Macbeth

“I just can’t wait to be king…”

GREAT CHAIN OF BEING

Ptolomeric conception of universe (as opposed to Copernican)

MAN IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE His physical position parallels his moral position GOD Angels HEAVEN Man Microcosm Animals EARTH Plants

Satan HELL

Balance Existence depended on order and degree

*harmony = the highest virtue

Violation or disruption of order leads to CHAOS

Believed in freedom under law

BALANCE = GOODNESS

Chief sin: LACK OF CONTROL

Belief in duality of man's nature - REASON vs. passion

Elements of man - reason, will, understanding

appetites = enemy (passions)

PATHETIC FALLACY

Nature (the forces of nature; the lower levels of being on earth- animals/plants) reflect/echo the world of men in terms of harmony vs. chaos

When the moral order becomes violated or unbalanced, the natural work is disturbed -> unusual or weird things happen

TWO CLASSIC THEORIES OF TRAGEDY

Tragic Flaw: When some personal characteristic or trait* of the protagonist leads to disorder and contributes to the downfall of this person.

*trait can be good or bad

Romeo – undying love for Juliet

Tragic reconciliation: When the affairs of men threaten the order and goodness of being, or of the cosmos; only the destruction of the protagonist can restore harmony

Language in Shakespearean Plays

Plays written in blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / I think / our coun / try sinks / ben eath / the yoke

Approximates the naturalness of spoken language Often uses a rhyming couplet to denote the end of scene/act . . . Receive what cheer you may. The night is long that never finds the day. (End of Act IV)

CONVENTIONS OF ELIZABETHAN THEATRE

Globe Theatre - shaped like an octagon

open air - 3 levels - only the areas where the rich sat were covered

The pit around the stage is where the poor would crowd in - general admission seated. Cramped and packed.

Very Different Conventions

1) No women actors; man or young boys took female parts

2) No curtain - exits from the stage were written into the play

3) Minimal props & costumes - audience had to use their imagination

4) Open air - performances held in spring or summer during the day

5) Stratification of audience - different parts of the play written to appeal to different segments of the audience NOBILITY/MIDDLE CLASS/GROUNDLINGS

The Globe

Theatre

The Scottish Problem

1005, Cináed mac Duib aka King Kenneth III dies, leaving his son Máel Coluim aka Malcolm II, king of Scotland.

Malcolm died without a direct heir

He had 2 daughters who each had sons – Duncan (older) & Thorfin (younger)

Duncan being the older, and supported by more nobility, became King

Malcolm II also had a niece – Gruoch (his father’s, King Kenneth III’s, granddaughter)

Gruoch later married to Macbeth

The Scottish problem- continued

Crowning of Kings

Not necessarily the oldest son

Monarch would announce his intended heir

Nobility would have to back that heir at time of ascension

If no announcement, apparent heirs would make their cases to “court”/nobility

Nobility would back whomever they thought most fit

Or, possibly, “influenced” them the most

Macbeth -- historical personage c. 1005-1057

Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (aka Macbeth) in 1040, killed the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle

Married Gruoch, granddaughter of Kenneth III, to strengthen claim to the throne

1045, defeated and killed Duncan I's father Crinan

Ruled Scotland 14 years

1054, challenged by Siward, Earl of Northumbria, and uncle of Malcom

August 1057, killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm III).

In the play: Macbeth murders Duncan to usurp the throne, commits

(or causes to be committed) six murders.

Note: it’s one thing to kill a man in battle, another to kill him in cold blood.

Two quotes:

―He is conscious of the evil his ambition gives rise to, but he cannot overcome temptation‖ (Boyce 386).

―Though the influence of the Witches and of Lady Macbeth is very prominent and reflects different aspects of the ways we can fall into evil, Macbeth is basically not controlled by them. His story is one of moral choice, and the consequences of that choice‖ (Boyce 387).

In the play:

The play is an examination of ―the human potential for evil‖ (Boyce 390); and as Boyce points out, he is self-aware and revolted by his actions, even as he does them. Bloom tells us:

―Macbeth suffers intensely from knowing that he does evil, and that he must go on doing ever worse‖ (517).

Literary Terms/Concepts

Negative capability --

the capability ―of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason‖ -- which is the mark of a true genius.

rather than trying to think, analyze and impose ego upon the material, the true poet feels, portrays, and let’s be. Rather than analyzing what is, the poet portrays what could be.

In short: Shakespeare’s genius was NOT in the inventiveness of his plots – virtually all of his plays are largely derived from previous works;

it was in his ability to get with-in the minds of characters from kings to scullery maids – from Harold Bloom, On The Western Canon, ―Shakespeare’s greatest originality is in representation of character‖ (47)--each character speaks with a unique voice.

Literary Terms/Concepts

Holding the mirror up to nature -- the idea that true literature shows us not what is, but what could be, and thus shows us:

who we truly are, but are unwilling to admit; and,

who we could be, but have not realized (for good or ill).

Bloom quotes Samuel Johnson: ―The peculiar magnificence of Shakespeare is in his power of representation of human character and personality and mutability‖ (63).

Literary Terms/Concepts

“Overhears himself” – according to Harold Bloom, in another book of his (and I cannot remember which): a Shakespearean hero possesses individuality and shows self-awareness; Macbeth, in his private thoughts, ―over-hears‖ himself, and reflects the struggle that all humans have in making choices—do the right thing? Or the easy thing?

Literary Terms/Concepts

Fate, Free-will, Destiny

There is our circle of control, and there is our circle of concern; my contention is that to ensure our survival, we seek to enlarge our circle of control.

There is what was, the past, which is already written, and cannot be unwritten (though it can be re-interpreted); there is the present, which stems from what was; and there is the future—and I argue that:

our futures are predestined because ―Character is Destiny‖