This makes dramatic impact within the audience increase and allows them to ponder what happened as grotesquely as they wish. The play is set in darkness which brings along a sense of cruelty, unnatural and evil; all three feelings that would naturally evoke fear. Shakespeare made this play unusual in a variety of ways. Lady Macbeth plays a dominant role throughout the play which is controversial as this was first shown in an era where women weren’t even allowed on the stage. This would cause drama as the viewers would think that this was awkward and would constantly be expecting something bad to occur.
However, the most incredible of all these passages is found in Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 164-177, where Macbeth contemplates his inner thoughts to himself. Here, Macbeth speaks to time, providing the audience with a more in depth image of its importance. Also, Macbeth’s diction is short and fierce, further pushing the play’s theme of insanity slowly taking over Macbeth’s mind. Lastly, the passage faultlessly illustrates Macbeth’s fatal flaw of ambition slowly ruining his inner being. With these things taken into account, it will be effortless for one to show just how lovely this passage is
Using locations such as the heath, creates a sense of isolation and secrecy, and highlights the fact that the witches are separated from the rest of the characters and society. This is a common association with witches, who in Elizabethan times were regarded as social outcasts. Furthermore, the themes of isolation and loneliness that are emphasised here are key elements that conform to the gothic genre. In addition, the witches are surrounded by “thunder and lightning”, which produces a dark and violent mood at the beginning of the play. Shakespeare has employed pathetic fallacy, as the wild weather foreshadows the unnatural events that are going to occur.
Throughout Scene 1-4 Macbeth is portrayed as a heroic and valiant man, however with sly and manipulative characteristics brought out by the Witches. The use of structure and language allows Shakespeare to present both Macbeths flaws and weaknesses to the audience. Structurally scene 1 opens with the witches gathered together reciting plans about meeting Macbeth, establishing an occult malevolence which permeates the play. The choice of starting with the witches instantly creates a mood of terror and unearthly evil, setting an unnatural and deceptive atmosphere. The third witch says, ‘There to meet Macbeth’, this intertwining of Macbeth reflects the relationship which will be made between him and the witches, and the evil which is going to be involved in Macbeth’s life.
Miller creates a situation of irony in this chapter with the arrest of Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor. These characters are the most innocent in the play, yet are accused of witchcraft by two of the most arrogant, untrustworthy people, Thomas Putnam and Abigail Williams. He also makes the audience feel a sense of helplessness as the play unfolds and how characters seem bound by the law but also the superstition and this is one of the main points that Miller is trying to get across. Laws should not control you if they are corrupt. In this scene we see how desperate Abigail has become and how far she will go to poses John Proctor.
Suspense in Macbeth “Round about the cauldron go: In the poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone days and night has thirty-one sweltered venom sleeping go to, boil thou first i’th’ charmed pot!”1 Shakespeare uses a lot of suspense and tension in his plays to create a specific mood or tone like evil, fear, and terror. In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, many literary devices were portrayed but a very important one that played a key role would be suspense. The scenes that best create suspense, and tension in Macbeth would be the following events with the Witches presence, Duncan’s death, and Banquo’s death. From the very beginning of the play, suspense was already introduced.
Clearly Macbeth is a play around fear as oppose to ambition since Macbeth’s actions are driven by his fear of rejection of his wife, loss of power, and betrayal. When people are rejected it can cause them to be very self-cautious and cause them to think about things such as their character, and whether or not they can be appreciated or loved (Amodeo). When Macbeth's masculinity is put into question, he is influenced to rethink his self-worth. Lady Macbeth challenges the masculinity of Macbeth and says to him “When you durst do it, then you were a man; | And, to be more than what you were, you would | Be so much more the man” (I.xii.49-51). Macbeth believes that killing the King while he sleeps is a cowardice action to commit, however Lady Macbeth convinces him that by killing Duncan and receiving kingship, he will be more of a man.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth the relationship between cruelty and masculinity is contrary to most other works of art. This play portrays women to be manipulative, violent, and evil. Macbeth, the play, breaks away from the stereotype that men are the sinister ones and shows that evil can, and does, come in many different forms. Lady Macbeth is the greatest evil in the play and is the mastermind behind all of Macbeth’s evil deeds. While Macbeth does the actual murdering, his actions and thoughts imply that he does not really want to kill Duncan or Banquo.
Without a doubt, guilt plays a big role in Macbeth by Shakespeare. It gives motivation for characters to do uncommon things. It forces the character to dwell on the situation and rethink their actions. It removes any and all sense of judgment. While looking at that dark inner feeling that motivates and haunts an individual in reality and even in dreams, guilt, a huge aspect of Shakespeare's writing style will forever shun readers for many centuries to
Performance Evaluation “Crime and Punishment” “Crime and Punishment” a new adaption by Chris Hannan, based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and directed by Dominic Hill, is the story of a man named Rodion Romnovich Raskolnikov who commits a murder on an old woman and a young girl and how he has to live with the consequences and guilt of his actions. The theatre arts were one of the most prominent aspects in this production of “Crime and Punishment” and they were used successfully to enhance the themes of guilt and conscience to create a thought-provoking and entertaining piece of theatre. Lighting was the theatre art that was predominantly shown throughout. However, it was obvious that the sound and costume also played a major role in the success of the themes. The murder scene was the major turning point in the play and the lighting certainly enhanced the scene as a whole.