Events, characters and language are all closely related.
So I'll explain how an event contributes to characterization and then explain how
language furthers those ideas. There are a number of characters in the play, but here
I'll focus on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
If you need more
than what I've provided here, think of what it means to "characterize" someone. We do it
with our friends and peers all the time. For example, if the kid in class who brags
about getting a good score on a test because he's naturally really smart. However, you
saw him using a cheat sheet under his desk. Therefore, how he acts during a tough moment
gives us significant insight into his character. In addition, the fact that he brags and
lies further supplements our assessment of his
character.
Macbeth
In act one
(I) scene two (ii), King Duncan gets a report on the recent war. The focus of the report
is on Macbeth and how brave and ferocious a warrior he is. Specifically, the servant
tells Duncan that Macbeth was slaughtering others and "he unseam'd [one of them] from
the nave to the chaps." In other words, Macbeth impaling opponents with a sword and then
running the sword all the way up the chin. Based on this event and the language used in
describing it, the reader understands that Macbeth is capable of extreme brutality given
the appropriate situation; he has the ability to be physically
powerful.
Once Macbeth becomes king, he then abuses his
state power by murdering any person he deemed a threat, including women and children.
Because Macbeth will kill anyone simply for the sake of maintaining his power, the
reader can draw inferences into the composition of his character (characterization).
Lady Macbeth
Once Macbeth is
King, Lady Macbeth is the queen. The potential power she has is obvious; she is
emotionally and physically close to Macbeth, thus able to influence his
decisions.
Before Macbeth became king, he had to
assassinate King Duncan. Duncan was a close friend, perhaps even a father-figure, to
Macbeth and Macbeth has doubts about killing him. Lady Macbeth then takes on a more
masculine role and challenges Macbeth. In I vii, "when you durst do it, then you are a
man; / And to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man." In other
words, she challenges his masculinity by saying that he is not a man until he has killed
the king. When these words come from a person who is so close (especially during the
Elizabethan period when genders dictated specific behaviors) they wield great
power.
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