Macbeth: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14 H15 H16 H17
H1. Readability score per chapter. Count
Flesch reading ease for the whole book is about 85 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
3,357 different words. On average 54 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 1,993 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
macbeth, ross, enter, witch, thou. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 4.45 words ending in 'ly' and 8.23 likely adjectives per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
'ly' words per 1,000, chapter by chapter
H5. Share of weak verbs such as "was" and "had". Count
'Was', 'were', 'had', 'is' and 'are' make up 2.1% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 1.4% of sentences use a passive form such as 'was taken'. (rough estimate from word lists)
H7. Variety of sentence openings. Count
The five most common first words start 22% of sentences: macbeth, lady, i, enter, macduff.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| macbeth | 158 |
| lady | 81 |
| i | 70 |
| enter | 69 |
| macduff | 61 |
| the | 49 |
| what | 47 |
| malcolm | 43 |
| ross | 40 |
| banquo | 38 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 1.2 of its mean on average (higher means a more varied rhythm).
Variation per chapter, chapter by chapter
H9. Similes and metaphors: how many, and of what kind. Both
23 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.28 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 2, para 3: MALCOLM. This is the sergeant Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought ’Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend! Say to the King the knowledge of the broil As …
Ch 2, para 4: SOLDIER. Doubtful it stood; As two spent swimmers that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald (Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The …
Ch 3, para 5: FIRST WITCH. A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap, And mounch’d, and mounch’d, and mounch’d. “Give me,” quoth I. “Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her …
Ch 3, para 17: BANQUO. How far is’t call’d to Forres?—What are these, So wither’d, and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o’ th’ earth, And yet …
Ch 4, para 3: MALCOLM. My liege, They are not yet come back. But I have spoke With one that saw him die, who did report, That very frankly he confess’d his …
Ch 5, para 17: LADY MACBETH. O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look …
Rich in metaphors of blood, sleep, darkness and clothing. Blood represents guilt and valour; sleep symbolises peace lost; darkness surrounds evil; ill-fitting garments show usurped power. Similes compare ambition to climbing and guilt to stains that cannot wash away.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 5, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 13, Scene 14
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red. (Ch 9, para 30)
Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. (Ch 21, para 23)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 53%, sound 29%, touch 9%, taste 9%, smell 1%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 92 |
| sound | 51 |
| touch | 15 |
| taste | 15 |
| smell | 1 |
All five senses feature strongly. Sight dominates (daggers, ghosts, moving wood). Sound marks key moments (bells, knocking, alarms). Smell appears in Lady Macbeth's guilt. Touch and taste are minimal but present in blood imagery.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 15, Scene 21, Scene 23
Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:— I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. (Ch 8, para 22)
Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; two. Why, then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? (Ch 21, para 18)
Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. (Ch 21, para 23)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
34 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 1.89 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Patterns of three appear throughout: three witches, three apparitions, three murderers. Lists of titles and honours recur. Repetition of 'tomorrow' in Macbeth's despair speech. Repeated blood imagery and sleep motifs bind the play.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 3, Scene 16, Scene 18, Scene 25
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! (Ch 25, para 11)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: thou, thee, thy, hath, art, ere.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| thou | 89 |
| thee | 61 |
| thy | 52 |
| hath | 51 |
| art | 17 |
| ere | 11 |
| thine | 10 |
| shalt | 7 |
| whence | 6 |
| doth | 6 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
The play shows rather than tells ambition through Macbeth's actions: he hesitates before Duncan's murder, then spirals into paranoia and cruelty. Lady Macbeth's guilt is shown through sleepwalking confession, not stated. Macduff's grief is enacted, not narrated.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 7, Scene 9, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 19, Scene 20
I am settled, and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know. (Ch 7, para 16)
Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; two. Why, then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? (Ch 21, para 18)
What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed. (Ch 21, para 31)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description is minimal and woven into action. Scenes open with immediate conflict or dialogue. Settings are named in stage directions but rarely described in detail. The play prioritises movement and speech over scenic painting.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 6
This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. (Ch 6, para 3)
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 1.61 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| thought | 14 |
| heard | 8 |
| saw | 5 |
| felt | 1 |
| watched | 1 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from martial valour in Act One to intimate murder plotting in Act Two, then to paranoid tyranny in Acts Three and Four. Act Five returns to martial action with a note of restoration. The Porter's comic scene offers brief relief amid darkness.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 2, Scene 5, Scene 7, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 15
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy is sparse and dark. The Porter's drunken philosophising about hell provides grim humour. Macbeth's boasts about invincibility become ironic when the witches' prophecies prove ambiguous. Humour serves to deepen rather than lighten the tragedy.
Scenes (numbered through the play): Scene 10
Ask Macbeth a question about its craft (free beta)
Answers cite chapter and paragraph, and every quote is checked against the text. (3 free questions a day).
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