Macbeth is the shortest of William Shakespeare's plays yet contains more imagery than any other. It was written for James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and performed before him in 1606 at Hampton Court Palace. The play which contains five acts is based on a true story. In reality Banquo, one of King James's ancestors helped to kill King Duncan, but Shakespeare changed this as King James may have found it offensive to have descended from the accessory to the murder. Shakespeare also incorporated witches into the play as the King was interested in witchcraft and to make the play more exciting for the audience. Shakespeare uses lots of Poetry in Macbeth as the Elizabethan audience enjoyed poetry. Macbeth also could be interpreted as a moral lesson: Regicide in Shakespeare's time was viewed as the greatest of crimes - almost like killing god. In Elizabethan times, it was believed that the king was second in the hierarchy of society, bar god - 'The divine right of Kings.'

'Macbeth' is the story of a mighty and ambitious warrior. He hears a prophecy that one day he shall be king. With this in mind Macbeth's ambition leads him to murder King Duncan. Macbeth is elected Ki

ng of Scotland but is an evil and unfair monarch. Lady Macbeth is even more ambitious than her husband, she pressures Macbeth into the murder without hesitation. Later on in the play Lady Macbeth becomes sick and obsessed with the murder as evil and greed overpower her and she finally commits suicide. As Scotland becomes sick, chaos and evil spreads to every corner of the kingdom.

Macbeth's ambition grow as two of the three prophecies come true. Macbeth is at first uncomfortable in his new position of Thane as Cawdor but he does not yet know that the previous Thane of Cawdor was a traitor. The new robes are rightfully his. However, when Macbeth kills the king the robes do not belong to him. After the murder of the king in Act 2, Scene 2 Macbeth is elected King. But his new robes do not belong to him and do not 'fit'. Macbeth should not be on the throne.

Let not light see my black and deep desires;".

"The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me

Throughout the play images of sleep, light & dark, clothing, sickness & disease are repeated, at some stages they are overpowering and repeated. The images also highlight the appearance of opposites and parallels appearing, and help the audience to become involved in the play. Two key images are clothing and Light and dark. These images are both linked together and also link in with the theme of ambition. When Macbeth first hears the prophecy in Act 1, Scene 3 he does not believe it until Ross and Angus tell him of his newly acclaimed title of 'Thane of Cawdor'. Here we first see the image of clothing -

Angus uses a metaphor of the ill fitting robe of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Earl Macbeth's, Lady Macbeth, Thane Cawdor, Regicide Shakespeare's, Macbeth Act, Duncan Act, Evil Macbeth's, King James, King Macbeth, Medusa Macduff, lady macbeth, light dark, act 1, 1 scene, king robes, act 1 scene, thane cawdor, macbeth elected king, triumph evil, hears prophecy, scene 3, cloak darkness, act 2 scene, stars hide fires, truth openness goodness,
Approximate Word count = 1088
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)