'Is this a dagger I see before me' is a quote from MacBeth
This quote is from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It is spoken by Macbeth as he imagines seeing a dagger before him before murdering King Duncan. The line highlights Macbeth's inner turmoil and descent into madness.
A Dagger
He sees a dagger in his hand like the one he will use to kill Duncan. It is purely a hallucination, the audience cannot see it.
This line is from Macbeth.
"Is this a dagger which I see before me?" The dagger pointing to Duncan's room is the sign he sees.
Macbeth sees a dagger floating in front of him just before he goes to murder King Duncan. This vision is a hallucination that represents his internal conflict and the evil thoughts that are consuming him.
Macbeth says this line when waiting to get the signal to murder King Duncan, in Act 2, Scene 1. He sees a dagger floating in the air in front of him but he cannot grasp it. It is actually three sentences: "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."
He sees a dagger floating in the air in front of him. He concludes that it must be a "dagger of the mind", a hallucination.
"Is this a dagger which I see before me, its handle toward my hand?"
A dagger, much like the dagger he sees before him, its handle towards his hand.
Macbeth hallucinates a floating dagger leading him to King Duncan's chamber. The dagger represents his inner conflict and guilt about the murder he is about to commit.
Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger floating in the air leading him towards King Duncan's chamber. This hallucination causes him to pause and question his actions, reflecting his inner turmoil and the conflict between his ambition and his conscience.
Macbeth. "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-oppress'd 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." Basically, Macbeth is so excited about killing King Duncan that he hallucinates a dagger hovering in the air before him.