Purposes of Imagery in Macbeth The Shakespearean tragic drama Macbeth uses imagery to serve various needs of the play. This essay will develop the above premise, including exemplification and literary critical thinking. In The Riverside Shakespeare Frank Kermode illuminates the imagery of darkness in the play: Macbeth is the last of the four "great tragedies" and perhaps the darkest. Bradley began his study by pointing out that "nearly all the scenes that immediately come to mind take place at night or in some dark place." That peculiar compression, pregnancy, energy, even violence, that distinguishes the verse is a further contribution to the work's concern with the fears and tensions of darkness. (1307)Lily B. Campbell in her volume of criticism, Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes: Slaves of Passion, describes how images contribute to the atmosphere of the play: Macbeth, however, is not just a study in fear; it is a study in fear. The sounds and images in the show combine to create an atmosphere of terror and fear. The witches' spell, the bell ringing as Duncan dies, Duncan's screams, the women's screams as Lady Macbeth dies, the owl, the banging on the gate, the wild horses eating each other, the story, the shaking of the earth: all these are the usual accompaniments of those who are obstinately fearful in literature. (238-39) AC Bradley in Shakespearean Tragedy comments on the dark images of the play: The vision of the dagger, the murder of Duncan, the murder of Banquo, the sleepwalking of Lady Macbeth, all appear in nocturnal scenes. The witches dance in the thick air of a storm or, "black and midnight hags", welcome Macbeth into a cave. The darkness of the night is a source of fear, even horror, for the hero; and what he feels becomes the spirit of the work. (307)LC Knights in the essay "Macbeth" explains the supporting role that images play in Macbeth's descent into darkness:Listening to the witches, it is suggested, is like eating "the mad root, which holds reason captive" (I .iii.84-5); for Macbeth, in the moment of temptation, the "function," or intellectual activity, is "choked by conjectures"; and everywhere the image of darkness suggests not only the absence or withdrawal of light but - "the light thickens" - the presence of something positively oppressive and impeding.