q34tw
Nayiba Haris
Per. 1 A.P. Lit.
October 1, 2006
The Tragedy of the Human Heart
The most compelling of the three articles reflecting upon Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is Sigmund Freud’s commentary “Some Character-types Met With In Psycho-analytical Work (1916)” in which he not only justifies Shakespeare’s interpretations of such a tragedy but goes further into the mind of society’s “Macbeths” seeking real motivation within their own actions and their apperception behind them as he effectively links together Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s inabilities to bear children worthy of succession while those around them prance about with their fruitful inheritance as seen with the character Banquo whom is prophesized to bear a line of kings to come. The ligature behind Freud’s interpretations come from Shakespeare’s “pièce d'occasion” in which he purposely linked the tragedy of Macbeth to the accession of King James who’s so-called mother, the “virginal” Elizabeth, acted with the same “childlessness” experienced by Lady Macbeth and her husband to forcefully make James her successor while betraying his birth mother Mary Stuart who “in spite of the clouding of their relations by political concerns, was nevertheless of her blood and might be called her guest” just as both Thanes of Cawdor did to King Duncan by betraying loyalty. “The accession of James I was like a demonstration of the curse of unfruitfulness and the blessings of continuous generation. And the action of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on this same contrast.” Freudian criticism tells us the psychoanalysis of characters “as the imagined fulfillment of wishes that reality denies.” Such criticism forces us to believe that Macbeth wishes to establish a dynasty and “not to have murdered for the benefit of strangers” as his principles are twisted during his soliloquy regarding Banquo’s line of royalty:
They hailed him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown
And put a barren scepter in my grip,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so,
For Banquo’s issue I have filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered,
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel
Given tot eh common enemy of man
To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings.
(3.1.65-75)
As Macbeth soon realizes the horrid truth of his childlessness in which his expectations of bearing a line for his succession becomes futile he has no other choice but to submit to the witch’s prophecies of Banquo resulting in his actions loosing all purpose and are converted to the madness of someone who is destined towards destruction. The psycho-analyzer refers this to the “father-children relation” connecting the evil deeds done by Macbeth as he kills Duncan who’s murder is seen as “little else than parricide” then kills the father, Banquo, while the son, Fleance, escapes then kills the child, Macduff’s son, because the father, Macduff, has fled. Freud flawlessly categorizes this relation as poetic justice in the issue of childlessness of Macbeth and the bareness of Lady Macbeth. Freud provides us with the reason behind Macbeth’s inability to have a successor or any lineage because he has deprived fathers of their children and children of their fathers as Lady Macbeth suffers the consequences for summoning demon spirits to “unsex” her giving her the will power to go through with the murder of Duncan. She has taken the role of the man in her relationship with Macbeth by initiating the plans to over throwing Duncan. Shockingly so, she is ready to give up her womanliness to do such a crime which causes implications of her being barren:
I have given suck, and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me.
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you
Have done to this.
(1.7.62-67)
However, despite such arguments regarding Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s motivations to destroy those around them due to their own failures, Freud compels us with a deeper approach as he refers to Ludwig Jekels and his study of the character’s relationships. Jekels was able to uncover a technique used by Shakespeare in which he divides a single character into two. Separately, the two parts do not make any sense but together unified bring upon connections of sensibility and understanding as both parsonages act as one effected by the other. Finding the motives of just Macbeth or Lady Macbeth would be impossible as implied by Freud during his psychoanalysis but putting them together completes the puzzle as Macbeth first has nightmares of the dagger used to kill Duncan before the murder took place but afterwards Lady Macbeth is the one to fall into a mental illness and is haunted by visions of the murder. It is Macbeth whom cannot, no matter how pure water may be, clean the blood of Duncan off his hands but Lady Macbeth, after tedious attempts, who cannot wash the spotted blood off her hands during her sleepless nights. “Out, dammed spot, out, I say! (5.1.37)” Lady Macbeth, once so head strong while insulting her husband for not taking the initiative for such a betrayal, has now become remorseful as Macbeth becomes the defiant one. “It may be that they are both copied from the same prototype.”
