Analysis Of The Musical Image Of Mrs.Macbeth

Since the first recognized opera "Unidisi" was composed in the early 17 th century,in terms of the script,language,or melody,it is generally believed that the musical images of the heroine have been always portrayed as an innocent girl who is crazy for love,or a romantic woman who lingers on European aristocracy,etc.These positive musical images are shaped explicitly to exert positive enlightenment effect.However,in the four-act opera "Macbeth",the portrayal of the heroine,Mrs.Macbeth,is opposite in the first three acts.It is constructed from evil language,thrilling vocal singing melody,and dark and low accompaniment melody to shape a seemingly evil musical image---an explicit positive image.However,as the storyline unfolds,Mrs.Macbeth suddenly becomes mentally ill in the fourth act,which seems to be the natural result of the evil music image construction in the first three acts.Nevertheless,this is not the case.Her insanity is a struggle between inner justice and evil;a turning point in the creation of the musical image,and one of the reasons why this opera is time-honored.The creating process of the image of Mrs.Macbeth just demonstrates Hemingway’s iceberg theory from the opposite side.The language,melody,the breath used by the performer in the second creation,the pronunciation of words,and the “high-position”singing the seven-eighths of evil constitute one-eighth of justice,but this one-eighth of justice requires audiences to feel and comprehend from its seven-eighths.Most of scholars focused on the negative effect of seven-eighths,but few scholars have pried into the positive effect of one-eighth,which precisely is the innovative point of this article.Through lots of negative materials,a true,lively,and "kind" image of Mrs.Macbeth was "created",constructing a double-sided musical image of Mrs.Macbeth—a hidden positive opera character,thereby achieving the purpose of opera creation and performance.