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Examples Of Foreshadowing In Macbeth

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The saying, “What goes around comes around” is a great way to show that anything you do will somehow affect you later. This not only happens in real life, but also in literature, like Macbeth. In Macbeth, multiple characters are affected by guilt of things they did earlier. William Shakespeare uses motifs and foreshadowing to develop the theme of guilt coming back to plague a person.

Motifs aren't the only literary element used in Macbeth however, William Shakespeare also used foreshadowing to convey the theme. Before Macbeth kills Duncan, he says, “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor…” He is foreshadowing that after his murder, he will be plagued by guilt of his “bloody instructions”. His …show more content…

Towards the end of the play, lady Macbeth, who was the remorseless one in the beginning, was starting to feel guilt. While sleepwalking and washing imaginary blood from her hands, she said, “Out damned spot! Out, I say!” During this moment, the guilt of her past murder is catching up to her. Shakespeare uses the motif of blood to show her guilt. Earlier in the play, directly after the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth hears a voice say, “Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep.” Here, through the motif of sleep, we see how guilt is affecting Macbeth (the guilt keeps him from sleeping). The motif of light and dark appears many times throughout the play, starting after the murder of Duncan. The day after the king is killed, the sun doesn't come up. Using the common stereotype of dark being evil and light being good, we can infer that this phenomenon is because of the evil of the murder the day before. Later in the play, at the same time that Lady Macbeth was washing the imaginary blood from her hands, she held a candle with her. She did this to maybe try and keep the dark (evil) away from her, or to protest that she was not an evil person. Lastly, during a banquet, Macbeth sees the ghost of Bancquo, who he just had killed. Obviously, he is surprised to see him and is scared. The guests think he is crazy because he is causing a scene over something that they can't see. So, in this

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