In Macbeths famous “Is this a dagger” soliloquy, Shakespeare uses many language features, one such being personification.
In the soliloquy, Macbeth is visited by a floating dagger. This is an inanimate object however he refers to is as ‘thee’ or in modern English terms, ‘you’. “Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. In referring to this dagger as in the same way you would a person, it gives the idea that this object has intention and character making it more than just a dagger and adding to the idea that Macbeth is being influenced heavily by external forces more so than internal.
