Macbeth Nature Analysis

Throughout the course of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Macbeth, the theme of nature proves to have a strong effect on the plot and characters involved. By murdering Duncan, the king of Scotland, Macbeth has thrown the human world and the natural world out of whack. The weather has begun to appear dramatically and unnaturally; the sky is always heavy with clouds and the sun is never present. The animals have begun to behave strangely, and it becomes evident that Macbeth has done something truly evil. His actions create a paradox in which he has affected nature indirectly, and nature is reflecting it in unmissable ways. The first act of unnaturalness occurs at the start of the play. A great storm is brewing while Scotland and Norway

He automatically associates the blank sky to be an omen of some greater transpiring. There is no sound leading up to Macbeth’s betrayal of Duncan; the world is at a standstill. The audience becomes fully aware of the murder when the owl begins sounding and Lady Macbeth makes note of the animal: “It is the owl that shriekt, the fatal bellman, which gives the stern’st good-night.” When Macbeth meets up with his wife again, he swears he heard voices during the night. “Macbeth hath murdered sleep,” is one of the most important lines in this act. Since sleep is a bodily need, it is natural that humans must undergo it in order to function. By killing Duncan, Macbeth has decimated any hope for normalcy in his future. He has upset the natural balance of the universe, and because of this has sacrificed his ability to sleep peacefully for both him and his accomplice. The insomnia causes both of them to inevitably succomb to insanity and saunter closer towards their

The English forces en route to combat Macbeth find themselves situated in front of a vast forest. Malcolm forms the strategy to have every soldier cut a branch from a tree and hold it out before him. Macbeth’s sentinel gives him the message that the wood of Birnam is moving towards their castle, to which Macbeth undoubtedly scorns him. That is, until he sees the forest move for himself. Even though Macbeth is at odds with both humans and nature, he never gives up the hope that he may succeed even when is castle is completely surrounded. Nature is a hard theme to pull from any work of fiction. It is commonly misconstrued as a segment of the setting, only important when referring to time and place. However, it is especially important in Macbeth, since it emphasizes the importance of the king that was a belief practiced in Shakespeare’s time. The king had divine right, he was a godsend, and nothing could hurt him. So when a king was murdered, nothing would be at peace. Both nature and mankind would be reaping the consequences of such an important individual’s death. It was unnatural to assassinate a