Joseph Lockett describes his vision of Macbeth as a tragic irony of ambition in his article “To Strut and Fret Upon the Stage: Theatrical Interpretation of Sources for Macbeth” as he portrays Macbeth not as an evil character but a victim to the desires of man’s evil heart which lies in each individual as well as the Banquo who is depicted to have “royalty of nature” but, as seen by Lockett, to possess ambition just like Macbeth. “The character as I conceived him suspected Macbeth of the murder, yet kept his peace, waiting to see how the witches’ prophecies would turn out.” Banquo is the only person to have first suspicions of Macbeth’s role in the murder of Duncan but does not utter a word to the other Thanes because he holds his own personal interests within the witches’ prophecies of him being the father of kings. “He is not a villain but is not a simple honest man either. He has his own particular form of ambition.” Lockett interprets Banquo’s persona in a pessimistic view but does not favor any other characters. Forms of juxtaposition were used within all articles but mainly stressed by Lockett as he refers Holinshed’s The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland and the history of King James to build upon his characters as he familiarizes Macbeth’s tragedy to the “three invasions in Holinshed, by Makdowald and his ‘kerns and gallowglasses,’ by Sueno and his Norwegians, and by Canute’s Danes in revenge for Sueno’s defeat” but moves at a fast pace in Macbeth to effectively inflict suspense and confusion within the audience. Lockett revolved his picture of Macbeth around its time frame unlike “Holinshed’s semi-historical figure” as scenes move about rapidly giving the impression that the events are taken place within a few months instead of several years. This device used by the author delibritly to make the character’s actions seem none sensible and out of reason. Lockett stresses that the performance version stresses “not the murder, but the discovery of the murder” as Michael Mullin stated. The audience is left with confusion of discovery. Lockett’s tragedy of ambition lies within the character’s betrayal as he explains the actions before the murders took place as Duncan deliberately named Malcolm his successor at that specific moment, while being risky, but shows his “good will” to Macbeth and hopes that his announcement has not offended him by presenting himself at his castle for dinner. Duncan himself possesses his own ambitions in trying to please both sides for his benefit. His overall character is portrayed as an old, “gentle in nature” man just as Measure For Measure’s Duke Vincentio where he is the one ordering other to do his biding. Duncan watches on the sideline the barbaric war with Makdowald and commands his execution be handled by his loyal servants. Each character clearly has their capabilities of dramatic intentions giving way to a cycle of tragic betrayal.
Finally, Susan Snyder’s article “A Modern Perspective” labels Macbeth a tragedy of “massive injustice” as she generalizes the play to cause and effect in which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suffers the reality of having no children and their incapabilities to do so as Sigmund Freud stated with more detail. It is an ironic twist that the tragedy unfolds as Macbeth is consciously sane knowing the difference of right and wrong. Snyder also displays the effects of poetic justice as Macbeth is continuously haunted by the former King Duncan and the decided Banquo. More over, Snyder has linked the origin of the three Weird Sisters and their role with Macbeth playing as the motives to his deepest desires in which he has come to contemplate. The sisters sway his heart into darkness which already possesses such betrayal giving him the initiative to commit such unspeakable crimes. The sisters do not have power beyond as implied by the play giving no implications to forcefully control a being but embed their mind with ideas of succession. Macbeth knows the crime in which he has committed. He knows the power of choice and must make one. While being persuaded by his wife and the witches he forces himself to do such evil deeds and must pay the dear price. The true tragedy lies within the fall of man whom seeks to please his own earthly heart as if to eat from the Devil’s fruit.
Bibliography
Freud, Sigmund. “Some Character-types met With In Psycho-analytical Work (1916)” Macbeth/ William Shakespeare criticism- Freud on the Macbeths.
http://www.sunflower.signet.com.sg/~yisheng/notes/shakespear/mbeth_f.html
Lockett, Joseph. “To Strut and Fret Upon the Stage: Theatrical Interpretations of Sources for Macbeth” Sources for MACBETH.
http://www.io.com/~jlockett/Grist/English/macbethsources.html
Snyder, Susan. “Macbeth: A Modern Perspective” Macbeth.
August 1992. The Folger Shakespeare Library.
A. Mowat, Barbara and Werstine, Paul. Macbeth
August 1992. The Folger Shakespeare Library.
