Elements of Darkness in Macbeth by Shakespeare

698 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Macbeth talking about killing for power

Elements of Darkness in Macbeth by Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a play of darkness. Throughout the play, three things in particular play a part in setting this stage, so to speak, of darkness. These three things are characters, theme and mood. Each has its own part in setting up the darkness. The characters (the title character in particular) are dark in their actions, the theme is dark in its subject matter, and the mood is dark in its essence.

Macbeth in particular, is very dark in his actions. To prove this, we will look at the beginning of the play. In act 1, scene 3, the witches, who met Macbeth on a dark heath, gave him some truths and some lies - "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane/ of Glamis!", "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane/ of Cawdor!", "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!" (I, iii, 49-53). The witches in their evil way prompted Macbeth's ambition to be king. They planted the thought that he could be king if Duncan died.

... My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakes so my single state of man

That function is smothered in surmise

And nothing is, but what is not. (I, iii, 151-154)

Once Duncan is killed, Macbeth can't stop. He must kill everyone and anyone who stands in his way. He even kills Banquo and Macduff's family. (News of Banquo) "My lord, his throat is cut. That I did for him." (III, iv, 18) (News of Macduff's family) "Your castle is surprised, you wife and babes/ Savagely slaughtered." (IV, iii, 233-236) He then thinks that he is invisible because the witches told him "...The power of man, for none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth" (IV, i, 88-89) and " Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam Wood to high Duns...

... middle of paper ...

... horror from the time, / Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives. / Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives." (II, i, 67-69) Then, for a final example of the dark mood, we have the banquet scene, which should be fun and happy, but there is no joy because Macbeth keeps seeing the ghost of Banquo --

Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Which thou dost glare with. (III, iv, 111-114)

Shakespeare's Macbeth is definitely a play of darkness. By looking at the characters in the play (Macbeth in particular) and their actions, the theme's dark subject matter, and the mood's dark essence, Shakespeare made it very clear that this is play of darkness. Whether it had been intended or not, it is very obvious that he was very successful in doing so.

Show More
Related

  • Analytical Essay On Macbeth

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth survive bloodied, but heroes.  They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades.  However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go.  Macbeth cannot let go.  Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement.  Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice.  What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder.  The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected.  Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature.  Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan.  However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him.  Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid.  Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters.

    Read More

  • Free Macbeth Essays: Appearance and Reality

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    Macbeth is a deranged, old man with flashes of former greatness. He came into the play as a man of honor respected by his fellow soldiers, and has shown great bravery and physical strength, fighting under King Duncan. As reported by the bloody general "Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel…smoked with bloody execution…carved out his passage…fixed his head upon our battlement." (I, ii, 15-25) From this quote we can image Macbeth’s heroic qualities: courage, bravery and unstoppable. King Duncan greatly praised Macbeth for the Bravery and Loyalty, but what he didn’t see from Macbeth’s face (Appearance) is the dark desire of Macbeth who is planning to murder the king (reality).

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Sinister Side

    4024 Words  | 9 Pages

    Macbeth defines a particular kind of evil - the evil that results from a lust for power. The defining, as in all the tragedies, is in strictly poetic and dramatic terms. It is certainly not an abstract formulation, but lies rather in the drawing out of necessary consequences and implications of that lust both in the external and the spiritual worlds. Its meaning, therefore, is revealed in the expansion and unfolding of what lies within the initial evil, in terms of direct human experience. (93)

    Read More

  • Macbeth Character Analysis

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    Macbeth is a very gothic, persistent tale of a great general in the Scottish army who causes his own downfall by listening to the dark prophecies of the three witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s self-consciousness fails to play an important part in the murder of multiple kinsmen causing the death of his wife and his mental health. Macbeth is not necessarily a horrible leader; the problem with him is that his ambitions exceed his expectancies. Macbeth’s character has constantly evolved from the point he was introduced into the play. Initially he seems as an extremely humble person, but as he learns more about the prophecies, his hindsight fails to overlook the complications of his ambitions. Macbeth’s faith in the apparitions and the witches ultimately cause Macbeth’s downfall and the unnecessary death of his beloved kinsmen such as King Duncan and Banquo.

    Read More

  • The War Inside The Character of Macbeth

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth was a brave, noble warrior. “For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name… Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chop and fixed his head upon our battlements” (Act I, Scene 2, lines 2). He was one of the last people anyone would expect to kill King Duncan. Shakespeare chooses a noble character such as Macbeth, to emphasize how greed and power can alter a person’s good morals. In Act one we start to see Macbeth’s desire for more power rise. “Stars, hide your fires; Let no light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hond yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done to see” (Act I, Scene 4, lines 52- 55). His desire for power is at war with his good morals. He wants to become king but does not want to kill Duncan.

    Read More

  • The Emotions of Ambition, Remorse, and Fear in 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    Macbeth is captured by his wild ambition at the opening of the play when he and Banqou meet the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and later will be king. They tell Banquo that his sons will be kings. Instantly Macbeth started to fantasize how he is going to be king. He understood that in order for him to become king he has to kill Duncan. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(Act 1 Sc. 3, p.23). He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan.

