Shakespeare's Eloquent Use of Metaphor in Macbeth
Throughout the course of Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many metaphors to give the reader a better understanding of the play. Many of the metaphors used are woven into the play many times and revolve around the same theme. One such metaphor the Shakespeare used on occasion was that of plants growing and dying. He used this metaphor to speak about people prospering or becoming evil and fading out of the spotlight in the future. The first time this metaphor is used is in Act I, Scene II, lines 58-61 when Banquo says to the witches, "If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favors nor your hate." In this, Banquo is questioning the validity of the witches' prophecies. He is asking them that if they know "which grain will grow and which will not," or which people will prosper and which will become overcome by evil, to tell him. This could be taken as foreshadowing for the rest of the play, because after he said this, the witches told of their prophecies for Macbeth. As we saw, Macbeth's "seed" did indeed grow in his own mind, but then it
Going along with the last quote, in Act I, Scene IV, lines 33-34, Banquo says, "There if I grow, the harvest is your own," in reply to Duncan. He is telling Duncan that it would be wiser if he looked over himself rather then Macbeth. As soon as Banquo saw Macbeth's great interest in the witches' prophecies, he could sense Macbeth's inherent evil. He know that Macbeth was a "bad seed" and wanted to warn Duncan. This good and evil side of the metaphor is shown again. In Act V, Scene II, lines 25-28 Caithness says, "Well, march we on to give obedience where 'tis truly owed. Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal, and with him pour we, in our country's purge, each drop of us." Caithness is speaking about them moving towards the castle and purging Macbeth with drops of their terror. In response, Lenox says, "Or so much as it needs to dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds. Make we our march towards Birnam." I this metaphor Lenox is saying that by putting their drops of power on Macbeth they will "dew the sovereign flower," or water the good plant and reinstate a good ruler to the throne and at the same time also "drow
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Approximate Word count = 767
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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