Mac Beth

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Mac Beth

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. Shakespeare’s plays communicate a profound knowledge of the wellsprings of human behavior, revealed through portrayals of a wide variety of characters. His use of poetic and dramatic means to create a unified aesthetic effect out of a multiplicity of vocal expressions and actions is recognized as a singular achievement, and his use of poetry within his plays to express the deepest levels of human motivation in individual, social, and universal situations is considered one of the greatest accomplishments in literary history.
The opening scene establishes a brooding sense of doom. Shakespeare uses a frightening spectacle to grip his audience. There is nothing perfunctory or boring about Act I that sets the mood of the play. We see a trio of howling, shrieking ugly hags gathered in a thunderstorm, cackling greedily over their evil plans. It is worthwhile to remember that the audience in Shakespeare’s time did believe in witches, and many witches were tried and executed. Even the skeptics, and there were some, were unsure in their in their disbelief. He primarily to show that for the duration of this play, ugliness, evil uses thus these witches, while only a part of Shakespeare’s spectacular opening scene, and power will be united to achieve chaos and murder.

A central question is addressed by one of the hags to her sisters: “When shall we three meet again/ in thunder, lightning or in rain?” (1-2). The question concerns the concept of time. Shakespeare questions all that exists in this world and possible other worlds. The question of time is a key theme of the play, from the introductory 2question, quoted above, to Mac Beth’s despairing “to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow (v, v, 19) dirge, to Mac duff’s triumphant entry with Mac Beth’s severed head clutched firmly...