The world is made up of colors. And over time, we have come to associate them with various aspects of life and feeling. Color psychology, or the study of how colors impact us, plays a big role in “Macbeth” because with colors comes emotions attached to them. When we hear about certain colors, we connect that to our typical visual response. Yellow is happy, blue is sad, and so on. But when looked at upon closer inspection, the dark and rich colors used in the tapestry of imagery creates a dynamic palette for the characters of “Macbeth” to play in.
One of the most obvious colors used in “Macbeth” is the color red. It stands for passion and aggression, which signifies danger. Most often, blood is used to describe the type of red Shakespeare wants us to see – thick, dark, and messy. There are many examples, but one great choice is in Act 5, when Lady Macbeth is trying to wash blood off of her hands and uses that to give the audience an image of her hallucination. She screams “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! …Yet who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him? (5.1.37) Whether positive or negative, red is strong and Lady Macbeth’s breakdown uses blood to describe the literal stain on her hands and an emotional stain on her soul. On the opposite side of the color wheel is red’s complementary color: green. Complementary colors are contrasting and while green can stand for growth and harmony, it can also stand for envy or sickness, the queasy alternative to red’s boldness. Red and green can also go perfectly together, like when Macbeth tells his wife of his guilt, confessing “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.” (2.2.78) He uses a combination of red and green, which is brown, to make us feel as disgusted as he is. A sickly green can be used to show weakness. Lady Macbeth tells her husband he looks ‘green and pale’ in Act 1 while trying to convince him to kill Duncan. She uses a combination of green and white to condemn him for not being tough enough to go through with the plan. While green is weakness, white stands for cowardness. White is pure and light, so it’s referred to constantly as liquid and soft, like comparing it to milk when Lady Macbeth says, “Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness” (1.5.16) or as cream when Macbeth shames a servant for looking scared by yelling, “The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon” (5.3.12) Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth uses these delicate metaphors to push other people into doing their bidding. White is a source of humiliation and even though red is more dangerous, it’s better to be feared than to be fearful in their eyes. Lady Macbeth guilts Macbeth by telling him, “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white” (2.2.82) Opposite of white is black. If white stand for light and goodness, then black stands for dark and evilness. Almost all mentions of black are used to describe the witches with statements like, “Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.” (3.2.58) or “How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?” (4.1.48) Black stands for death and if the witches stand for death too, then black is a perfect symbolism for them. Finally, there’s gold, which stands for status of royalty and power. Duncan is described as having “silver skin laced with his gold blood” (2.3.131) and when the power is transferred to Macbeth, he describes his achievement, stating “He hath honored me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people…” (1.7.35) Rich colors like gold are images of power and success, which is what Macbeth tries to reach. He makes his surroundings ‘golden’ just to prove himself.
The pattern of color in “Macbeth” works as a guide to construct how we’re supposed to feel. Using blood to describe guilt is effective because the color of blood reminds us of blood itself and it makes us uneasy, like how Macbeth feels uneasy after killing Duncan. There’s a reason Shakespeare tends to stay away from colors like brown or pink. Brown is a very reliable color. It is boring and predictable, which is not at all like the story of “Macbeth”. And a color like pink wouldn’t work very well because it symbolizes vulnerability and hope, which again is not the story of “Macbeth”. Color can definitely be achieved through costume, but it is Shakespeare’s choice to literally add color to his words that lifts the play’s dialogue and meaning. He stimulates our brain by using color labels to identify traits in these complex characters. The green in their face can mean being ill or being envious, but it’s the description of green that tells us the truth. When Shakespeare keeps using colors to describe inner thoughts, it’s not by accident. He’s deliberately using them as clues to lead us down the rabbithole into the inner psyches of the characters.