Monday 3 October 2011

Gothic Elements in Macbeth: Act One

The story of Macbeth takes place around the backdrop of the Scottish royalty so presumably this gives us a Castle belonging to the Monarchy, affording us with already one element of the Gothic; a castle setting.
In addition to this, the atmosphere of Act One is undoubtedly mysterious and suspenseful with the revelations of Macbeth's future by the unearthly Three Witches.
The element of an ancient prophecy connected to the Castle or its inhabitants is partly fulfilled by the Witches prophesising Macbeth's rise to Kingship.
Again, the Witches help provide another element of the Gothic through their visions of the future and at the beginning of the play, the thunder and lightning upon the entrance of the Witches gives an omen. There is another omen in the setting in which we first read of King Duncan, it is upon a battlefield which may signal the conflict and death that has been prophesised to come his way.
There are portions of the supernatural most clearly represented by the Witches who deal in witchcraft and prophecies.
From Lady Macbeth, we see high, overwrought emotion, her reaction to Macbeth's fate is outrageous and over-the-top, her blood boils and she itches at the oppurtunity to make her husband King.
In Act One, we don't see a woman in distress so much so in a manner that she needs someone to protect her but in fact someone needs to be protected from the fiery Lady Macbeth.
As of yet, we are short of female characters threatened by a tyrannical male, however it would seem with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's plot to kill the King, she could soon have her fortunes reversed and be at threat herself.
Metonymy of gloom and horror is present, as mentioned earlier, with the entrance of the Three Witches where they are accompanied by lightning and thunder; pointing to their sinister and dangerous role in the play.
Gothic Vocabulary has been used in association with the characters introduced where the Witches have a lot of 'mystery' in their lines, Macbeth and Banquo are in 'surprise' and Lady Macbeth has much anger in her words "And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty:"

1 comment:

  1. Good use of gothic elements. Yes, the tyrannical male character is not present in this play. However, Macbeth does become one later on. Consider how Lady Macbeth fulfils the role of the typical gothic female.

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