Macbeth - The Importance Of Night :: essays research papers

When I thought about the role that the word "night" would shimmer in the tragic play "Macbeth," I found that there were a variety of possibilities. Immediately, I thought of the nighttime as a period of bide and revitalization. I expected that this would allow characters to recover from the days many demands. Secondly, I connected the night to the unknown. In the nights cloak of darkness, many more things could go undiscovered than in the revealing light of day. Next, I thought that the night would mean vulnerability. As the evening c loses in, everyone begins to wind down, not expecting any real action until the breaking of the dawn. In addition, while one is sleeping, they are susceptible to almost anything. The most logical time to make an attack would definitely be after nightfall. Lastly and by chance most importantly, is nights correlation with evilness. As children, we were all afraid of nasty monsters that lurked in the darkness of night. The night has lon g been believed to host supernatural beings and occurrences. As I take on the play and came upon the word "night," I was surprised to discover that all four aspects of my hypothesis were correct. First, in act I, we follow the first usage, night as a period for rest and revitalization. In scene iii, lines 19-23, the First Witch says, Sleep shall neither night nor day / Hang upon his penthouse lid / He shall live a man forbid / Weary sevnights nine times nine / Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine / Though his bark bearnot be lost, / Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.Here, she is punishing the bluejacket by depriving him of his sleep, which she realizes is important for anyone to function normally. Without the ability to recuperate after each hard days work, one would grow very weak and eventually start to lose ones mind. Next, we can observe nights connection to the unknown. As seen in my word journal, Lady Macbeth beckons, Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smok e 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" Without the obscurity of night, she would not have urged Macbeth to kill the king as she did. The night, however, gives her the impression that Macbeth can indeed kill King Duncan with no one uncovering his contemptible crime, the same idea that Macbeth had when he said, "Stars, hide your fires / Let not light see my black and deep desires.