature)](https://interestingliterature.com/2020/05/macbeth-is-this-a-dagger-soliloquy-summary-analysis/) - [Overdone Monologues (PlayShakespeare.com)](https://www.playshakespeare.com/monologues/overdone-monologues) ## Questions actors ask ### How long is Macbeth’s Is this a dagger which I see before me speech? 32 lines and 263 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.8 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 2.0 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud. ### Is it a good audition monologue? This speech appears on lists of overdone Shakespeare monologues, so panels will compare you with every Macbeth they have seen. If you choose it, bring a specific take, a precise dagger in the air, and clean verse. Our 90-second cut ends at line 29 on the couplet 'Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives,' a natural stop before the bell. It suits men from their 20s to 50s; Macbeth is a soldier in his prime. Pair it with something lighter or more outgoing, such as a comic Shakespeare role or a contemporary piece spoken to someone. ### What is the fastest way to memorize it? Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself. ## How we count Counts are computed from the full text of the [Standard Ebooks edition](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/macbeth) (public domain; retrieved 2026-10-08). Words are every spoken word, with stage directions removed. Lines are verse lines as printed, plus prose at 10 words a line, because prose has no fixed line breaks; editions differ, so other sources give slightly different line counts. Time is words at 140 words a minute, before pauses and stage business. A role is counted in a scene when it speaks there. To count a script that is not in the library, paste it into the [script line counter](https://www.offbook.com/tools/script-line-counter).