Macbeth Essay, Research Paper

The second, most important chain of imagery used to add to the atmosphere is that of the imagery of darkness. In a Shakespearean tragedy a special tone, or atmosphere must be created to show the darkness and blackness in a tragedy. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the design of the witches, the guilt in Macbeth s soul, and the darkness of the night to establish the atmosphere. All of the remarkable scenes take place at night or in some dark spot; for instance, the vision of the dagger, the murder of Duncan, the murder of Banquo, and Lady Macbeth s sleep-walking, all occur at night. Darkness is the time when the traveller hastens to reach safety in his inn, when Banquo rides homeward to meet his assassins; furthermore, it is the time when the wolf howls, the owl screams, and when murder steals forth to his work. In Macbeth I think the darkness symbolizes many things. First, and most importantly, it stands for the evil and death in the play. The darkness could partially blind out all of the horrible things that occur in the night. For, only in darkness can such evil deeds be done. Secondly, the darkness shows one of Lady Macbeth s weaknesses: her fear of the dark. In the play, phrases of fear escape from her lips even in sleep. She believes darkness to be the place of torment.

In the whole drama, the sun seems to shine only twice. First, in the beautiful but ironical passage when Duncan sees the swallows flirting round the castle of death. Next, when at the close the avenging army gathers to rid the earth of its shame. Therefore; I can conclude that darkness is used to establish the evil parts of the play; whereas, daylight is used to establish victory or goodness in a play.