Literary Devices in Macbeth

Many authors compose their works with the assistance of literary devices or figurative language. As one is able to tell from Shakespeare's play Macbeth, it is easy to see that Shakespeare's style and portrayal of the story were not only made possible by literary devices but were also enhanced by Shakespeare's use of those same devices.

The most evident literary device that Shakespeare used in Macbeth was his use of dialogue and stage directions. Dialogue is a very simple concept that is just simply the conversation between two characters. The conversing between that characters is essential to this play because if there was no dialogue, it would be a very difficult challenge to try to decipher what the characters were trying to convey without the flowing prose of Shakespeare.

Another literary device that Shakespeare used in order to better his piece of literary genius is an aside. “An aside is a remark spoken in an undertone by a character, either to the audience or to another character.” (Applebee, 2002) Macbeth makes many asides that reveal his true character to the audience that the characters in the play do not realize until it is too late. The first aside happens in Act I right after the three witches revealed Macbeth's future. After Macbeth hears the witches' prophesies, he utters an aside in which he contemplates the idea of murdering King Duncan. At the utterance of those words, the audience is presented with the true nature of Macbeth in which he thrives off of power. Without asides, Shakespeare would not have had a true depiction of the characters' personalities until they were actually revealed through other characters' observations.

Shakespeare's use of foil is perhaps the most complex literary device found in ...

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...at was used in Macbeth is the use of situational humor. “Situational humor is derived from the plot of a work. Usually involves exaggerated events or situational irony, which occurs when something happens that is different from what was expected.” (Applebee, 2002) Situational Humor is found in the scene directly after the scene in which Duncan was murders. The audience is shown the drunken gate keeper that is being loud and boisterous while trying to unlock the gate. That scene serves to give the audience a small amount of humor after the intense and suspenseful murder scene.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. The Language of Literature. By Arthur N. Applebee. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2002. 326-460. Print.

Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Macbeth.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 7 April. 2011. < http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/citing.html>