Essay: Use of imagery by Shakespeare in Macbeth

“Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles” (Shakespeare). The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, surrounds a man named Macbeth and his wife who try to tamper with order and fate, which ultimately backfires tragically. Shakespeare uses many elements of imagery to illustrate the the theme of disorder which is based off the Elizabethan concept of universal order where all things have their proper place and order, and character and fate is predetermined. Blood, day/night, animals/nature/weather and fair/foul imagery are demonstrated throughout the story to represent the order of nature that has been overturned when Macbeth kills the rightful king, and chaos makes its way to the top causing many unnatural aspects to occur until the end of the play when a rightful king returns and takes the crown.
To begin throughout Macbeth, the repeated imagery of blood is incorporated in order to demonstrate the level of guilt felt by characters. This imagery assists the theme of disorder as the guilt Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel is due to them killing of Duncan, the king. The natural order consists of a list of who is above who and the killing of the king who lies above the nobles(Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) provides the opportunity of the destruction of order and their bloody guilt is the reminder of their actions. :
“What hands are here! Ha, They pluck out mine eyes. / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red.” (II, ii, 77-81).
The strong imagery of blood in this scene is used to demonstrate Macbeth’s inability to remove the blood from his hands .After killing King Duncan the guilt is settling in, here, ‘All of Neptune’s ocean’ represents the degree of Macbeth’s guilt. When Macbeth mentions the permanent change in colour from green to red in the seas, this is indicating that the guilt within Macbeth is everlasting. If Macbeth had not killed Duncan and disrupted the order in which a noble could not overthrow a king he would not be sick with this guilt. But, due to the crime, Macbeth’s Guilt will always haunt him as the image of the crime will always remain in his consciousness, causing him to experience greater remorse and fear. Here, blood symbolises the guilt within Macbeth after murdering King Duncan, causing him to experience eternal fear for the crime he has committed. :
“And with thy bloody and invisible hand / Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond / Which keeps me pale!” (III, iii, 54-56).
Here represents Macbeth’s automatic obligimet to conceal his thoughts and feelings of guilt to prevent further suspicion among other characters. There seems to be an oxymoron here when ‘bloody and invisible hand’ is mentioned as it demonstrates a contrast between appearance versus reality by comparing guilt and innocence. This strong imagery of blood on Macbeth’s hand symbolises guilt by showing his level of cruelty. ‘Invisible hand’ remains the representation of hiding the thoughts and feelings of guilt. Like mentioned earlier blood imagery is used to emphasise guilt due to the cruelty of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s crimes as they attempt to hide their constant fear and remorse from their sinful crimes. Yet again this could have been all avoided if they had both just stayed in there place on the order and ignored there supposed prophecies:
Out damned spot, Out, I say! One. Two. Why then, ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who know it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (V, i, 37-42).
Lady Macbeth is shown here, sleepwalking in Macbeth’s castle. She sees blood that isn’t there. She senses her own guilt and realises the mistakes she has made but is incapable of rubbing the blood off her hands. She made herself out to be a soldier, sexless, but now she is afraid. She is in a dark place, alone. :
“Here’s the smell of the blood still. All / the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little / hand. O! O! O!” ( V, i, 53-55).
In this scene it shows that Lady Macbeth is incapable of washing away her ‘bloody guilt’ as she is plagued by remorse and resentment. She is forever cursed by the ‘smell of the blood’ and she is drowned in immense guilt due to being haunted by fear and horror. It’s no secret that Lady Macbeth played a huge part in the murder of Duncan as she was the one who encouraged and planned it, she was so determined and vile in the beginning yet now she is completely out of her mind with guilt. Her sleepwalking is unnatural in itself, it almost seems as if the disruption of order has not just affected the world around you but your own physical being. In act II scene ii Macbeth is seen right after murdering Duncan speaking with lady Macbeth. Macbeth has shown up with the bloody daggers and is covered in Duncan’s blood. He explains to Lady Macbeth that the deed is done but he immediately shows regret.:
Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ the olden time, Ere human statute purged the gentle weal; Ay, and since too, murders have been performed Too terrible for the ear. The [time] has been That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end. But now they rise again With twenty mortal murders on their crowns And push us from our stools. This is more strange Than such a murder is. (III, iv, 91-99).
Macbeth has seen the ghost of Banquo and loses his composure during his first formal banquet as King. He tries to rationalise his actions but even he must know the severity of his actions and that it is not natural at all to see ghosts. The blood imagery here again is representing the guilt from the unnatural acts committed as seen that Banquo’s bloody wounds make Macbeth feel guilty. In conclusion, the blood imagery that is riddled throughout Macbeth re enforces the theme of disorder as it represents the guilt that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth develop after killing duncan and disrupting the natural order.
