Killing a king is one of the most sacrilegious acts a person could commit. Murdering any person is a crime, but in Shakespearean times murdering a king was the greatest of all crimes. Kings were appointed by God to rule as his deputies: rebellion against a true king was rebellion against God. Tension would have risen when, earlier in the play, Duncan said, ”O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman.” This shows that not only did Macbeth kill the king, but his cousin too. Duncan is talking to Banquo as he says, “See, see our honour’d hostess!” This quote shows that Duncan was also Macbeth’s guest as well as his cousin and valiant king.
Macbeth murders the innocents by killing Macbeth’s family, “Son: He has kill’d me, mother: run away, I pray you!” The last murder would incense the audience because not only are the children and women, who cannot protect themselves, being brutally and savagely murdered, but also the child is hacked to death in front of his mother. When Lady Macbeth commits suicide Macbeth puts the news out of his mind by saying, “Bring me no more report; let them fly all.” Macbeth wants to try and dismiss thoughts from his conscience so he can concentrate on the witches prophecy so his ambition will come true. When Macbeth hears about his wife’s death he isn’t very concerned, ”Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage , and then is heard no more.” This implies that Macbeth thinks life is insignificant and is merely a wandering object. Shakesphere has related his play to what Macbeth thinks of life, Macbeth believes that people live their life on earth and then they die.
As Macbeth has murdered so many people he is used to murder now, “ I have almost forgotten the taste of fear.” Macbeth has forgotten what fear is like because he has been exposed to something incredibly stronger than fear and now here is alone to fulfil his ambitions.
Macbeth realises that his crown is, “Fruitless,” and his sceptre, “Barren.” He murdered Duncan in order to make the witches prophecy come true, but now he plots to murder Banquo and Fleance so the witches’ promise to Banquo may not come true.
“Macbeth,” is made up of a great deal of Murder, but it also contains perversion. Lady Macbeth experienced a very weird type of perversion because with the pressure from the murders she couldn’t cope and cracked. She then turned to the dark side and asked to be as strong, inside, as a man. “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top- full of direst cruelty; and make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse.” This quote is very strong, it makes the audience realise that if someone like Lady Macbeth, who made once a very courageous and noble man go against his will, is finally cracking under the strain, therefore the situation must be getting tense and too much for even the strongest of people. The audience may realise that Macbeth may crack soon, like Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare used the words, “Stop up the access passage to remorse,” because it shows that Lady Macbeth has a guilty conscience and wants to stop anything else which could make her feel guilty for what she has done, it also shows that her ,mind is failing. Lady Macbeth wants to be as strong mentally as Macbeth is physically so she can handle the situation, “Make thick my blood.” This is used because she wants to be stronger and less caring, referring to turning to the dark side again. Macbeth knows she is weak inside, but strong on the outside. Lady Macbeth is the backbone of the plot for Macbeth to be king, soon after she kills herself the idea of Macbeth becoming king seems to get further and further away for him.
Although, I think, I have mentioned the most important aspects of horror there are still a few more which add to the play’s effect on the audience. Madness is used to a great degree in, “Macbeth,” this ties in with obsession and the witches. During the play Macbeth admits that he is going mad. “I have supp’d full with horrors; direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, cannot start me.” This means that Macbeth is no longer afraid of death. Horror, familiar to his thoughts can never alarm him. Nothing can worry him now, he is in despair, he doesn’t care about his life, it means nothing. “life’s but a walking shadow,” this symbolises a person living their life on earth, then dying. There is no meaning to life. “Shadow,” is used because a shadow is insubstantial which is what Macbeth thinks about life at that moment of time. The fact that Macbeth has gone mad would horrify the audience because at the beginning of the play he was referred to as, “For brave Macbeth,” ”O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman,” “Noble Macbeth.” Now the audience would hate him because he has murdered the king, the innocents, his cousin and his friends. All of this has happened because of the witches and his obsession with ambition.
Animal imagery can also create horror in a story, the play has various instances of animal imagery. Macbeth is full of, “Scorpions,” Banquo sees Macbeth as a poisonous snake that is worming his way into his heart. The order of nature and harmony of the state have both been over thrown and the result is society in chaos, which has consistently been shown to us using animal imagery.
The witches use animals to horrify the audience, “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble…Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake; eye of newt, and toe of frog wool of bat, tongue of dog, adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting, lizards leg, and howlet’s wing, for a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can’t see good from evil. Macbeth is murder motivated and turns to the witches again for help. He has turned to the dark side. Macbeth is addicted to power and murder.
As Macbeth went back to the witches he turned to the dark side or the evil side, this means he is like a devil and the, “Sacrilegious act,” that he committed means nothing to him now, but before he was sorry for what he had done, “I have liv’d long enough : my way of life I fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, and that which should accompany old age as honour, love, obedience, troops of friends.”
I conclude that, ”Macbeth,” contains many different aspects of horror and I can safely say that, “Macbeth,” was a horror story in the Shakespearean times. I believe that, “Macbeth,” today, is not classed as a play of horror because not many people see witches as frightening. “Hansel & Gretel” and “Snowwhite and the seven dwarfs,” both of these famous children stories involve witches this proves that in today’s world, witches aren’t scary. Most modern films don’t include fate or supernatural, but more murder and obsession.
