Blank verse and rhyme
Macbeth is written mostly in blank verse. Each line usually has ten syllables with five stresses, for example, Stay you imperfect speakers tell me more.
(Act one, Scene three, Line 70)
Sometimes Shakespeare uses rhyme for important reasons:
- to make important lines stand out
- at the end of a scene
- to relieve tension
Ambiguities
Fair is foul, and foul is fair
(Act one, Scene one, Line 11)
We know the witches are in the middle of a storm and perhaps they are saying they like this. They are witches so they enjoy bad things and are on the side of evil. However, they could also be saying what we think looks attractive or 'fair' is bad or 'foul'. In other words, our ambitions can be our downfall or they could be warning us of things to come in the play. Macbeth is tempted by their predictions and enters a confused, unnatural world, where he cannot trust what he sees and cannot bear what he is.
Perhaps now we can appreciate Shakespeare's skill as a writer - many of his characters say things which are ambiguous. This means you can interpret them in different ways, so the witches might be talking about the weather, or they might mean something completely different. Another example of ambiguity is when Lady Macbeth says the daggers must lie there
(Act two, Scene two, Line 46) - she could mean the daggers must be placed there, but also the daggers will hide the truth and pin the blame on the servants.
Imagery is important Macbeth. For instance, the play has lots of references to darkness, to sleep, to disease and even to blood. Imagery often describes one thing in terms of another, and there are three main ways this happens.
Metaphor
A metaphor is when one thing is called something else. For instance, when Macbeth wants to defend his lands against others, he uses metaphors from medicine - he wants to find the disease
(Act five, Scene three, Line 51) in Scotland, to restore it to health
(Act five, Scene three, Line 52) and to use a drug
(Act five, Scene three, Line 55) against others.
Personification
Personification is where something is described as if it is human, so the Dark night strangles the travelling lamp
(Act two, Scene four, Line 7).
Simile
A simile is when a direct comparison is made with 'as', 'than' or 'like', so Banquo says the witches look not like the inhabitants o'the'earth
(Act one, Scene three, Line 41) or Macbeth says something moves like a ghost.
(Act two, Scene one, Line 56).
