Thy very stones prate of my where-about,
Personification is used very often and effectively in the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. Macbeth begins act 2 with a soliloquy about the upcoming murder of King Duncan. He envisions a dagger and accepts it as an omen of his intentions. When he starts to believe that fate calls for Duncan’s death he says “Thy very stones prate of my where-about”. This line is saying that if the earth may hear Macbeth’s footsteps, they may betray his intentions. It is also implying that killing the king is a crime to nature, and therefore nature will try to prevent Duncan’s death. Shakespeare uses personification in this quote to better inform the audience of Macbeth’s intentions by making his lines easier to understand and have a deeper meaning that cannot be simply stated aloud.
Layton,
Your ideas are very strong, and the language you’re using to express yourself is its match. I particularly like the use of ‘envision’ here.
Let’s work on the ‘why use personification’ part. What I’d encourage is for you to think in terms of ‘what does personification, as a technique, bring to the text that would otherwise be missing?’. It’s tempting to say any given language effect ‘makes things easier to understand’ or ‘adds depth’, because these things are true – but what you need to do is explain HOW they add depth.
In the case of personification here, one possible explanation for its benefit is that it gives these inanimate objects a human-like intention. This adds to the established idea that Macbeth is looking around himself for instructions on how to act. He doesn’t want to take responsibility for his actions. Do you buy that? Do you have another way of looking at it?
CW