The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “night” as “the period of darkness in each twenty-four hours; the time from sunset to sunrise.” However, “night” takes on a new meaning in William Shakespeare’s renowned play. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a tragedy set in eleventh century Scotland, focuses on the deterioration of a Scottish general named Macbeth. In the play, the title character is encouraged by his wife to kill the King Duncan so he himself can assume the role. He is persuaded to eliminate every obstacle in his way to the throne, including people. Macbeth lets a prophecy delivered through three witches guide him; his misjudgements of what they tell him in addition to his heightened pride wind up leading to his eventual death. …show more content…
The connotation and meaning of the word change greatly between Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches. Macbeth uses the word with a negative connotation. In Act Four, Scene One, Macbeth calls the Witches “midnight hags” (4.1.49). The word “hag”, by definition, has a negative connotation. Also, by using the word to refer to characters that are known to be evil, it brings forth feelings of distrust and fear. As for meaning, the character Macbeth uses “night” as his shield to hide his evil actions or deeds. When Macbeth feels guilty about what he has done, he calls up upon the spirit of “night” to cover his tracks. He uses “night” as interchangeable with unholy, as shown in his scenes with the Witches. The character of Lady Macbeth also uses the word with a negative connotation. The evil scheming and actions that she commits always happen at night. She uses it to imply death: “the stern’st good-night” (2.2.6). Lady Macbeth uses “night” to hide her traitorous thoughts and actions. In addition, the night time is when she is haunted by her guilt and personal demons, as shown in Act Five, Scene One. In contrast to Macbeth, who wishes for the night to hide his actions once he has committed them, Lady Macbeth longs for the shield before perpetrating the deeds. The third connotation/meaning change comes with the Witches who use “night” in a positive way. They praise the night for preparing a frog for their potion (4.1.4-9). With this in mind, the Witches use “night” in a literal sense. For example, the First Witch proclaims that “sleep shall neither night nor day hang upon his pent-house lid” (1.3.19-20). She uses “night” to provide contrast to “day,” meaning that the sailor that she plans to torture will be so tormented that he will not be able to sleep. Shakespeare purposefully had the Witches use “night” in its literal meaning to show their low class status, for the same reason why
In Macbeth the use of night and day shows how the characters try to avoid the day and hope the night comes faster and the natural feature of one’s appearance in Cyrano de Bergerac shows how appearance does not give importance, on the opposite what does is the substance that one has, because eventually ones personality gets revealed. After Macbeth sends Lady Macbeth a letter telling that he would soon become Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and that the king arrives later, in the night. She starts to plan King Duncan’s death for power, her ambition takes over and says, “ Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry ‘Hold, hold!’ ” (I, v, 51-4). Lady Macbeths wants night to come so that her evilness can be covered ...
darkness to Macbeth’s plot of killing Banquo. He is asking the night to come and hide
Macbeth is describing sleep as a wonderful thing. It gives you energy and nourishes you like food from a feast.
Motivated solely by the purging of the one “Which keeps [him] pale,” day transitions to night, and Macbeth prepares to kill Banquo and Fleance as the “light thickens,” connoting that an unfortunate death, the death of Banquo, will soon transpire. The transition from day to night is also symbolic of the ending of Banquo existence. Waiting to ambush Banquo and Fleance, the “black agents,” prepare to commit the questionable crime of assassination “to their preys” (6-9). By utilizing “black” to describe the murderers symbolises their association with evil, and the malicious crime the murderers will commit in secrecy by the darkness of the night. The word “prey” suggests that Banquo and Fleance will be surprised and defenseless to the attack. Speaking again to Lady Macbeth, Macbeth confesses, “bad things begun make strong themselves by ill,” which reveals that due to Macbeth’s involvement with the assassination of King Duncan has led to the fall of his innocence, so now Macbeth is willfully committing an evil act based off of his own plans and decisions without the influence of a third
“If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir?” Macbeth ponders after three witches foresee that he will become king in the tragic play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare (349). Macbeth is wondering how he could become king of Scotland without him intervening as he is not in line for the throne. He believes that he will have to take action to gain this position. Macbeth was right to doubt fate, because his choices led to his ascension to the throne and, later in the play, to his downfall.
Shakespeare often uses darkness and will frequently set the scene as a dark and stormy night. This depicts that evil happenings are occurring or are about to take place. There are at least three examples of this in "Macbeth". "The night has been unruly: where we lay,/Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,/Lamentings heard i’ the air; strange screams of death,..." (Act 2 scene 3 line 54-56). "Three score and ten I can remember well;/Within the volume of which time I have seen/Hours of dreadful and things strange, but this sore night/Hath trifled former knowings." (Act 2 scene 4 line 1-4). Both these quotes are talking about the night of Duncan’s death. They are showing the comparisons between the natural unruliness and the anomalous disaster. "And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp." (Act 2 scene 4 line 7) is a metaphor for both the murder of Duncan and the night in which it transpired. A dark and stormy image is also portrayed when pernicious characters (ie. the witches, Macbeth and the murderers) meet.
