A prose is a word to explain someone explaining the subject she/he is talking about. Usually Shakespeare tends to use a verse before a prose. A verse is an important technique used by Shakespeare as well. Probably the most common technique used in Macbeth is his famous blank verse (unrhyming lines with a five beat rhythm: ‘iambic pentameter’). In a blank verse each line has five iambs (feet), each with a stressed (/) and unstressed (X) syllable:
X / X / X / X / X /
‘So fair / and foul / a day / I have / not seen’
Shakespeare uses blank verse very flexibly, making the rhythm of the characters speech very appropriate to the meaning, the mood, and the speaker’s meaning and mood, this is how Shakespeare dramatises using this technique. Shakespeare could not do this without creating new words to match the blank verse H. An average person would have a vocabulary of 6,000 words. An estimate of Shakespeare’s vocabulary would be around 30,000 words. He created new words in such a simple and understandable way. He does this by the use of Hyphen. Macbeth is full of Hyphenated words, many are so familiar that we do not recognise them as Shakespeare’s. These words help to dramatise Macbeth in the way that it adds more detail to anything Shakespeare was trying to explain about the situation or the character. Examples of some of his new words:
- New-born
- Firm-set
- New-hatched
- Live-long
- Bare-faced
- Earth-bound
- Lily-livered
- Cut-throat
This shows that Shakespeare likes to dramatise and create meaning atmosphere with some significance within his plays. Especially Macbeth is a great example of his efforts to portray his dramatisation and significant meaning effect on the viewer making the viewer understand more than he usually should.
Shakespeare is never afraid to repeat himself or regularly use a word. The following words were used the most; you will find them used very regularly:
- Blood (e.g. Scene Act 1 Scene IIII, when Macbeth says ‘It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood: Stones have been known to move and trees to speak; Augurs and understood relations have, by maggot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth The secret man of blood. What is the night’)
- Fear (e.g. Scene Act 1 Scene IIII, when Macbeth says ‘When mine is blanched with fear.’)
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Sleep (e.g. Scene Act 1 Scene III, when the 1st witch says ‘I myself have all the other, and the very ports they blow, all the quarters that they know I’th’ shipman’s card. I will drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall neither night or day)
- Night (e.g. Scene Act 1 Scene III, same as Sleep)
- Done (e.g. Scene Act 1 Scene III, when Ross says ‘I’ll see it done’)
- Man (e.g. Scene Act IV Scene III, when Malcolm says ‘Dispute it like a man’)
- Time (e.g. Scene Act 1 Scene III, when Banquo says ‘If you can look through the seeds of time’)
My final evaluation on the dramatisation of Macbeth using language is that Shakespeare is a great master of English because of his different ideas to portray many things. This is a good thing because it adds more effect to the play and dramatises it causing more interest and depth to it in the way that every idea has a particular significance within the play.
Portrayal Through Physical Methods
In Macbeth one of the most significant things that Shakespeare uses is Imagery. Macbeth is rich in imagery. Imagery conveys ideas with such emotion and drama and that it is one of the special things about Macbeth. There are many ways in which Macbeth was dramatised through imagery these are some of them:
- Portrayal Through Darkness and Light
It was used because it’s a simple to do method, which dramatises the play. The main ways it was used was to define good from evil. For example, in a Macbeth play that we watched we saw that when king Duncan was shown the lights were so bright that you could tell that it was the way it is to represent extreme good even holiness. When the witches showed up on the scene the stage would turn very dark that the only thing that you could see was their wicked eyes representing the extreme no good, the evil. The contrast between the witches and King Duncan shows that light and darkness imagery can be very dramatic. One interesting way of using light imagery was to gradually decrease the amount of light given to Macbeth himself. This is because as we know Macbeth’s character starts to fade away and so does the light just to remind us of this and make it more dramatic and effective. You can understand through light and darkness if something bad is going to happen or something good. If the stage turn all dark and nothing happens you know something is going to happen. If the stage turns all bright with light you know that something good is going to happen. This idea of having different contrast of light before each scene can tell you weather this scene contains the theme of good or evil is actually a very good idea because it’s like a prophecy about to be fulfilled and this creates a very dramatic effect. Also the words of light and darkness are used in Macbeth, ‘dark night strangles the travelling lamp’ or even more dramatic is ‘Come, thick night’.
