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Macbeth
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Shakespeare uses many examples of bird and animal imagery in the book Macbeth. He was a master at incorporating imagery to show emotions and symbolize the good and/or bad parts of a situation. And during the time that Macbeth was wrote there was a common belief that a hierarchy was preordained by God (fate). And the animal kingdom was sought to be the second most important, giving animals a high place in the food chain; and in that the animal kingdom itself was understood to have its’ own hierarchy. And that’s why the imagery of birds and animals helped to characterize, to show emotions, to foreshadow, make atmosphere a
supernatural nature, and to help build suspense; throughout the book the imagery and symbols were getting crueler and seemingly unmoral. In the beginning of the book the Macbeth and Banquo just got back from battle, in which they won and one example of the animal imagery used it showed when the Sergeant said “Yes; as sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion: If I say sooth, I must report they were as cannons overcharged with double cracks so they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe,” (1.2.24) This shows that even though Macbeth and Banquo had the odds against them, them kept on fighting and they never gave up. It shows this by saying they were like sparrows compared to eagles which shows that they were indeed the underdog, but they were scared, they didn’t run away, they were brave. In Act 1 Shakespeare also uses imagery to symbolize how delicate life is,...
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