Per. 1 A.P. Lit.
October 1, 2006
The Tragedy of the Human Heart
The most compelling of the three articles reflecting upon Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is Sigmund Freud’s commentary “Some Character-types Met With In Psycho-analytical Work (1916)” in which he not only justifies Shakespeare’s interpretations of such a tragedy but goes further into the mind of society’s “Macbeths” seeking real motivation within their own actions and their apperception behind them as he effectively links together Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s inabilities to bear children worthy of succession while those around them prance about with their fruitful inheritance as seen with the character Banquo whom is prophesized to bear a line of kings to come. The ligature behind Freud’s interpretations come from Shakespeare’s “pièce d'occasion” in which he purposely linked the tragedy of Macbeth to the accession of King James who’s so-called mother, the “virginal” Elizabeth, acted with the same “childlessness” experienced by Lady Macbeth and her husband to forcefully make James her successor while betraying his birth mother Mary Stuart who “in spite of the clouding of their relations by political concerns, was nevertheless of her blood and might be called her guest” just as both Thanes of Cawdor did to King Duncan by betraying loyalty. “The accession of James I was like a demonstration of the curse of unfruitfulness and the blessings of continuous generation. And the action of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on this same contrast.” Freudian criticism tells us the psychoanalysis of characters “as the imagined fulfillment of wishes that reality denies.” Such criticism forces us to believe that Macbeth wishes to establish a dynasty and “not to have murdered for the benefit of strangers” as his principles are twisted during his soliloquy regarding Banquo’s line of royalty:
They hailed him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown
And put a barren scepter in my grip,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so,
For Banquo’s issue I have filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered,
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel
Given tot eh common enemy of man
To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings.
(3.1.65-75)
As Macbeth soon realizes the horrid truth of his childlessness in which his expectations of bearing a line for his succession becomes futile he has no other choice but to submit to the witch’s prophecies of Banquo resulting in his actions loosing all purpose and are converted to the madness of someone who is destined towards destruction. The psycho-analyzer refers this to the “father-children relation” connecting the evil deeds done by Macbeth as he kills Duncan who’s murder is seen as “little else than parricide” then kills the father, Banquo, while the son, Fleance, escapes then kills the child, Macduff’s son, because the father, Macduff, has fled. Freud flawlessly categorizes this relation as poetic justice in the issue of childlessness of Macbeth and the bareness of Lady Macbeth. Freud provides us with the reason behind Macbeth’s inability to have a successor or any lineage because he has deprived fathers of their children and children of their fathers as Lady Macbeth suffers the consequences for summoning demon spirits to “unsex” her giving her the will power to go through with the murder of Duncan. She has taken the role of the man in her relationship with Macbeth by initiating the plans to over throwing Duncan. Shockingly so, she is ready to give up her womanliness to do such a crime which causes implications of her being barren:
I have given suck, and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me.
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you
Have done to this.
(1.7.62-67)
However, despite such arguments regarding Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s motivations to destroy those around them due to their own failures, Freud compels us with a deeper approach as he refers to Ludwig Jekels and his study of the character’s relationships. Jekels was able to uncover a technique used by Shakespeare in which he divides a single character into two. Separately, the two parts do not make any sense but together unified bring upon connections of sensibility and understanding as both parsonages act as one effected by the other. Finding the motives of just Macbeth or Lady Macbeth would be impossible as implied by Freud during his psychoanalysis but putting them together completes the puzzle as Macbeth first has nightmares of the dagger used to kill Duncan before the murder took place but afterwards Lady Macbeth is the one to fall into a mental illness and is haunted by visions of the murder. It is Macbeth whom cannot, no matter how pure water may be, clean the blood of Duncan off his hands but Lady Macbeth, after tedious attempts, who cannot wash the spotted blood off her hands during her sleepless nights. “Out, dammed spot, out, I say! (5.1.37)” Lady Macbeth, once so head strong while insulting her husband for not taking the initiative for such a betrayal, has now become remorseful as Macbeth becomes the defiant one. “It may be that they are both copied from the same prototype.”
