Examples Of Figurative Language In Macbeth

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In literary works the visual description or figurative language used by the author is key to transmit the theme and plot of the novel. Shakespeare has been known for his unique, timeless style that incorporates his bold use of imagery. The distinctive repetitiveness of motifs is idiosyncratic in his approach towards classic literature. In the play Macbeth, symbols are used to translate the ideas of the characters. The antagonist, Macbeth, transitions from a Thane of Cawdor to King, innocent to guilty, through a series of murder sprees. He ultimately gains the thrown and a ruthless sense of power. With assistance from his wife, Lady Macbeth, the two learn the guilt-ridden price of cold-bloodedness. Shakespeare uses imagery in blood and supernatural …show more content…

From the beginning of the play blood was used to illustrate the violence and ruthlessness of Macbeth, as Shakespeare vividly described his swordsman abilities when “he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops and fix'd his head upon our battlements”. The reader's natural reaction is shock from the blunt savagery, but is accepting when it is portrayed in a militaristic total warfare atmosphere. There is no second thoughts or signs of remorse from Macbeth when he is fighting with passion for a king who he believes in. The death of this soldier will clearly fall onto Macbeth forever but it has no significance in the rest of the plot when the act of killing was purely for the sake of defending the honor of his king. However the tables shift when the killing begins to target that same king who Macbeth would so easily kill for and then the guilt lingers in the main …show more content…

It is Macbeths fatal mistake that he entrusted them, which gave him such confidence to the excessively determined to make them come true, driving the murders. Not only do the prophesy from the witches and the pressure from Lady Macbeth tell him that he is destined to kill Duncan, but his subconscious mind does when he says, “this a dagger which I see before me...the handle towards my hand?" Macbeth visualizes the dagger before him to further add to Shakespeare’s use of imagery to convey the level of influence the characters have over him. The dagger is plain out in front of him with complications or struggles egging and taunting him to kill

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