Light thickens; and the crow / Makes wing to th’ rooky wood. / Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, / Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
Act III, Scene 2 · Macbeth
Context
Macbeth continues speaking to Lady Macbeth, describing the approach of evening as the natural time for the murder he has planned.
Analysis
The unusual verb 'thickens' applied to light makes the air itself seem to coagulate and darken, as if the physical world is becoming morally dense. Shakespeare then structures the sentence as a list of simultaneous events—crow flying, day drooping, night's agents rousing—so that Macbeth's crime feels like part of a natural cycle rather than a moral choice. By embedding his violence within this pathetic fallacy, Macbeth attempts to naturalize murder, but the phrase 'night's black agents' still marks the actors as sinister, undercutting his attempt at moral neutrality.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Macbeth increasingly tries to align his actions with natural rhythms to escape moral responsibility—this quote shows him describing murder as if it were simply what happens when night falls, not a choice he is making.