How Does Shakespeare Create Evil In the Play Macbeath?

turn into animals but when one of them turns into a rat it has no tail,

showing their flawed power. They also can't make Macbeth kill Duncan;

they just create an atmosphere, manipulating him, which makes him want

to kill him.

They use animals to enhance the atmosphere and amplify their evil,

unnatural state.

Shakespeare doesn't just use animals to show the evil of the Witches he

also uses animals to convey the state of the country, ie, when the

horses eat each other after Duncan has been killed. This shows that

Scotland is in a state of disorder.

The witches also speak in riddles, "fair is foul and foul is fair" which

gives the play an uneasy atmosphere, as does their language "Birth

strangled babes". The Witches mainly give the play an uneasy feel

because they are violating God's natural order.

Noise also gives quite a tense atmosphere in the play. When Macbeth

goes to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth hears a knell (a traditional funeral

bell), an owl shriek and crickets cry. These are all signs of death and

it makes Macbeth think that more people know about what Macbeth has

done. Also when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are talking after the murder,

there is a knocking which gives a very uneasy and tense feel.

Also as the play goes on, Macbeth becomes very paranoid about any noise

and it makes the play very tense.

Colour does play a role in setting the atmosphere but only in one or two

of the scenes. Red, of course is very important because of the amount

of blood in the play. It also plays a big part because both Macbeth and

Lady Macbeth talk about the 'red misty hell'.

Linked with colour is the important use of light and dark ni the play to

give an uneasy atmosphere. The already nauseating Witches always

appears at night giving a very suspicious atmosphere to Macbeth when he

meets them as I think sometimes he thinks the witches are just a dream

or a figment of his imagination.

Also all the murders take place at night which gives a creepy and scary

feeling as the majority of the people who die don't know who killed

them. It is ironic that the only person who does die during the day in

the play is Macbeth himself who wanted 'stars hide your fires' so he

could kill duncan without heaven seeing what he was doing. This also

links with the references to hell and heaven. Lady Macbeth wants to go

to hell for killing Duncan and she doesn't want heaven to see it.

At he end when Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking she needs light to bring the

truth. It is like light is a metaphor for truth because all the lying

and treachery happen in the dark.

The weather really reflects the mood of the play (pathetic fallacy.)

Whenever the witches are around there is rain. Not only does the

weatheer show the mood of the play, it also warns of things going wrong

in the play.

The fluid in the play is pivotal. All of the bad qualities of Lady

Macbeth 'drip' into Macbeth and then into Scotland, by the end Macbeth

is a forthright killing machine, Lady Macbeth is a nervous wreck who

eventually kills herself and Scotland is in a complete mess.

Before Duncan's murder Lady Macbeth asks for her 'blood to thicken to

her heart' to stop her feeling the pain of the murder.

Above all Macbeth is a play which relies heavily on the atmosphere it

sets for the audience, which is a scary and eerie one.