“There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed, No teeth for th’present. Get thee gone; tomorrow we’ll hear ourselves again”.
We now know that Macbeth sees children and what may become of them as possible threats to his wanted status as king. He now has the potential to murder everyone, including children to get to his desired ranking as the King of Scotland and if this involves killing children, he will.
In act 4 sc1 the witches present to Macbeth three apparitions. Before they do this they create a spell in their cauldron. This involves adding vile and horrible ingredients to the mixture. As they add these ingredients they get more and more evil and disturbing, until it reaches the lowest point of the spell as they add “The finger of a birth-strangled babe,
Ditch delivered by a drab”
This ingredient is the most disturbing part of the play so far. This symbolises innocence being sacrificed for the gain of evil, and to aid evil in its acts. This part of the play can also be seen as a theme for evil as it can be seen as an evil ritual.
The killing of Duncan and Banquo was bad, but this is worse. This symbolises the death of an innocent and vulnerable child, who had not done anything to harm anyone.
In act 4 sc2 murderers are used by Macbeth to kill Macduff. When they get to the castle they only find Lady Macduff and Her son. They murder the Lady and her son.
“He has killed me, mother, Run away I pray you!”
This is the lowest point of the play, as the only symbol of innocence and purity in the whole play is now dead, and this opens the door for evil to take over. And now Macbeth can reign as king. This act again shows that Macbeth is a tyrant who is not afraid to kill innocent people as well as guilty this is the lowest point of Macbeths character in the play, and also it is the lowest point of the tragedy ‘Macbeth’.
The word ‘blood’ occurs frequently throughout the play. In the play blood symbolises guilt, and regret for the actions taken by characters in the play. In act 1 sc2 there is a strong influence on blood and how it can be seen in different ways
“Which smoked with bloody execution”
This is right after Macbeth has been in battle. It can be seen in two ways, one it shows the good and brave Macbeth and how he sheds blood in order to serve his king and country, and two it shows the early stages of Macbeth’s lust to kill, and his triumph of shedding blood on the battlefield.
In act 2 sc2 (the murder of Duncan) Macbeth says
“Will all Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”
This means that Macbeth cannot get the blood off his hands, and in other words, he can never get rid of the guilt of killing Duncan. It also shows that Macbeth has killed once and can now kill again as he fights his way to the throne. Lady Macbeth then says
“My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white”
This tells us that her hands are clean, but her heart is not, because in her heart she knows what has happened to Duncan, and she knows that she could of prevented it if she had not spurred on Macbeth’s dream of being king. And also knows that it was her fault, along with Macbeth’s that the murder had actually taken place, but ignorant to the fact that this event would eventually turn her mad.
Blood takes a big part in the downfall of Lady Macbeth. In act5 sc1 Lady Macbeth says
“Who would of thought the old man to have this much blood in him”
Lady Macbeth is obviously reminding herself of killing King Duncan, and this tortures herself over, and over again in her mind. She then talks about the smell of the blood and how all the perfumes in Arabia could not get the smell off. I believe that the vivid reminder of the blood on her hands is mainly responsible for her downfall of her character at the end of the play. The image of blood shows Macbeths guilt, which stains him as a person, and this guilt cannot be washed off so it stains him for life.
In the play, there are many images of Darkness, Darkness symbolises evil in the play. All the murders that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth participate in are at night. In act 1 sc5 Lady Macbeth says
“Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke in hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, to cry, ‘hold, hold”.
This shows that Lady Macbeth wants night to come, so that it can cover up the evil act she is soon to commit. Her wanting night to come may also show us that she only has the guts to do the murder at night, rather than during the day because the night is suited to evil, and day is symbolic of good, and therefore god will not be looking over her at night, so she can let Macbeth carry out the murder without the threat of her conscience stopping her.
In act 3 sc2 he says
“Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, while night’s black agents to their preys do rouse”
This shows that Macbeth also thinks the same way as Lady Macbeth showing that he also believes that bad things happen at night, and therefore he can get away with it, and not feels the guilt of doing it in daylight (in front of god).
Light only really shines once in the play, and that is when Macbeth is killed. This shows the end of the darkness (evil) and the beginning of light (good) again.
There are many more images that Shakespeare uses throughout his plays, this imagery was chosen because the images portrayed them make the play more shocking and interesting. The fact that Macbeth was not worried about killing anyone (including women and children) just so he could be king, and the fact that blood was also a link with killing innocent people, led to the downfall of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The imagery of Darkness and light symbolises the evil in the play and shows that all the bad things occur under the cover of darkness. Shakespeare uses imagery in the play to help people interpret his work in many different ways; this is one of the many reasons why Shakespeare’s writing has become so famous.
