Thursday, November 13, 2008
Imagery in the Scottish Play
I think Shakespeare's use of symbols and imagery in macbeth is really cool. Blood is everywhere, and for the most part it seems to be a physical manifestation of guilt. For example, Lady Macbeth has her sleep walking episodes where she tries to wash the blood off. Macbeth sees a bloody Banquo, as well as a bloody child apparition, a bloody knife, and just constantly talks about delving deeper in to blood which is murder and therefore guilt as well. Lady Macbeth's asks for her blood to be thickened, perhaps so she cannot feel the guilt of her actions, but we know that doesn't happen. There is also a lot of clothing related images regarding king ship. The term borrowed robes are referred to often. When Macbeth is told he is Thane of Cawdor, he says why do you dress me in the borrowed robes. When he becomes king, there is mention of the clothes not fitting right. And towards the end of the play, if I remember correctly Macduff calls his clothing stolen. The clothing is obviously representative of the position of kingship and other nobility. I liked how it was consistently referenced throughout the play.
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5 comments:
I totally agree that the copious amount of blood in Macbeth is pretty sweet. It seems to “stain” almost every aspect of the play (sad attempt to make a joke). However, I never noticed the different references to clothing, and now that you point it out, I can’t believe I didn’t see it in the first place. It is a great symbol throughout the play. It could also be some sort of reference to what Professor Britland was talking about a long time ago (like the first week of classes) having to do with the actors using/dressing up in clothing passed down from royalty and how some people had a problem with that. Like the actors, this could kind of parallel how Macbeth is not the rightful owner of the different positions he is passing through and is only getting the different “robes” of the those people through murder and death. And obviously, people had a problem with that.
I would also agree with you here. Shakespeare uses a lot of imagery in all his plays, especially animal imagery. In Macbeth, when Macbeth commits murder and kills Duncan, Lady Macbeth talks about hearing an owl. In my mind, the owl is a very strange bird that is fairly mysterious. It's a good parallel with Macbeth's character. He has committed murder, an evil act, and the owl is seems to be an evil, spooky image. It's something to think about, and just a splinter of all the animal imagery that can be found in this play and others. It's truly amazing to see how many tactics Shakespeare uses to convey every last detail of a story. In a way, I think every part of Shakespeare's play serves a purpose, in other words, he does not seem to waste any words.
I never noticed the clothing imagery either. It does seem fitting that Shakespeare would use a conflict from his time in his play. But concerning the other image of blood, blood is a physical manifestation of guilt. The best example of this is when Duncan’s guards are blamed for his death and immediately killed solely because they have blood on them. There is irony in that lady Macbeth attempts to clean her hands at the end of the play as she says “A little water clears us of this deed” (II.II.66) much earlier in the play. Moving on to animals, birds are brought up repeatedly in act four, scene two where Lady Macduff is talking to her son. She references wrens fighting owls to protect their young. I believe in this case Macbeth is an owl especially because an owl was heard when he killed Duncan. Macduff’s son is called a “poor bird” adding to the significance of this illusion.
I think that this is a very interesting point. Although the use of blood does not seem to be very original to me, the use of clothing as a symbol is not something that I have ever thought of. I have now read Macbeth three times, and the idea of the borrowed robes has never really struck me as symbolic. It seems like a valid point that that “robes” would represent the idea of nobility. I feel that the idea of wearing clothes is very similar to the idea of wearing a title and often we use the same words to describe both. One example is the term “fitting”. If people use names or titles for others, it is often because those terms fit who the person is, just as an article of clothing would fit a particular body shape. It is very interesting to view the idea of clothing in Macbeth as such because the titles are not always “fitting” and may be borrowed as clothes can be from friends, or stolen as clothes can be from enemies.
The blood represented in Macbeth, along with other symbols such as night, is used to create the proper atmosphere for the play. The blood is constantly referenced to let the audience know just how bloody and terrible Macbeth's rise to the thrown was, and also so because blood is creepy and reading it so often and used in so vivid imagery is frightening, creating a sense of fear and repulsion in the audience. Macbeth is not a good guy and his strange obsession with blood just lets the audience know this even better. I have no idea what the clothing imagery is used for. I did not pick up on in during any reading of the play I did, but now that you mention it it is used several times. My best guess would be that Shakespeare is trying to tell the audience that though Macbeth is the King, he is not the true King, he is merely wearing the Kings cloths and wielding his power for a time.
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