imagery in macbeth

A detailed Summary of imagery in macbeth

The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is regarded as one of Shakespeare's best tragedies. It deals with a man named Macbeth, who is introduced as a strong, brave war hero. He has the respect of the king and his peers. The predictions of three witches that Macbeth will become king begin Macbeth's descent into his own downfall. He decides to take his fate into his own hands, The play Macbeth is full of images and motifs that recur many times throughout the play. The images of light and darkness are referenced to multiple times. There are many occurrences where hands are mentioned. The motif of equivocations is constantly brought up throughout the play. However, there were three images that stood out. The images of birds, sleep and blood are pivotal to setting the mood and developing the characters in the play Macbeth.

There are many occurrences of birds throughout the play. Birds are used for many purposes. Some birds signify power, some signify strength, some signify honor, and many birds are of ill omen. They are used in the descriptions of characters. They are used to make an analogy of what is occurring in the play, whether they are used in place of people or to mimic the situation at hand. In the first mention of birds i

The large amount of imagery in Macbeth adds to the depth of the play. Clever analogies and the incorporation of birds, sleep and blood helped to give a sense of understanding in the play. The three images often set the dark, underhanded mood of the story. They developed the personalities and personas of the characters, whether it was the innocence and goodness of King Duncan, the intensity and insanity of Macbeth, or the manipulative evil of Lady Macbeth. The images of birds, sleep and blood contribute greatly to the overall mood and the development of characters in the play Macbeth.

Of the many images found in Macbeth, the image of blood is the most abundant. The image of blood signifies evil and underhandedness. Whenever blood is mentioned, the mood turns dark, and it shows that foul play is at hand. As Lady Macbeth plans to kill King Duncan, she calls upon the spirits of murder to "make thick my blood; stop up the access and passage to remorse." Thin blood was considered wholesome, and it was thought that poison made blood thick. Lady Macbeth wants to poison her own soul, so that she can kill without remorse. Also, just before he kills King Duncan, Macbeth is staring at the "dagger of the mind," and as he does so, thick drops of blood appear on the blade and hilt. He says to the knife, "I see thee still, and on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before." However, he's not so far gone that he doesn't know what's happening to him. Macbeth tells himself "there's no such thing: it is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes." The "bloody business" he refers to is the murder he's about to commit. After Macbeth has murdered King Duncan, he looks at his bloody hands and says, "this is a sorry sight." Lady Macbeth thinks it's a foolish thing to say, and when she notices that he has brought the bloody daggers from King Duncan's bedchamber, she thinks him to be even more stupid. She tells him that he must take the daggers back, place them with the King's sleeping grooms, and smear the grooms with blood. Macbeth, however, is so shaken that all he can do is stand and stare at his bloody hands, so Lady Macbeth takes the daggers from him. When she goes to do the job she thinks he should do, Macbeth still stands and stares. He asks himself if all the water in the world can wash away the blood. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" He answers his own question. "No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red." In contrast, his wife thinks his obsession with blood shows that he's a coward. She dips her hands in the dead King's blood, and smears the grooms with that blood, then tells Macbeth that "My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white." She means that now her hands are bloody, like his, but she would be ashamed to have a "white," bloodless and cowardly, heart like his. She leads him away to wash his

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Approximate Word count = 1981
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English