Darkness and the Agents of Chaos in Shakespeare's Macbeth

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Recommended: macbeth as a study of guilt and power

In "Macbeth" William Shakespeare employs his skills in imagery and symbolism. The landscape of "Macbeth" reveals the contours of the title character's psychological turmoil. Churning with self-doubt about his determination, his ability to connect word and act, and his sexual potency, Macbeth is a man at the mercy of his environment. The inability to sleep is symbolic of a tormented soul and represents a character's control over their lives. The imagery of darkness in Act 4 is used to describe the agents of disorder. Within "Macbeth" Shakespeare demonstrates imagery and symbolism through Macbeth's self-doubt, his inability to connect word and act, sexual potency, sleep, and darkness.

On the heath of Scotland at the opening of the play, the wind whips over the barren ground and lightening leaps down from the sky around the subjected, weak man who will come to kill a king. Radical change is effected in Macbeth's character over the course of the play; he is driven from subordinate confusion to tyrannical insanity. The fluidity of his own psyche is reflected in the fluidity with which the characters around him take up dynamics that reflect his inner fears and worries. Macbeth's relationship to the witches in Act 1 Scene 3 and his wife in Act 1 Scene 7 especially resonate with his inner psychic state. Both relations reveal important currents of Macbeth's diseased mind.

The witches in Act 1 Scene 3 create a dynamic which flatters Macbeth in an attempt to convince him to kill Duncan. They flatter him in two ways. First, the witches greet Macbeth as a superior, "all hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee Thane of Glamis." (1.3.46). This honorific salutation, "hail," is reserved for the great leaders of...

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...rned about the spots of blood. She becomes a docile creature who instead of being unsexed has been castrated of her aggression. The word sleep is manifested not only by Macbeth's inability to sleep but also in Lady Macbeth's benign existence at the end of the play.

Darkness in our society is associated with evil. A black cat, a dark night, and a dark place are all symbolic of debauchery. Authors use these symbols to describe an evil character or setting. William Shakespeare employs the imagery of darkness in Act 4 of his play "Macbeth" to describe the agents of disorder. The witches, Macbeth, and Scotland are all described as dark because they represent the agents of chaos.

Works Cited:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.

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