AO2 · Language, form and structure
Shakespeare's methods
Name the method, then explain its effect. Start with the essential terms you already know and build towards more sophisticated ones — a named technique you can explain always beats a label you can't.
Soliloquy
A character alone on stage, saying what they actually think.
Macbeth example: Macbeth's Act 1, Scene 7 speech, where he lists every reason not to kill Duncan.
How to use it: Ask: is anyone else meant to hear this? If not, we are being shown the truth.
Aside
A short remark the audience hears but other characters do not.
Macbeth example: Macbeth's private reaction when the first prophecy comes true.
How to use it: It creates complicity — we know something the people on stage do not.
Dramatic irony
The audience knows something a character does not.
Macbeth example: Duncan praises Macbeth's castle as pleasant just before he is murdered inside it.
How to use it: Ask what we know that they don't, and what that does to the tension.
Metaphor
Saying one thing is another to make an idea vivid.
Macbeth example: Ambition described as something that vaults and overleaps.
How to use it: Zoom in on the exact word, not the label. 'Vaulting' is where the meaning lives.
Simile
A comparison using 'like' or 'as'.
Macbeth example: Macbeth compares himself to a poor player who struts and frets on a stage.
How to use it: Ask what the comparison adds that a plain statement would not.
Personification
Giving human qualities to something that is not human.
Macbeth example: Sleep is described as something that can be murdered.
How to use it: If an object or idea is doing something only a person could, ask why.
Imagery and semantic fields
A pattern of related images running through the play.
Macbeth example: Blood, darkness, sleep, disease and clothing all recur across the acts.
How to use it: One image is a detail. The same image four times is an argument.
Symbolism
An object that carries a meaning bigger than itself.
Macbeth example: Blood begins as honour in battle and becomes guilt that will not wash off.
How to use it: Track how the meaning of the object changes across the play.
Contrast and juxtaposition
Placing opposites next to each other so both stand out.
Macbeth example: Duncan's generosity is placed directly before Macbeth's plotting.
How to use it: Ask what Shakespeare put next to what, and why in that order.
Repetition
Repeating a word or phrase for effect.
Macbeth example: Blood answering blood; 'tomorrow' repeated until it sounds meaningless.
How to use it: Repetition usually shows obsession or exhaustion. Decide which.
Sentence forms
Imperatives, questions and exclamations shape how a character sounds.
Macbeth example: Lady Macbeth commands; Macbeth questions. Their power is audible in the grammar.
How to use it: Who gives orders and who asks questions? That is characterisation.
Prose and verse
Noble characters usually speak in verse; prose signals a shift.
Macbeth example: Lady Macbeth speaks in prose while sleepwalking.
How to use it: A change in form is a change in state. Say what changed, not just that it changed.
Iambic pentameter
A steady ten-beat rhythm, like a heartbeat, used for ordinary noble speech.
Macbeth example: The witches break it, which is part of why they sound unnatural.
How to use it: Only mention rhythm when it is disrupted — a broken line is worth writing about.
Stagecraft
What the audience sees: entrances, darkness, ghosts, props.
Macbeth example: Banquo's ghost taking Macbeth's seat in front of the whole court.
How to use it: Remember it is a play. 'The audience watches…' is a strong way to start a sentence.
Structural choices
Where something is placed, and what it interrupts.
Macbeth example: The murder happens in Act 2, so most of the play is consequence, not crime.
How to use it: Zoom out: openings, turning points, repetitions and endings.