The Importance of Secondary Characters in Macbeth
Literature requires the creation of main characters to be heroes or villains, but necessary to these characters are secondary and sometimes seemingly incidental characters. Minor characters complicate plot and introduce important elements of theme and imagery. Without minor characters, the main players in any narrative would lose dimension. The plays of William Shakespeare abound with "great" characters, as well as essential secondary characters without which the agonies of the tragic hero or the romantic complications of the romantic hero could not occur. In Macbeth, without secondary characters peppered throughout the play, the tragic hero's journey would be impossible; in fact the powerful …show more content…
(3.6. 35-38)
This conversation is used by Shakespeare to illustrate the general feeling about Macbeth’s path to kingship and also to comment on the state of the country. This information sets the stage for the fall of Macbeth as king and for the change of loyalty of the previously loyal Lords. Malcolm is increasingly cast as rescuer of Scotland; “Some holy angel / fly to the count of England ’ere he come [to] return to this our suffering country.” (3.6. 48-51) Macbeth becomes further isolated, allowing for the eventual elevation of Malcolm as true, rightful, King.
Yet another character, the Doctor, adds further to the information about the deterioration of a character, in this case Lady Macbeth. “A great perturbation in nature,...the head is sorely charged / this disease is beyond my practice"(5.1. 8-54) is how the Doctor delivers his prognosis. His comments indicate that he cannot cure the illness because and he believes that guilty actions are the cause of her disturbance. Unnatural deeds
Do abound unnatural troubles; infected …show more content…
(5.1. 66-71)
This character, only in the play for two scenes, is the voice that proclaims the fate of Lady Macbeth. “Look after her; / Remove from her all the means of all annoyance / And still keep eyes upon her.” (5.1.70-72) The suggestion that Lady Macbeth could harm herself of course foreshadows the suicide of Lady Macbeth. The Doctor, along with other important but minor characters, are essential in their introduction of important information.
The play Macbeth abounds with rich imagery patterns that are connected to minor characters. The Porter, only in the play for one scene, nonetheless introduces the all-important image pattern that the castle is an unnatural place. In his rambling speech he likens the castle to hell. “If a man were the porter of hell-gate” (2.3.1).As he is called to answer the knocking at the gate, he waxes philosophical about the idea that there are all different sinners in the hell that is the castle. The speech of the porter is deliberately created to introduce the idea of the unnatural hell that exists in the castle because of the commission of the great crime of treason. The dramatic irony of course is that the porter is unaware of the hell that exists in the murder chamber that is about to be discovered by Macduff, “Our royal master’s murder’d.”
Literature requires the creation of main characters to be heroes or villains, but necessary to these characters are secondary and sometimes seemingly incidental characters. Minor characters complicate plot and introduce important elements of theme and imagery. Without minor characters, the main players in any narrative would lose dimension. The plays of William Shakespeare abound with "great" characters, as well as essential secondary characters without which the agonies of the tragic hero or the romantic complications of the romantic hero could not occur. In Macbeth, without secondary characters peppered throughout the play, the tragic hero's journey would be impossible; in fact the powerful …show more content…
(3.6. 35-38)
This conversation is used by Shakespeare to illustrate the general feeling about Macbeth’s path to kingship and also to comment on the state of the country. This information sets the stage for the fall of Macbeth as king and for the change of loyalty of the previously loyal Lords. Malcolm is increasingly cast as rescuer of Scotland; “Some holy angel / fly to the count of England ’ere he come [to] return to this our suffering country.” (3.6. 48-51) Macbeth becomes further isolated, allowing for the eventual elevation of Malcolm as true, rightful, King.
Yet another character, the Doctor, adds further to the information about the deterioration of a character, in this case Lady Macbeth. “A great perturbation in nature,...the head is sorely charged / this disease is beyond my practice"(5.1. 8-54) is how the Doctor delivers his prognosis. His comments indicate that he cannot cure the illness because and he believes that guilty actions are the cause of her disturbance. Unnatural deeds
Do abound unnatural troubles; infected …show more content…
(5.1. 66-71)
This character, only in the play for two scenes, is the voice that proclaims the fate of Lady Macbeth. “Look after her; / Remove from her all the means of all annoyance / And still keep eyes upon her.” (5.1.70-72) The suggestion that Lady Macbeth could harm herself of course foreshadows the suicide of Lady Macbeth. The Doctor, along with other important but minor characters, are essential in their introduction of important information.
The play Macbeth abounds with rich imagery patterns that are connected to minor characters. The Porter, only in the play for one scene, nonetheless introduces the all-important image pattern that the castle is an unnatural place. In his rambling speech he likens the castle to hell. “If a man were the porter of hell-gate” (2.3.1).As he is called to answer the knocking at the gate, he waxes philosophical about the idea that there are all different sinners in the hell that is the castle. The speech of the porter is deliberately created to introduce the idea of the unnatural hell that exists in the castle because of the commission of the great crime of treason. The dramatic irony of course is that the porter is unaware of the hell that exists in the murder chamber that is about to be discovered by Macduff, “Our royal master’s murder’d.”