[ldjb]

Macbeth is certainly a creepy play, and certainly there is a lot of creepy language (e.g. Lady Macbeth's "Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out"). But I never felt that this was due to repetition of particular words, so this was interesting to read about.

That said, although these days it is uncommon to use generic nouns with the definite article ("the"), I understand that this was a lot more common in Shakespeare's day. I wonder if this is more common in Macbeth than in Shakespeare's other plays, whether it was a deliberate choice, and whether Jacobean audiences would have felt the same sense of creepiness.

[mojuba]

The article literally says: "So they compared word-usage in Macbeth to Shakespeare’s overall writing" - and found several creepy words in the top 15, also the word "the" occurring more frequently compared to his other plays.

But I agree, we don't know what the real reason was for Shakespear's choice in this case, just that it explains what contributes to the creepiness for the modern readers.

[ldjb]

Thanks, I must have overlooked that paragraph.