Throughout the course of the play- one notices the effective use of symbols to portray the mood and feelings of the characters. It also serves to more effectively show the various underlying motives and importance of certain characters and events. It is the variety of the symbols that make the play Macbeth so unique. There are eight characteristic symbols that show the most throughout the play. They are: birds/animals, crowns, darkness, daggers, blood, garments, water, and sleep. The most important three are the references to sleep, daggers, and blood. These three elements serve to portray the more dark sections of the play concerning murder and foul play.

The first symbol is sleep. This is an important symbol referred most often to during the area of the play concerning the murder of King Duncan. This is important, as the references to sleep are what lead Macbeth into a...