How Does Shakespeare Use Darkness In Macbeth

In the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare, light and dark imagery is used throughout the story in order to show the difference and symbolism between good and evil. Light represents innocence, truth and purity while darkness is used to represent cruelty, guilt and corruption. Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare correlates the ideas of both lightness and darkness to portray life and death. Ultimately, they represent good and evil. Shakespeare uses these two themes to drive the plot and story forward in order to create conflict, twists and symbolism.

Macbeth sent Scotland into turmoil and dark night when he murdered King Duncan. In response to the announcement of the Prince of Cumberland as the successor to the throne of Scotland, Macbeth said, "... Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires [to murder both King Duncan and the Prince of Cumberland]". (I.4.29)His murderous desires were evil and therefore sought to hide from the

Macbeth's conscience attempts overthink and re-consider his attention of the murder he is about to commit, it's understood in this scene that Macbeth is warned of his actions and the horror he might face after its results. Macbeth understands that his vision may be a result of overthinking about the situation which means he is aware that the dagger might just be an illusion, it has a great impact on him and feels greatly disturbed by it. Macbeth is afraid to carry out his plan, however, he is not able to get the idea out of his mind. This suggests he will be overwhelmed by the act, he shows that he does not have any power over his own thinking regarding the act. Another Imagery shown in this scene is darkness, which is associated with evil or fear. "Moves like a ghost"51-56, this shows that all evil presences are occurring this night, “There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out.”4-5, this quote supports that there are no stars in the sky tonight. The imagery of darkness shows that there was no light in the sky that night, therefore, there was an overwhelming amount of evil presence. This imagery could foreshadow the dark and evil act that was about to be committed to the audience. The imagery helps the audience get a better picture of the dark movements they are about to witness, that link into the planned murder of Duncan. Sleep is another major symbol in the scene, there was an interesting quote that Macbeth mentioned: “Nature seems

Shakespeare sheds light on the dichotomy of good and evil with the connection of death. The motif of light and dark is included each time someone is killed. Lady Macbeth associates the dark with evil and sees it as protection to her in this violent state (lighten up!), “Come, thick night… see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peek through the blanket of the dark” (33). She believes that by being concealed in the shadows of the night, there will be no punishments in the afterlife for her uncivilized actions, alluding to the fear surrounding religion. “There’s husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out” (49). Macbeth could surpass feeling of guilt or knowing his own regret if his conscience could be clouded by the darkness of the night.

of the light or dark. "The King comes here tonight", this is said by a

Later on Macbeth himself says “...Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my dark and deep desires.” He clearly does not want what he is preparing to do to be illuminated because he knows it is evil and it will destroy his

As mentioned before, darkness symbolizes that something bad is about to happen. This is highly relevant right from the start in Macbeth because the play starts off in the midst of a tremendously violent storm. This automatically gives the audience the idea that there’s going to be a lot of violence and evil throughout this play. The darkness sustains throughout the play as Macbeth is in power. Violent ideas are generated, executed, and not to mention the numerous murders that occur throughout his reigning.

In the play of Macbeth the theme of light versus dark comes to life in many different forms, one of which being nature and how it portrays what is going on in the play. One of the numerous examples is in act one, scene one of the play, in which we first see the witches it is stormy outside. During this scene in the play it begins to thunder and lightning whilst the witches are on stage. The idea of thunderstorms is a dark and mysterious act within itself, in horror movies it will thunderstorm and the killer will progress towards its target in the dark and thundering night. The witches are not light people they are heavily evil and dark, the nature portrays that with the storming. An additional example is in Act __ scene __ where the witches

In Macbeth the theme of light and dark is portrayed in many different ways, one of which being nature. Throughout the plays there have been numerous times in which nature has symbolized the light or darkness that was going on in that scene. For example when the witches went to meet Macbeth to bestow upon him the very first prophecies they wanted a barren land. This nature shows dark and evil presence. Since the land wasn’t growing anything, it wasn’t a luscious sunflower field, no body full of good would want to be there.

As aforementioned the symbolism in the play includes that of both light and darkness. Macbeth's insomnia resulting from the pressing guilt and Lady Macbeth's nocturnal excursions while asleep are examples. Macbeth was unable to hide in the dark from the horrors of his deeds and he was haunted by the fear of discovery. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, was afraid of the dark and was using the light in an attempt to dispel her demons.

Macbeth is known as a haunted play. The dark undertones create an ominous aura throughout the play. Witches, hallucinations, and blood create an unsafe environment as you take in William Shakespeare's play. Shakespeare has used an abundance of imagery in his plays to make the audience think from a certain point of view; to create a certain mood, feeling or impression. In Macbeth the main imageries Shakespeare used were weather, location, time, blood, clothing, and the juxtaposition of light and darkness.

From gaining to maintaining their power, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continually seek out darkness to aid them in their evil endeavors. Once king, Macbeth allows himself to be utterly enveloped by this darkness and once consumed, he is prepared to eliminate any who would intercept his newly obtained power and thus, to squash any hope of redemption. Malcolm describes this by saying, “But Macbeth is. [treacherous]

The play is mainly centered around the thoughts and desires of it titular character Macbeth. His lust for power and his fear of the supernatural are ultimately what lead to his downfall. Notably, Macbeth expresses his thoughts and opinions throughout the play and we get to see this in a very personal and unfiltered way through the use of soliloquies.

Throughout the story, Macbeth controls the life of various characters, as well as his own. When his future was being foretold, Macbeth affirms the acceptance of taking the throne of Scotland by saying, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.” (1.3). Afterwards, the knight says, “Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires…” (1.4). The presentation of this quote elucidates Macbeth’s “black and deep desires” are to eliminate King Duncan and take drastic measures to reign Scotland. Likewise, the overwhelming temptation of power intoxicates Macbeth's mind which leads him to participate in Duncan's murder. Afterwards, Macbeth agonizes the thought of being guilty about the king's death. Macbeth

Darkness is one of the motifs used to create themes of the narration. From the onset, it is clear that Macbeth is a story that is deeply set in darkness. Critically, this darkness can be said to be psychological space for the story where the audience can see the inner conscience of the characters. In fact in reading this narration, one cannot easily make a distinction between reality and illusion thanks to this psychological space. In using darkness, it is clear that Shakespeare wanted to create wider space for the characters to interact with their own self while at the same time connecting with other characters as well as the events of the narration. This darkness also serves as the platform where reality vanishes within the story. In this regard, darkness enables the narration to go against the convention of time and space. In relation to themes, darkness develops the theme of