Shakespeare’s “Tragedy of Macbeth” is infused with multiple literary devices, techniques, and

any other miscellaneous uses of literature regarding writing technique. He was one to take chances; he
would play with the audience’s emotions, bring out the worst in people as humanly or as inhumanely as
possible. These are just a few things that allowed him to captivate the audience’s attention; to make them
pay attention (to the best of their abilities) to every detail, every word, and every action taken by each
character in the plot line. This is why he is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential writers of his
time. Aside from the fact that he created many words we now use in modern English, Shakespeare was
quite literally the most notorious entertainer at his time due to such strategies and methods mentioned
earlier above. His greatest tool in all of this is the potential for human emotions. For without emotion, the
audience wouldn't be able to connect and thus invest time and effort trying to pay attention to his stories.
It should also be mentioned that without emotion there is nothing to work with. Shakespeare without the
tool of emotion wouldn’t be Shakespeare at all, but rather someone who was an average person. But, due
to each human having the capabilities of feeling which one would call emotion; he is able to work in
something that he would regard as in his element. Due to a human’s emotion, he is able to shape opinions,
string one’s certain types of feelings, and more importantly, shape one’s perspective.
Perspective is another fundamental aspect that is part of Shakespeare’s intricate algorithm in
making an exclusively elaborate plot with vivid details. He is able to shape one’s perspective through the
way he makes someone feel throughout his story. An audience member may feel disgusted when one
scene occurs, or empathetic in another. This is how he shapes people’s perspective of his stories and how
he keeps his audience attentive. A key fact to realize here is that when someone displays emotion, they
are displaying a form of investment; an investment of time, attention, and judgment/opinion. These three
things are manipulated by Shakespeare, thus allowing him to make a variety of people a plethora or
multitude of ways which all serve his end purpose. Now, with this in mind and established, one must
come to the enlightenment that Shakespeare needs to find a bridge in which he can make someone feel a
certain way. Although the typical answer is the events that play out during the plot, it is actually deeper
and plays a job word for word. This job is obligated to tone, a very key figure in writing literature.
Shakespeare is aware of people’s emotions but he is also aware of the strategies in which he can make a
person feel a certain way and thus shape a perspective. He uses tone as one of his tools that exalts
emotion. If it is one thing that one needs to know, it is that Shakespeare also takes advantage of the reality
that each word has a denotation and connotation. He focuses primarily on connotations and uses the
traditional connotations of each word to help string out a plethora of emotions that will make someone
feel the way he decides for them to feel. Each word in his stories, especially in the “Tragedy of Macbeth”,
use the tone to shape each audience member’s perspective.
A great example of tone shaping the audience’s perspective can be seen in the quote in “The
Tragedy of Macbeth” where it states “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my
hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine” (2. 2. 60 - 63). This quote enacts a
tone of guilt from the current speaker of the story (Macbeth). This insight of a guilty tone shows that he is
not completely driven mad in fear of threatening heirs as he remorses and feels terrible for killing
Duncan, as any human would for their first murder. This quote also implies that he is aware that this act
of treason will not be something easily hidden from other individuals in the story. These details show that
he is currently someone who has a deep evil subconscious yet remains to fight it as his conscience tells
him it was morally wrong, thus allowing readers to understand that his current state is as someone who is
lost in their act of temptations. The audience can then form an opinion around him and whether his
inability to quit his evil temptations can be deemed worthy of empathy or not.
Another example regarding the same tone of guilt, yet through different situations, is when
Macbeth says thy bones lack density and your blood is cold. Your eyes lack firm evidence that you are
even real (3. 4. 98 - 100). This quote provides even further incidence of Macbeth's guilt as a murderer
now that he is seeing visions of his best friend of who he ordered to murder. This situation reveals that
Macbeth is so guilty that he cannot even fathom if he is truly seeing the ghost of his dead best friend or
not. He reveals to the audience of his mentally unstable nature after such vile actions are conducted by
him. He tries to reassure himself that his friend is truly dead but this gives further knowledge to the
audience of his deteriorating mental state. After this predicament, the audience’s perspective is not shaped
in the view that Macbeth is weak mentally, that his ill-minded actions have taken a took on the sanity of
his already weak mind in the beginning. He fails to uphold the repercussions of being a cruel murder. This
might also lead some audience members to empathize for his complete ignorance in getting himself into
such a mess. The audience’s perspective has now shaped their mentality in that Macbeth is not a strong
hero as one would once think to be.
A sinister tone is also present in the plot of “The Tragedy of Macbeth” much like where Macbeth
says “So is he mine; and in such bloody distance that every minute of his being thrusts against my near’st
of life. And though I could with barefaced power sweep him from my sight and bid my will avouch it, yet
I must not, for certain friends that are both his and mine, whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
who I myself struck down” (3. 1. 119 - 126). This sinister tone is given off through the context of what
Macbeth is speaking of. In the story, he is speaking of his so-called best friend Banquo who supposedly
has heirs to the throne instead of Macbeth. This angers Macbeth as well as fears him, thus putting him
over the edge from all the envy and greed of power thus causing him to hire two murderers who have
nothing to lose. Not only this is sinister but his complete ignorance of the fact that he speaks of Banquo,
the person who he had fought with side by side for years. This shows Macbeth’s turn for the worst. His
lust for power allowed readers to understand that Macbeth is no longer an honorable hero but rather a
weak, sneaky, manipulative person who tries to gain power through anything but honorable means.
