Macbeth's Textual Interpretation

Textual interpretations are known to be governed and defined by the writer themselves, the very individuals who comprise meanings to be discovered by the readers. In opposition to the formalist approach, the Reader Response literary criticism based textual interpretations solely on the reader. The conventional authority placed on the shoulders of the author is stripped and placed within the minds of the reader themselves. Reader Response criticism is innovative, as the established preconceived notions of how one must react to a text is diminished and an array of factors relating to the reader are considered in order to determine the true meaning of the text. Through the eyes of this criticism, Shakespeare's Macbeth exhibits qualities that pertain to the same qualities that comprise the Reader Response theory. It is evident that the attributes of the protagonist and the supporting characters share similar traits of many readers, who as a result, base their interpretations of the imagery and symbols within the text on their personal endeavors.
Shakespeare's use of imagery envisions the text within the minds of the readers thus creating pathways of interpretation that will ultimately lead to the general
Based on Transactional Reader-Response theory, a transaction between the text's inferred meaning and the individual interpretation by the reader is influenced by their personal emotions and knowledge. As Macbeth is examining the dagger during his infamous soliloquy, he says "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood" (2.1.47) indicating the drops of blood leaving the hallucinated dagger before him. At this point, using the transactional Reader-Response theory, readers can infer that murder is or has occurred, based on the sights Macbeth is