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Light and Darkness in Macbeth - College Papers

Light and Darkness in Macbeth

Light and Darkness

Macbeth is full of imagery of light and darkness. From the first, the cover of night is invoked whenever anything terrible is going to happen. Lady Macbeth, for example, asks "thick night" to come with the "smoke of hell," so her knife might not see the wound it makes in the peacefully sleeping King (1.5.3). The literal darkness Lady Macbeth calls for seems to correspond to the evil or "dark" act she plans to commit.

When Lady Macbeth calls for the murderous spirits to prevent "heaven" from "peep[ing] through the blanket of the dark to cry 'Hold, Hold!'" she implies that light (here associated with God, heaven, and goodness) offers protection from evil and is the ...

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by proclaiming "out, out brief candle" (5.5.3). By now, the candle's flame has become a metaphor for her short life and sudden death. Similarly, Banquo's torchlight (the one that illuminates him just enough so his murderers can see what they're doing) is also snuffed out the moment he's killed (3.3.5). Both incidents recall an event from the evening King Duncan is murdered – Lennox reports that the fire in his chimney was mysteriously "blown" out (2.3.3).

Nature in Turmoil and Rebellion

After King Duncan is murdered by Macbeth, we learn from the Old Man and Ross that some strange and "unnatural" things have been going on. Even though it's the middle of the day, the "dark night strangles the traveling lamp," which literally means that darkness fills the sky and chokes out the sun (2.4.1). Could this be another allusion to the way the king's life has been extinguished (kings are often associated with the sun's power) and his power usurped by "darkness" (Macbeth)? This ...

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Light and Darkness in Macbeth. (2011, May 9). Retrieved May 6, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Light-and-Darkness-in-Macbeth/99014

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 5/9/2011 07:03:19 PM
Submitted By: shaady
Category: Shakespeare
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 568
Pages: 3

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