r takes place at night or in the shadow of darkness. The Macbeth’s inflict their damage to King Duncan while he sleeps at night. According to the stage directions before the scene of his murder, “It is nighttime, and they are attended by servants with torches (1.6).” Also, in scene seven of act one, Macbeth sits in a “torchlit room.” The cover of night provides Macbeth with the best opportunity to kill the king. Another example of the cover of night allowing opportunity for murder arrives with the unjustified death of Banquo. “The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day (3.3.5).” In this instance, the murders are questioning themselves about committing such a horrible crime without the element of darkness in full bloom. Lady Macbeth reveals her downward spiral into death through her vivid memories of the murders. Her sleepwalking and hallucinations occur at night. The darkness eventually causes her to experience a slow, agonizing death. The villains of Macbeth manage to use darkness to commit the every violent act of mischief. Shakespeare also empowers the image of blood to create a deadly atmosphere that surrounds the characters, as well as provide them with a means to release their emotional regret or guilt. The atmosphere that surrounds the characters drowns the thoughts and actions through an extremely violent picture of blood. The first character toward whom our attention is directed (aside from the witches) is the bloody sergeant. In the opening words of the play’s second scene King Duncan asks about a sergeant when he says, “What bloody man is that (1.2.11)?” This ‘bloody’ man allows the reader to understand that violence and the image of blood will constantly create a drowning atmosphere. The play has a whole river of blood as when Macbeth says, “I am in blood/stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedi...
