How Does Shakespeare Present Evil In Macbeth

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William Shakespeare's Macbeth In a practical sense, we are able to see more clearly in daylight, and so we are also less fearful. When night comes, our sense of sight is restricted and we are less able to deal with the unexpected. Also, in Western culture we have come to associate dark with evil and light with goodness. So Shakespeare uses this as one of his major images to enhance the horror of the evil deeds carried out by the Macbeths. Duncan is killed at night. Banquo is murdered as he rides out into the twilight, just before the banquet. Repeatedly Shakespeare makes the point that it is night, a time when dark and evil deeds may be considered and carried out. Night is like a cloak to hide from others the evil that is being plotted.…show more content…
They seem to live in a twilight world where light does not penetrate. In the early part of the play, as the couple appear to be successful in their ambitions, night predominates as evil struggles with good. The climax is reached when we see Lady Macbeth sleepwalking, a candle constantly by her side. She is mentally disturbed, cut off from humanity, obsessed with the evil the two committed. In the same way, Macbeth also uses imagery related to light and darkness as the play nears its end and the re-establishment of good becomes inevitable. This quotation serves as a good example: "Out, out, brief candle! / Life's but a walking shadow..." (Act V, scene v, lines 4-23) - surely one of the most world-weary speeches in all Shakespeare! So although so much of the play takes place in darkness, it ends in the light of day as Birnam Wood is seen to move towards Macbeth's castle. The light of goodness is re-established by the end of the play as the new king is
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