Symbolism and Themes in Macbeth
Although William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth about 400 years ago, the themes he incorporated, for instance, ambition, evil and good, and greed for power are very relevant in today’s world. Shakespeare used themes with imagery and symbolism so that those who watched his play could gain a deeper understanding of what was going on in the world around them. Shakespeare brilliantly used themes with imagery and symbolism in MacBeth, along with many of his other writings. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows various types of imagery and symbolism instances that, eventually, lead to the downfall of the main character, Macbeth.Ambition: Macbeth realized the power he had from his ambition -- wanting more and more. He therefore set out all the reasons he had for not killing Duncan. But Lady Macbeth was more ambitious than her husband. She, being so single-minded, was willing to sacrifice all her human feelings in order to gain power. The outcome of too much ambition was the death of Duncan. This ambition from the beginning leads to the death of Macbeth and his wife. Supernatural: Shakespeare uses the supernatural witches, ghosts, and disturbances of nature for the fascination of human nature. In Shakespeare’s day, the audiences would have taken witches very seriously, in which he meant for the witches to be evil in this tragedy. Macbeth seeks some knowledge of his future through the three ugly sisters, or witches. What he sees tells him to be cautious. He sees several apparitions, or visions from these ugly sisters. He also sees the ghost of Banquo, all gory and bloody, which haunts Macbeth at the banquet.Hallucinations: Throughout the play, we are reminded that things are not portrayed as they really are. The witches give Macbeth
information which seemed comforting but was very misleading. Their predictions were true, but were disguised misleadingly. Another appearance is when Dunsinane claims the forest had moved and was coming toward him. MacBeth saw a floating dagger which confused him. He was not sure if it is real or just an image. He couldn’t understand. Disorder: The plot of Macbeth revolves around disorder and chaos. There is a constant struggle for power and without a strong leader present, many things go wrong easily and quickly. The talk of a solar eclipse, an owl killing a falcon, and Duncan’s horses running wild ...
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information which seemed comforting but was very misleading. Their predictions were true, but were disguised misleadingly. Another appearance is when Dunsinane claims the forest had moved and was coming toward him. MacBeth saw a floating dagger which confused him. He was not sure if it is real or just an image. He couldn’t understand. Disorder: The plot of Macbeth revolves around disorder and chaos. There is a constant struggle for power and without a strong leader present, many things go wrong easily and quickly. The talk of a solar eclipse, an owl killing a falcon, and Duncan’s horses running wild were indications that there was something unstable in the society. Trust and Betrayal: Duncan trusted Macbeth, a recent war hero, and named him Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth purposely betrayed Him and, being power-hungry, literally backstabbed him because of wanting more than just Thane of Cawdor -- he wanted to be king! Fear: Fear plays a major role in the play. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, show much fear in their actions. They may have seemed fearless, ambitious, and strong, but they feared for what laid ahead. It is said that Macbeth, perhaps, didn’t actually show his fear until the Birnam Wood drew near to Dunsinane. He then let his fear take over himself and cause him to be fearful of what was going on around him. Greed for Power: After Macbeth was named Thane of Cawdor, he began to have greedy thoughts about how much power the he would have in the king’s position. He was starting to let these thoughts go to his head and began to plot King Duncan’s death, or murder. Lady Macbeth was stronger than her husband and she knew this. Lady Macbeth was the schemer and she had the mind power to coax Macbeth to murder Duncan, for he wasn’t strong enough to actually follow through with his dream and kill Duncan after all. Because of this greed of power, King Duncan was killed in his sleeping chamber in the home of the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth had greed when he went to the witches for a peek into the future. He wanted to know NOW what was going to happen. Which greed, in this case, leads to desperation.Desperation: Macbeth, more than any other character, shows a great amount of desperation in his actions. One acts desperate because of something unpleasant or terrible is about to happen or had just already happened. Macbeth was distraught with the thought of killing the king, but because he was also overtaken by greed and power