After the murder of Duncan

The image is from the scene of indecisive behaviour of Macbeth to take the daggers to the room of guardians to accuse them for murdering of Duncan. There are lots of images representing the same scene but the reason I choose this one is because it looks interesting and contrary to some ideas. First of all, as we know from the book and the film, Macbeth reveals his internal conflicts and complex feelings about the murder of Duncan. Even if he desires a “quick” and “be-all, end-all” murder, this is the part he hesitates about what he had done and tried to decide what he should do which leads a dilemma in his mind.

The way Lady Macbeth looks, her protective and guiding body language is interesting because in the film, book and other images I saw, she looks very angry as her husband does not follow the plan again and she is so red blooded that she is able to take the daggers to guardians’ room by herself. It might be because the dominant behaviour of her in the scene is anger. However, in this image she looks worried which might because of getting noticed by someone after murder. I think it is contrary to what I read because whenever Macbeth is nervous and indecisive, she is always strong and masculine.

The other interesting thing is the face of Lady Macbeth. In all other images, because of her masculine behaviours, her illustration is features of her face are also masculine. However, in this image she looks much more feminine, protective and beautiful. Therefore, it is also contrary to my expectations as the way she act in this scene is not matched with her view.

The last thing what I found gripping is the background and colours of the image as Alberti gives importance to these ideas to explain the image. Other images I saw have dark colours in order to demonstrate the confusion and evil in the air. However, in this image, soft colours are chosen and the witches seem like angels from heaven among the clouds even if the weather is still stormy and bad to give the chaos effect. Showing witches in this scene can be helpful as their future prediction also has effect on murder but for someone who does not know Macbeth, witches do not create the effect of evil at first.  Thus, in my opinion, illustrating them more like a witch might me more accurate for all viewers.

Because of all these reasons, I found this image different from others which leads certain contrary and inaccurate ideas about Macbeth.