Macbeth Literary Devices
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there are a few literacy devices listed in Act II scene iii, lines 55-65. To begin with, a commonly used literacy device throughout the play would be pathetic fallacy. For example, Lenox declared:
Lamentings heard I’th’air; strange screams of death,
And, prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion, and confus’d events,
New hatch’d to th’woeful time, the obscure bird
Clamour’d the livelong night: some say, the earth
Was feverous, and did shake.
(II.iii.55-59)
Furthermore, this quote presents pathetic fallacy because weather and nature is being used to reflect what is going on in the atmosphere surrounding the characters. In other words, one of the things Lenox said was that the earth shook, as if it had a fever. Shakespeare used pathetic fallacy to develop an ominous and intense atmosphere for the audience viewing the play. It also adds more interest in the play for the audience, because it makes the scene more suspenseful. Another incredible literacy device that was present would be dramatic irony. Such as when Lenox expresses how people were saying they heard cries of grief in the air, and strange screams of death by telling Macbeth “Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death,/
And prophesying with accents terrible/Of dire combustion” (II.iii. 55-57). Dramatic irony is presented because the audience knows that when this was said by Lenox, Macbeth had already killed Duncan, but the characters did not know that yet, other than Macbeth and his Lady. The significance of dramatic irony in Shakespeare’s play is to heighten the tension of the drama. Also it allows the audience to start developing some thoughts on how characters have changed, such as Macbeth. In conclusion, throughout the play Macbeth written by the amazing Shakespeare, there are many literacy devices presented specifically in Act II, scene iii such as pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony.
Lamentings heard I’th’air; strange screams of death,
And, prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion, and confus’d events,
New hatch’d to th’woeful time, the obscure bird
Clamour’d the livelong night: some say, the earth
Was feverous, and did shake.
(II.iii.55-59)
Furthermore, this quote presents pathetic fallacy because weather and nature is being used to reflect what is going on in the atmosphere surrounding the characters. In other words, one of the things Lenox said was that the earth shook, as if it had a fever. Shakespeare used pathetic fallacy to develop an ominous and intense atmosphere for the audience viewing the play. It also adds more interest in the play for the audience, because it makes the scene more suspenseful. Another incredible literacy device that was present would be dramatic irony. Such as when Lenox expresses how people were saying they heard cries of grief in the air, and strange screams of death by telling Macbeth “Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death,/
And prophesying with accents terrible/Of dire combustion” (II.iii. 55-57). Dramatic irony is presented because the audience knows that when this was said by Lenox, Macbeth had already killed Duncan, but the characters did not know that yet, other than Macbeth and his Lady. The significance of dramatic irony in Shakespeare’s play is to heighten the tension of the drama. Also it allows the audience to start developing some thoughts on how characters have changed, such as Macbeth. In conclusion, throughout the play Macbeth written by the amazing Shakespeare, there are many literacy devices presented specifically in Act II, scene iii such as pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony.