How does Shakespeare create an evil atmosphere using language?
How does Shakespeare create an evil atmosphere using language?
Shakespeare, born in Stratford upon Avon in 1564, William Shakespeare died there almost exactly fifty-two years later, in 1616. During those fifty-two years he created at least thirty-seven plays and possibly had a hand in others, one was called Macbeth. This was a sad and evil story about a man called Macbeth killing the king, because he was under the influence of his wife and the witches.
On the level of human evil, Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy is about Macbeth's bloody rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt - ridden pathology of evil deeds generating still more evil deeds.
When Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth, which he wanted to be acted out, many people believed in witches and superstition. At the time when Macbeth was written, the gunpowder plot was going ahead.
Conspiracy to blow up the English Parliament and King James I on Nov. 5, 1605, the day set for the king to open Parliament. It was intended to be the beginning of a great uprising of English Catholics, who were distressed by the increased severity of penal laws against the practice of their religion. The conspirators, who began plotting early in 1604, expanded their number to a point where secrecy was impossible. They included Robert Catesby, John Wright, and Thomas Winter, the originators, Christopher Wright, Robert Winter, Robert Keyes, Guy Fawkes, a soldier who had been serving in Flanders, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, Ambrose Rook wood, and Thomas Bates. Percy hired a cellar under the House of Lords, in which 36 barrels of gunpowder, overlaid with iron bars and firewood, were secretly stored. The conspiracy was brought to light through a mysterious letter received by Lord Monteagle, a brother-in-law of Tresham, on Oct. 26, urging him not to attend Parliament on the opening day. The 1st earl of Salisbury and others, to whom the plot was made known, took steps leading to the discovery of the materials and the arrest of Fawkes as he entered the cellar. Other conspirators, overtaken in flight or seized afterward, were killed outright, imprisoned, or executed. Among those executed was Henry GARNETT, the superior of the English Jesuits, who had known of the conspiracy. While the plot was the work of a small number of men, it provoked hostility against all English Catholics and led to an increase in the harshness of laws against them. Guy Fawkes Day, Nov. 5, is still celebrated in England with fireworks and bonfires, on which effigies of the conspirator are burned.
In the time of Macbeth witches were not thought to be supernatural beings themselves, but supposedly gained their powers by selling their souls to Satan, and were then instructed and controlled by 'familiar spirits'. The existence of witchcraft was recognised by English law-an act of 1604 made the practice of it punishable by death-but it was by no means unquestioned. There can be little doubt that most of Shakespeare's audience would have believed in witches, and for the purpose of the play, at least, Shakespeare also accepted their reality.
At the time the play was first ...
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In the time of Macbeth witches were not thought to be supernatural beings themselves, but supposedly gained their powers by selling their souls to Satan, and were then instructed and controlled by 'familiar spirits'. The existence of witchcraft was recognised by English law-an act of 1604 made the practice of it punishable by death-but it was by no means unquestioned. There can be little doubt that most of Shakespeare's audience would have believed in witches, and for the purpose of the play, at least, Shakespeare also accepted their reality.
At the time the play was first performed and the time Shakespeare was writing it, witchcraft was a great enemy, people became captivated by these peculiar, suspicious witches. Witch - hunt took place and many people were convicted of being witches and were executed.
Shakespeare creates an evil atmosphere by the atmosphere, but most importantly by the language he uses. The play starts with the witches, this gives the play an evil feeling, which Shakespeare intended to create. Shakespeare does this by using the language, which people consider the witches use.
The witches use such language as 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair', this gives the reader an evil impression of the witches. In act 1 scene 1, the witches talk about meeting Macbeth and Banquo when the battle is lost or won, this leaves the audience thinking what do the witches want with Macbeth or Banquo. The surroundings in the first act is full of evilness. The thunder and lighting alone give it a dramatic opening, which grabs the interest of the audience, as it is representative of evil. These dramatic sound effects help to set the eerie and supernatural atmosphere that Shakespeare wanted to create along with the witches. The witches introduce us to a dark, dangerous play, in which the theme of evil is central.
'Fair is foul, and foul is fair', this basically seems like a warning that things are not what they appear to be, as if they are referring to people, explaining that not everybody should be trusted. The witches' language manages to reveal their personalities as sinister, mysterious and untrustworthy.
