She asks the evil spirits to “unsex” her and “thicken her blood” (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 36-52) because she knows that her husband is not manly enough to do it, but she cannot do it herself as she is a woman. Here she asks to be unsexed so that she can carry out the murder herself. She also asks for the spirits to thicken her blood, so that she will be strong enough to commit the murder with her husband, without the feelings of guilt and regret afterwards. Alongside her husband, Lady Macbeth also asks darkness to cover up her evil desires, and to assist her in the doing of her evil deeds. She says in the same soliloquy “nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark” (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 48-52) which is a plea for darkness so she may urge her husband and commit the sin. The use of the word heaven makes the dark appear even more intense, because it can cover up something as good and bright as heaven, which is known to be the purest and cleanest place.
Macbeth’s initial thoughts come from the meeting with the three witches, who tell him that he will soon be the king of Scotland “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 49). This scene takes place at night, in darkness and in bad weather, Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy here, there is thunder and lightning, pouring rain, thick grey clouds, which create a very sinister and supernatural feeling which shows and gives the audience a feeling that the witches are evil, and anything they say and do is likely to be of evil. They meet in a dark cave, which is cramped, and gloomy, all of which usually represent the ideas of hell.
When we picture three witches, who are known to the society as being evil, sitting in hideous conditions in the middle of the night, we automatically think that they are planning hideous and evil actions, and it tells us that there is something bad going on. The witches are described by Banquo as being “the instruments of darkness” (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 123), and even Macbeth himself describes them as “secret, black, and midnight hags!” (Act 4, Scene 1, Line 47), notice again the usage of the word black, which is referring to evil, and to darkness. The witches are described using the word midnight, which is the darkest part of the night. It adds to the affect of strength, and makes the evil in the witches look even more evident, because being the darkest part of the night midnight also makes them be the most evil part.
Nighttime and the darkness which it brings with it is a perfect setting for evil to happen, not only did the witches’ meetings happen at night, but the main actions of the play took place at night, in the dark, including the murder of King Duncan. We have seen that Darkness brings evil, wickedness, and it also brings death. Both the murder of King Duncan and the murder of Banquo happen at night which emphasises how darkness brings the worst of the evil acts with it.
Nighttime is also the easiest and in a way the most convenient place for Macbeth to commit the deed because the darkness provides a blanket that hides the murder from both the people’s and God’s eyes. All the people are asleep in their rooms when Macbeth commits the deed, and he is able to quickly return to his own room without anyone else seeing him thanks to the protection that the darkness provided. When Macbeth was able to prevent himself from being blamed, from then onwards he had faith in the darkness, and used it as a tool to carry out more evil and hideous deeds as the play progresses.
After the Murder of Duncan, Donalbain and Malcolm are blamed for the murder and flee Scotland, and so Macbeth is crowned king. Because he became king in an unfair way, he had to be careful to ensure that no one else discovered the truth. When he found out that Banquo was a threat, without thinking he instantly turned to darkness, to evil, and the first thing he thought of was murder. Here Banquo says Macbeth is “a borrower of the night” (Act 3, Scene 1, Line 26), where darkness is referred to as night. From now onwards we can see that other characters in the play are realizing what Macbeth is doing, how he is using the darkness to his advantage. We can see that the darkness is creating a personality for him, that is in itself dark, and evil.
Lady Macbeth is also affected by darkness. She cannot handle what she has done, the guilt inside her is starting to affect her. She is becoming scared of darkness because she knows the effects it has and how lethal it is. She has seen an example of this in herself because she is the one who started the dark process towards the murder of Duncan. She can also see it in her husband who is constantly becoming worse and worse.
She carries a candle light with her at all times, because she doesn’t want to be alone with the darkness that she is now so afraid of. She has the candle on and by her all night every night, and she starts to sleep walk. Throughout the whole of Act 5, Scene 1 we see Lady Macbeth hallucinating and talking in her sleep. She seems to be washing her hands, and then she begins to speak. The doctor there at the time is alarmed as he hears accounts to the deaths of Duncan, Lady Macduff and Banquo. The doctor is astonished and says “More needs divine than the physician” (Act 5, Scene 1, Line 74) meaning that she needs a priest rather than a doctor, and that she is affected by something mental not a physical disease. Eventually darkness corrupts her mind and she can no longer take it, and she commits suicide.
This is in contrast with earlier in the play, when Lady Macbeth had a very different view of darkness. Previously she recognized it as a tool that could be used, and she as well as her husband used the darkness initially as a veil, which could cover up their bad and evil deeds. As the play progressed however, Lady Macbeth became aware of the disastrous effects which the darkness could have on a person, which she saw happening inside her husband. As soon as he had Murdered Duncan, Macbeth had changed drastically and had been taken over by the darkness, he did not see this happening to himself, however throughout the whole time his wife had seen it happen and so it had affected her. She was the source and the root of this initial evil which she planted into her husband’s mind, and eventually she became a victim of this creature of darkness that she had originally started off.
As the play goes on, darkness evolves into a figure, almost into a creature, a being which controls the thoughts, and the actions of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, which is clearly shown in the course of the play.
It soon becomes a partner to Macbeth, he relies on it constantly without thinking, and it starts to control him. We can see proof of this when Macbeth talks to his wife and says “come, seeling night, scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day” (Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 46-47), showing that he can only operate in the presence of darkness. Then he continues to say “Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse” (Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 53-54). Only a creature can rouse it’s prey and so darkness has clearly become a creature.
It is also evident that Macbeth himself has become this creature of darkness, it has been personified into the character of Macbeth. As we have seen everything that he plans, thinks, does and says is evil, and coordinated by the dark. He starts to spread the darkness upon others, and have an effect and influence on the people around him like a plague of darkness.
As a person, his character and personality becomes evil, wicked and dark, and ultimately he is the creature of darkness, but in person.
In Act 3, Scene 3 the murderers call Banquo “a light”, and we soon see Macbeth kill the light, showing and proving that Macbeth has totally become evil, he has been controlled by darkness, and everything he now does is evil and dark.
However a little further on in the play when he orders for Macduff’s family to be killed, it is in broad daylight, which shows that Macbeth no longer needs the dark because he himself has become dark, he has become the ultimate evil.
As a reader Shakespeare created an affect that created an atmosphere and a mood to the story that made me see the storyline, the setting, and the characters in a unique way. It created individual personalities and characteristics for each character which made me see the way of thinking of each person in depth, which made it easier to understand how he thought, and what he would say and do. Shakespeare uses the dark not only as an object, or a condition, but as a theme to the play. He used it to represent and symbolise evil, wickedness, and the supernatural. As mentioned earlier the theme can affect and change the view of the reader for each aspect of the play, and it can easily represent each action as either a good or bad in the reader’s mind.
Through the course of the play we can see how the darkness evolved from a simple tool to cover up a bad deed, into a creature which controlled and took over life, and corrupted an entire community and country. We can also see that in the end Macbeth is completely controlled by the dark, he thinks in the dark, works in the dark, and lives in the dark. Eventually Macbeth is killed by the only remaining light, Macduff, and Scotland will change from being known as “O nation miserable!” (Act 4, Scene 3, Line 103) to become the enlightened and prosperous country it was before Macbeth became king.
