Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

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The famous playwright William Shakespeare used symbolism throughout all of his thirty-seven plays. Light and dark are used as powerful symbols of good and evil in his tragedy Macbeth. Shakespeare uses these themes of light and dark or day and night to form an actual image of the play's ongoing conflict for the reader or viewer. The meaning behind this specific symbol essentially creates the story of Macbeth.

William Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth for King James I of England. Many supernatural and magical elements are incorporated in this tragedy, because the beliefs of the King greatly influenced Shakespeare's writing. The main character Macbeth initially presents himself as a good hearted, loyal, and strong warrior, but he quickly begins to change. Then, three very ugly witches tell Macbeth and his friend Banquo a series of predictions. Most importantly of them, Macbeth will be King. With the encouragement and influence of his psychologically disturbed wife, he sets out to be king by any means necessary. After killing the current King Duncan, Macbeth takes the title and murders anyone who gets in the way of him keeping it. Macbeth's destruction and insanity leads to him murdering his best friend, the suicide of Lady Macbeth, and eventually his downfall and death.

To begin, Macbeth was written somewhere between 1603 and 1607. During this time period the King was often associated with the sun. This seventeenth cent...

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...uch that she commands to have a light with her all the time. She begs for the light to bring back the good and the truth in her life. After her suicide Macbeth says, “Out, Out brief candle” (5.5.23), her artificial lightness went out and the darkness killed her.

Shakespeare used the two distinct opposites light vs. dark to mirror good vs. evil. As soon as King Duncan is murdered, the light in the world disapears.Although, everyone has light and dark inside them, the part we chose to act on makes us who we really are. Macbeth allowed the darkness to bring out his true colors and not only destroy his life, but the lives of everyone around him. Sadly, once Lady Macbeths life is taken over by the dark she trys anything to force light into it. The roles light and dark play in this tragedy are essential not only to the plot, but the vivid image in one's mind.

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