Motifs In Macbeth

1205 Words5 Pages
Shakespeare was a man whom in his time, and even now, was considered a master of artful literature that was of unequivocal talent across Europe. His poems and plays have shaped how modern and subsequent literature in our history has been written through his artistic and universally felt emotions and ideals depicted through colorful and majestic words, phrasing, and imaginative storytelling. Many of his plays tell stories of both inner, and outer conflict through diverse plots, extended metaphors, themes, and complex motifs, one of these works in particular being the famous play, Macbeth. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses three distinct motifs to highlight the good and evil and guilt of the central characters in the story by situations of…show more content…
In almost all his works, each image is connected with a human characteristic and the imagery of light and darkness possesses no immunity in this department, especially throughout the dramatic plot of Macbeth (Imagery, n.d.). The reader can see this in the initial scenes of Act 1, as the imagery of light is used when King Duncan declares Malcolm as his heir to the throne and commends Macbeth for his heroism in the midst of battle; “…But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine/ On all deservers” (Act 1, Scene 4). Because of their heroic qualities, honour and devotion to be specific, the person will shine like a star, since light is universally viewed as being a sign of something good (Imagery, n.d.). However, the story’s anti-hero already begins to feel conflict with these values as described when he exclaims “…Stars, hide your fires!/ Let not light see my black and deep desires;”(Act 1, Scene 4) In this occasion, light is a representation goodness and honesty, and Macbeth doesn’t want his conscious to interfere with his inner ambitions. His moral sense cautions him not to commit the fateful atrocity, but Lady Macbeth’s ways of persuasion and Macbeth’s weighing ambition seem stronger, and he becomes obsessed (Imagery, n.d.). Evil, which are his ‘black and deep desires’, start to take power over him (Imagery,…show more content…
These visions and hallucinations become thematic throughout the Shakespeare’s famous play, and act as reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s combined blame for the growing quantity of deaths (Macbeth Navigator, n.d.). In the opening scene of Act 2, Macbeth sees a floating dagger and becomes hysterical, exclaiming, “… Come, let me clutch thee!/ I have thee not, and yet I see thee still/. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible/ To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but/ A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/ Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”(Act 2, Scene 1). Macbeth’s vision of this dagger, his device for the murder, represents the bloody and difficult route in which Macbeth will be living by executing King Duncan (Macbeth Navigator, n.d.). At a later moment in the play, during a feast for Macbeth’s new kingship, he is all of the sudden visited and haunted by Banquo’s ghost, and is subsequently haunted afterwards. The apparition of Banquo serves as a reminder to Macbeth of his murder committed toward his former friend (Macbeth Navigator, n.d.). As the play comes to a close, the readers are faced with one final dramatic vision experienced by none other than Lady Macbeth herself. In an unconscious fit, the audience can find her yelling “…Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then,/ ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord,

More about Motifs In Macbeth

Open Document