Moreover Macbeth has many examples of imagery that references light and darkness. It Seems that Shakespeare uses light and dark to enhance the idea of good and evil. The theme of disorder can be reinforced by this imagery as in the play Macbeth allows darkness to entrap him and take over his life. Right as as the first murder occurs, light diminishes. It is gone until Duncan and Banquo are brought to justice. Ultimately, light and dark symbolize the classic battle between good and evil. Lady Macbeth quickly joins the ‘bad’ side once she finds out about the witches’ prophecies because she realises that her husband can get to the throne only through ‘dark’, evil and unnatural methods. Knowing that her husband is too kind-hearted to commit the treacherous murder, she calls upon evil herself. :
“Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, / Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark / To cry ‘Hold, hold!’ ” ( I, v, 57-61).
Lady Macbeth wants the power of evil, in the form of the night, to cover her actions. Night time is seen as a period of secrecy and deceit, during which evil can take place almost freely. In addition to this, just like Macbeth, she doesn’t want her conscience to stop her from carrying out her plan. This dark imagery comments on the theme of disorder as similarly mentioned earlier she knows that she must commit unnatural acts that will ultimately disrupt the order simply because she desires power for her and her husband and she needs “night”; she needs heaven and light to unnaturally disappear. After the murder of Duncan, and the proclamation of Macbeth as King of Scotland, there is a change in the atmosphere throughout the court and the country. This is due to the disruption of the natural order as a noble, Macbeth has killed the king, Duncan, ruining whatever fate had already planned. This is proven when Ross comments on the matter :
“By th’clock ‘tis day, / And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp, / Is’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame / That darkness does the face of earth entomb / When living light should kiss it?” (II, iv, 8-12).
Scotland should be in broad daylight, but it is still pitch dark outside. This shows how unnatural Duncan’s murder was. It seems that night has won over day once and for all. Evil has managed to overpower good. Macbeth, in this case evil, has taken the throne of Scotland away from King Duncan, representing good. Further on into the play Macbeth’s vile insanity intensifies and believes he must have Banquo and his sons killed as they were prophesied as future kings. Throughout the scene there is some references to the light and dark imagery:
“The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day.” (III, iii, 7).
This is said by the First Murderer who is expressing that there is still a bit of light, but it is setting. Since a unnatural, not supposed to occur murder is about to take place, something dark and evil, ‘night’ is about to fall. Evil is going to overcome good once again. There is a second use of light imagery when the Third Murderer states :
“Who did strike out the light?” (III, iii, 27).
In this case, the light represents the torch held by Banquo, as well as, metaphorically speaking, his life. By striking out the light, Banquo was killed and the torch went out making everything dark. Evil has triumphed against the good-natured Banquo. Another none predetermined murder has taken place further fueling the destruction of the natural order. Another example of light and dark imagery is in the scene of Lady Macbeth’s decline when the Gentlewoman expresses :
“She has light by / her continually.‘Tis her command.” (V, i, 24-25)
Earlier, Lady Macbeth wanted the powers of darkness and evil to aid her in her malicious intentions but now she is terrified of those same powers. She is afraid of darkness. She finally understands how terrible it was to commit such an unnatural and detrimental murder of Duncan which clearly helps demonstrate the theme of disorder as Lady Macbeth has gone mad, overcome by guilt and remorse. Overall the majority of Macbeth is filled with the struggle between light and darkness, the epic battle of good versus evil, and the theme of disorder is enforced by these recurring images.
Furthermore, Shakespeare also uses Animal and weather imagery in order to promote not only the after effects of the disruption of the natural order but also he uses weather to provide a setting of disorderly events to occur. To start off the play begins with a terrible storm which is associated with disturbances in nature, dark forces and also the rebellion against King Duncan :
“ ‘When shall we three meet again / In thunder, lightning, or in rain?’ / ‘When the hurly-burly’s done, / When the battle’s lost and won.’ ” (I, i, 1-4).
As said, the meeting may take place in thunder or lightning meaning the meeting will filled with disturbances. The reason behind this imagery is to convey the that theme of disorder is caused by not simply Macbeth but by a seed of power planted in Macbeth’s head by the witches. The witches’ goal is ultimately to cause disorder to take place, they wish for chaos to make its way to the top all the way from the bottom. The night after Macbeth kills Duncan many unnatural events have occured, this is due to the natural order that has been disrupted. Ross is speaking with an Old Man, they are discussing the specifics of the occurrences. :
“A falcon, tow’ ring in her pride of place, / Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.” (II, iv, 15-16)).
