Imagery in the play Macbeth is very rich, varied and highly imaginative. The imagery in this play conveys certain ideas which are subtle and complex. The imagery used in this play has been taken from the simplest things, drawn from our daily life.
Shakespeare’s use of garment imagery in this play is praiseworthy. When Ross, on orders of the king, calls Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth uses this garment image to express his confusion:
“The Thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes?”
The garment- imagery in the play is also used to discredit Macbeth. At the end of the play, when Macbeth is defeating, Caithness sees him as a man vainly trying to fasten a large garment on himself with too small a belt. In this connection Angus comments:
“Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.”
There are recurring images of blood in Macbeth. The images of blood have been used in this play to create an atmosphere of horror. After murdering Duncan, blood-image is used to create a sense of horror and guilty, when Macbeth says: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”
We have plenty of imagery in the play contributing to the atmosphere of darkness and light. Within the play light stands for life, ethicalness, and goodness; whereas haziness stands for fiendish and death. Here we can sum up the movement of the whole play in these lines:
“Good things of Day begin to droop and drowse,
While Night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.”
Then we have the images of disorder and sickness. Sickness stands for disorder quite often in Macbeth. We find disorder in Macbeth’s mind when he is determined to bring ruin on the universe:
“Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly.”
However, the images of peace, harmony and beauty are not absolutely wanting in the play. There is first of all, the picture of Duncan’s court where everybody is loyal to him and is contented. Then there is the picture of Inverness and its surroundings in the speeches of Duncan and Banquo when they arrive there as guests. Duncan says, “This castle hath a pleasant seat.” It is noteworthy that this picture possesses an unconscious irony because Duncan is going to be killed at this “pleasant seat.”
Thus the images in the play reinforces the various themes and adds richness to the texture of the play.