Theme Of Darkness In Macbeth
After King Duncan is murdered by macbeth, we learn from the Old Man and Ross that some strange and "unnatural" things have been going on. Even though it's the middle of the day, the "dark night strangles the traveling lamp," which literally means that darkness fills the sky and chokes out the sun, i.e. an eclipse. Could this be another allusion to the way the king's life has been extinguished (kings are often associated with the sun's power) and his power usurped by "darkness" (macbeth)?
Probably. And in this case, nature itself becomes a symbol for the political struggle. That makes sense, if you think that kingship in the play is shown to be part of the natural order, something handed down from God. (See our "Power" theme for more about …show more content…
Did the witches conjure it up? Is it a product of Macbeth's imagination? Is Macbeth being tempted to follow or warned not to pursue the hallucination? Given what happens later, we're tempted to say that it's Macbeth's own vision, an externalization of his guilt. As another instance of the language that camouflages evil may serve any of the frequent euphemisms by means of which macbeth and his lady delude themselves as to the true nature of their thoughts and deeds. When Macbeth first hears that he's been named the Thane of Cawdor, he asks Angus why he is being dressed in "borrowed robes". Macbeth doesn't literally mean that he's going to wear the old thane's hand-me-down clothing. Here, "robes" is a metaphor for the title (Thane of Cawdor) that Macbeth doesn't think belongs to him. And later, Angus says that Macbeth's kingly "title" is ill-fitting and hangs on him rather loosely, "like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish …show more content…
To an age like ours, deeply concerned with the metaphysics of guilt, the discrimination of personality, waning relevance of our traditional criteria for civilization, macbeth offers a peculiarly revealing image of human nature and experience. It is one of the few masterpieces in English whose protagonist grows in depravity without diminishing our pity for him, so that even when he stands before us unmistakably as a “butcher”, we do not condescend to him, but painfully share his
Probably. And in this case, nature itself becomes a symbol for the political struggle. That makes sense, if you think that kingship in the play is shown to be part of the natural order, something handed down from God. (See our "Power" theme for more about …show more content…
Did the witches conjure it up? Is it a product of Macbeth's imagination? Is Macbeth being tempted to follow or warned not to pursue the hallucination? Given what happens later, we're tempted to say that it's Macbeth's own vision, an externalization of his guilt. As another instance of the language that camouflages evil may serve any of the frequent euphemisms by means of which macbeth and his lady delude themselves as to the true nature of their thoughts and deeds. When Macbeth first hears that he's been named the Thane of Cawdor, he asks Angus why he is being dressed in "borrowed robes". Macbeth doesn't literally mean that he's going to wear the old thane's hand-me-down clothing. Here, "robes" is a metaphor for the title (Thane of Cawdor) that Macbeth doesn't think belongs to him. And later, Angus says that Macbeth's kingly "title" is ill-fitting and hangs on him rather loosely, "like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish …show more content…
To an age like ours, deeply concerned with the metaphysics of guilt, the discrimination of personality, waning relevance of our traditional criteria for civilization, macbeth offers a peculiarly revealing image of human nature and experience. It is one of the few masterpieces in English whose protagonist grows in depravity without diminishing our pity for him, so that even when he stands before us unmistakably as a “butcher”, we do not condescend to him, but painfully share his