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Unchecked Ambition Research Paper

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    By attacking Macbeth she convinces him to murder Duncan as part of a plan to become king. This becomes one of the first steps to Macbeth’s path to destruction. The prophecies show him the path of where he is headed, but Macbeth carried out bad deeds to achieve that prophecy. Macbeth goes into Duncan's chamber and murdered Duncan. This became the first evil deed that Macbeth committed. Macbeth kills Duncan against his nature and afterward become guilt-ridden and paranoid. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth started to hallucinate, as in floating dagger and people laughing at him. He talks about the blood stain that was on his hand. Macbeth was paranoid that he also killed Duncan’s servant, “Th’ expedition of my violent love/ Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan” (II.iii.104-105). Macbeth claims that his emotions overpowered his reasoning, which made him pause to think before he killed Duncan’s servants. Not only did Macbeth kill Duncan, to cover up his track, he also framed the murder of the king to the two servants that guarded Duncan. Macbeth’s evil deed causes him to suffer. Toward the end of the play, Macbeth’s ambition became extreme. After Macbeth became king, he wanted more and more to ensure his

    Read More

  • How Is Light Used In Macbeth

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare creates a constant theme of light and dark imagery illustrating the good and evil forces in Macbeth which helps him express specific tones in the play. He uses these universal themes to connect the experiences of the audience to those of the characters in the play. Nearly everything in life is about the battle of darkness versus light, the fight between good and evil, which makes using these ideas in a piece of literature quite

    Read More

  • Light And Darkness In Macbeth Essay

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    The darkness that is profoundly found throughout the book signifies that the natural order is broken and things have gone wrong. “Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires” (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4, Page 3), shows that Macbeth developed his murderous desires, but was still ashamed of them and did not want people to see him for who he really is.

    Read More

  • How Does Shakespeare Show Guilt In Macbeth

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most illustrious dramatist and one of the greatest writers, William Shakespeare wrote many tragedies during his writing career. Perhaps Macbeth is one of his darkest and most powerful works. Set in Scotland, Macbeth dramatizes the psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfill the ambition of power. Macbeth is a valiant Scottish general who receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become the King of Scotland one day. Full of ambition and encouraged by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne but then he is anguished with guilt and paranoia soon leading to his downfall. In Macbeth, Shakespeare effectively uses blood to symbolize murder and guilt through his inclusion of

    Read More

  • Lightness And Darkness In Macbeth Essay

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are various factors that contribute to Macbeth’s downfall, but the light and dark play the largest role. The Tragedy of Macbeth by Shakespeare illustrates lightness and darkness as it is incorporated through the witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth himself.

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Drastic Transformation: From Noble to Cowardly

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    His ambition overrides any logical thought he has ever had. After his murder of King Duncan Macbeth’s personality increasingly worsens and this occurs rapidly. When a threat comes in his way, Banquo, Macbeth does everything in his power to get rid of it. Macbeth becomes even more cowardly after the murder of King Duncan that he has to hire murderers to kill Banquo for him. “And thence it is, That I to your assistance do make love, Masking the business from the common eye For sundry weighty reasons.” (Shakespeare 3.1). Now not only is his character evil and immoral, but also pathetic. Even towards the end of the play we get a taste of his inconsiderate behavior when he is told his wife has died. “She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word.” (Shakespeare 5.5). Macbeth states that she was bound to die eventually. He is a careless, cruel human, and warps into someone who only shows concern for

    Read More

  • Light And Darkness In Macbeth

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” Genesis 1:3-5. Light and darkness from the beginnings of time itself have beed used to represent the goodness and evil that permeates the world. As Shakespeare penned the tragedy of Macbeth, he deliberately included this representation of a present good and evil to produce an atmosphere that separated the characters from their actions. But is its how Shakespeare wrote the play that conveys a certain amount of doubt on the characters immunity from their actions. Wether it was the

    Read More

  • Macbeth by William Shakespeare

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” Once said by Marc Twain, this is an excellent example of the human nature that is represented in the play: Macbeth. Shakespeare demonstrates that all humans have the ability to do good or evil. This is strongly affected by the choices that we make and by our actions. These decisions will have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of others. Throughout the play, Macbeth experienced a huge decent into evil and violent action that lead him to his death. With his thirst for power and constant paranoia, he killed his way to seize the crown. By killing Duncan at the beginning of the play, Macbeth soon realizes that nothing can be undone and his blood stained hands can never be cleaned. “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.3 70) said by Lady Macbeth after Duncan’s murder. But what they don’t know is that this is the start of the bloody massacre that will change who they are and how they think forever. Macbeth has multiple hallucinations and his paranoia leads him to hire murderers to kill Macduff’s family out of anger and spite. Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and gets to the point of madness when she kills herself at the end of the play. This demonstrates that our actions can be affected by human nature and our thoughts can be easily corrupted by temptation.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Light And Dark In Macbeth

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Macbeth there are many examples of light verses dark imagery. In Macbeth light is represents peace. Darkness represents horrible events or death. In the beginning of the play Macbeth started out as a friendly guy that would not kill someone who does not deserve it. He started out in light by killing the traitors to the king. Later on in the play he becomes greedy and kills King Duncan to take his place. Once he kills Duncan he turns into this killing machine. Lady Macbeth started out the play on in the dark side, she wanted to have no feeling for anything that she did, and she just wanted power. Later on she became guilty and started sleep walking; she became insane and committed suicide. In the beginning of the play all of the murders were committed in darkness. This changes once the three murders kill Banquo, he is killed in torch light.

    Read More

More about Elements of Darkness in Macbeth by Shakespeare

Open Document