Macbeth Humument FINAL

The Raven Himself is Hoarse: Writer’s Statement
William Shakespeare's infamous play, "Macbeth," explores the depths of human temptation
and the consequences of succumbing to the charm of acts of malicious intent and evil. One
of the pivotal moments in the play is Lady Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5, where she
exclaims, "The raven himself is hoarse." In this writer's statement, I will outline the
connection between this soliloquy and my humument, which sets out to capture the
essence of Lady Macbeth's evil transformation and the overarching themes of the play. In
this soliloquy, the audience sees Lady Macbeth’s shift in character from a loving and
supportive wife to a manipulative and power-hungry queen. It unveils her yearning for a
transformation to be ‘unsexed’ and to welcome darkness and evil into her soul.
In the line, “The raven himself is hoarse”, Shakespeare uses imagery to depict the raven as a
symbol of death, which is why I have included this image in my humument. In Shakespeare’s
time, ravens were believed to be the bringers of doom and this reference from my piece
amplifies the mournful atmosphere of the play as a whole, and of Lady Macbeth's ill-wishes
for herself during her soliloquy. In my piece, the raven is seen as a symbol of the darkness
that is slowly engulfing the Macbeths and ultimately seals their tragic fate. The group of
ravens flying down to Lady Macbeth also represent the impending darkness that she seeks
to embrace and as they circle above her, their hoarse cries echo her thirst for power.
“That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan” connects the ravens croak with King Duncan’s
arrival at Macbeth’s castle, which I have displayed through the image of the dark
battlements in the lower corner. In my humument, the dripping blood is also a symbol of
the call of the ravens and the dripping blood, both figuratively and literally, foreshadows the
tragedy that later unfolds in the castle. As an ode to the reference of the castle later in the
line “Under my battlements”, it stands in my humument as a symbol of the Macbeth's
aspirations for themselves and the lengths they will go to to secure their power, even if this
means betrayal and murder.
At the centre of my humument lies an eerie moon in reference to the line “ Come you
spirits”. I have placed this moon in the centre of the piece as if it is summoning the spirit
behind the image of a tortured Lady Macbeth. The line is a turning point in the soliloquy as
Shakespeare writes Lady Macbeth to call upon dark spirits to fill her from the “ crown to the
toe topfull of direst cruelty”. The moon in the centre casts an eerie light which symbolises
the supernatural forces she evokes. As she begs “Unsex me here”, her yearning to shed all
traces of femininity is revealed. The grey shroud over her face in my humument represents
this gruesome transformation and shows that she is no longer the beautiful and noble
queen that she used to be.
The dripping blood of the humument aims to create a visually confronting experience for
the viewers that is representative of Shakespeare’s creative use of descriptive language,
demonstrated in the line “make thick my blood”. As the audience reads this line, they
picture gruesome scenes of Lady Macbeth’s body becoming unnatural and distorted which
in turn, is symbolic of her wishing to become emotionally hardened and desensitised to the
world she has created for herself. This is why I have aimed for the blood splatters and drips
all over the piece to be eye-catching and stand out.
Lady Macbeth addresses the spirit approaching behind her in the humument in the line
“You wait on nature's mischief!”, describing the spirits or dark forces that she called upon
earlier in her soliloquy as ‘nature's mischief’. She continues with “Come, thick night, And pall
thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”, calling for the arrival of darkness, another reason for the
inclusion of the moon in the humument and the altogether eerie atmosphere. The spirit
lurking behind her is also a representation of the guilt that will forever linger behind Lady
Macbeth throughout the rest of the play, displayed in her line “Stop up the access and
passage to remorse”. The figure serves as a visual reminder that her actions have
consequences.
I have copied and pasted the soliloquy four times as the background of the humument, so
the words lie underneath all the imagery. In doing this, I have put words that I believe add
meaning to the piece in bold such as ‘battlement’, ‘dark’, and ‘raven’ to add impact and
outline the overarching theme of the soliloquy.
Come, you spirits battlements
unsex
crown
cruelty
murdering ministers
smoke of hell
dark
‘Hold, hold!
raven
blood
remorse

Macbeth Humument FINAL

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The Raven Himself is Hoarse: Writer’s Statement

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