Francis Bacon once said, “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present”. Essentially, what this means is that in order for there to be good, there must be bad, as well. People can be good or bad, or more likely, a mix of the two. Darkness resides within everyone, as does light, the variable is only the amount and balance of the two, and which overpowers the other. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth light and dark imagery are used to display one’s innocence or guilt, as well as that of sanity or insanity, conveying the correlation between morality and sanity, and visa versa.
Those who have not violated their morals feel a strong moral obligation to keep the peace. Initially, before any immoral acts had been committed, the Weird Sisters prophesied that Macbeth would first become Thane of Cawdor, and then become king, and that Banquo’s children would be kings. Soon, after finding that the first part of the prophecy had proven true, Macbeth considers the implications of the following parts.
Banquo tells him that “instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence–“. Banquo has remained true to his morals, and thus has not compromised his conscience. He warns Macbeth that although the instruments of darkness, the witches, may be truthful, their honesty may come to him in the future. Later, when he learns at the king has been murdered, Ross wonders if it’s the “night’s predominance or the day’s shame That darkness does the face of the earth entomb When living light should kiss it?”. Ross has remained innocent, and so he is shocked that someone could commit a crime so unholy in its nature.
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His conscience simply cannot comprehend that someone would dare to cause such a disturbance of the peace. Meanwhile, Banquo’s purity burdens him heavily, and in turn, causes him to deeply consider what may come of the fulfilment of the witches’ prophecy. He says that “There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep”. The lack of goodness in the world torments Banquo. His innocent conscience clouds with concerns over what may potentially disturb the peace in the coming future, and how he might go about preventing it.
One’s level of guilt is negatively proportional to the level of which they feel, as they begin to accustom to their immorality. Initially, Macbeth ignores Banquo’s advice, and imagines the possibility of becoming king. However, his fairly clear conscience compels him to feel guilt, and so he begs that the “Stars hide their fires let not light see his black and deep desires”. Macbeth pleads that his inner darkness not come to light, which would disturb the peace. Before committing an immoral act, Macbeth feels immense guilt and responsibility, because he has not yet [done] any wrongful deeds, his conscience has no proportion of immorality, forcing him to feel immense guilt and solely for the act of considering such a sin.
Furthermore, when Macbeth confesses his guilt to Lady Macbeth, she insists that her “hands are of his color, but she shames To wear a heart so white”. Lady Macbeth insists that she is just as guilty as he is, and tells him to instead cope with his guilt in silence. Hence, following the murder, Macbeth no longer attempts to cope with his guilt by embracing his sins and newfound ‘darkness’. He requests that the “seeling night, scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day”. Macbeth wants the seeling night, representing immorality, to overcome the pitiful day, representing the minority of innocence. Rather than feeling guilt for his actions, he accepts the darkness evidently emerging within him, as well as what it entails. He embraces the possibility of further growth, and of domination now that he no longer feels he must cooperate with the goodness of the world.
After performing a series of immoral actions, the conscience loses control of the mind, causing it to break down, which leads to a variety of coping mechanisms. Interestingly, rather than continuing to embrace her inner darkness, Lady Macbeth begins to fear it, and so “has light by her continually”. She can no longer embrace her own evilness, and begins to fear it, needing a light to shine on her and constantly repel darkness.
However, Macbeth begins to despise what little light is left in the world. When he hears news of Lady Macbeth’s tragic death, he shouts, “Out, out, brief candle!”. Rather than mourn his wife’s untimely demise, Macbeth could not have cared less that the only source of light left in his life was gone permanently. He no longer craves goodness in his life, and instead condemns it, hence his demand that the light of the candle be put out. Furthermore, Macbeth says that he “gin to be aweary of the sun And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone”. Without any source of goodness left in his life, Macbeth and his guilt ridden conscience descend into a state of evilness and insanity. He no longer appreciates the existence of light within himself, and wants to be wholly evil so that he can enjoy the world’s descent into chaos. The buildup of immorality has stripped his mind of all sanity, and he can no longer coexist with light.
In order to show characters’ levels of guilt, Shakespeare uses light and dark imagery, which then shows how the conscience and mind decay from an overload of immorality. There is a precious balance of light and darkness within each and everyone, and everyone has a conscience to keep that balance in check. But this balance can be upset by ignoring the conscience’s warnings to keep from crossing too far into darkness. Ignoring the conscience, which is purposed for ensuring one’s sanity, and descending into darkness, consequently leads to insanity.
