Tragedy of Macbeth from Macbeth
William Shakespear's Macbeth is a macabre tale of the downfall of a noble man who goes from being revered as "O' valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!" (I,ii,24)at the beginning of the play to being reviled as "abhorred tyrant" (V, vii, 10) by play's end. The play unfolds this downward spiral from heroism to villainy with some of Shakespeare's most dramatic and descriptive language. Shakespeare unifies his tragedy with a number of image patterns which help to create atmosphere, establish theme, and elucidate character. The imagery of clothing in Macbeth is used to suggest different symbols and establish the background of Macbeth the character. It seems as though Shakespeare used these clothing images to hide and yet reveal the character of Macbeth, "Why do you dress me in borrow'd robes?" (I,iii,113-114) And again in Banqou's talk "New honours come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould but with the aid of use." (I,ii,144-147) showing how these images are used to hide the "disgraceful self" of Macbeth. Clothing imagery is also used throughout the play in order to create a that devilish tone in the play "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir. (I,iii,141-143) hides Macbet
Another image that is used widely throughout the play is that of animals and birds, you can see this in the descriptions of the characters. They are used to round the characters and better develop them, Lady Macbeth states "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent undern't" (I,v,58-59) saying that Macbeth looks innocent but underneath the skin he is really evil. Macbeth talks of the king "Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, whose howl's his watch" (II,ii,60-61) like he is ever alert to what's going on around him, showing a little remorse, or some second thoughts about actually killing the king. Using the animal images is another way that Shakespeare develops characters and themes. h's true intentions towards the king and he feelings on what the witches said. One other image pattern that was used but not with a great extent, was that of sleep. Used in the play in order to almost create a "guilty" sense coming from Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, with the sleep walking of Lady Macbeth and the not sleeping from Macbeth. "Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtain'd sleep." (II,i,57-58) showing Macbeth's inability to sleep, and his apprehension of the things that are to come. "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep- the innocent sleep," (II,ii,34-35), repeats that same feeling of guilt. Also in the sleep walking of Lady Macbeth you get the feeling that she is showing some signs of remorse t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Lady Macbeth, Shakespear's Macbeth, Macbeth Clothing, Macbeth Banquo, IIIi34 Shakespeare, IIi57-58 Macbeth's, To-morrow To-morrow, Lady Macbeth's, Iiii113-114 Banqou's, Macbeth Nature, lady macbeth, macbeth lady, macbeth lady macbeth, throughout play, sleep walking lady, to-morrow to-morrow, walking lady, sleep walking, play create, towards actions, walking lady macbeth, night darkness, image blood,
Approximate Word count = 983
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
