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Pathos
Definition of Personification
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the... read full definition
Act 1, scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
The motif of light and dark appears frequently throughout Macbeth, reinforcing the play's grim mood and highlighting themes of guilt, religion, and the supernatural. In Act 1, Scene 4, for instance, Macbeth resolves to hide his treacherous ambitions. He associates these desires with darkness and characterizes light as a supernatural "seeing" force that threatens to scrutinize his thoughts and intentions:
Macbeth: Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth personifies light as an enemy force that can uncover and even prevent evil acts and commands night to conceal her deeds:
Lady Macbeth: Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
The word "heaven" suggests that Lady Macbeth's sentiments are somehow religious, and the overall implication of this passage is that, without the cover of darkness, she would be unable to carry out Duncan's murder. If God or heaven were to observe the act, guilt would overwhelm her and stay her hand. She therefore requires darkness to hide her actions from God and from herself.
Lady Macbeth's wish is fulfilled in Act 2, Scene 1, when Banquo comments on the lack of starlight:
Banquo: There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out.
The unusual darkness of the night foreshadows Duncan's murder, which is followed by an extended solar eclipse. In Act 2, Scene 4, Ross reasons that the lack of sun is a sign that God is displeased with the unnatural act that has taken place. He personifies both night and day, characterizing night as a strangler and musing that day may be hiding because it is ashamed of mankind:
Ross: Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?
The association between God and guilt is reflective of the religious environment of 17th-century England. The Church of England had split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VII, but it retained several aspects of Catholic doctrine, including the belief in original sin, which holds that humans have an inherently sinful nature for which they must strive to atone. Martin Luther, who was a driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, equated original sin with desire.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth personifies night as a falconer sewing up the eyes of day:
Macbeth: Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call on night as if it were some kind of mystical patron, and they often do so while summoning or entreating other supernatural forces like spirits and witches. While light has holy connotations, darkness is associated with magic and the unnatural. When Macbeth calls on night to sew up the eyes of day, he symbolically aligns himself with the forces of darkness and against God.
When Macbeth was first performed, the official religion of England regarded desire as evidence of humankind's inherent guilt and maintained that repentance and acceptance of God was the key to absolution. Macbeth—a protagonist who conceals his guilt, submits to his basest desires, and rejects God—would have seemed especially chilling to an audience of this era.
Related Themes:
Act 1, scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
The motif of light and dark appears frequently throughout Macbeth, reinforcing the play's grim mood and highlighting themes of guilt, religion, and the supernatural. In Act 1, Scene 4, for instance, Macbeth resolves to hide his treacherous ambitions. He associates these desires with darkness and characterizes light as a supernatural "seeing" force that threatens to scrutinize his thoughts and intentions:
Macbeth: Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth personifies light as an enemy force that can uncover and even prevent evil acts and commands night to conceal her deeds:
Lady Macbeth: Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
The word "heaven" suggests that Lady Macbeth's sentiments are somehow religious, and the overall implication of this passage is that, without the cover of darkness, she would be unable to carry out Duncan's murder. If God or heaven were to observe the act, guilt would overwhelm her and stay her hand. She therefore requires darkness to hide her actions from God and from herself.
Lady Macbeth's wish is fulfilled in Act 2, Scene 1, when Banquo comments on the lack of starlight:
Banquo: There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out.
The unusual darkness of the night foreshadows Duncan's murder, which is followed by an extended solar eclipse. In Act 2, Scene 4, Ross reasons that the lack of sun is a sign that God is displeased with the unnatural act that has taken place. He personifies both night and day, characterizing night as a strangler and musing that day may be hiding because it is ashamed of mankind:
Ross: Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?
The association between God and guilt is reflective of the religious environment of 17th-century England. The Church of England had split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VII, but it retained several aspects of Catholic doctrine, including the belief in original sin, which holds that humans have an inherently sinful nature for which they must strive to atone. Martin Luther, who was a driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, equated original sin with desire.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth personifies night as a falconer sewing up the eyes of day:
Macbeth: Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call on night as if it were some kind of mystical patron, and they often do so while summoning or entreating other supernatural forces like spirits and witches. While light has holy connotations, darkness is associated with magic and the unnatural. When Macbeth calls on night to sew up the eyes of day, he symbolically aligns himself with the forces of darkness and against God.
When Macbeth was first performed, the official religion of England regarded desire as evidence of humankind's inherent guilt and maintained that repentance and acceptance of God was the key to absolution. Macbeth—a protagonist who conceals his guilt, submits to his basest desires, and rejects God—would have seemed especially chilling to an audience of this era.
Related Themes:
Act 2, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
The motif of light and dark appears frequently throughout Macbeth, reinforcing the play's grim mood and highlighting themes of guilt, religion, and the supernatural. In Act 1, Scene 4, for instance, Macbeth resolves to hide his treacherous ambitions. He associates these desires with darkness and characterizes light as a supernatural "seeing" force that threatens to scrutinize his thoughts and intentions:
Macbeth: Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth personifies light as an enemy force that can uncover and even prevent evil acts and commands night to conceal her deeds:
Lady Macbeth: Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
The word "heaven" suggests that Lady Macbeth's sentiments are somehow religious, and the overall implication of this passage is that, without the cover of darkness, she would be unable to carry out Duncan's murder. If God or heaven were to observe the act, guilt would overwhelm her and stay her hand. She therefore requires darkness to hide her actions from God and from herself.
Lady Macbeth's wish is fulfilled in Act 2, Scene 1, when Banquo comments on the lack of starlight:
Banquo: There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out.
The unusual darkness of the night foreshadows Duncan's murder, which is followed by an extended solar eclipse. In Act 2, Scene 4, Ross reasons that the lack of sun is a sign that God is displeased with the unnatural act that has taken place. He personifies both night and day, characterizing night as a strangler and musing that day may be hiding because it is ashamed of mankind:
Ross: Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?
The association between God and guilt is reflective of the religious environment of 17th-century England. The Church of England had split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VII, but it retained several aspects of Catholic doctrine, including the belief in original sin, which holds that humans have an inherently sinful nature for which they must strive to atone. Martin Luther, who was a driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, equated original sin with desire.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth personifies night as a falconer sewing up the eyes of day:
Macbeth: Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call on night as if it were some kind of mystical patron, and they often do so while summoning or entreating other supernatural forces like spirits and witches. While light has holy connotations, darkness is associated with magic and the unnatural. When Macbeth calls on night to sew up the eyes of day, he symbolically aligns himself with the forces of darkness and against God.
When Macbeth was first performed, the official religion of England regarded desire as evidence of humankind's inherent guilt and maintained that repentance and acceptance of God was the key to absolution. Macbeth—a protagonist who conceals his guilt, submits to his basest desires, and rejects God—would have seemed especially chilling to an audience of this era.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Murder:
In Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth personifies murder as an old man who moves stealthily at night, ultimately making an allusion to an infamous Roman rapist named Sextus Tarquinius:
Macbeth: [A]nd withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his
design
Moves like a ghost.
By personifying murder, Macbeth is attempting to distance himself from the crime he is about to commit—if old man murder is also responsible for the death of Duncan, then Macbeth will not have to shoulder the blame alone.
In Act 2, Scene 3, Macduff likens Duncan's body to a sacred temple and personifies murder as a thief:
Macduff: Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
The life o’ th’ building.
This use of personification illustrates Macduff's utter shock and disbelief at what has just occurred. Duncan was such a well-loved and saintly individual that Macduff cannot imagine that any human individual could be capable of killing him. The act, therefore, must have been carried out by murder incarnate. By describing Duncan's body as a holy space, Macduff characterizes his murder as a crime against God that could only have been committed by a most sacrilegious individual.
Related Themes:
Act 2, scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Murder:
In Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth personifies murder as an old man who moves stealthily at night, ultimately making an allusion to an infamous Roman rapist named Sextus Tarquinius:
Macbeth: [A]nd withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his
design
Moves like a ghost.
By personifying murder, Macbeth is attempting to distance himself from the crime he is about to commit—if old man murder is also responsible for the death of Duncan, then Macbeth will not have to shoulder the blame alone.
In Act 2, Scene 3, Macduff likens Duncan's body to a sacred temple and personifies murder as a thief:
Macduff: Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
The life o’ th’ building.
This use of personification illustrates Macduff's utter shock and disbelief at what has just occurred. Duncan was such a well-loved and saintly individual that Macduff cannot imagine that any human individual could be capable of killing him. The act, therefore, must have been carried out by murder incarnate. By describing Duncan's body as a holy space, Macduff characterizes his murder as a crime against God that could only have been committed by a most sacrilegious individual.
Related Themes:
Act 2, scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
The motif of light and dark appears frequently throughout Macbeth, reinforcing the play's grim mood and highlighting themes of guilt, religion, and the supernatural. In Act 1, Scene 4, for instance, Macbeth resolves to hide his treacherous ambitions. He associates these desires with darkness and characterizes light as a supernatural "seeing" force that threatens to scrutinize his thoughts and intentions:
Macbeth: Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth personifies light as an enemy force that can uncover and even prevent evil acts and commands night to conceal her deeds:
Lady Macbeth: Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
The word "heaven" suggests that Lady Macbeth's sentiments are somehow religious, and the overall implication of this passage is that, without the cover of darkness, she would be unable to carry out Duncan's murder. If God or heaven were to observe the act, guilt would overwhelm her and stay her hand. She therefore requires darkness to hide her actions from God and from herself.
Lady Macbeth's wish is fulfilled in Act 2, Scene 1, when Banquo comments on the lack of starlight:
Banquo: There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out.
The unusual darkness of the night foreshadows Duncan's murder, which is followed by an extended solar eclipse. In Act 2, Scene 4, Ross reasons that the lack of sun is a sign that God is displeased with the unnatural act that has taken place. He personifies both night and day, characterizing night as a strangler and musing that day may be hiding because it is ashamed of mankind:
Ross: Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?
The association between God and guilt is reflective of the religious environment of 17th-century England. The Church of England had split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VII, but it retained several aspects of Catholic doctrine, including the belief in original sin, which holds that humans have an inherently sinful nature for which they must strive to atone. Martin Luther, who was a driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, equated original sin with desire.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth personifies night as a falconer sewing up the eyes of day:
Macbeth: Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call on night as if it were some kind of mystical patron, and they often do so while summoning or entreating other supernatural forces like spirits and witches. While light has holy connotations, darkness is associated with magic and the unnatural. When Macbeth calls on night to sew up the eyes of day, he symbolically aligns himself with the forces of darkness and against God.
When Macbeth was first performed, the official religion of England regarded desire as evidence of humankind's inherent guilt and maintained that repentance and acceptance of God was the key to absolution. Macbeth—a protagonist who conceals his guilt, submits to his basest desires, and rejects God—would have seemed especially chilling to an audience of this era.
Related Themes:
Act 3, scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Dark:
The motif of light and dark appears frequently throughout Macbeth, reinforcing the play's grim mood and highlighting themes of guilt, religion, and the supernatural. In Act 1, Scene 4, for instance, Macbeth resolves to hide his treacherous ambitions. He associates these desires with darkness and characterizes light as a supernatural "seeing" force that threatens to scrutinize his thoughts and intentions:
Macbeth: Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth personifies light as an enemy force that can uncover and even prevent evil acts and commands night to conceal her deeds:
Lady Macbeth: Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry “Hold, hold!”
The word "heaven" suggests that Lady Macbeth's sentiments are somehow religious, and the overall implication of this passage is that, without the cover of darkness, she would be unable to carry out Duncan's murder. If God or heaven were to observe the act, guilt would overwhelm her and stay her hand. She therefore requires darkness to hide her actions from God and from herself.
Lady Macbeth's wish is fulfilled in Act 2, Scene 1, when Banquo comments on the lack of starlight:
Banquo: There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out.
The unusual darkness of the night foreshadows Duncan's murder, which is followed by an extended solar eclipse. In Act 2, Scene 4, Ross reasons that the lack of sun is a sign that God is displeased with the unnatural act that has taken place. He personifies both night and day, characterizing night as a strangler and musing that day may be hiding because it is ashamed of mankind:
Ross: Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?
The association between God and guilt is reflective of the religious environment of 17th-century England. The Church of England had split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VII, but it retained several aspects of Catholic doctrine, including the belief in original sin, which holds that humans have an inherently sinful nature for which they must strive to atone. Martin Luther, who was a driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, equated original sin with desire.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth personifies night as a falconer sewing up the eyes of day:
Macbeth: Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call on night as if it were some kind of mystical patron, and they often do so while summoning or entreating other supernatural forces like spirits and witches. While light has holy connotations, darkness is associated with magic and the unnatural. When Macbeth calls on night to sew up the eyes of day, he symbolically aligns himself with the forces of darkness and against God.
When Macbeth was first performed, the official religion of England regarded desire as evidence of humankind's inherent guilt and maintained that repentance and acceptance of God was the key to absolution. Macbeth—a protagonist who conceals his guilt, submits to his basest desires, and rejects God—would have seemed especially chilling to an audience of this era.
Related Themes:
Act 4, scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Scotland:
Throughout Macbeth, characters frequently attribute human characteristics to the nation of Scotland. For example, in Act 4, Scene 3, Macduff personifies Scotland as a fallen soldier who must be protected from attackers:
Macduff: Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword and, like good men,
Bestride our downfall'n birthdom.
In the same scene, Malcolm depicts Scotland as an individual who cries, bleeds, and can be wounded:
Malcolm: It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds.
Macduff, in despair that his country is suffering, addresses Scotland as though it were a person that Macbeth has personally wronged:
Macduff: O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptered,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again
Ross also personifies Scotland as an individual with a conscience and sense of identity, but claims that this identity is no longer that of a mother:
Ross: Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be called our mother, but our grave.
Furthermore, multiple characters personify Scotland as a person suffering from an illness. In Act 5, Scene 3, Macbeth even asks his doctor to examine his country's urine so that he might diagnose what ails her and develop a suitable treatment:
Macbeth: If thou couldst, doctor, cast
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo
That should applaud again.—Pull ’t off, I say.—
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug
Would scour these English hence?
Generally speaking, when characters personify Scotland, they usually use the pronoun "she," which is typical when talking about countries—a nation often has the concept of motherhood attached to it, like with the term "motherland," and servants of a country may regard it as a woman whose pride and dignity must be safeguarded. The language of Macbeth also reflects that, in Shakespeare's time, a country was considered to be synonymous with its ruler: the king of England is referred to as just "England," and Duncan and Malcolm both speak using the royal "we" to signify the fact that, as monarchs, they speak on behalf of all their subjects.
Act 5, scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Scotland:
Throughout Macbeth, characters frequently attribute human characteristics to the nation of Scotland. For example, in Act 4, Scene 3, Macduff personifies Scotland as a fallen soldier who must be protected from attackers:
Macduff: Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword and, like good men,
Bestride our downfall'n birthdom.
In the same scene, Malcolm depicts Scotland as an individual who cries, bleeds, and can be wounded:
Malcolm: It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds.
Macduff, in despair that his country is suffering, addresses Scotland as though it were a person that Macbeth has personally wronged:
Macduff: O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptered,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again
Ross also personifies Scotland as an individual with a conscience and sense of identity, but claims that this identity is no longer that of a mother:
Ross: Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be called our mother, but our grave.
Furthermore, multiple characters personify Scotland as a person suffering from an illness. In Act 5, Scene 3, Macbeth even asks his doctor to examine his country's urine so that he might diagnose what ails her and develop a suitable treatment:
Macbeth: If thou couldst, doctor, cast
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo
That should applaud again.—Pull ’t off, I say.—
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug
Would scour these English hence?
Generally speaking, when characters personify Scotland, they usually use the pronoun "she," which is typical when talking about countries—a nation often has the concept of motherhood attached to it, like with the term "motherland," and servants of a country may regard it as a woman whose pride and dignity must be safeguarded. The language of Macbeth also reflects that, in Shakespeare's time, a country was considered to be synonymous with its ruler: the king of England is referred to as just "England," and Duncan and Malcolm both speak using the royal "we" to signify the fact that, as monarchs, they speak on behalf of all their subjects.
