Imagery Of Appearance and Reality in Macbeth

The theme of Appearance and Reality has been discussed already, e.g. we have mentioned that the play is at least partly based on the ides of deception. Examples of imagery here include Lady Macbeth's advice to Macbeth, "look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't" (Act I,Sc.v) and Macbeth's words, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." In Act III,Sc.ii, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that they are, "Unsafe the while that we Must have our honours in these flattering streams, And make our faces wizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are." In Act I,Sc.iii, when he has been told that he is now Thane of Cawdor, he comments, "nothing is but what is not." After the murder of Duncan, Malcolm whispers to Donalbain, "To show as unfelt sorrow is an office Which the false man does easy." (Act II,Sc.iii) In the following scene Ross tells the Old Man of the strange upset in Nature, "...by the clock 'tis day And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp (i.e. the sun)." In the Ghost scene (Act III,Sc.iv) Lady Macbeth points out to Macbeth that this Ghost (which she cannot see) is the "very painting of your fear" and "O, these flaws and starts" are just "Impostors of true fear." In Act IV,Sc.iii Malcolm observes to MacDuff, "Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell." He is pointing out that, although people may appear to be virtuous, they may in reality be vicious.

Shadow Imagery

When he hears of the death of Lady Macbeth, (Act V,Sc.vi), Macbeth uses the image of the shadow to describe life. A shadow is an imitation of reality and he possibly means that he has been cheated by a life that promised so much. These are just a few examples of this imagery which is often associated with dramatic irony. In fact this type of imagery is in itself ironical.

Imagery of Manliness

This is closely linked with the Theme of Manliness. We have already commented on the early descriptions of Macbeth in Act I,Sc.ii as ' brave' and ' valour's minion (favourite).' In Act I,Sc.vii, Lady Macbeth, in an effort to persuade him to murder Duncan, urges him, "Screw your courage to the sticking place" thereby implying that he is lacking in courage. After the murder she accuses him of having a white heart. When trying to persuade the Murderer's to kill Banquo, Macbeth uses the imagery of manliness to win them over (Act III,Sc.i).

Imagery of Light and Darkness

This imagery is clearly related to the conflict between Good and Evil. It is associated with symbolism because in the play light represents Good and darkness, Evil. The Witches, who also symbolise Evil, set their meeting for the "set of sun" (Act I,Sc.i). Later, in Act IV,Sc.i, Macbeth refers to them as "black and midnight hags". Banquo warns Macbeth against believing the words of the Witches, "The instruments of darkness" (Act I,Sc.iii) In nominating Malcolm as his successor (Act I,Sc.iv), Duncan equates nobleness with the stars and, almost immediately Macbeth, in an 'aside', calls on the stars to hide their fires so that light will not see his "black and deep desires". Again in Act I,Sc.v, Lady Macbeth calls on "thick night" to wrap itself in a blanket of darkness so that she might not be seen in the act of murder. Before the murder of Banquo, Macbeth calls on the "seeling night" to "Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day" (Act III,Sc.ii). He says, too, "Good things of the day begin to droop and drowse While night's black agents to their prey do rouse." In Act II,Sc.i Banquo tells Fleance, "there is husbandry in heaven, Their candles are all out." This suggests that Lady Macbeth's and her husband's call to darkness has been answered, that darkness covers their evil deeds. After Duncan's murder Ross asks the Old Man why "darkness does the face of earth entomb, When living light should kiss it." This may imply that Evil temporarily dominates Good. Macbeth, in Act v,Sc.v, speaks of light as a "brief candle" and of life as "a walking shadow", and admits, "I gin to be aweary of the sun". This may be a reflection of his awareness that Good (the sun) is gaining the upperhand in its struggle with Evil. This imagery is not strikingly new, but it is consistently used in the play and aptly emphasises the Theme of Good versus Evil.

Imagery of Disease and Corruption

This imagery comes late in the play but is then extensively used. It applies to Scotland and to Macbeth and the agents of Good are seen as an antidote to the sickness that Evil has brought, or as the Doctors who will overcome it. In Act I,Sc.vii Macbeth speaks of the "Bloody instruments which, being taught, return to plague the inventor". He realises that violence is a disease the that it feeds upon itself. In Act IV,Sc.iii Malcolm referring to Scotland, says, "It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds". In the following scene the Doctor speaks of the King of Scotland who can cure the 'evil' (the King's evil). There may be a notion that Scotland needs a physician - Malcolm himself perhaps. In the Sleepwalking scene (Act V,Sc.i) the Doctor says of Lady Macbeth's illness, "This disease is beyond my practice" and of "infected minds" that tell their secrets to their pillows. He considers that she needs a spiritual physician to cure her. Here the agents of Good are her only hope. In Act V,Sc.ii Caithness points to Macbeth's "distemper'd cause" (unhealthy cause) and urges Menteith to march to meet "the medicine (doctor or antidote) of the sickly weal (state), And with him pour we, in our country's purge, Each drop of us." In the following scene we learn that Macbeth is "sick at heart" and later in the scene he asks the Doctor, in reference to Scotland to "find her disease, And purge it to a sound and pristine health". Ironically, Macbeth does not recognise that it is he who is Scotland's disease.

