Birds

The birds in MacBeth are used to foreshadow key events in the play. The first introduction of birds is when the captain compares sparrows to eagles when explaining that MacBeth and Banquo weren't frightened by the Norwegian king entering his troops in the battle. Then a raven is introduced by Lady MacBeth when she is talking about the arrival of Duncan to her house. She uses the raven because the raven usually symbolizes an ill omen, and she knows that her and MacBeth are about to kill Duncan. Then when Duncan arrives he notices a martlet flying and he believes that martlets only build their nests high on the buildings when the air is the nicest. This means that Duncan believes he is safe and isn't expecting to be killed whatsoever, but little does he know Lady MacBeth's plans for him that the raven helped foreshadow earlier in the act. Then Lady MacBeth introduces the owl when MacBeth is gone murdering Duncan. She uses the owl to explain when Duncan is killed because the owl's shriek symbolizes the bell that is rung when somebody is executed. The shriek announces the death of Duncan before MacBeth comes back to tell Lady Macbeth of him completing the deed. The owl is then mentioned again after Duncan is found murdered.  Then the morning after Duncan was found murdered Ross and old man were talking about weird things that were happening and they mentioned an owl taking down a falcon. This was used to symbolize MacBeth taking down Duncan. The next bird mentioned was a crow to announce that MacBeth has ordered to kill Banquo. Then when Banquo's ghost appears Shakespeares uses a "kite", a hawk. After Banquo's ghost leaves Shakespeare writes of  Magot-pies , choughs, and rooks because they are birds that can be taught to talk. He uses these birds to show that MacBeth is feeling guilty about his secrets. The birds are used again to right before the murders of MacDuff's family. The child and the mother talk about birds when discussing why MacDuff left them. Shakespeare also used to the "hell-kite" and "chicken" when Ross was telling MacDuff of his family's death. The hell-kite was used to symbolize MacBeth and the chickens were used to describe the poor innocent family members of MacDuff. Shakespeare used birds throughout the play to foreshadow events or to help explain them. He used many birds to symbolize Macbeth during his murders. Birds were used often and seemed to be very important to the story line of the play.