Darkness is often used at times in the play when a tragic event has occurred. The morning after Macbeth killed Duncan remained in darkness, because the sun did not rise. "Is ‘t the night’s predominance or the day’s shame that darkness does the face of the earth entomb when living light should kiss it?" (2:4, 10-12) Ross said these words referring to the unusual darkness of the day. He wondered if the night had become stronger than the day, and overcome it, so that the sun could no longer shine. He mused that it seemed as though the earth was shrouded with the darkness, when the light of the sun that brings life should have ensconced it. In this quote, darkness symbolizes death and light symbolizes life. It suggests that the whole country is as good as dead since their king has been killed, because the natural order has been disturbed. The disturbance to the natural order caused all of nature is disturbed, d...
...s recognizable. Macbeth becomes delusional throughout the play, resulting in him becoming a darker character and not knowing when to stop letting his ambitious ways interfere with rational choices. Light begins to appear in the play when characters begin to see how Macbeth is losing his mind and becomes concerned with having him as King of Scotland. These are a few key points that we can use to highlight events which occur during day and night and how they relate to the comparison of each play.
Light and darkness represent the tragedies that took place throughout the play. Light represents the good things that happen and darkness represents bad or evil things. One example of light is when Macbeth was given the thane of Gladis he was very elated and there was sunshine at that time. But for darkness its the opposite all the bad events took place during the night for example when Macbeth goes to kill king Duncan because of greed he wasn't happy with the position he received he wanted to be king so he can have more power . Another example of Darkness is when the witches come to tell him his prophecy (I, iii, 125). This is a type of tragic situation because if the witches hadn't appeared and told Macbeth that he would be king he wouldn't have so much lust. In this scene Macbeth describes the witch as an ugly old lady dressed in black. The color black represents the witch’s evil nature. Shakespeare used this traditional symbol through the play to focus on the Elizabethan concept of the Great Chain. When the chain is in order everything is good and there is light. When the chain is violated bad things happen and there is evil and darkness. When Macbeth committed the act of killing Banqu...
When I thought about the role that the word "night" would play in the tragic play "Macbeth," I found that there were a variety of possibilities. Immediately, I thought of the nighttime as a period of rest and revitalization. I expected that this would allow characters to recover from the day's many demands. Secondly, I connected the night to the unknown. In the night's cloak of darkness, many more things could go undiscovered than in the revealing light of day. Next, I thought that the night would mean vulnerability. As the evening closes in, everyone begins to wind down, not expecting any real action until the breaking of the dawn. In addition, while one is sleeping, they are susceptible to almost anything. The most logical time to make an attack would definitely be after nightfall. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, is night's correlation with evilness. As children, we were all afraid of nasty monsters that lurked in the darkness of night. The night has long been believed to host supernatural beings and occurrences. As I read the play and came upon the word "night," I was surprised to discover that all four aspects of my hypothesis were correct. First, in act I, we see the first usage, night as a period for rest and revitalization. In scene iii, lines 19-23, the First Witch says,
Shakespeare is known for his descriptively rich plays. He also ways does an excellent job of describing both the characters as well as the setting. One specific area of the play MacBeth is the use of night and darkness to show evil or happening that are not right. Examples of this are the many appearances of the witches, the murders that occur, and the conflicts that MacBeth faces with his mental health. The following three paragraphs will further discuss these topics.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
... a dark setting used which involved supernatural events, while the light setting was used for last battle, when Macbeth was slain at the end to show the restoration of peace and honesty. Thus the symbolism of light and darkness representing good and evil in the play emphasizes the theme of corruption of power.
The tone of Macbeth is dark and ominous and it is used to arouse feeling within the audience, which prognosticates the destruction to be brought upon by the protagonist’s immoral ambitions. The dialogue by Macbeth, “Blood will have blood,”(3, Ⅳ) stirs sinister feelings among the audience, which foreshadows the continuous bloodshed yet to happen due to him and Lady Macbeth in their attempt to further secure their dominance. When Hecate vows to ruin Macbeth, stating how “security/ Is mortals’ chiefest enemy,” the audience is indicated of the fatal end that awaits Macbeth’s excessive confidence and ambition. As Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth, “Sleep no more,” it indicates not only sleepless nights but its foreboding tone has a deeper meaning conveying the consequences that are expected for the sin he has committed. Thus, the tone of Macbeth was an effective literary device employed by Shakespeare to communicate this particular
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.