Imagery in Macbeth Relating to the Main Theme

880 Words4 Pages
In the play Macbeth, the main theme is the corruption of power through unchecked ambition. Macbeth is a faithful soldier and a good man, until three witches tell him of his future. Upon telling his wife the grand news, she devises a scheme where Macbeth kills the king in order to make his future the present. Macbeth is wary at first, and often talks of his guilt and soul before the murder, but, in order to please his wife, and feed his desire to become king, he murders the poor king in his sleep. He then blames two guards for the deed and becomes king of Scotland. Throughout the course of this play, Macbeth murders his best friend, Banquo, Macduffs entire family, and plots to kill more so he may keep his title. He becomes crazy with power and rants about the witches’ predictions daily. He becomes, in his eyes, immortal. On the other hand, his wife becomes so guilty for their deed she begins to sleepwalk and talk of their crime in the night. She becomes depressed and soon after kills herself. Then Macbeth is murdered by Macduff and many others who rebelled against the crazy king. The imagery in Macbeth used to connect with the main theme are light and darkness, blood, and sleep.
The image of light and darkness are used to highlight good and evil. When Lady Macbeth was attempting to conjure up the courage to go on with the murder, she asks darkness to make her like a man in order to carry out the deed. She is quoted saying “Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold!'” The use of darkness in this scene tells the reader just how desperate she is to become Queen. She would go as far as to ask evil to fill her soul with hate and take her remorse in order to gain power. Also, when Macbeth first contemplates murdering Duncan before his

More about Imagery in Macbeth Relating to the Main Theme

Open Document