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 Violent
tempests, strange occurrences, and unnatural events form the backdrop
to three of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies: Macbeth, Julius Caesar,
and King Lear. Joyce Boro, a DPhil student at Oxford
University's English Faculty, discusses the importance of stormy
weather in Shakespeare's work.
Thunder disrupts the skies,
shrieks of owls, laments and prophecies pierce the night air. The
raging wind threatens to destroy the rooftops and, "Some say, the
earth, Was fevrous and did shake," as Macbeth descends, dagger in
hand, upon the sleeping Duncan.
This abnormal weather parallels
Macbeth’s villainous act of regicide. The elements cry out against
Macbeth’s perversion of natural order.
Darkness encroaches upon
day on the morning after Duncan’s murder, earlier threatening auguries
are remembered, and all is ascribed to "The heavens, as troubled
with man’s act, Threaten his bloody stage."
In Julius Caesar, humanity’s
abominable actions are accompanied through violent weather. Caesar’s
murder is plotted whilst the sea swells, rages and foams, and "All
the sway of earth shakes like a thing unfirm."
The storm both reflects and
originates in the Romans’ treason, as "The world, too saucy with
the gods, Incenses them to send destruction."
Similarly in Macbeth, the
tempest is presented as unnatural and is preceded by 'portentious
things'. Men enveloped in fire walked the streets, lions became
tame, and night birds howled in the midday sun. Order is inverted;
man acts against man; the gods and elements turn against humanity,
and mark their outrage with 'a tempest dropping fire' .
 Again,
in 'King Lear', extreme weather conditions mirror acts of human
depravity. Rejected and abused by his daughters and divested of
his kingdom, Lear is subjected to a fierce tempest. Exposed to this
inclement weather, 'this tyranous night', an equally severe and
dangerous tempest rages in Lear’s mind, as a result of his daughter's
subversion of familial and political bonds.
The clashing thunder and
pelting rain reflect Lear’s mental storm, which strips him of his
sanity. As it storms both internally and externally to Lear, he
descends from regal magnificence to poverty and confusion.
While storms were used physically
and metaphorically to signify human immorality, they also presented
Shakespeare with a useful plot device. For instance, in 'Twelfth
Night', a fateful storm initiates the events. It besets the vessel
carrying Viola and Sebastian, separating them and conveying them
to Illyria where they meet their true destinies.
And in 'The Tempest', it
is used to gather all the characters on the island enabling a harmonious
resolution, as well as demonstrating Prospero’s magical powers.
Moreover, in the competitive
world of Renaissance theatre, the storms also offered Shakespeare’s
company the opportunity for virtuoso, audience grabbing, displays
of special effects. Thunder was created with drums or by rolling
metal balls on a metal sheet. And squibs, fireworks, or rosin suggested
lightening.
The repeated occurrence of
tempests in Shakespeare’s plays, their multiple uses, and the numerous
stage directions perpetuating them, indicate that such 'fog and
filthy! air', such 'wrathful skies' were a successful, evocative,
and important part of Shakespeare’s repertoire.
Related links:
More on weather in Shakespeare:
King Lear
Macbeth
The Tempest
Sonnet 18
The Modern Novel
Shakespearean Storms
Thomas Hardy
The Romantic Poets
Mark Twain
Daniel Defoe
Oxford University's
English Faculty
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