Spiegel, 1

Birds Take Flight with Macbeth

Nathan Spiegel

American Studies

Jackson/Shollenberger

29 October, 2009
 Spiegel, 2

Nathan Spiegel

Jackson/Shollenberger

American Studies

29 October, 2009

Birds Take Flight with Macbeth

Animals are a major part of anyone’s life. Most of us eat meat which is us feeding

off animals. Some of us probably have leather couches or car seats. Animals are used

once again. Also, humans use animals to tell all sorts of stories. Many major movies that

have done quite well have main characters that are animals. Shakespeare, although not

writing a script to a Disney movie, used animals in his works. Shakespeare used animals

to portray moods and situations throughout the play. All through out his play, Macbeth,

animals are shown with different meanings and purposes. Most of these animals happen

to be birds. All sorts of birds are used including Owls, falcons, crows, chickens. Three

very prominent examples of use of animals in the play are Owls representing evil,

swallows, and crows. Animals are used in an expert way by Shakespeare in his play

Macbeth to display moods and situations.

What does one think of when they think of an owl? A big bird that flies through

the night and howls and scream? That would be a rather good guess. Indeed owls are

nocturnal, to come out at night, and scream. Shakespeare uses that idea in his play. In act

2, when Duncan’s murder is committed, the scene is during the night. Lady Macbeth is

standing outside waiting for her husband. When Macbeth comes out, Lady Macbeth cries

his name and he asks if she heard a noise. She replies saying: “I heard the owl scream and

the crickets cry. / Did not you speak?” (2.2. 21-22) the owl in this sense is a symbol of
 Spiegel, 3

the murder. If one hasn’t heard an owl scream before, they can probably imagine what it

would sound like. It’s not the prettiest thing to be heard. Obviously, murder is not a nice

thing. Shakespeare uses the screech of an owl to represent the foulness (no pun intended)

and evil quality of the murder. Also, in the quote, although not a bird, is the mentioning

of a cricket. The cricket can too be interpreted as a symbol. A symbol of silence, directly

after the murder, no one knows what has gone on. They are all asleep. Except for

Macbeth and his lady, the entire world is silent. The cricket with its steady chirping

represents that silence. In the morning, the cricket stops its chirping. Also in the morning,

the king’s body is “found” and pandemonium follows. Both the owl and the cricket are

symbols of the atmosphere created by the events that take place in that scene.

Depending of the type of animals present at a certain time, certain impressions of

a place can be given. For example, if you were at a zoo and you saw lots of enormous

man eating dinosaurs, you might think that it was a frightening zoo and that you might

not want to spend that much time there. But, if one walked in on alpacas, one might be

more at ease and stay a little while longer. This happens in Macbeth too. While Duncan is

approaching the castle, he says how sweet it seems. Banquo, who he is riding with, adds:

This guest of summer,

The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle:
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed,
The air is delicate. (1.6.3-8)
In that quote, the mart let has made his home on the battlements of Macbeth’s

castle. A mart let is a type of swallow. Since swallows are small friendly birds that aren’t

very imposing, it puts Duncan’s mind at ease, thinking that his stay will be a nice and
 Spiegel, 4

peaceful one. Little does he know of what’s to come. Earlier in the play, when Lady

Macbeth is praying to the evil spirits, she wants the ravens to come and nest in her

battlements to “croak the fatal entrance of Duncan.” (1.7. 46) if Duncan by chance had

looked up and seen ravens flying around, he might not have felt so safe and secure. In a

sense, the swallows flying around helps Lady Macbeth’s plan somewhat by luring

Duncan into a false sense of security. Im sure if you went to a zoo full of alpaca’s, you

wouldn’t be too afraid of an Allosaurus coming out of no where and eating you.

Crows also display important themes in Macbeth. In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth

refers to Banquo as a crow flying to the woods. This relates to Banquo going on a ride

with his son into the country. Of course, this is when Macbeth plans to murder him

because he feels that Banquo is a threat to his throne. He plans to carry out the murder

(although not by himself) at night.

Light thickens; and the crow

Makes wing to the rooky wood:
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
While night's black agents to their preys do rouse. (3.2.53).
This quote shows how Macbeth plans to kill Banquo as night falls and so no one will find

out. Also in the quote, the last two lines, is a symbol of evil. The 2nd to last line says how

the good things go to sleep for the night and all the evil creatures of the night come out to

hunt. The three murders are the “black agents”. Banquo and his son Fleance can be seen

as good things of day. As night falls around them, and they are still outside, they are left

in a world of evil and darkness. So as the murderers descend upon them, they are pried on

by the agents. Crows represent Banquo and Fleance in the usage of the word in Act. 3

Birds are used throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth to represent moods and

situations of people and events. Some of the more important examples used are Owl,
 Spiegel, 5

swallows, and crows. Moods created by these birds include the evilness of the owl’s

screech, the peacefulness and innocence of the swallows and the hasty flight of the crows.

Using these birds clearly portrays the mood or mind set the reader should be in as they

directly relate to the story. In a successful way, Shakespeare has used birds to convey his

meaning in yet another interesting and baffling way.

 Spiegel, 6

Works Cited

"Full text / script of the play Macbeth Act II by William Shakespeare." WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE. Web. 28 Sept. 2009. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act2-script-
text-macbeth.htm>.

"Macbeth: Entire Play." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Web. 28 Sept.
2009. <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html>.

"Macbeth Navigator: Themes: Birds." Shakespeare Navigators. Web. 28 Sept. 2009.

<http://www.clicknotes.com/macbeth/Birds.html>.