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Use of Language (How to analyse language in Macbeth (What? (Choice of…

- - - - Macbeth sees a blood stained dagger
        
        'And on thy blade and dudgen gouts of blood'
        
        Act 2 Scene 1
      - LM tries to wash away imaginary bloodstains
        
        'Here's the smell of the blood still'
        
        LM sleepwalking and imagines blood
        
        Act 5 Scene 1
      - Macbeth sees imaginary blood on his hands
        
        Macbeth feels great guilt at murdering Duncan and realises these feelings will never vanish
        
        Act 2 Scene 2
    - - References to actual blood are a constant reminder of the direct consequences of Macbeth's actions - reinforced by the images of blood in speeches
      - Shakespeare's constant repetition (40+ times) of the word 'blood' stresses to his audience the full horror of what is happening
  - - - LM calling on spirits to bring night to cover up the murder
        
        'Come, thick night / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell'
        
        Act 1 Scene 5
      - Macbeth calls on night time to cover up Banquo's murder
        
        'Come, seeling night, / Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day'
        
        Act 3 Scene 2
    - - Highlights the sense of darkness in the play and at the heart of some of the characters
      - Also reminds audience that some scenes at night!
  - - - Banquo asks the witches for predictions
        
        'If you can look into the seeds of time / And say which grain will grow and which will not, / Speak then to me'
        
        Act 1 Scene 3
    - - Shows the audience that this aspect is important - time seems to pass more quickly as the play progresses
- - - - 'It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman / Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it.'
      - Macbeth is often associated with an owl - a bird of prey
      - Act 2 Scene 2
    - - One Tuesday last, / A falcon tow'ring in her pride of place / Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed
      - Exactly mirrors what happened with Macbeth and Duncan - Falcon is regarded as a royal bird
      - Act 2 Scene 4
    - - Shakespeare would have know that his audience would make the necessary connections between the birds he mentions and the actions and thoughts of his characters
      - They highlight things that have happened, are happening or are going to happen and create both expectation and tension
  - - - 'O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!'
      - Act 3 Scene 2
    - - 'Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care'
      - Act 4 Scene 1
    - - The characteristics of these animals would be understood
      - Create mental pictures in the audience's mind
      - Also, in Act 4 Scene 1, the Witches use a variety of animals