Commenting on the rich, vivid and varied imagery used by Shakespeare in ‘Macbeth’, A.C. Bradley says, “The vividness, magnitude and violence of the imagery…are characteristic of Macbeth almost throughout.” Indeed, from the very beginning till the end there are several symbols, similes and images invoked by the dramatist to lend to the play the characteristic horror, terror and darkness of human soul. Some of the recurring images in ‘Macbeth’ are those of clothes too big for Macbeth, creating the impression that he is a comic figure; the image of blood, bloody dagger and bloody hands; the image of sounds like thunder and its echo, the image of the speeding horses and images created with the help of animals, birds, reptiles; as well as the image of darkness and blackness all around.
The play opens with a sound of thunder in which the three witches appear, at a deserted place. The sound of thunder is heard several times throughout the play, for example, when the witches appear again there is the sound and echo of thunder, the apparations appear with thunder. There is the thunder and lightning even at night when the deed of murdering Duncan is done. Associated with the sound of the thunder there are the voices of wailing and crying people over the dark deeds of Macbeth. For example, Macduff reports:
… each new morn
New windows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds.
My next post will be about the imagery of clothes.
The play opens with a sound of thunder in which the three witches appear, at a deserted place. The sound of thunder is heard several times throughout the play, for example, when the witches appear again there is the sound and echo of thunder, the apparations appear with thunder. There is the thunder and lightning even at night when the deed of murdering Duncan is done. Associated with the sound of the thunder there are the voices of wailing and crying people over the dark deeds of Macbeth. For example, Macduff reports:
… each new morn
New windows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds.
My next post will be about the imagery of clothes.
3 comments:
There's also the theme of manliness. Lady MacBeth of course asks that her womanliness be shed. She goads MacBeth into the murder on the issue of manliness. And, though it's also a comic comment that plays on the fact that boys played the parts of women, there's the observation that the witches have beards, suggesting there's something manly about them. Do we have here a tragedy of manliness?
Thank you for your valuable comments. I think manliness is also shown in anther aspect also that it is Macbeth, who is reluctant all the while to commit the murder, and it is Lady Macbeth who is always coaxing him to do the same.
Exactly. In my last reading of MacBeth, I really began to notice how often the idea of manliness is repeated. Repetition creates meaning in a text, after all.
Post a Comment