How does Shakespeare make Act 2, Scenes 2 and 3 so exciting and dramatic

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How does Shakespeare make Act 2 Scenes 2 and 3 of Macbeth so exciting and dramatic?

Macbeth is one of many plays and sonnets, written by William Shakespeare, and performed between 1606 and 1611. The play sees a reversal of fortune for King Macbeth of Scotland, following the regicide of King Duncan. Shakespeare uses a combination of themes and dramatic devices in order to excite his audience; many of which would have been particularly poignant in 17th Century Britain. I will explore the extent of these conventions in this essay.

Historians know that Shakespeare based Macbeth on fact: 11th Century Scotland was indeed a violent and troubled country, which was divided into territories, which feuding families and clans fought to control. Political murder and regicide were commonplace at the time. 17th Century Britain was very much a patriarchal society; the typical stereotype of ‘man’, borne out of history would have been strived to be upheld. King James I succeeded Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, and was already King of Scotland at the time. Macbeth is said to have been performed before King James in 1606. One of the underlying themes of the play is Witchcraft, and the supernatural. King James was fascinated by Witchcraft; in 1597 he published ‘Demonology’. A book on the subject, and ordered it’s immediate printing after taking the throne. He was also a firm believer in the divine right of kings: that kings were second only to God, and that it was him who had entrusted his power in them to rule the country. Some historians suggest that Shakespeare wrote Macbeth for King James, and that he is actually a descendant of Banqo.

Through the use of colourful imagery, Shakespeare portrays a heavenly interpretation of the assassinated King Duncan. Lady Macbeth suggests that she will have to “gild the faces of the grooms”, so that it “seems” their guilt. The use of the world “gild” is interesting because it brings about connotations of smearing the faces of the grooms with liquid gold, furthermore, the context in which she uses the term would suggest that Duncan is in fact such saintly man that his blood is gold, and that to apply his blood to anything would in fact be gilding it. Shakespeare also uses this colourful imagery in order to convey King Duncan’s saintly characteristics by suggesting that not even all of “Great Neptune’s oceans” will be able to wash the blood from his hand, it would “rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red”, the use of the colours relate to the magnitude of the severity of the regicide; because the blood on his hand would turn the entire ocean red. The seriousness of the murder is also depicted in Macduff’s revelation that the “most sacrilegious murder” has been committed. This especially highlights the fact that Duncan has been entrusted by God. Due to the fact that King James was a firm believer in the divine right of kings, such imagery would have evoked such excitement in himself and the audience, because it was common knowledge that he believed in the supernatural.

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         Shakespeare also incorporates these images into the underlying themes of the play, as a way of making them more apparent. The theme religion is explored in the heavenly portrayal of King Duncan, as afore mentioned. Religion dominated 17th Century Britain, the previous King Henry VIII pioneered the dissolution of the monasteries so that he could divorce his wife, he too was a believer in the divine right of kings; so therefore at the time regicide was an extremely punishable offence, which would have made the archaic themes explored in the play particularly exciting.

        Linguistic devices are used in order to further ...

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