Light vs. Darkness in William Shakespeare's Macbeth
William Shakespeare, the famous and renowned playwright, was extremely good at using dark and light in his work. In most occurrences, light represented good, and darkness symbolized evil. In Macbeth all evil happenings came during the night, and all things that were dark represented evil.
When the witches first appeared Banquo referred to them as dark instruments, and sensed automatically that they were evil beings. Macbeth became a "thief of sleep" (which came during the night) by killing Duncan and his two guards while they were sleeping,. Macbeth sent the two murderers to assassinate Banquo during the night, and spoke to the night saying, "“Come, seeling night, scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond.” (iii.ii.48-51). He called to the night to shroud his deeds and assist him in the killing of Banquo.
Near the end of the novel, before her unfortunate death Lady Macbeth began to sleepwalk. This coincided with the way that Macbeth had stolen sleep. Lady Macbeth had many guilty thoughts about her evil deeds which were voiced only in her sleep. This is one of few places where Shakespeare obviously used light as a representation of good; Lady Macbeth always had to have a candle at her bedside, and would carry it as she was sleepwalking. The light showed the way that she was searching desperately for liberation from her guilt and was hoping for goodness to return to her once again. Finally, once Macbeth has been killed and Malcolm was to become king, he referred to the illegitimate king's death as the dawn of a new era. This related to the light vs. darkness archetype because dawn is when light first breaks through the clouds; it represented the start of a new day.
In these ways and many more, Shakespeare used this archetype in effort to clearly paint a picture of the dark time when Macbath once ruled Scotland.
Click here to discover this archetype in "The Lion King".
When the witches first appeared Banquo referred to them as dark instruments, and sensed automatically that they were evil beings. Macbeth became a "thief of sleep" (which came during the night) by killing Duncan and his two guards while they were sleeping,. Macbeth sent the two murderers to assassinate Banquo during the night, and spoke to the night saying, "“Come, seeling night, scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond.” (iii.ii.48-51). He called to the night to shroud his deeds and assist him in the killing of Banquo.
Near the end of the novel, before her unfortunate death Lady Macbeth began to sleepwalk. This coincided with the way that Macbeth had stolen sleep. Lady Macbeth had many guilty thoughts about her evil deeds which were voiced only in her sleep. This is one of few places where Shakespeare obviously used light as a representation of good; Lady Macbeth always had to have a candle at her bedside, and would carry it as she was sleepwalking. The light showed the way that she was searching desperately for liberation from her guilt and was hoping for goodness to return to her once again. Finally, once Macbeth has been killed and Malcolm was to become king, he referred to the illegitimate king's death as the dawn of a new era. This related to the light vs. darkness archetype because dawn is when light first breaks through the clouds; it represented the start of a new day.
In these ways and many more, Shakespeare used this archetype in effort to clearly paint a picture of the dark time when Macbath once ruled Scotland.
Click here to discover this archetype in "The Lion King".