Macbeth The Climax In Act 3
Act III of Macbeth contains the climax of the play. Therefore the challenge of holding onto the interest of the audience is presented. However, while this may be a challenge for a lesser playwright, for a master like Shakespeare the challenge of maintaining the mood and theme is much less. The theme of the play is the downfall of Macbeth and the mood is dark and gloomy. Everything that happens, in this act especially, must maintain these ideas.
In scene I, lines 92-101, the theme of the play is held up by the idea of things and people not being what they seem to be. In these lines Macbeth is talking to the murderers that he has hired to kill Banquo and Fleance. He is trying to find out what kind of men they really are and if they are capable of committing this deed. These lines support the theme of the play because Macbeth is no longer able to trust people. Because he himself is treacherous, he no longer is able to trust others.
In scene 2, dark images are extremely important in maintaining the mood of the play. One of the places that this can be seen is lines 36-37. "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!/ Thou knowest that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives." These lines show that Macbeth's mind is being tormented by the fact that those two men are a threat to him. Also, by using the word "scorpions" the dark and evil mood of the play are upheld. A second place in this scene where this happens is lines 53-55. "Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,/ Whiles night's black agents to their prey's do rouse./ Though marvel'st at my words : but hold thee still." In the preceding lines the image of light fading away and dark taking over is used to uphold both the theme and mood. The light destroying the dark symbolizes the bad destroying the good inside of Macbeth as well in the rest of the country. By using words like "night's black agents" and "droop and drowse" Shakespeare further continues the dark images.
The poet continues these...
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