Banquo and Fleance are within a court inside Macbeths castle walls, Macbeth runs into them on the way to kill King Duncan with a servant and discuss their encounter with the Witches, everyone leaves but Macbeth and he delivers a soliloquy that informs the audience of the distortion of his mind. “Is this a dagger I see towards me, the handle toward my hand?
Come, let me clutch thee….” This is the start of the soliloquy said by Macbeth, it is used to show the change in Macbeth after he was persuaded by his wife to follow through with their plan to kill the King, as he was having doubts and had tried to call it off with his wife beforehand in Scene 7 of Act 1. The strain on Macbeth as he struggles to be prepared enough shows through as he starts to imagine a dagger floating in front of him leading towards the Kings chambers where he sleeps under Macbeths supposed protection, Macbeth being not only his kinsman, but also his host, which gives him responsibility and a duty to look after him.