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Macbeth Imagery

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Submitted By bcunnings32
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Macbeth wants to gain the throne and is willing to do almost anything for it. Act 2 scene 1 of Macbeth describes Macbeth contemplating killing King Duncan for the throne. As he thinks about the murder, he is overcome with grief and nervousness. Along with being tremendously grieved, he also isn’t completely sure if it is the right thing to do. He has hallucinations and is questioning reality. William Shakespeare uses graphic language and visual imagery convincingly to convey that Macbeth is overwhelmed with fear and anguish.
Shakespeare used visual imagery to distinguish Macbeth’s fear. In line 38 of act 2 scene 1, Macbeth says, “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” This image of a dagger shows how problemed and grieved Macbeth is about killing Duncan. Shakespeare giving Macbeth hallucinations also tells the readers that he is very afraid about the murder that he is about to commit.
In line 49, Shakespeare uses witchcraft and nightmares as one of his tools to create a sense of eeriness. “Now o’er the one-half world nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtain’d sleep; witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder, alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf…” He uses the word “wolf,” and “wicked dreams” to add an effect of mysticism and to better describe the unsure feelings that Macbeth is having.
Shakespeare visual imagery to paint a mental image of what might me happening to Macbeth, and how scared Macbeth is of what he has to do. He uses certain terms and phrases that help establish Macbeth’s frame of mind as shown when he used the terms “wolves” and “witchcraft.” Macbeth’s frame of mind in this passage is very nervous, scared, and uneasy. Shakespeare used graphic imagery to portray an anxious and stressed Macbeth as he

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