Natural Imagery In Macbeth

Regardless of where one lives, nature surrounds them. It is quiet in the winter, blossoms in the spring, flourishes in the summer and then finally it lays to rest in the autumn. Often in literature, writers utilize natural imagery because it is something that can be easily understood by everybody regardless of race, gender, religion, creed, and ethnicity. This imagery provides a deeper understanding of the book, play, story, or poem for the reader. The prominent playwright William Shakespeare uses natural imagery throughout his play Macbeth to reflect a psychological level of understanding of the characters and the setting of the play. This is shown when he uses sleep as a metaphor for sanity, displays the upcoming unrest in Scotland, and the

Their mystique and beauty is unmistakable, and is noticed yet perhaps not as admired as they should be. Birds demonstrate a lot about the humans they surround in the play Macbeth. In Act IV, Lady Macduff accuses her husband of running away because he is afraid. She thinks he should have stayed to protect his family, which has now been left vulnerable. Lady Macduff says, “He loves us not; / He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren, / The most diminutive of birds, will fight, / Her young ones in her nest, against the owl” (IV.ii.8-11) She feels as though he has taken the path of least resistance and that even the weakest man would have stayed, and kept his family safe from harm. Even the smallest of birds remain tenacious and pugnacious when provoked by threats to their safety. Macduff is accused of cowardice by his wife, and of being more pusillanimous than the most minute bird in all of Scotland. His own integrity is being criticized. Birds are used as imagery throughout the play, but another time they are used in a more malicious context. Macbeth is known for being a very murderous play, including not only individual murders but also a war. Later in Act IV, when Ross tells Macduff of the slaughter of his wife and children, Macduff cries out in grief: “All my pretty ones? / Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? / What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / At one fell swoop?” (IV.iii.217-220). This ‘hell-kite’ is Macbeth, and he has slaughtered all of Macduff’s ‘chickens’. Immediate family can be taken for granted often, as they are seen just about everyday and it is not thought of often do not think what would happen if they were not there. The same could almost be said for birds as well. What if there was no crow of a rooster, or chirping of a robin in the morning? It would surely be a