Joseph Lockett describes his vision of Macbeth as a tragic irony of ambition in his article “To Strut and Fret Upon the Stage: Theatrical Interpretation of Sources for Macbeth” as he portrays Macbeth not as an evil character but a victim to the desires of man’s evil heart which lies in each individual as well as the Banquo who is depicted to have “royalty of nature” but, as seen by Lockett, to possess ambition just like Macbeth. “The character as I conceived him suspected Macbeth of the murder, yet kept his peace, waiting to see how the witches’ prophecies would turn out.” Banquo is the only person to have first suspicions of Macbeth’s role in the murder of Duncan but does not utter a word to the other Thanes because he holds his own personal interests within the witches’ prophecies of him being the father of kings. “He is not a villain but is not a simple honest man either. He has his own particular form of ambition.” Lockett interprets Banquo’s persona in a pessimistic view but does not favor any other characters. Forms of juxtaposition were used within all articles but mainly stressed by Lockett as he refers Holinshed’s The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland and the history of King James to build upon his characters as he familiarizes Macbeth’s tragedy to the “three invasions in Holinshed, by Makdowald and his ‘kerns and gallowglasses,’ by Sueno and his Norwegians, and by Canute’s Danes in revenge for Sueno’s defeat” but moves at a fast pace in Macbeth to effectively inflict suspense and confusion within the audience. Lockett revolved his picture of Macbeth around its time frame unlike “Holinshed’s semi-historical figure” as scenes move about rapidly giving the impression that the events are taken place within a few months instead of several years. This device used by the author delibritly to make the character’s actions seem none sensible and out of reason. Lockett stresses that the performance version stresses “not the murder, but the discovery of the murder” as Michael Mullin stated. The audience is left with confusion of discovery. Lockett’s tragedy of ambition lies within the character’s betrayal as he explains the actions before the murders took place as Duncan deliberately named Malcolm his successor at that specific moment, while being risky, but shows his “good will” to Macbeth and hopes that his announcement has not offended him by presenting himself at his castle for dinner. Duncan himself possesses his own ambitions in trying to please both sides for his benefit. His overall character is portrayed as an old, “gentle in nature” man just as Measure For Measure’s Duke Vincentio where he is the one ordering other to do his biding. Duncan watches on the sideline the barbaric war with Makdowald and commands his execution be handled by his loyal servants. Each character clearly has their capabilities of dramatic intentions giving way to a cycle of tragic betrayal.
Finally, Susan Snyder’s article “A Modern Perspective” labels Macbeth a tragedy of “massive injustice” as she generalizes the play to cause and effect in which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suffers the reality of having no children and their incapabilities to do so as Sigmund Freud stated with more detail. It is an ironic twist that the tragedy unfolds as Macbeth is consciously sane knowing the difference of right and wrong. Snyder also displays the effects of poetic justice as Macbeth is continuously haunted by the former King Duncan and the decided Banquo. More over, Snyder has linked the origin of the three Weird Sisters and their role with Macbeth playing as the motives to his deepest desires in which he has come to contemplate. The sisters sway his heart into darkness which already possesses such betrayal giving him the initiative to commit such unspeakable crimes. The sisters do not have power beyond as implied by the play giving no implications to forcefully control a being but embed their mind with ideas of succession. Macbeth knows the crime in which he has committed. He knows the power of choice and must make one. While being persuaded by his wife and the witches he forces himself to do such evil deeds and must pay the dear price. The true tragedy lies within the fall of man whom seeks to please his own earthly heart as if to eat from the Devil’s fruit.
Bibliography
Freud, Sigmund. “Some Character-types met With In Psycho-analytical Work (1916)” Macbeth/ William Shakespeare criticism- Freud on the Macbeths.
http://www.sunflower.signet.com.sg/~yisheng/notes/shakespear/mbeth_f.html
Lockett, Joseph. “To Strut and Fret Upon the Stage: Theatrical Interpretations of Sources for Macbeth” Sources for MACBETH.
http://www.io.com/~jlockett/Grist/English/macbethsources.html
Snyder, Susan. “Macbeth: A Modern Perspective” Macbeth.
August 1992. The Folger Shakespeare Library.
A. Mowat, Barbara and Werstine, Paul. Macbeth
August 1992. The Folger Shakespeare Library.