Throughout the novel, Macbeth goes through a metamorphosis from the righteous hero, to the traitor of Scotland. On his road to betrayal, many of the treacherous acts that he commits to gain power are followed by traces of a bird. These birds show the dark side of Macbeth as he develops as a character. The first occurrence of a bird is when Macbeth commits his first unrighteous act, the act of regicide. After much coercion from his wife Lady Macbeth, Macbeth decides to kill King Duncan. When Macbeth returns, his wife recalls hearing "the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman"(II.ii.5). This owl shriek is heard to alert of an execution. The murder of King Duncan is represented by the shrieking of an owl, and the owl represents the dark deed that