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Self-Awareness in Macbeth
One of the best and clearest insights into Macbeth I've seen comes from Robert McKee's influential book on screenwriting, STORY. See pics below.
I'd like to dig into this idea a bit further. How does Shakespeare create empathy for Macbeth?
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One of the best and clearest insights into Macbeth I've seen comes from Robert McKee's influential book on screenwriting, STORY. See pics below.
I'd like to dig into this idea a bit further. How does Shakespeare create empathy for Macbeth?
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The key section here is "I feel bad when I'm thinking about doing bad things. I feel awful when I do them and afterwards there's no end to the guilt."
We can all empathise with that.
What makes Macbeth unique among the tragic heroes that students will probably encounter...
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We can all empathise with that.
What makes Macbeth unique among the tragic heroes that students will probably encounter...
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is that he's *consciously* doing evil.
Romeo is acting out of love, ultimately undone by the fates and his own impulsiveness. Othello believes his cause against Desdemona to be just, although we can criticise his simplicity and warped morality.
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Romeo is acting out of love, ultimately undone by the fates and his own impulsiveness. Othello believes his cause against Desdemona to be just, although we can criticise his simplicity and warped morality.
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Hamlet recognises the evil in killing Claudius and it weighs upon his soul. He seeks a moral get-out, although we can debate whether he finds it.
But in Macbeth's case he is aiming for an evil end, and taking the audience along with him.
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But in Macbeth's case he is aiming for an evil end, and taking the audience along with him.
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It's also interesting to me that Shakespeare never has Macbeth stake out a claim for the righteousness of killing Duncan. There is no alternative idea of kingship that Macbeth represents, no cause, no change that he wants to effect. It's just plain ambition.
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And yet -- this is relatable too, right?
Have you -- yes YOU -- ever done a bad thing? Probably.
Did you know it was bad when you did it? Yes.
But you did it anyway. Why?
Well, *just because*.
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Have you -- yes YOU -- ever done a bad thing? Probably.
Did you know it was bad when you did it? Yes.
But you did it anyway. Why?
Well, *just because*.
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(by the by, I don't think the compusively ambitous nobleman would have been all that shocking to Shakespeare's audience. I suspect it was rife with compulsively ambitious noblemen, and Macbeth merely showed them what they dare not do themselves).
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Macbeth is a play about a man who commits evil deeds, but it's also ABOUT the experience of committing evil deeds.
Macbeth explores the effect of doing violence on the perpetrator of the violence. The psychological damage that doing evil does to the evildoer.
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Macbeth explores the effect of doing violence on the perpetrator of the violence. The psychological damage that doing evil does to the evildoer.
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So throughout the text, Macbeth gives the audience a constant running commentary on his fracturing mental state.
His first thought of the regicide is a "horrid image" that "doth unfix my hair" (1.3)
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His first thought of the regicide is a "horrid image" that "doth unfix my hair" (1.3)
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This part of 1.4 is interesting:
Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
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Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
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Macbeth reconises that his own desires are "black", but he ALSO recognises the moral difficulty he will face in executing them.
HANDS and EYES, of course, are central motifs in the play. The difference between DOING violence (hands) and recognising the effect of it (EYES).
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HANDS and EYES, of course, are central motifs in the play. The difference between DOING violence (hands) and recognising the effect of it (EYES).
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We can trace Macbeth's internal struggle through the "if 'twere done" soliloquy, in which he worries about the judgement he might face in this life and next, through to the dagger soliloquy.
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2:1
"There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes."
Macbeth recognises the murder of Duncan is affecting him, causing hallucinations. In this soliloquy Shk portrays someone aware of the evil they're doing, but too caught up in it to stop.
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"There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes."
Macbeth recognises the murder of Duncan is affecting him, causing hallucinations. In this soliloquy Shk portrays someone aware of the evil they're doing, but too caught up in it to stop.
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Let's fast forward to 3.4:
"For mine own good,
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er"
Again, M's recognition of his deadly ambition is juxtaposed with acknowledging his own corruption.
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"For mine own good,
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er"
Again, M's recognition of his deadly ambition is juxtaposed with acknowledging his own corruption.
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So:
These moments of self-awareness are what makes Macbeth work, because they reflect how the audience imagines itself:
When I do wrong, I know I'm doing wrong, but *it's not because I'm a terrible person*. If I was a terrible person, I wouldn't feel guilty, would I?
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These moments of self-awareness are what makes Macbeth work, because they reflect how the audience imagines itself:
When I do wrong, I know I'm doing wrong, but *it's not because I'm a terrible person*. If I was a terrible person, I wouldn't feel guilty, would I?
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And of course, Shk portrays the personal cost of doing evil -- that Macbeth is damaged and loses everything, incuding his humanity -- but that he IS AWARE OF THE LOSS AS IT OCCURS.
I hope this thread has helped you think about why Macbeth's self-awareness is important.
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I hope this thread has helped you think about why Macbeth's self-awareness is important.
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