How Does Shakespeare Use Darkness In Macbeth

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Aubrey Kimball Ms. Todd British and World Literature—Period 3 14 May 2015 The Darkness of it All Light allows us to continue on in our day to day commotion. It allows us to see and perceive the world around us clearly. Darkness, however, is the absence of this important light. Sight becomes virtually impossible upon the disappearance of illumination. The continuous references to darkness throughout William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, foreshadow the distortion of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s perception of morality and their decent into insanity. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is told by three witches that it was his fate to come into power as the king of Scotland. When that power is not invested in him directly by his current king, Macbeth begins ruminating the idea of killing King Duncan in order to fulfill the prophesy made to him by the witches. He speaks to himself:…show more content…
Macbeth refers to his desires as “black” and does not want them to be seen by anyone, even the stars, because they are so dark. In this sense, Macbeth strays from his deeply embedded morals by even contemplating killing the king and does not want them to come to light. Similarly, Lady Macbeth also struggles with overcoming her own morals when trying to convince herself to help her husband with killing the king. She calls on dark spirits and the night to: Come thick […] 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

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