Blog #4

Justin Enriquez

British Lit. P.6

October 3, 2013

Symbolism in Macbeth

There are many ideas that surface in Kenneth Muir’s “Image & Symbol in Macbeth”. However one of the most significant is the use of symbolic writing y Shakespeare in his play, Macbeth. In addition to symbolism Muir also hints at imagery present in Macbeth. For example, he utilizes images like those which represent infants, illness, villains and heroes, and types of rest like sleep. Muir emphasizes that the most important of these images is sleep.

These symbols, themes, and images are emphatically addressed by Shakespeare and time and time again are used by him in order to bring together both the significant and insignificant events present throughout the play. Muir emphasizes sleep as a prime example of imagery due to acts committed by Macbeth that involve sleep.

When Macbeth murders Duncan, the victim was sleeping providing Macbeth with an easier way to commit murder. This image of sleep is often utilized by authors in order to signal weakness, in my opinion. In this case sleep was just an opportunity for Macbeth to reach his ambition to become king. Another example of sleep being utilized as an image is when Macbeth was resting and suddenly heard a voice which was his own conscience telling him to wake up, due to him now having a guilty conscience for murdering Duncan.