that he could not function normally, he acted desperately by killing King Duncan.Good and evil: Good and evil are present throughout the whole play. We see it in especially Macbeth as he is in a constant battle with it. He falls easily to what is stronger than he and he lets his desires take over him. At the very beginning, Macbeth is a known war hero because of his goodness of doing what was right for his country, but later ends up wanting what would be best for him instead. He wandered onto the path of the evil because it brought him his inmost desires, never going the back on the right path. Lady Macbeth pushed Macbeth to murder Duncan. Her “evil” side was over-powering his “good” side. She had succeeded, and evil won in this case. After Duncan’s death, Macbeth had become stronger, wanting more power. His wife, however, started to weaken. Macbeth was now stronger than his wife.Guilt: Lady Macbeth had a tremendous amount of guilt because everything she did, reminded her of her crime. She had a dream of never being able to wash the blood from her hands -- forgiver herself for what she had done. Lady Macbeth was troubled with this immediately after Duncan’s murder.In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, symbolism is abundantly used in demonstrating the overall theme of murder. There are several forms of this throughout the play. For example: blood symbolizes murder and guilt, the contrast of light and dark representing good and evil, and the purification by water is used for cleansing of one’s wrong doings. Symbolism is widely displayed in order to achieve the general topic of evil. Blood: Blood has both a symbolic and a literal meaning in Macbeth and is the dominating theme of the play. It is associated with Duncan’s murder by representing both Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s guilt and shame about the horrific crime. Macbeth returns with bloody hands from killing the king, and after Lady Macbeth went back to the scene of the crime to place the daggers, she also returned with blood-stained hands. This symbolizes that they are partners in crime, joined together by King Duncan's blood. Before the murder, Lady Macbeth starts to harden her heart for the death of the King when she asks the spirits to make her blood thick. She is asking for this because she wants to make herself insensitive and brutal for the crime she is about to commit. Lady Macbeth knew that the evidence of blood is dangerous and it will make the servants look guilty when she and Macbeth blame them. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth suffer from visions of blood after the murder, especially Lady Macbeth who is driven insane by it. The blood is seen as their guilt and they cannot get rid of it until the crime is punished by their own deaths. Light and dark: Light and dark (day and night) represent good and evil in the play. Most of the evil events happen at night or in the dark. The murders, Lady Macbeth’s sleep-walking and the appearance of the witches all take place at night. The light is a way to keep the darkness away. Lady MacBeth carries a candle to chase away the darkness, or evil around her. She had become afraid. In Act V Scene 1 line 19 it says, “She had light by her continually, ‘tis her command.” She demanded she had light by her so that she wouldn’t be haunted by her crime and the darkness she used to crave. Macbeth, on the other hand, craves the darkness and after he heard of his wife’s death, he says, “Out, out brief candle!” (Act V, Scene 5, Line 23) He was referring to life being as a light, a candle light. Light is not desirable to him now, he wants to smother the burning flame. Water Purification: The typical pattern of purification by water is used by Lady Macbeth. Water symbolizes the purification of a guilty conscience and the removal of guilt. Following the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth reassures her husband by telling him, "A little water clears us of the deed"; (Act I, Scene 2, Line 63) In her dream, Lady Macbeth repeatedly rubs her hands together, representing washing her hands. She hopes to clear her conscience by removing the "spot" from her hand, as she says, "Out, damn’d spot! Out, I say!" (Act V, Scene 1, Line 29) Lady MacBeth is deeply troubled by this! She thinks washing her hands will cleanse her of her wrong doings, but she dreams that she is unable to do that, symbolizing that she will never forgive herself for what she did. I understand the play and it’s themes and symbolisms better now because I looked up a lot of information to do this paper. I thank you for having us watch the play instead of read it. When I was writing and researching for this paper, I was able to have a picture image of the scenes, which helped me have a better understanding of it overall. I can learn from the different struggles and weaknesses Shakespeare gave the characters. The reader is able to see how one simple thought can turn into murder. I learned a lot from this story.
