His ambition had driven him to the point where he was, and then his conscience began knocking at his skin during this soliloquy. The purpose of Macbeth's soliloquy in scene 7 of act 1 was to further characterize him. Macbeth makes progressive changes in his mind throughout this soliloquy, and we are able to get a glimpse of his internal conflict. At the beginning of the soliloquy, he is going to kill the king, and at the end, he is not going to kill the king. We are able to see two different sides to Macbeth, the struggle between his ambition and his conscience. The soliloquy characterizes him as a person who is both loyal to his king, but ambitious. He knows that he must honor his king, but his thoughts make his mind stray from loyalty. His ambition to get what he wants, which is to become king, is getting in the way of his loyalty to Duncan. Macbeth wishes that the murder would have no consequences. He wants to kill the king, but doesn't want to see himself do it. His conscience turns his mind back to being loyal. Macbeth is indecisive about killing Duncan. He says, "If it were done, when "tis done, then "twere well it were done quickly: if the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease, success." In this opening part of the soliloquy, Macbeth tells us he wants to kill the king, but does not want the consequences. This is where we see his indecisiveness. However, we see his ambition more than his loyalty when the soliloquy ends with him saying, "I have no spur to pick the side of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o"er leaps itself and falls on the other." Because of this quote, we see Macbeth as less loyal, and more ambitious.
There are several rhetorical devices used to characterize Macbeth as loyal and ambitious. The use of soliloquy was one way that we could learn about Macbeth's character. Within the soliloquy, many rhetorical devices were sewn in.
