MACBETH Act 2 Scene 3

Macbeth uses metaphors in scene 3 to describe King Duncan’s death and the impact of it. In this scene, the king’s servants and sons are informed of his murder, and they discuss what is to come. Macbeth quickly lies repeatedly to cover his story, although most of the other characters, especially Macduff, casts doubt over Macbeth’s story. The two sons of the king fear for their lives and decide to flee. The rest will rally to discuss the murder further, which is another indication of the suspicion of the noblemen. In his lies, Macbeth says ‘His silver skin laced with his golden blood; And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature’. This quote has two obvious metaphors. The first is the king’s skin being silver and his blood gold. In the time that this play takes place in, Kings were often thought to have been chosen by God, and act as his representative on this earth. This would explain why his blood would be described as golden, meaning it is heavenly and superior to other men. This is described using a metaphor because it manipulates the way the reader perceives the king. Shakespeare wants to portray the king as an almost heavenly figure, chosen by God and therefore sacred to the earth. The second metaphor is his wounds looking like a breach in nature. This is saying that as he is a man chosen by God and nature, that nature would be griefed by his death and emotionally wounded. This is called the pathetic fallacy. This is also foreshadowing to the earth and nature reacting to his death in an unnatural and devastating way. The whole country will feel the consequences of Macbeth’s actions. A metaphor is used here to emphasize the impact of his death, as said by Macbeth. It highlights that particular part of the text, as it is an important line and also has foreshadowing in it. Shakespeare effectively uses metaphors in those 2 lines to add meaning and depth to those two lines and highlights them as they are of importance to the story.