Imagery Of Clothing

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Imagery Of Clothing

This is, in a way, associated with the imagery of Appearance and Reality, but it has a specific relevancy of its own. Macbeth's new honours do not all fit him, as they belong to someone else. Some critics say that he is being pictured as a 'small', dishonourable man, degraded and hindered by garments unsuited to him. Others say that he is magnificently great, but not noble, and is, at times, a poor, vain, cruel man, climbing over the dead bodies of friends and kinsmen to a power he is unfit to hold. However, whether the clothes are large or small, the point is that they do not fit him, because they are not his; they have been stolen. A hypocrite is one who hides his real nature under a disguise. It is said that Macbeth hates to show himself as a hypocrite, and that he does it badly. In Act I,Sc.iii, he asks Angus, who has addressed him as Thane of Cawdor, "Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?" At this stage he is reluctant to accept any honour to which he is not entitled. This underlines the change that will come over him later when he murders Duncan for the Crown. In the same scene Banquo says, "New honours come upon him Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould But with the aid of use." Perhaps he is complimenting Macbeth in suggesting that new honours make Macbeth feel awkward. It is ironical that the Crown never really 'fits' him. In Act I,Sc.vii, Macbeth says "...and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss Not cast aside so soon." Here he is proud of his new clothes and happy to wear what he has really earned. He does not wish to replace them with clothes stolen from Duncan. But Lady Macbeth replies, implying that he has already worn them in anticipation, "Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself?" The point she is making is that the drunken hope is a poor and ill-fitting garment.

The clothes images are paralleled by a series of 'masking' or 'cloaking' images which are changes of the garments that hide his evil side. Before Duncan's murder, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know", also, before Banquo's murder, "Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day". In Act I,Sc.v, Lady Macbeth, in her invocation to the powers of darkness, repeats Macbeth's 'aside' in the preceding scene when she says, "Come thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell". After Duncan's murder Banquo says, "And when we have our naked frailties hid, That suffer in exposure, let us meet ". Macbeth takes up this in an ironical sense, "Let's briefly put on manly readiness" (which for him, is the hypocrite's garment). In Act II,Sc.iv, Macduff says in reference to the coronation of Macbeth "Well, may you see things well done there; Adieu Lest our old robes sit easier than our new." Here may have a premonition of the tyranny of an unlawful King. In Act V,Sc.ii, Angus says of Macbeth, "Now does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe Upon a dwarfish thief". There are other similar references.

Sleep Imagery

Sleep is an important image in the play because part of the punishment of the Tragic Hero and Lady Macbeth is a deprivation of sleep. In Act I,Sc.iii, the Witches spitefully plan to punish the sailor's wife by depriving her husband of sleep, "Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his pent house lid". Perhaps this is a foreshadowing of what will happen to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In Act II,Sc.i, Banquo says, "A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep." because when he is asleep, the temptations that arise from the Witches' predictons torment him. In his soliloquy in the same scene Macbeth refers to "wicked dreams" that tempt the sleeper in his bed.

Imagery Of Nature

A few examples should be sufficient to show the way to the student in studying the predominant imagery in the play - the Imagery of Nature. This is linked with many other types of imagery in the play, e.g. light and darkness imagery, sleep imagery. Like all the other imagery it is a live part of the play.

Plant Imagery

A feature of Nature imagery is the regular use of the plant image. In Act I,Sc.iii, Banquo asks the Witches to "look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not." In the following scene, Duncan tells Macbeth, "I have begun to plant thee, and will labour To make thee full of growing". The planting is a failure as in Act V,Sc.ii, Lennox refers to Macbeth and his followers as 'weeds'. In Act I,Sc.v, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to "look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't". In Act III,Sc.i, Banquo, reflecting on the Witches' predictions, considers that he may be the "root and father Of many kings". In Act V,Sc.iv Malcolm orders every soldier to "hew him down the bough And bear't down before him". The branches from Birnam Wood explain the equivocal prophecy of the Apparitions and perhaps symbolise nature's victory over the unnatural - the murders of Duncan, Banquo, Lady Macduff and her family,and the Grooms. In the final scene of the play Malcolm uses his father's planting imagery to signify a new start for Scotland. In Act II,Sc.iii, Lennox tells of the 'unruly' night and the dreadful storm on the night of Duncan's murder, and in Act II,Sc.iv, Ross and the Old Man speak of the unnatural happenings of the night. Perhaps these incidents symbolise Nature's protest at the murder of a lawful King. Perhaps the Doctor's words in Act V,Sc.i bear this out, "...unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles." To describe his disillustionment Macbeth uses Nature imagery, "...my way of life Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf;" You should note, too, that there are many examples of animal and bird imagery in the play e.g. the Captain, to show Macbeth's and Banquo's bravery, compares them to eagles and the lion.

Macbeth expresses to the audience that it is malevolent to kill Duncan, for two reasons. Macbeth imagines the king being killed by him, and how Duncan´s reputation will only improve and increase in the eyes of the public as he has been an honourable King. Secondly, Macbeth´s reign would forever be overshadowed by the popularity and untimely death of the King.

“So clear in his great office, that his virtues,
will plead like angels, trumped-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking off.” (I.7.I8-20)

This is the closest that Macbeth comes to questioning his actions the deed he has chosen to undertake. However, the reasons are purely superficial, as he is primarily concerned with what others may think, rather than thinking about how much the King has done for him and cares for him.

Therefore, Macbeth is not simply the resolute and single-minded ambitious character we perceived him to be. It appears that when Macbeth is alone on stage he is a person with a conscience as well as a desire to succeed.

Lady Macbeth is so consumed with guilt that in Scene 5 she commits suicide. Macbeth reacts to the news of the death of his wife in a cold and unfeeling manner. “I have almost forgotten the taste of fears” when he hears the screams of a woman, not knowing who it is, he shows no reaction. We can see that Macbeth has become so used to horror and death that he can no longer be shocked. It is as if it is a common occurrence for him. His senses have become chilled; he has lost all emotion. This illustrates that Macbeth has actually suffered because of what he has done and he has become detached form everything and nothing will stir him, not even the screams of a Lady. This makes us think that Macbeth is now just a shell, he feels nothing and so really has no life. He goes about doing the things that he has to but he is not there emotionally. When Macbeth learns that the screams where those of his wife he is not upset at all “She should have died here after”. He simply says that Lady Macbeth would have died anyway and it is best that she is out of life, it is the easiest and best option for her. It almost seems that Macbeth cannot feel sad because he is envious of her death. She no longer has to live with the guilt and suffering but he does, it is not that easy for him to get out of it he has to live with his conscience everyday and he cannot feel sad at her death because she has been set free. There is monotony in his speech, “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow”. Macbeth is summing up his life, it is a repetition and he doesn’t get a break. His life is the same all the time, he has no escape from what he has done. Macbeth has given up on life to him it is meaningless. “The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!” Macbeth sees life as just being something to fill the gaps in and that everything leads to death. Life is short and at this moment in time he can see no meaning to it “Signifying nothing” he is empty of his soul and wonders what the point in life is. He sees those who expect something out of life as being fools. Macbeth is showing here that he greatly regrets his actions and has to live with what he has done everyday of his life and there is no escape from himself, it is getting him down greatly. The audience can clearly see that Macbeth is severely depressed. This aids the creation of sympathy because the audience is now in touch with how he is feeling and just how badly his actions have effected him. It doesn’t take away the fact that what he has done is unforgivable but it does help the audience to see Macbeth in a different light. We can see how much he is suffering and it has made him anxious, alone, depressed and afraid. It is not until now that it becomes apparent that Macbeth has reached the point of desperation and life has lost all meaning for him. He is in such desperation that he has come to envy the dead. His guilt is tearing him up inside leaving only a fraction of the man that used to be. Macbeth deeply regrets what he has done and we can see that the way he has acted, the things he has done have turned Macbeth into a manic-depressive.

The Story so far.
The 3 witches have told Macbeth that he will become king. He tells this news to his wife, Lady Macbeth . She starts plotting the murder of Duncan, the king of Scotland. A messenger then arrives at Dunsinane telling her that Duncan will be visiting them that evening. In this scene Macbeth kills Duncan.

Setting
This play takes place on stage. The play is set in 1600´s in the Scottish Highlands. The stage is bare apart from a bench, a bucket and well, there is a backdrop of the castle at the rear of the stage.

Character Profiles
Macbeth
Stunned at what he has just done
Angry – with both himself and Lady Macbeth
Becomes quite hysterical
Pure shock

Lady Macbeth
Evil voice
Devious
Cunning
Calm throughout
4th witch
very clever & Very evil

A soft blue light falls onto the stage with a white spot light on Lady Macbeth, the light including spot light turns green during Lady Macbeth´s speech.
Lady Macbeth sits on bench at stage rear holding a pure black cat.
(A black cat is connected with witches, Lady Macbeth is the 4th witch).
Lady Macbeth starts to say her speech in an evil, cold, powerful, crackle of a voice. Here she will be talking to her cat rather than herself.
Here she talks of the fatal bellman, this signifies death.

An organ is playing in the background (organs are played at funerals, and signify death, a murder has just taken place).
Macbeth backs onto the stage very slowly almost in a trance.
He turns to face Lady Macbeth
“I have done the deed.” – saying this like in complete shock but realisation as much to himself as to Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth: “Did though not hear a noise?”
Lady Macbeth: “The owl scream and the crickets cry” (Elizabethans would know
These things represented
Death)

                                                    Lady Macbeth: Did thou not speak?
Quick, Macbeth: When?
Panicky, Lady Macbeth: Now.
Shows Macbeth: As I descended?
Nerves, Lady Macbeth: Ay.
and. Macbeth: Hark!
tension Who lies in the 2nd chamber?
                                                    Lady Macbeth: Donalbain

Macbeth: This is a sorry sight! (angry, shouting, he sees the blood).
Lady Macbeth: A foolish thought to say (trying to calm him whilst putting her cat
Down).

Macbeth is now slumped on the floor with his head in his hands saying lines 21-25. Remaining slumped he says lines 26-30, but this time in a whisper.
In these lines Macbeth talks about sleep. Only innocence is allowed to sleep, Macbeth cannot sleep anymore, for he is now evil. “Macbeth shall sleep no more!” Macbeth also talks about not being able to say amen, this is because he is no longer holy.

Lady Macbeth stands to his right looking down on him, this shows her power over him. She says “Consider it not so deeply.” In an impatient, and almost dismissive voice.

Macbeth: “Sleep no more Macbeth does murder sleep!”

Lady Macbeth: “Why have you got these daggers? They must rest by
Duncan.”
Lady Macbeth grabs the daggers.
Macbeth is afraid to go back to Duncan´s chamber, for he cannot bear to look at what he has done.

         “If Duncan do bleed then I shall place the daggers in the arms of the
         guards, for it will seem their guilt!” she says this in an evil yet
         excited whisper. Exits stage left, running.
         Her evil and cunning
          nature has now been fully exposed to the audience.

(A loud knocking is heard, the knocking comes from speakers all around the theatre, so the audience is surrounded by the knocking).

Macbeth: Is in complete hysteria cries line 59-60. The blood is represented by long red ribbons attached to his finger tips and his clothes. He walks over to the well and tries to wash the blood from his hands. “All Neptune´s great oceans could not wash these hands clean.” Neptune is God of water, so here Macbeth is saying all the water in the world could not wash the blood away. I think he was trying to wash away his crime and his guilt by getting rid of the blood, as this was just a visual reminder of the wrong he had done. He pretends to throw the blood stained water over the floor.
A watery red light appears on the stage floor rippling with waves.

Lady Macbeth appears back on stage with her hands out in front of her, her hands and clothing are soaked with blood (red ribbons). She holds her hands up to Macbeth´s face, he turns away from her. She starts to speak in an evil, cold, and angry voice “my hands are of your colour , but I shame to wear a heart so white.”
The knocking starts again.
Lady Mabeth spins around in a sudden panic, “I hear knocking!” Lady Macbeth says the rest of her speech in the same quick startled tone. This is the only time in the scene where LM shows her nerves.

Macbeth in complete hysteria with tears running down his cheeks “Wake Duncan with your knocking, I would thou couldst!” At this point M´s weakness is most apparent, at this point I feel that he would be ready to confess all.

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth exit stage right.
Lady Macbeth now calm again, strides off confidently.
Macbeth crawls off on his hands and knees.
This shows the difference between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is remorseful, guilt ridden and hysterical with disbelief. Lady Macbeth on the other hand is confident, calm, excited, and seems completely unfazed by the fact that she has helped murder her king. Her power over him is enormous, and makes you wonder whether Macbeth was in a trance to even be able to comprehend killing his king let alone actually doing it.
At the end of the scene the lights suddenly go out the theatre is pitch black.

Props
¨ A bench
¨ A bucket and well
¨ Red ribbons
¨ A fake black cat