Daniel Mays as Macbeth: 'Is this a dagger which I see before me?' | Shakespeare solos 

His eyes.. his facial expressions put meaning to spoken words. Great artistry.

I love that it's a kitchen knife. I don't know why.

Is this a WMF kitchen knife which I see before me?

This is one of the greatest written moments in all of theater. No joke.

No, Mac my boy, it isn't a dagger, it's a kitchen knife! So everything's gonna be OK.

Bloody fantastic adaptation. Daniel Mays is amazing as Macbeth. The torment and crazed laugh and glazed eyes. Amazing

Shakespeare sounds like music sometimes.

A summary of what happens: Macbeth sees a dagger above the door which leads into the room Duncan is in, hw sees this as a sign that he should kill him

Give this man an award. Absolutely brilliant.

Love that the restrained power we see in this is just absolute, raw, heart wrenching emotion...👌 Good performance☺

His performance is astonishingly real it's scary.

Not obsessing over the ill choice of knife (but who let that happen?), but focusing on Daniel Mays' speaking of these words and upon his visage (oh, his eyes).

'Always call it the Scottish Play!'

The best eyes for this speech

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. 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. [a bell rings] I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

I always rated Schofield as an actor, but this speech by Mays is pitch perfect.

Im listening to this on loop at night untill learn it

The best I have seen. Well done!

99% of comments - anyone from school? the other 1% - anyone from school?

Watched this in school, the class couldn't stop wheezing because of the kitchen knife.

the laugh at 1:36 tho

Helped me a lot for my drama scholarship! Fingers crossed I get it!

Daniel may is one of the greatest actor of this generation

WTF!!! That was bloody excellent.

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? It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes. Thou sure and firm set earth hear not my steps which way they walk for fear thy very stones prate of my whereabouts and take the present horror from the time which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives. Words to the heat of dead to cold breath gives. (A bell rings). I go, and it is done. The bell invites me. Hear it not Duncan for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven, or to hell. (Sorry for it not being the entire speech).

Yes

I'm watching this for a Shakespeare competition

can someone tell me the title of the background music

Outstanding.

Actors, not stars. Is there someplace we can watch these ???? Perform entire plays? Ty.

Very impressive piece of emotional acting. There were a few slight errors in the handling of the text, particularly 'to' instead of 'too cold breath'.

Brilliantly acted

whoa 👏

Such cutting wit .

“Is this a Suba Kamchatka I see before me?” -Gordon Ramsay

Amazing :) I'm using this for my audition for Drama school! I've already learnt it, but I just wanted to watch the master!!

I know I have seen productions/adaptations where the actor playing Macbeth has a dagger in his hand from the start of the soliloquy.

But the last word, everything is shaped. It is the window into his conscience now deeply at war.

So I gotta do this for drama hw ^_^

Daniel has just gone WAAAAAAAAAAY up in my estimations 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Brilliant!

Danny boy doesn't get enough credit as an actor.

Watching this for my audition for my college

F**K that was great.

Daniel Mays is an awesome actor but now I love him more 😁

My teacher asked us to wach 3 vidios and answer questions 1 question was do you think the dagger is real? Idk. Could be.

Hello everyone here for school

EXCELLENT!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! LOVE!

He'd be great as Edmund in King Lear.

Ik his hands are close to the camera but his hands are almost cartoonishly large

anyone else doing this for year 9 drama

Really captivating!

bruh i have to perform this tomorrow. I still can't figure out how to make this float midair. Guess I'll just place it on the floor or something

excellent

I decided to do this for my school project

They really got the right actor to play Dylan Thomas, didn't they? Absolute spit of him (if actually better looking)

amazing!

He's amazing!

I dont get why everyone wants a "cool" knife.... a kitchen knife is suited well enough to ☠.

DID YOU MISS ME?

Brilliant

Just Wow !

LOVE HIM!

Mac with the kitchen knife

I hear that Shakespeare is not taught in Schools any more,

REALLY MY NAME

This guy was in Rogue one for like 2 minutes

How many people are murderd by the benign kitchen knife

Ayyyy where’s 9L/Eng2 at

Is anyone from 716

I hate school

I like his accent 😍

im doin dis for school

We HATED Shakespeare in high school. UNTIL we could watch film even play form and could translate to modern English. Now we wish we could write all those tests for vet again. We thought only brit actors knew they bard’ but seems every English speaking actor including India Jamaica etc. Then we saw Charlten Heston and Pacino, Marlo Brando ...wow. But uk Stratford and Canada Stratford have by far the most impressive. Our high school trips always return completely converted. Feminism has banished shake from many our schools now, but if you are teachers and can get a school trip to Canada or England we urge you too. These are true ACTORS not just movie stars. Thank you so much Former hater all English and Shakespeare

is he on acid?

1:49

i’m sorry but the fact that it’s a kitchen knife is really distracting

he just seems to be pumping up a passion - not feeling the feelings

Yo

Mac Miller brought me hear

def not his character in Rogue One lol

opp boy doing up sprinting his bro did drillings i said why you leaving

lmao who else needs to memorize this by tomorrow

hahaha try 1.25 speed

He seriously needs some elocution lessons.

This is merely an imitation to Sir Patric Steward. He tried but an imitation is never as good as an original performance. Its watchable though, but not on repeat.

I can only see his terrible acting in guys and dolls

kitchen knife?more like poopoo knife XDDDDD

Too slow. Acting too obvious and feeling just isn't there.

😂😂😂 Eccentric but brilliant well done

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. 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. [a bell rings] I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell.