Gothic

Gothic elements in Act One - Macbeth

The first act of Macbeth has numerous gothic elements. First of all, the setting ‘Thunder and lightning’ gives a ominous tone to the play, and the conception of dark yet light relates to gothic locations or setting. The imagery used in the first scene sets the mood for the rest of the play, by describing the weather, the mysterious witches and what they may be planning, The question of ' who is macbeth? ', the use of language by the witches ‘fair is foul and foul is fair:’, this riddle, almost chanting style of dialogue used by the witches adds mystery to their characters and also the plot. Also, The reader, gathering information and ideas from the first scene gets the idea that something bad is going to happen due to the mystery and the language used by the witches. All of these methods portray classic gothic elements.

Throughout the act there is evidence of prophetical speech not only from the three witches but also from Banquo and Lady Macbeth, this emphasises the theme of meta physicality within the play and thus the gothic element that this entails. In Scene 6, Lady Macbeth doubts Macbeth's character 'Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o'th' milk of human kindness', in scene 7, this prophetical dialogue is proven true by Macbeth's immediate doubts of the murder of Duncan, ‘bloody instructions which being taught, return to plague th’inventor’. Macbeth and his wife seem to portray two different sides of macbeth, the evil, planning side of him and also the good, calm side of him, this suggests a psychological approach, often seen in gothic novels.

An interesting gothic element of Act 1 which stands out is the idea of dark yet light, both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth make a reference to this. In Scene 4 Macbeth in a soliloquy says ‘Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires'. This suggests that Macbeth doesn’t want the stars to shine their light so that his evil deeds can be concealed in darkness, a possible reference to his own conscience and his unwillingness to see his darker side? This quote displays the dark, sinister thoughts that are going on inside Macbeth’s head.The idea of darkness emphasises the gothic theme of the play, as darkness in itself is an ominous and sinister factor, yet the way in which they both desire darkness could suggest how dark they have become through their deeds.