All 3 Uses of
dismal
in
Macbeth
- Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict.p. 13.1dismal = filled with misery or gloom
- This night I'll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end.p. 111.7 *dismal = miserableeditor's notes: This could be paraphrased as: "Tonight, I'll work at bringing about miserable death."
- and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't.p. 177.6dismal = gloomy and frighteningeditor's notes: Macbeth is saying that gloomy and frightening events used to make his hair stand on end.
Definition:
of terrible quality or depressing; or dark and dreary (as when bad weather blocks the sun or when it is drizzly)