UNIVERSIDAD PEDAGÓGICA NACIONAL

LICENCIATURA EN ESPAÑOL E INGLÉS

ENGLISH LITERATURE II
JULIETH ANGÉLICA RAMÍREZ GÜIZA
LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN MACBETH

In William Shakespeare’s work “Macbeth”, the transitions between light and

darkness shows the ambiguity and the inner conflict of the main character:
Macbeth. The Thane of Glamis, is presented as a hero during the beginning of
the play: a man of honour, brave and strong who serves to King Duncan of
Scotland and fights against the revels. Despite of all these characteristics, during
the transition of events, Macbeth is enclosed into a series of facts: the influence
of his wife, Lady Macbeth, the predictions of the Weird Sisters, and even his
own ambition, that makes him fall into a conflict between good and evil.
Landscapes, and scenarios reinforce the ambiguity’s idea by showing a
transition of lights and darkness: fair is foul and foul is fair.

Light shows Macbeth as a hero who protects Scotland, but there is a dark side
in this character’s personality, he wants to become a king in a short time; he is
convinced that his destiny is to be King, and the Three Witches confirm this
fact. Now that he knows his predictions, he is tempted to get the throne quickly,
but there is a light of goodness in his personality, signal which is revealed
through the scenarios’ descriptions, as it is possible to see in Act One, Scene
Five:
This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses. P. 50
These words are pronounced by King Duncan when he is visiting The Thane of
Glamis’ castle, prove a clear landscape, without any kind of perturbation. It
shows the light in Macbeth’s conscience previous the assassination. But he is
not completely clear, his wife, Lady Macbeth has planted into his mind the idea
of killing Duncan, and to take his throne off him. At this point darkness arrives
to the scene, and even though it is possible to perceive dark recreation of scenes,
in act one, light and darkness are joined into Macbeth’s words:
Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
Which the eyes fear, when it is done, to see. P. 44

Here it is possible to find The Thane of Glamis’ inner conflict: if he wants to be

a King faster, he has to kill King Duncan. The stars represent his light, his
goodness, that now is cover by his dark and deep desires. Macbeth falls into his
ambition and finally kills Duncan, at this point he is in the way to be the new
king.

After killing Duncan, the hero becomes a villain, and starts to act like one. A
villain who is full of guilt, this shows a contradiction on him: he is evil, but not
completely, his conscious torments him because of his crime, and after killing
Duncan he pronounces these words:
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood?
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red. P. 72
“Making the green one red”, all the water of the sea would not be enough to
wash Duncan’s blood of Macbeth’s hands. The green of the see, the light on it,
transformed into red, the colour of this character’s crime. This hyperbole shows
how big his guilt is after the assassination. And once again, the landscape
reinforces the idea of crime and evil.

At the end, Macbeth falls because his ambition, despite he dies, he does it with
honour, accepting his crime and facing it. All the previous examples show how
the scenarios accompany the main character struggle between evil and
goodness, an in his final speech words this struggle and this travel means for
him that lights were off, the landscape turns into grey, as his life, into shadows:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by and idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. P.190

In a personal reflection about Macbeth, it is possible to mention that despite his

crimes, his personality converts him into a different type of villain, a good one.
The moral reflection, which appears after every murder, shows that he is not
completely evil, as his wife, but that he saves a little light on him. I like this
character because all his actions and reflections get him closer to human nature:
people are not completely good, and not completely evil. The Thane of Glamis
is not a monster, his corruption does not apart him from his humanity, which is
a constant, and that can be seen in his actions.
Making a poor comparison between Hamlet and Macbeth, it is possible to
observe that despite they are completely different types of heroes and villains,
they have a similarity: they feel too much. Hamlet is a hero of reason and
emotion, but Macbeth is a hero of impulse; while the former thinks a lot in his
actions, taking as an example to kill Claudius or to be or not to be, the latter acts
by his desires: his love for Lady Macbeth, his ambition which is driven by the
Weird Sisters, that even though the guilt makes him keep acting.

Both characters pursue a similar objective: to fulfil what their desires demand.
It might be said that Macbeth was persuaded by the Three Witches and Lady
Macbeth, and that Hamlet persecuted revenge, but at the end, their desires
demanded actions: to kill Duncan, and to avenge his and his father’s honour.

The most important fact that keeps in my mind after reading these two works is
that it does not matter the supernatural facts because we built fate. There are no
witches and ghosts who dictate our destiny, we as human beings are the only
ones capable to save ourselves from darkness, craziness and guilt. Both
Macbeth and Hamlet had salvation, because they were human beings, a
combination between light and darkness, life and death, and good and evil.
According to that, they chose to fall, and to die after chasing their desires: the
mother, the kingdom, the power, lust, and respect, and finally by following
death.

References:
 Shakespeare, William. 1606, Macbeth. Hutchinson & Co publishers.