Nature imagery:
"Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer’s cloud, Without our special wonder?"
Nature imagery is using the powers of nature to describe something to the audience and Shakespeare uses a lot of it in one of his most famous plays called "Macbeth". He does this in order to make the play a lot more interesting then just saying something explicitly. In Act 3 Scene 4, when the first murderer comes and disturbs the dinner to say that he had killed Banquo but Fleance escaped, Macbeth says... "I had else been perfect, Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, As broad and general as the casing air..." This is in contrast to what actually happened using nature imagery to represent what he actually wanted in Juxtaposition. "...But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in To saucy doubts and fears."
The nature imagery
Blood and Gore:
"With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head, The least a death to nature."
In the play "Macbeth", Shakespeare uses 3 main ideas throughout the play, nature imagery, superstition or supernatural and especially blood and gore. Blood and gore is used mostly in the play to create darkness and it is entertainment for the audience. In Act 3 Scene 4, the first murderer uses this blood and gore to convince Macbeth that Banquo is dead by saying "Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides, With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head." When Shakespeare wrote this, people didn't have cameras to take photos to prove something or in this case prove that they killed someone. Instead, they made it as gorey and bloody as possible to make the person believe you did it. Now Macbeth is convinced that the adult snake lies in the ditch.
Superstition/ supernatural:
"Blood hath been shed ere now, i' th' olden time, Ere humane statute purged the gentle weal;"
When Macbeth talks to Lady Macbeth about the ghost, Lady Macbeth does not believe him and convinces the guests that he is crazy and tells him to behave. She didn't believe him because she thought what he was saying was nonsense and it was supernatural. On page 5, Act 3 Scene 4, we can see what Macbeth said to her. "The time has been That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end. But now they rise again With twenty mortal murders on their crowns And push us from our stools." He is saying that when a man dies he can never come back to life again but now that he sees the ghost of Banquo, he is loosing his mind. "This is more strange Than such a murder is."
The Theme Power and Corruption:
"Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,"
The big theme that Skakespeare uses throughout the whole play is "Power and Corruption". After the witches get in Macbeth's head, Macbeth wants to become very powerful but some things come in his way and slow him down. For example when Macbeth murders King Duncan and he lied to everyone, Banquo is very suspicious and he is afraid that Macbeth has cheated to become king as the witches promised. We see this in Act 3 Scene 1 "As the weird women promised, and I fear Thou played’st most foully for ’t." When Macbeth realises this, he immediately sends his murderer to kill Banquo and lied yet again. Now his one big concern is Banquo's son, Fleance.
Dramatic Irony:
"Here had we now our country’s honor roofed,"
Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters in the play don't. It is used a lot in the play "Macbeth" written by Shakespeare to create tension/suspense and also entertain the audience. When Macbeth is at the dinner with the lords and they ask him where Banquo is, he simply replies "Were the graced person of our Banquo present, Who may I rather challenge for unkindness Than pity for mischance." but the audience clearly knows that Macbeth has sent a murderer to kill him. We see this on Act 3 Scene 4 Page 3 .This is actually double dramatic irony because the audience can also see the ghost of Banquo before any of the characters on the stage can. "Lays blame upon his promise."
