Analysis of Macbeth Essay

Shakespeare uses vivid and powerful forms of imagery to let the audience visualize the setting. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a strong woman who is attracted to power and would do anything to be in control; she is anything but an elegant and sensitive woman. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls an easy prey to insanity and guilt. Her soliloquy (5.1.24-30) shows her decline into madness when she says,â€Å"out damned spot†¦Ã¢â‚¬  There are many examples of visual and aural imagery throughout the play. The murder of Duncan is indicated by the clanging of a bell and the knocking at the gate. Though they are not described in the text, the stage directions are enough to build up the tension. The knocking occurs between each line that is spoken in a rhythmic regularity. There is a great emphasis on the knocking because it startles Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as they quickly try and cover up their involvement in the murder. To add to the intensity, the fact that the entire scene (2.2) takes place at night builds up the suspense as the darkness is used to bring up peculiar components like cruelty and the supernatural. Darkness as a thematic tool is instantly used by Shakespeare in the opening of the play. The three witches enter in â€Å"thunder and lightning† which sets the mood of the play, which becomes Shakespeare’s habitual way of introducing the witches into a scene. Introducing the supernatural and the witches to the audience at the beginning, intensifies the significance of their role. The audience can now ascertain that even when the witches do not appear directly in a scene, the progression of the plot will revolve around their prophecies. Shakespeare reminds us of the gloominess of the play by creating uncertainty in Lady Macbeth’s expectant wait for her husband, which soon becomes nervousness and excitement as he arrives. Animal imagery, a frequent motif, in this case, the shrieking of the owl is considered as an indication that â€Å"He is about it .† The owl, like a raven, is considered an ill omen; an omen of death and represents nature’s ‘messenger-’â€Å"the fatal bellman.† This line appears to minimize the enormity of Duncan’s murder and seems that Lady Macbeth is blaming the bellman. Blood is another motif throughout the play. The language used to describe Macbeth’s anguished state is extraordinarily effective in terms of imagery and detail. When Macbeth looks at his hands and thinks they are a â€Å"sorry sight† and his hand â€Å"will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red† (2.2.58). Shakespeare uses personification to manipulate Macbeth’s bloody hands as witnesses to the murder when Lady Macbeth urges him to â€Å"wash this filthy witness from your hands† (2.2.50). ‘Themes are fundamental ideas explored in literary work.’ In my chosen extract, there are no specific lines that show the various themes in the play. However, the link between cruelty and masculinity is one of the first themes introduced to the audience. The murder of Duncan is the first in Macbeth’s long line of killings. It soon becomes evident to us that Lady Macbeth provides the brains and the willpower behind Macbeth’s actions. Her behavior proves that women can be as ambitious as men, as she herself wishes to be â€Å"unsexed† (1.5.40); to become more masculine than feminine. Even so, she depends on the manipulation of others, rather than using violence herself. Macbeth asks her to â€Å"bring forth men children only† (1.7.73) and she says nothing to challenge this statement. The hired murderers were also persuaded to kill Banquo by being questioned about their manhood. These acts prove that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth associate courage or strength with violence; they think alike. The witches’ predictions also spark Macbeth’s need to continue the bloodshed as he is blinded by his overconfidence in them. When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are first introduced, they appear to have a very strong and caring relationship that seems to be based on trust (Macbeth tells her about the three witches in his letter). However, as Macbeth’s lust for remaining King grows, the audience knows that one murder always leads to another. Because of this, his relationship with Lady Macbeth weakens and is not able to flourish. We notice that whenever they are together in a scene, they are either pretending to be innocent or planning yet another murder. The scene after the murder of Duncan, consists of a range of language techniques. The first clever part of this scene is Shakespeare’s use of a technique known as Elision. It does not allow the readers to witness the actual murder of Duncan. This is an age old tradition used by the Greek tragedians Sophocles and Aeschylus, to allow the reader’s mind to decide on the enormity of an unseen event, in this case; the murder. This diverts the audiences’ attention to the reactions caused by the murder and not the murder itself. Shakespeare uses specific words that have an impact on the reader’s mind. â€Å"It was the owl that shriek’d† (2.2.3) is a very effective sentence. Shakespeare could have substituted this word for anything that meant ‘to scream’ and it would not have had the same effect. This is because the word ‘shrieked’ not only contains plosive consonants (K & D), but also implies a high-pitched, piercing sound of terror or pain, contributing to the strength of the sentence and the recurring motif of death or blood. The order of the sentences used by Shakespeare, or the syntax, is simply changed by varying sentence length and rearranging the order of the words for effectual sentences. A variety of techniques such as ellipses and antithesis’ are frequently used by Shakespeare throughout the play. The antithesis, in this case, is Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare emphasizes her courage to admit to herself that â€Å"what hath quench’d them, hath given me fire†- which shows that she has been drinking too. Lady Macbeth: Did not you speak? Macbeth: When Lady Macbeth: Now. Macbeth: As I descended? Lady Macbeth: Ay. Macbeth: Hark! This piece of text, taken after the murder, shows how Shakespeare uses monosyllabic words to build up the tension and intensity of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s staccato-dialogue conversation. Shakespeare also uses a traditional kind of verse known as the Iambic Pentameter (unrhymed). It consists of a ten-syllable line with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (â€Å"da DUM†). The majority of this play alternates between prose and blank verse. Blank verse resembles prose in that the last word of each sentence does not rhyme, however, there are the occasional rhyming couplets: â€Å"Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell†Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Ã¢â‚¬Å"That summons thee to heaven or to hell† †¨ The utilization of the iambic pentameter, gives the lines a certain rhythm, making them easier to remember when producing a play. However Shakespeare sometimes uses a style of writing called prose. Prose is a piece of written or spoken language in its ordinary form without a rhythmical pattern or any metrical structure. An example of prose can be seen from lines seventeen and onwards. The sentence structure is short, simple and smart. Sentences like â€Å"Ay† and â€Å"When?† show that the conversation between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is fast-paced and confirms that they are nervous. Lady Macbeth: A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight Macbeth: There’s one did laugh in’s sleep, and one cried ‘Murder!’ This piece of text shows that Macbeth is affected by the murder. Shakespeare conveys this to the audience by changing the subject abruptly. Verse is much too regular and orderly for expressing madness or is simply not the natural way to speak. In my chosen extract, there are not many examples of verse as the murder has already taken place. Macbeth is in a state of shock and regret, therefore, prose seems appropriate to convey this feeling to the readers and audience. In conclusion, I believe that this scene was the most crucial part of the entire play. Shakespeare manages to build up the tension and increase it until after the murder. Shakespeare’s use of language, equivocation and tragic irony merge to build up the suspense and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. His use of personification and imagery create realistic and very believable characters, which are crucial for a successful play.