Shakespeare Macbeth

Shakespeare Macbeth

Shakespeare's carefully crafted atmosphere contributes to the feel of the play from the very beginning. Before the first line of dialogue is ever spoken, he introduces the prevailing motif of thunder and lightning storms. It seems as if the environment is foreshadowing the hurricane of dissension and violence to come. This is only one of the themes that support the evil saturating the play. There are a number of references to animals - cats, toads, dogs, and birds of prey - ominous creatures that often compliment the mood of the scene they appear in. Most of the action and important events take place during the night in the cover of the darkness, casting a sinister and threatening shadow over the entire play.

In the short first scene, three clairvoyant witches are introduced. In Shakespeare's time, witchcraft was perceived as evil and feared throughout Europe. Witches and their deeds were seen as disruptive to the natural order of society and religious faith. The three witches in the story do not waver from the stereotypical archetypes of Shakespeare's time. The three witches are often called the Weird Sisters, the word weird being derived from the Anglo-Saxon word wyrd, meaning fate. They represent destiny and serve as catalysts, demonstrating Shakespeare's theme that men are easily tempted into evil and wrong-doing. The witches are not the only supernatural presence; Macbeth has visions of a bloody dagger before his first murder and is later haunted by Banquo's ghost. Whether or not the apparitions are in Macbeth's imagination or not is up for debate. In any case, these dashes of the supernatural give the play an eerie, unruly aura.

One of the most poignant forces of evil in the beginning of the play is Lady Macbeth. She taunts her husband out of his cowardice (a cowardice that is quite warranted) and encourages him to murder the King without being certain that his death will bring any good fortune upon the couple at all. It is obvious at this point that under her noble robes, Lady Macbeth hides a heart tainted by greed and ruthlessness. It could be suggested that if it were not for his Lady, Macbeth's reflexive fear may have held him back from murdering King Duncan and thus his fate and the fate of those around him would be quite different indeed.

With his morality declining, Macbeth has less and less to hold him ...