Themes And Symbols In Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

In this play, Shakespeare uses symbols and motifs to provide the audience with information that might otherwise require a narrator or chorus. He also gives the audience clues as well as hints about what is going to happen throughout the play by foreshadowing events and without providing the audience with the main idea or gist. Therefore, encouraging the audiences’ interest throughout the play. Shakespeare also uses symbols and motifs to help the audience learn more about the characters and their insights as well as how they develop throughout the play.

Foreshadowing plays an important role, as most of the actions that take place are hinted at before it happens. Clues are given in order to keep the audience guessing and hinting about things

This ultimately leads to their endless feeling of fear and horror, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand...multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red." Macbeths hand are literally stained in blood but it also works as a metaphor, therefore, representing and showing his guilt. Macbeth has come to realise that his guilt can never be washes off from his hands. Instead, his guilt will poison the world around him, which he compares to an ocean. The strong imagery of blood in this scene demonstrates his inability to remove the blood from his hands. Guilt will always remain disturbing Macbeth as the image of the crime will always remain in his consciousness, causing him to experience greater fear. The permanent change in colour from green to red in seas, shows that the guilt with Macbeth is everlasting and that there is not enough water in the sea to cleanse his hands. However, the blood on Macbeth’s hands will stain the ocean red. The crimes Macbeth has committed stained his hands in a way that they cannot be washed clean. Weather plays an important role of portraying the setting of the scene as well as foreshadowing by hinting that something unnatural is about to take place the only type of weather that is described in the play is thunder and lightning, "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain? - First witch" Perhaps Macbeth utilises the weather to create an ominous, dark mood and gloomy atmosphere in this play. This weather is described before or during a scene in which the witches are present. Shakespeare makes this weather appear as the witches appear in the scene this is to foreshadow that something bad is going to happen or that something unnatural is going to take place in the future. Moreover, rain is another motif in the play which accompanies thunder. It is used for the same purpose such