What literary device does Shakespeare use in the following lines from 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.”

Question

What literary device does Shakespeare use in the following lines from 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.”
 a
apostrophe
 b
cliffhanger
 c
anaphora
 d
simile

GPT-4o mini · Answer

In the lines from Macbeth, Shakespeare uses **a) apostrophe**. Apostrophe is a literary device where a speaker addresses someone or something that is not present or cannot respond. In this case, Macbeth is addressing the dagger, which he perceives but cannot actually grasp.