In the opening scene the weather is thunder and lighting which is a mirror image of the way the witches are perceived. When you think of thunder and lighting you think of evil and destruction, this is exactly the way witches are represented in this play. They are evil cause destruction in Macbeth's life.
Banquo says in act 1 scene 3 line 124:
"The instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence."
He thinks and says bad things of the witches. He calls them instruments of darkness and the devil. He believes that these prophecies will only bring harm even before anything begins to happen. He sees beyond the witches and can see that they are evil where as Macbeth is taken in by the witches and this 'blindness' is what causes his downhill spiral of problems. So his best friend warns Macbeth before he makes any decisions that the witches are evil, and what they suggest is evil. If Macbeth had listened to his friend Banquo then perhaps the tragic events to follow could have stopped.
As Macbeth and Duncan meet the witches for the first time, the witches tell what is in store for Macbeth and Banquo. Firstly they tell Macbeth that he will be the thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor and then 'that shalt be king hereafter'. Then they told Banquo that his children will kings. After the witches told Macbeth his future, he went to a corner a thought, if he was king what would happen, but he did not listen to what the witches had told Banquo. This leaves the reader felling suspicion and leaving the reader thinking, what will Macbeth do to become king, will he become evil or he will live his life.
Some might say that lady Macbeth is a witch herself. She was a key aspect in the killing of Duncan, the king. She brings true evilness into the play by the language she uses to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan, and be the king.
Firstly, when lady Macbeth reads the letter Macbeth send her, about the witch's predictions. 'Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition', this is when she things that Macbeth has the ambition, but he is too noble to carry out the murder'. After this happens, he audience is left in suspicion, and left with a feeling of evilness.
Because Lady. Macbeth knows Macbeth cannot do the murder without her, she calls the evil spirits, 'unsex me here', this means that how Lady. Macbeth wants to be as ruthless as a man.
After this all happens, the audience is left wondering, is Lady. Macbeth really evil and what will she do to Macbeth.
After king Duncan comes to the Macbeth's castle, Macbeth and Lady.Macbeth decide to have a talk. Macbeth wants to kill the king, but his nobility is stopping him. Macbeth changes his mind and does not want to kill the king, 'we will proceed no further in this business'. Then Lady.Macbeth threatens Macbeth that he does not love his wife and how he is a coward, 'such I account thy love' and 'and live a coward in thine own esteem'.
This all relates to my first paragraph, then I introduced Lady.Macbeth and said how she is a witch herself. This is because, she convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan and how she calls Macbeth a coward.
As this scene ends, it leaves the audience feeling an evilness growing in Macbeth and Lady.Macbeth.
As Macbeth is alone, he wonders for a few minutes about how he will carry out the murder, and then imagines a dagger in front of him, 'is this a dagger which I see before me'. This gives the reader/audience that how evilness is growing inside Macbeth, and this makes the play gain more evilness.
Macbeth has a vision of a dagger, which then leads him to Duncan's room, Lenox heard screaming, the weather turns into a raging storm, the horses eat each other and a bird of prey (falcon) is killed by an owl. These strange and unnatural events, especially the imaginary dagger, show that Macbeth is not fully in control of his own actions and is being influenced by evil.
After the murder happens, you will see Lady.Macbeth telling Macbeth to clean of the blood of his hands, so that nobody suspects them. After the murder has happened, everybody assumes that Duncan's guards are responsible. Nobody assumes Macbeth to do it, because how loyal he was to the king, this leaves all audience feeling and evilness and thinking how Macbeth was a traitor to Duncan and his country (Scotland).
Many people might say that who was the one how made Macbeth kill Duncan, was it the witches or was it his wife. Both the witches and Lady.Macbeth are full of evil, but I think it was Lady.Macbeth how made Macbeth kill Duncan.
Lady.Macbeth appears in the play when it starts getting dull, but after she reads the letter and calls the evil spirits on her, the play starts becoming more interesting.
Macbeth shows that he can be as evil as possible, he sends three soldiers
Although at the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a loyal soldier to his king and country, later on he turns out to be a traitor. He does this by going ahead with the murder, when he can refuse to. Although he was under the influence of L.Macbeth and the witches, his heart still could have stopped him from doing so. So at the end of this essay, I conclude that Macbeth was a traitor to his country and especially the king, which loved him and thought that he was the greatest soldier.
