Macbeth: A Uniform Elizabethan Tragedy

Never to go unnoticed, the name William Shakespeare describes an experienced actor, an exceptional playwright, and a notable philosopher. As one of the most influential men of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, Shakespeare impacted many artists with his riveting masterpieces. Shakespeare captured the attention of the people through his exquisite work in blank verse, and he inspired them with universal truths of the human condition. His sonnet sequence, consisting of 154 poems, is arguably the finest collection of love poems in the English language. Shakespeare continuously impressed his audience with his explorations of life’s complexities. Such an intricate man; however, he never wrote about himself. He would not discuss his composition methods and only through careful analysis could one understand the underlying truths to his work. Shakespeare was often known to use plots from other sources and enrich them to masterpieces with his genuine knowledge of literature. Although he completed many poems in his lifetime, each one of them was rich in quality and very complex in structure. The play, Macbeth, reveals the uniform structure of a typical Elizabethan tragedy with five acts that carefully reflect the pyramid organization of an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a denouement.
First, a superb exposition opens the play and sets the scene to eleventh century Scotland in England. There is a dark, stormy, and turbulent mood already depicted by three witches dancing about in the thunder and lightning. As their standing on the heath, they are talking about the “hurlyburly”, or the war between Scotland and Norway. The witches have a plan to meet with Macbeth when the war is done and over. After this short ...

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... acts that carefully reflect the pyramid organization of an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a denouement. With the support of the pyramid organization, we can better analyze the play Macbeth. The plot line corresponds that of any other Elizabethan tragedy in such a way as to still keep its unique quality. This tragedy has became a famous part of our literature today, and it gives us insight into the genius we call William Shakespeare. With much more to discover, Shakespeare's works are studied by many. He was one of the first dramatists to work extensively in blank verse. Blank verse consists of a line of ten syllables arranged so that an unaccented syllable is followed by an accented syllable. He also used other tools: puns, metaphors, soliloquies, and asides. He forever challenged the many playwrights to come by setting a high standard.