The Use Of Imagery In Shekespeares' Macbeth

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May 4, 2010 Imagery in Macbeth Shakespeare, whose work lasted for four hundred years, is the most famous playwright in the world. One of the most important tools in his play is imagery. His work “Macbeth” is a famous play about a regicide and its outcome. In the play, Shakespeare uses the power of imagery to emphasize the evil deed and black desires inside Macbeth, which causes his murdering and death. Similar to other Shakespeare’s plays, each image has at least one dramatic purpose and contains an important symbol or theme that runs throughout the entire play. In “Macbeth”, Shakespeare portrays the element of imagery to promote the theme of evil. In “Macbeth”, Shakespeare uses different types of imagery to promote the theme of evil. To begin with, the first category of imagery used is animal imagery. The author uses symbolic birds, which appear often throughout the whole play, to present the evil. One example is Macbeth says, “Light thickens, and the crow/ Makes wing to the rooky wood” (Mac.3.2.55-56). The image of the “crow” appears black, which represents evil. In nature, because crows have a large population, they attack the weakest ones and eat them for food. That is why a group of crows is called a “murder”. This fact shows the nature of Macbeth is to attack and murder friends around him. The image of raven also appears in the play which symbolizes evil and death: “The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan” (Mac.1.5.39-40). The evil refers to the personality of Lady Macbeth due to her intention of killing the King Duncan. The most important image of symbolic birds is “mouing owl” refers to the evil attire of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth during the murder of Duncan (Mac.2.4.15). The image of “a falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, / [Is] by a mousing owl hawked at and killed” strongly suggests that Macbeth and his wife
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