As stated, an ‘a mousing owl’ has killed a strong; more powerful falcon. This scenario is completely unnatural and is a clear example of the effect of Macbeth killing Duncan as well as the disorder he has caused. Ross also notes that Duncan’s beautiful and intelligent horses have :
“Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, / Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would / Make war with mankind.” (II, iv, 20-22).
Nature has rebelled against the unnaturalness of killing a king. The Old Man replies
‘Tis said they eat each / other” (II, iv, 23-24).
These noble horses have become cannibals, which obviously is extremely unnatural. These strange events are not just unnatural in themselves but they also represent the unnaturalness of King Duncan’s murder.
Lastly, and arguably most importantly at the end of the first act the three witches say something that generates an idea that recurs several times throughout Macbeth :
“Fair is foul and foul is fair; / Hover through the fog and filthy air.” (I, i, 12-13).
The meaning of foul here is bad or evil, and fair means good. To hover means to fly. So a literal translation of this statement could be ‘Good is evil and evil is good/Fly through the fog and dirty air.’ The witches’ statement foreshadows what is to come in the play. People who are seen as good will be turned to evil (like Macbeth) and situations that are seen as good will turn out badly (like the witches’ prophecies for Macbeth). This imagery idea provides insight on the theme of disorder because Macbeth was not always enticed by such evil ideals, not until the witches provided the prophecy that he would become king which in turn planted the idea of disrupting the natural order by killing King Duncan. After hearing the witches’ prophecy Lady Macbeth becomes riddled with the idea of power and comes up with the plan to kill Duncan. :
“Look like th’ innocent / flower; / But be the serpent under’t.” ( I, vi, 76-78).
This is stated just before King Duncan’s arrival at their castle. Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to look fair in order to hide his foul natural intentions as he is planning on soon disrupting the natural order by killing Duncan. After Macbeth becomes king he starts to suffer from sleeplessness and bad dreams due to his guilt and fear from disrupting the natural order. These stresses are shown in his appearance as his wife pleads him to get himself together and stop acting so obviously suspicous. :
“Come on, gentle my lord, / Sleek o’er your rugged looks. / Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.” (III, ii, 30-33).
Despite her pleads Macbeth denies the necessity of putting a fair face on his foul thoughts because he has already arranged for the murder of Banquo, meaning he no longer must fear anyone taking his crown. This imagery can be depicted as an effect due to the disorder as Macbeth is riddled with not only guilt but also fear provided by the killing of Duncan. Not to long after Duncan’s sons flea Macduff finds Malcolm and asks for his support in a war against Macbeth, but Malcolm is very cautious, because for all Malcolm knows, Macduff could be prepared to double cross him. But, after Malcolm expresses his suspicions he states :
“Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell; / Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, / Yet grace must still look so” (4.3.22-24).
The meaning behind this quotation is that although a fair appearance may hide a foul heart, and one who looks like an angel may be a devil that does not mean that every angel is a devil. As well as although the foul want to look fair, the fair will still look fair, and it remains unfair to the fair to assume the fair of being foul. Although quite confusing Malcolm makes a revolutionary revelation. Macbeth was considered a hero in the beginning of Macbeth as he saved not only Scotland but also King Duncan, who was a great friend. There was no reason to assume that he was behind the murder because he seemed fair but underneath that exterior lies a foul power hungry heart. This fair and foul imagery represents the theme of disorder as it shows that the ones least expected have become the most expected; they have been switched around. Which mirrors how the natural order has been also switched around as chaos has made make its way to the top, by of course Macbeth, the least expected.
Overall, imagery such as blood, light/dark, animals/weather and fair/foul all contribute to the theme of disorder. Blood imagery represents the guilt felt by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth for their faults of killing Duncan and starting the cycle of unnatural events to occur. Light/dark imagery showcases the good and evil of Macbeth, it represents that anytime something that has the potential to disrupt or fracture the natural order night and darkness occurs while light represents resolution and proper order. The animal and weather imagery is used to show the after effects to nature due to the disorder created by Macbeth. And lastly fair/foul foreshadows and describes people who are seen as good will be turned to evil (like Macbeth) as well as situations that are seen as good will turn out badly which overall symbolizes the events that cause the disorder itself. To come to an end it is easy to recognize the faults of the characters in Macbeth and understand the travesty of the actions and with saying that one thing learned from reading Macbeth is that it remains vital to “Take preventive action before things happen. Establish order before disorder has begun.” (Laozi).