Patterns of Images and Imagery in Macbeth

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, various types of imagery are used throughout the play. Five of these images are nature, paradoxes, manhood, masks, and light vs. darkness. In Act I, Scene i, Line 1, the description of "Thunder and lightning" represents disturbances in nature. The witches are surrounded by a shroud of thunder and lightning, which might personify them as disturbances. In Act II, Scene i, the dark night creates a perfect scene for the baneful murders. Darkness evokes feelings of evilness and a disturbance in nature. Macbeth's statement, "Now o'er the one half-world / Nature seems dead" (Lines 49 - 50), might mean that the world seems dead everywhere he looks, or it might give him the idea that the murder he is about to commit will have far-reaching repercussions. In Act V, Scene i, Line 10, the doctor says, "A great perturbation in nature," while talking about Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, emphasizing how nature is disturbed by human doings. The witches' chorus on Act I, Scene i, Line 10, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," is a paradox and a prophecy that makes the reader think about the line to find some meaning for themselves.