Hubble-bubble, toil and trouble, fire burn and….weather trouble! In his plays, Shakespeare often uses various types of weather to bring about certain events. Usually they are used theatrically to aid the plot. In Macbeth weather is a theatrical device use that heightens the drama.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. It tackles Macbeth’s gory rise to power and witnesses the murder of the Scottish King, Duncan, and many others under the instruction of the infamous three witches.
The main type of weather found throughout the play is thunder and lightning storms, which occur when evil deeds are either being formulated or carried out. We first see this theatrical use of weather when we meet the three witches in Act 1, scene 1. Whether Shakespeare included stage directions for storms is debatable, but the lines of the play insinuate the kind of mood and atmosphere the audience should envisage.
The stage directions of most versions of the text instructs thunder and lightning, and the first witch inquires: "When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning or in rain?" Every time the audience encounters the three witches there is a stage direction for thunder and a mention within the speech related to weather, or some kind of dark dismal atmosphere is implied.
Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the three witches, and accordingly, every time throughout his extensive catalogue of evil deeds, there is a storm. Thus, the storms appear to represent evil. In a way, Shakespeare is utilising the technique of ‘pathetic fallacy’, which is basically the emotions or mood of an individual or situation reflected within the weather.
This technique is used again in Act 2, scene 3 and informs the audience that there was a horrific storm during the night that King Duncan was killed. The characters explain to us the extent of the storm: "The night has been unruly: where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down…" "Some say the earth was feverous, and did shake." "My young remembrance cannot parallel A fellow to it."
In response to this, Macbeth (who has just killed King Duncan) replies: "’T was a rough night." This confuses the distinction between the storm and the murder, and does reflect the mood of the situation within the weather.
In Act 2, scene 4 Rosse (a nobleman) talks of the aftermath of the storm: "…The heavens, as troubled with man’s act, Threatens his bloody stage: by the clock ‘t is day, And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp. Is ‘t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame, That darkness does the face of earth entomb, When living light should kiss it?" This quote suggests that the storm of the night has killed the day, and that the day is ashamed to look on the deed that has been done the night before.
Basically, it says that the night storm has made the day dark and dingy, which reflects the shock and grief at the murder the next day. It links the aftermath of the murder as well as the storm. In Act 3, scene 3 just before Banquo is about to be murdered, he says to his son Fleance: "It will be rain tonight." Immediately after this, Banquo’s murderer says: "Let it come down", which means both the rain and the blow which is to kill him – which, again, links bad weather with murder.
Throughout literature, weather is used in various ways both poetically and dramatically to get certain points across, and Shakespeare certainly knew how to capture emotions through his use of weather.
Related Links:
- King Lear
- The Tempest
- Sonnet 18
