How are darkness and light used as symbols of good and evil in the play Macbeth?

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Alex Webborn                 English Essay November 2002

How are darkness and light used as

 symbols of good and evil in the play?

Shakespeare uses the symbols of light and dark to represent good and evil in ‘Macbeth’ to add dramatic atmosphere throughout the play. Darkness is used to convey evil; it conceals the unknown which many people fear while light is connected with religion, a state of purity, innocence and openness.

In Act 1 Scene 4 King Duncan states that the signs of nobility are ‘like stars’ and ‘shall shine on all deservers,’ just before Macbeth reveals in a short soliloquy that he has ‘black and deep desires.’ He calls upon the stars to ‘hide their fires,’ not to shine their light on his thoughts.  The audience sees a darker side to Macbeth, an evil streak that he does not want revealed yet brought to light.  Just in the same way Lady Macbeth calls upon evil spirits to take away her natural womanliness, her compassion and kindness, ‘Come thick night…smoke of hell..’ Shakespeare uses the imagery of evil as choking and overpowering.  The ‘blanket of the dark’ is called to hide her deepest and darkest thoughts. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have become creatures of the dark as darkness symbolises treachery and cruelty, all factors of evil.

The three witches are described by Banquo as ‘instruments of darkness’ and ‘the devil’ immediately he associates them with Satan and the supernatural.  Banquo recognises these witches as misleading, encouragers of evil thoughts to bring destruction and corruption.  The atmosphere around the witches when the audience first meet them is of ‘fog and filthy air.’  This conveys how the very air around them is contaminated by their presence adding to their physical embodiment of malevolence.  The play begins with the three witches surrounded by ‘thunder and lightening’ speaking in riddles which instantly creates a mood of uncertainty and terror.  ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair,’ is their attitude towards life: all good is evil and all evil is good.  So when these words are echoed by Macbeth, ‘so foul and fair a day..’ it becomes easy for the audience to relate him to these creatures of the dark.

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These witches represent temptation, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.  Their language is violent with gruesome references to mutilation, ‘Gall of goat…baboon’s blood…Nose of Turk.’ They speak in riddles to Macbeth so it is possible for him to only hear what he wants to hear also adding to the mystery of their characters.

In Shakespeare’s day there was a widespread belief in the supernatural world, especially the existence of witches.  The use of witchcraft would have fascinated Shakespeare’s audience in 1606 much more than the audience of today.  Witches were seen as old women who had peculiar ...

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