The Use of Imagery in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

How Imagery and Macbeth Go Together An ability to form mental images of things or events is called Imagery. William Shakespeare used a lot of imagery in his plays to help connect his readers and audience members to the characters. In one of Shakespeare’s famous plays “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Imagery involved itself in every way and played a big role; that depicted high emotions between the play and characters; Stimulating one in a visual, auditory and organic way. Visual Imagery is a flow of thoughts one can see, and a way of viewing an inner idea, feeling or interpretation. In the play, three witches brewed abnormal ingredients in a cauldron; with one ingredient being a “Finger of birth-strangled babe” (IV.i.30). They needed the ingredient to make sure the charm they made turned out good and ready for Macbeth to drink, in order for him to see the apparitions. The quote fit imagery well because anyone can automatically visualize the finger of a newborn baby and feel uncomfortable with such horrific thought. Auditory Imagery is the subjective experience of hearing in the absence of auditory stimulation. As the reign of terror let loose in Scotland by Macbeth, Macduff expressed his anguish of emotions by stating “new widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows” (IV.iii.5). Due to all the killing Macbeth had done, many women lost their husbands and children lost their fathers; leaving them to be widows and orphans. The auditory image is how one can hear the cries of the widows and orphans and feel a deep sense of sorrow. Organic Imagery concentrates on recreating internal sensations like hunger, thirst, fear, or fatigue. After Macbeth deeply pondered about what he had done to Duncan he said “Our fears in Banquo stick deep” (III.i.39). Macbeth started to fear that Banquo might pose a threat to him. Thinking that he could also be murdered, the internal image Macbeth projected was pure fear, because he kept visualizing paranoid thoughts about what might happen to him by the hands of Banquo. Going back to the previously stated, Imagery plays a big role in developing dramatic purposes; provoking readers and audiences’ response to the play. If the famous playwright William Shakespeare was not as close with Imagery, and did not experiment with specific types like visual, auditory and organic, “The Tragedy of Macbeth” would probably have not been an acceptable dramatic play.