MACBETH SYMBOLS

Created by Cameron Tromba

WHAT IS OUR SYMBOL?

CLOTHING!!

EXAMPL ES O F CL OTHIN G FR OM MACBETH

CLOTHING QUOTE

In `Macbeth,' the imagery of clothing portrays that Macbeth is seeking to hide his "disgraceful self" from himself and others. Shakespeare wants to show the difference between the pitiful human being that Macbeth really is and the disguises he uses to hide who he truly is. Macbeth is constantly represented symbolically as the wearer of robes not belonging to him, which is a point well made by the uses of clothing imagery. The description of the purpose of clothing in Macbeth is the fact that these garments are not his. Therefore, Macbeth is uncomfortable in them because he is continually conscious of the fact that they do not belong to him. In the following passage, the idea constantly reappears, Macbeth's new honors sit ill upon him, like loose and badly fitting garments, belonging to someone else:

“Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold but with the aid of use (1.3.145-146).”

CLOTHING QUOTES

“The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me in borrowed robes (1.3.109)?”

When Macbeth first hears that he's been named the Thane of Cawdor, he asks Angus why he is being dressed in "borrowed" robes. Macbeth doesn't literally mean that he's going to wear the old thane's hand-me-down clothing. Here, "robes" is a metaphor for the title (Thane of Cawdor) that Macbeth doesn't think belongs to him. (At this point in the play, Macbeth is corrupt.)

CLOTHING QUOTES

“Now does he feel his title hang loose about him like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief (5.2.20-21).”

Toward the end of the play (when everybody hates Macbeth, who has become a corrupt monarch), Angus says that Macbeth's kingly "title" is ill-fitting and hangs on him rather loosely, "like a giant's robe/ Upon a dwarfish thief". Angus isn't accusing Macbeth of stealing and wearing the old king's favorite jacket, he's accusing Macbeth of stealing the king's power (by killing him) and then parading around with the king's title, which doesn't seem to suit him at all.

CLOTHING QUOTES

“What are these so withered, and so wild in their attire, that look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth, and yet are on’t (1.3.39-42)?”

Here we see Banquo noticing the witches on the road while talking to Macbeth. He comments on their appearance and clothing stating that the three witches don’t appear to be people born of this world ( as if they are extra terrestrials in a sense).

REFERENCES

Elements of Literature Sixth Edition Textbook (from school)