Light, Darkness, and the Great Chain of Being Depicted in Shakespeare's Macbeth

In the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare, light and dark imagery is used throughout the story in order to show the difference and symbolism between good and evil. Light represents innocence, truth and purity while darkness is used to represent cruelty, guilt and corruption. Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare correlates the ideas of both lightness and darkness to portray life and death. Ultimately, they represent good and evil. Shakespeare uses these two themes to drive the plot and story forward in order to create conflict, twists and symbolism.

“The prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (Shakespeare 1.4.48-53). Since the King is still alive, Macbeth decides to either give up or try to become king. “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly. If the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success; that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here, but here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come” (Shakespeare 1.7.1-25). Macbeth knows that killing the king is wrong but he is still contemplating on killing him just to become

The use of juxtaposition between starlight and darkness is especially striking in this quotation as it can be linked to the idea of good and evil. This symbolizes the two moral characters of Macbeth, the light being the moral protagonist and the dark being the immoral antagonist. The duplicity also highlights the metamorphosis of Macbeth from good to evil.

This imagery is typical in a Shakespearean tragedy, where a dark atmosphere is important in developing character and understanding the play. Darkness is used in both a natural and metaphorical sense and symbolizes many things such as death, obfuscation, and evil. Through the use of the mysterious witches, and the natural darkness of night, Shakespeare effectively creates a dramatic atmosphere for the play. The witches are seen by Banquo and Macbeth to be unnatural and evil. Banquo describes them, “wither'd and so wild in their attire,That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth” (A1, S3). These witches appear in darkness at the beginning of the play and Macbeth calls the day, “so foul and fair a day I have not seen” (A1, S3). This is the atmosphere in which the “unnatural” witches tell of a prophecy which goes against the natural laws of the world. Some very key scenes where great evil is done, happen under the cover of night, in a naturally dark environment. It is dark when Macbeth has the vision of a dagger, Duncan and Banquo are both murdered under cover of darkness, and Lady Macbeth sleep walks in the middle of the night even though she has a fear of darkness. Darkness is used to cover up guilty crimes, and to accentuate the sense of danger. Duncan is first murdered while he sleeps. Macbeth was hesitant to do this, until Lady Macbeth presented a way in which it could be done, and blamed on someone else. Macbeth murders Duncan in the middle of the

When there is light, there is shadow. This is true with William Shakespeares Macbeth as the main character of the same name is slowly transformed into a malevolent person that can only be stopped by the “light” of another character, Macduff.

This vividly illustrates the imagery used in MACBETH and is interpreted to mean that night equals evil, as does Hell, which is not necessarily correct. This also implies that darkness is necessary for the carrying out of Duncan's murder. Meaning the blanket that covers him affords no protection in the darkness against the evil deed and the cry envisions the imaginary voice which MACBETH hears as he 'murders Sleep'. This encompasses the central action of the play, murder.

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth evil is conveyed in many ways through characters, themes and settings. Many themes are explored in detail contributing hugely to the sense of evil with characters being used along with these themes to create evil within the characters. These themes and characters are shown in different settings at different times consequently affecting the mood and atmosphere of the play.

Darkness imagery is a very good tool for arousing the emotions of the audience. It enables people to create a mental picture of what they are reading. For example, Duncan and Macbeth were talking when Macbeth says aside, "Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires." When words like "black" and "desire" are put in that context it creates many horrible mental pictures about murders and fights which arouses peoples emotions. Ross is later talking with an old man when he states "By the clock `tis day, and yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp." In other words; although, the sun should be out, something is blocking the light. This example of darkness imagery creates an eerie feeling in the reader because it is very abnormal for the sun to be blocked. To help this example of imagery, the sun can also symbolize a monarch or king. Another case of darkness imagery happens when Lady Macbeth and a messenger are talking and Lady Macbeth states, "That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry, 'Hold, hold!'" It creates an sensation of terror in the reader because of the something that is unknown. With night covering the earth like a blanket, no one knows what might happen. Also, Lady Macbeth seems to explain that her attack will be blind. She

When there is light, there is shadow. This is true with William Shakespeares Macbeth as the main character of the same name is slowly transformed into a malevolent person that can only be stopped by the “light” of another character, Macduff. Macbeth and Macduff rely on each other as opposing forces in the play but cannot coexist because of the parallels between them. The surge of power to Macbeth through evil turmoil gives purpose and presence to Macduff’s character. Macduff and Macbeth’s characters are foils of each other representing two parallels of initially similar characters. Only one of the characters can survive because of the hatred created by the contrast between the two. Therefore, one will always persevere over the other.

Is the lightness and darkness combination, implemented by Shakespeare in the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, foreshadowing Macbeth’s downfall? As many can identify conspicuous examples of light and darkness through characterization, the play has many hidden foreshadowing signifiers. Although many overlook the imagery created through the light and darkness in Macbeth, Shakespeare places these examples strategically to make readers pay close attention to particular parts in the play. A passageway was created for Macbeth’s downfall not only through the characters Shakespeare has created such as Lady Macbeth and the witches, but also through nature.

of the light or dark. "The King comes here tonight", this is said by a

Fair is foul and foul is fair, fate and free will, and light and darkness – Shakespeare’s Macbeth is full of contradictory themes. Perhaps the most prevalent, however, is the corruption of the main characters through metaphorical “darkness.” Throughout the play, the themes of light and darkness represent many different things. Whether literal or metaphorical, Shakespeare introduces these elements to add not only a component of imagery to the play, but also insight to the true nature of a character. In Macbeth, The mechanisms of light and dark represent inner turmoil of the characters and the moral battle with which each character struggles.

Good and evil are symbolized by light and darkness in the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. When there is peace and good, Shakespeare mentions light; whether if it is the sun shining brightly or merely a candle giving light. On the other hand, when there is evil and disorder, he mentions darkness; a shadow or a horrible thunderstorm. Witches are known for evil, chaos, and conflict. Since Witches are known to be evil, whenever they appear, the weather is usually horrible. Shakespeare utilizes light and darkness in order to portray when good or evil will take place.

Macbeth has no shortage of darkness, and it does a good job making the reader feel creeped out. However, that's not darkness’ only purpose in the play. In the beginning, a noble thane named Macbeth starts out a hero when he defeats an enemy in battle. Once he falls into the trap of his own toxic ambition, though, things go downhill. He turns away from the light- in other words, loyalty to his king- and lets darkness and evil lead him to become the hated tyrant of Scotland. Throughout the storyline, darkness and light are used as imagery to represent bad events that are about to happen, death and life, and the contrast between good and evil. Its purposes play a key role in developing the plot and the characters.

As aforementioned the symbolism in the play includes that of both light and darkness. Macbeth's insomnia resulting from the pressing guilt and Lady Macbeth's nocturnal excursions while asleep are examples. Macbeth was unable to hide in the dark from the horrors of his deeds and he was haunted by the fear of discovery. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, was afraid of the dark and was using the light in an attempt to dispel her demons.