Is Act 3 the gothic centre of the play?

It can be inferred that Act 3 is the Gothic centre of the play, which has been used to heighten the tragedy within Macbeth. This is in part due to the amount of cross textual links that are revealed in this section. In Act 1, whenever the witches enter there is the stage direction of "thunder." The continuation of this direction suggests that the darkness and fear that is associated with the supernatural is set to continue past this point in the play. This therefore links to the idea that, the Gothic element is going to continue. The use of three witches could, in theory, relate to the three Greek fates who weave the wool of life and control morals on earth. In terms of the text, it can be seen that the witches act as the fates controlling the life and perhaps the will of Macbeth.

One of the key features of the Gothic genre is the inclusion of the supernatural. This is portrayed by Shakespeare by the witches but also the ghost, who is first viewed in Act 3. Following the murder of Banquo, his ghost appears in Macbeth's court. Symbolically, Banquo's ghost appearing could act as a physical representation to the audience, of Macbeth's guilt. It could be seen as questionable as to the reason that Banquo's ghost appears rather than Duncan's. However, this could be down to the fact that Macbeth and Banquo were portrayed by Shakespeare as being equal in status.The idea of guilt is further extended with the continual use of the motif of blood.

The key theme of the female Gothic is seen by the development of Lady Macbeth in Act 3. At the start of the play she maintains an emotionless persona; it is viewed by the line "smash his head" when discussing a new born child. This anger could have been rooted in her ambition as later in the play, from a feminist view point, it can be concluded that her character should be looked upon in a positive light. This is because she is taking a lead role in the group discussions with the lords of the court. Also the harsh light that was cast upon her earlier in the play has been replaced with a caring disposition shown by the line "gentle my lord" also she can be seen as being an equal to her husband by the line "you must leave this." However, it can be viewed that Lady Macbeth is a weak Gothic female. This can be seen by the fact she ultimately "swoons" in Act 2 once Duncan's murder has been revealed, this therefore removes her strength and stability as a character. This almost makes her a tragic heroine who is not completely in control of herself.

A further key feature of Gothic literature is the use of light and dark imagery, and this technique is used in abundance in Act 3 and it also links to the imagery used in previous sections. An example of this is the line "Night strangles the traveling lamp." The image created by this line is that of darkness and also of violence caused by the word "strangles." This could refer to the murder of Duncan. Alternatively, if the lamp were to symbolise hope, the image could be one of darkness or a dark deed removing all hope from Scotland. In addtion, to loss of light could indicate the loss of guidence. This idea of removing light is continued in Act 3 by the line "strike the light" this also conotes loss of direction. As one of the murderes says the line, it could show that there direction has been lost as the act of killing both Banquo and Fleance has failed. Continuing this interpretation, this could reveal that, despite the title of murders, the characters are not evil and need the violence of Macbeth to direct thim in their deeds.

Overall, in Act 3 there are many different Gothic segments that are either continued or juxtaposed. Some of which add to the overall Gothic feel of the play, or alter the audiences view on the characters.