The only simile in Act II, Scene 1 is found when Macbeth describes his thoughts as he is about to murder Duncan. He says that during the night, and especially that night, witches celebrate, "nature seems dead," and murder "moves like a ghost" toward its target. This qualifies as a simile because Shakespeare uses the word "like," and a simile makes use of the words "like" or "as." Shakespeare uses this simile, and the soliloquy...
The only simile in Act II, Scene 1 is found when Macbeth describes his thoughts as he is about to murder Duncan. He says that during the night, and especially that night, witches celebrate, "nature seems dead," and murder "moves like a ghost" toward its target. This qualifies as a simile because Shakespeare uses the word "like," and a simile makes use of the words "like" or "as." Shakespeare uses this simile, and the soliloquy in general, to paint a sinister portrait of Macbeth's state of mind. Having vacillated about the murder for some time, he is now committed to the act. He has just seen a vision of the dagger before him, and he interprets it as an omen that "marshals't" him the way he was already going. But by describing himself as "murder," he depersonalizes the act of killing the king, acting as if he is simply another malevolent force, not a human being who is making a conscious decision to kill another human being.
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