- Portrayal Through Clothes
Shakespeare had many ideas to do with dramatising using clothes. One of his most famous one is his reference to the throne of Scotland dresses him in ‘borrowed robes’. Basically illustrating the theme of deception in a silent but dramatic way. Shakespeare also likes to mix different subjects or irrelevant subjects in to the matter using imagery.
- Acting and Theatre, (‘a poor player’)
- Eyes, (‘the eye of childhood’)
- Hunting and Sport, (‘bear-like I must fight the curse’)
- Hands, (‘with these hands ne’er be clean’)
This kind of imagery again adds more depth to the play making it more interesting and more dramatic by making the viewer think about what is Shakespeare trying to represent with his language and thoughts. Speaking of thoughts, Shakespeare liked to involve community in Macbeth.
- Portrayal Through Feasting And Hospitality
He involved the image of community in Macbeth using Hospitality and Feasting. Eating together is a sign of friendship and community. Macbeth’s disrupted banquet represents his moral illusion in to evil and darkness, which took him away to another level, just like how the banquet changed from a friendly level to an embarrassment.
- Portrayal Through Animals
Throughout Macbeth there are many references to animals. Especially when Shakespeare try’s to explain something that is mystical and fearful. This creates the perfect atmosphere for the evil characters to act in to create a dramatic experience for the viewer just like the cauldron scene. Also Shakespeare likes to use birds like robins to represent happiness because of their singing. The owl is used also to create the idea of darkness, the owl only comes out in the dark and so does Macbeth.
- Portrayal Through Babies And Children
Throughout Macbeth there are many references to vulnerability and innocence. This way was very successfully done through babies and children. This is because children cannot take actions and cannot prevent them either this makes them innocent. The most dramatic example in Macbeth of this dramatisation technique was when Macduff’s family were killed. His son was so young and innocent that Shakespeare showed us this by his lack of knowledge, the poor boy didn’t even know what a traitor was.
- SON: (‘was my father a traitor, mother?’)
- LADY MACDUFF: (‘Ay, that he was’)
- SON: (‘What is a traitor?’)
- LADY MACDUFF: (‘Why, one that swears and lies.’)
- SON: (‘And be all traitors, that do so?’)
- LADY MACDUFF: (‘Every one.’)
- SON: (‘Who must hang them?’)
- LADY MACDUFF: (‘Why, honest men.’)
We can see from the extract conversation between the mother and child that Shakespeare intends to break peoples hearts and make them give sympathy toward this poor boy, who doesn’t even know what a traitor is.
Shakespeare tended to use a lot of violence in his stories; violence of course refers to blood. He tended to use blood because it is so significant in the way that it is precious and there is lots of it. Blood can also be represented as a word to explain something with heart to it because it is so important to you and you are mentioning it.
Sleep is a common technique used in Macbeth in order to dramatise the fact that Macbeth himself cannot get sleep anymore because of his filthy deeds, and Lady Macbeth sleepwalks while pretending to wash and scrub her hand as if she is washing her deeds away, but still she rubs as if it’s not going away, the blood stains. This kind of technique really does dramatise it in way that again causes interest towards the audience.
Conclusion
To conclude I think I will say that Shakespeare is a great writer who was very creative and significant in the way that he uses different techniques to dramatise anything. When I say dramatise I mean that he made something more exaggerated in the way that you understand it more and it appeals to you more. Macbeth is very rich in dramatisation because that’s what makes a good story, if it’s full of ideas which appeal more by having more depth in to it than usual, then you get more people watching your play because it’s more than the usual. People will always want something more. And that’s what Shakespeare gave them and he did it well.
