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Significance Of Darkness In Macbeth

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Macbeth is a play about a noble soldier, named Macbeth, and his tragic downfall. Macbeth turns to evil in a desperate attempt to attain more power. Throughout this story, darkness is used many times. The first scene begins in a dark and stormy place, suggesting that the play is going to have a sinister story. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses darkness to emphasize evil in the play. On the way home from a battle, Macbeth runs into three ugly witches – also known as the weird sisters. The witches tell Macbeth that he is soon to be king of Scotland. Macbeth starts to have ideas of about murdering the current king, Duncan, because that is the fastest way to become king. Macbeth feels shame due to his dishonorable thoughts as expressed in this quote: “Stars, hide your fires / Let not light see my …show more content…

The “thick night” expressed in her speech is to hide her gruesome actions from heaven and even herself. This speech is very similar to Macbeth’s quote about how he wants the stars to stop shining. They both believe that in darkness, evil can occur almost effortlessly. The morning after King Duncan’s murder, a soldier named Ross and an old man have a conversation outside of Macbeth’s castle:
By th’ clock ‘tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.
Is’t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it? (2.4.6-10)
Ross states that although it is daytime, it is as dark as night. He suggests that night is too strong compared to day or the day is feeling shame. Due to the murder, evil overpowers goodness. In this case, darkness represents evil and light represents goodness. The day feels guilty because it loses to the darkness that is

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