Shakespeare's Macbeth

Shakespeare’s Macbeth explores the contrast between the world of the natural and the unnatural through the story of the soldier Macbeth, who descended from a brave man into a tyrant after his unwarranted ascension to the throne as the result of a most unnatural deed, this deed being the regicide of the king, Duncan. By the audience of the time, this is an act considered to be unholy and one that would case a complete disruption of the natural world. They believed in a rigid social hierarchy, known as the Chain of Being, where the king is second only to God. Thus for Macbeth to murder the king is an utterly unnatural deed, as he is the king’s subordinate. Macbeth commits a number of atrocities during his reign of terror, and their consequences are similar to those of the initial murder. Throughout the play, Shakespeare argues that unnatural deeds do indeed breed unnatural troubles, through the use of motifs, imagery, and language structure.

Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare uses recurring images that act to convey the play’s central ideas, and to create atmosphere and tension. The opening of the play sees three witches who are plotting the time of their arrival with Macbeth. The presence of the witches is quite unnatural, and this is represented by the dark, stormy setting, this being symbolic of the disturbance of the natural world. This scene immediately sets the mood for the entire play. The presence of witches, who were believed to be servants of the devil and were feared by the Elizabethan people, suggests that the play will have themes of darkness and evil.

Shakespeare accompanies the act as well as the thought of murdering king Duncan with images of evil. This serves to highlight the moral repugnance of the act. One of the first instances of this is in Act I Scene V, when Lady Macbeth first manifests her plan to kill the king. Her soliloquy is accompanied with a dark sense of evil and foreboding, and frightening images of “murdering ministers” and “thick night”. On his way to the king’s chamber, Macbeth sees the image of a dagger which appears three times. The dagger is symbolic imagery of the dishonour of the murder. Macbeth understands that it is the “bloody business which informs thus to [his] eyes”, and through this we can clearly see Shakespeares argument that unnatural deeds bring about unnatural happenings. The extent of the horror of the crime is further accentuated throughout the soliloquy, as Macbeth articulates that “nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse / The curtain’d sleep”. In this soliloquy there are further references to