Ambition is another tone that takes place in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by Shakespeare. It starts
to take shape in the earlier segments of the story and it takes its true form when the three witches
encounter Macbeth and Banquo and foretell the destiny of both friends. This is seen when Macbeth talks
about there being two truths being told which lead as happy introductions to his ascension towards the
throne (the third ‘truth” mentioned by the witches) (1. 3. 130 - 131). This is the first moment in which his
emotions and mind find the possibility quite appealing. The paraphrase’s (as well as the quote’s)
ambitious tone creates a shift in the story and this applies to the audience’s perception of Macbeth as well.
This shift goes to show his hidden intentions as well as his underlying evil nature of ascending to the
throne through whatever it takes. This adds each audience member’s opinion on Macbeth and his
character as well as reminds them of the accounts they have experienced where they had gained
motivation through entertaining a certain morally unjust though.
Even then when Macbeth is crowned king he still feels insecure and unsafe regarding how long
he is going to hold the mantle of a ruler. “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus” (1. 3. 50 - 51). By
this quote, the audience can further understand his insecure nature and skittish methods of handling his
rather fragile ego. The tone of this quote was rather ambitious as well and it serves to give light to the
audience’s thoughts on Macbeth, whether he is an insignificant, sly, coward, or a person who is willing to
get the job done and finish it fully thus, by all means, doing what he needs to do to be successful. This can
be taken both ways as is much of Macbeth’s actions, thus the reason why many of his actions are deemed
questionable.
The tone of this soliloquy actually gives light onto one’s perspective of Banquo, Macbeth’s best
friend who was later murder in cold blood. The soliloquy, in short, goes along by basically saying:
Now you have it all: You’re the king, the Thane of Cawdor, and the Thane of Glamis, just like the
weird women promised you. And I suspect you cheated to win these titles. But it was also
prophesied that the crown would not go to your descendants, and that my sons and grandsons
would be kings instead. If the witches tell the truth, which they did about you, maybe what they
said about me will come true too. But hush! I’ll be quiet now (3. 1. 1 - 10).
This statement gives Banquo a rather satirical tone while also trying to express deep concern and worry
for himself as well as Macbeth’s moral compass. To maintain satire one must be bold, and rather
confident in they say, nonetheless to a king, to critique them and mention their insecurities in such a way
that Banquo did. This enrages Macbeth and sets him on hiring murderers to kill Banquo. This act by the
supporting character, Banquo gives readers insight into how they should shape their perspective regarding
him. Many will begin to think that he was the only true warrior who fended for what he believed in, some
say it was his cocky and needless statement that truly got him killed. Either way, one develops their
perspective on their own selves by viewing Banquo as an example of sorts, also making an opinionated
perspective around him in order to form the judgment of how to act in real life.
Another evident tone in the story was grief. It was best exemplified by Macduff where he states
“Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, for goodness dare not check thee” (4.
3. 32 - 33). These words, with their exaltations, s by Macduff, give off how fearful how he is, but it also
gives evidence to how he uses that fear. For many fear for humans can lead to either a fight or flight
response much like animals. This fits perfectly with Macduff’s choice of action as he initially decided to
flee, but after reflecting, decided that Macbeth’s threat towards other areas and people is something that
must be taken down. Like mentioned before, this can be taken two ways. It is up to the reader to find their
choice and build upon their already existing perspective, thus causing it to be impacted upon
understanding the underlying tone.
Overall, the use of tone and its ability to portray emotions are key in what allows readers to shape
their perspective. Once this is understood it is quite easy to see how any word with its respective tone can
be applied and thus impact one’s perspective. The idea here is to realize that although direct actions and
other means shape perspective, the tone should be known as an essential part of these many factors that
can impact one's perspective. Characters like Macbeth, Banquo, and Macduff all serve to give themselves
as examples through their dialogue and actions in the text which also ties in one's connection to each word
used in each conversation or description of an action. The tone, in the end, is what causes the reader to
feel a certain way, thus impact their perspective on the matter whether through judgement on the
situation, how they feel themselves, or as an example of how they themselves should take a likewise
situation and act accordingly due to their newfound knowledge on how to act or not act. Furthermore, the
audience is able to learn from the events portrayed in the story. This in its own way builds upon their
perspective given that any story, much the one mentioned in this essay, all portray information that
readers typically keep in their minds which molds their perception of reality. Like said before, tone is one
of the many tools that can portray emotion, and thus allow people to gain these emotions and help them
turn them into memories and thus, opinions/judgements. Tone is the few things that can connect to each
human on a deeper level, allowing Shakespeare to connect to all readers one way or another and thus
mold the way they think. Shakespeare offers his own ideas, principles, and themes throughout his text
through interpretation of the tone. The quotes/paraphrases above were only a few out of the total plethora
used in order to connect to the audience and thus commence Shakespeare’s goal in influencing the
audience.
 Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Literature: British Literature, by Allen, Janet, et al.,
1st ed., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012. pp. 348-431. Print.