Final Macbeth Review

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Final Macbeth Review

• Feraco
• SFHP
• 20 January 2009

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Action/Reaction

• Macbeths personality suited to rule?
• The Pong ball
• Redirected by people, prophecies, or
  circumstances instead of choosing his own course
• Macbeth often does something based only on what
  someone tells him
• Exceptions His murder of Macduffs family, his
  attempted murder of Fleance
• Are these exceptions? Think about the prophecies

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Action/Reaction

• Malcolm is independent
• Does he make the right decision by heading to
  England?
• He does eventually avenge Duncans death,
  although one could argue Macduff did it for him
• He also buys himself time that he wouldnt have
  had if he had stayed in Scotland
• We know from I.iv that Macbeth had already seen
  him as a threat
• Considering how Macbeth deals with threats, he
  likely would have killed both of Duncans sons
  or somehow marginalized them
• It would have taken timeits the only part of
  Lady Macbeths plan that isnt clear
• Now that weve killed the kingwhat do we do with
  his successors without getting caught?

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Action/Reaction

• Macduff is also independent
• Does he make the right choice by going to
  England?
• Without him, Macbeth doesnt die and without
  the visit to England, Macduffs family survives
  (removing his need for vengeance)
• Is Macduffs family a necessary sacrifice?

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Loyalty and Trust

• Malcolms loyalty test isnt really a test of
  Macduffs allegiance to him
• Interesting, because so much of Macbeth is about
  personal betrayal (for even the professional
  betrayals are or feel personalwitness
  Duncans reaction to the Thane of Cawdors
  treason)
• Yet the test does something else interesting it
  colors our perception of Malcolm, whom we know
  little about, and makes it harder for us to
  accept him as a better alternative to Macbeth
• Puzzle pieces you still see the seams

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Loyalty and Trust

• Macbeth knows or believes that he shouldnt
  allow anyone to get too close to him
• He knows the dangers of trusting someone you
  shouldnt all too well
• This hyper-awareness of the differences between
  our public appearances and our private selves
  makes Macbeth paranoid, and serves to isolate him
• As time passes, Macbeth isolates himself further
  and further weakening himself in the name of
  not weakening himself!

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Loyalty and Trust

• Finally, we get to the question many of you have
  been asking Can the witches really see the
  future?
• If they can, is Macbeth still responsible for his
  actions?
• If they cannot, how is Macbeth able to make
  events play out in ways that make their words
  come true?
• In any case, should the witches be trusted?
• Do they have Macbeths (and Banquos) best
  interests in mind? (Keep in mind that they
  originally didnt tell Banquo his son would be
  king.)
• Can Macbeth even resist their prophecies? (Think
  about what happens to Macbeth when he starts
  acting on his own.)

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Independence in a Lonely World

• Watch the ways in which morals shift in response
  to the prophecy
• In many ways, Macbeths morals are stronger when
  he is less aware of fates imperatives which
  then become his needs
• When hes on his own (pre-prophecy), he doesnt
  need power, at least not Duncans
• When hes acting in accordance with the
  prophecies, he becomes much more amoral and
  ruthless
• Its an interesting spin on the question of
  whether morality can exist without faith in this
  case, Macbeths faith in the path that has been
  laid out for him causes his morals to degenerate

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Independence in a Lonely World

• The bloodstains that Lady Macbeth cannot wash
  from her hands are a symbol of guilt, as well as
  a physical representation of the cost of her
  ambition
• It cannot be washed out because their actions
  cannot be undone we see that both Macbeths are
  haunted (to different degrees) by their actions
• The blood dripping from the dagger Macbeth sees
  in II.i is both cautionary and seductive for if
  Macbeths fate is already written, if the dagger
  is already dripping in blood, if Nature and Fate
  have decided that Duncan must diewhy wouldnt
  you kill the king?
• Blood keeps flowing, and flowing, and flowingand
  once you spill blood, its difficult to stop
  doing it in the name of preserving what youve won

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Independence in a Lonely World

• The crown rests uneasily on Macbeths head was
  it ever supposed to be there?
• He wins the crown through illicit action
  (although you could argue he was fated to do so)
• He is plagued by what he fears and what he sees
• Banquos ghost
• The threats that seem to pop up like moles
• The prophecies that serve to reinforce his fears

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Same in the End

• The final battle between Macduff and Macbeth is
  somewhat frustrating for audiences because it
  (like many of the plays important scenes) takes
  place offstage
• Macbeth initially hesitates for the oddest reason
  because he has already killed Macduffs entire
  family!
• After an entire play of essentially going all
  in when it comes to murdering people, Macbeth is
  going to hesitate?
• Perhaps Lady Macbeths recent death has changed
  him a bitor perhaps his hubris has finally
  gotten the best of him
• After all, we see him switch from arrogant to
  fearful once he discovers Macduff was delivered
  via caesarean section

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Same in the End

• Theres almost a sense of inevitability to
  Macbeths final defeat, for a number of reasons
• Firstly, we have the prophecies that scream
  warnings to us (warnings Macbeth misinterprets)
• We can sense Macbeths doom before he does
• We have Macbeth isolated and desperate, having
  abandoned the throne he spilled so much blood to
  win
• Finally, we see vengeance wreaking what vengeance
  often does spilled blood leads to spilled blood
• For someone who killed as many and as
  ruthlessly as Macbeth, could there have been
  any other fate?

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Same in the End

• At the end, Macbeths head rests on a pike, and
  Malcolm has been crowned as the new king of
  Scotland
• Yet no one feels particularly happy or relieved
  when the curtain finally falls
• Not only do we still have a fresh memory of
  Malcolms self-denigration from IV.iii, but we
  see him doing what his father did assigning new
  titles to the people who seem most loyal to him,
  and to those who played the largest roles in
  helping him win the battle
• It was these promotions that exposed Duncan to
  treachery and we worry that Malcolm may be
  following in his fathers footsteps

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A Final Word

• To thine own self be true
• Macbeth is about pursuing greatness and all of
  the ways that an indiscriminate pursuit can be
  harmful
• We see concerns about identity, independence,
  security, and even love perverted
• We see a world where a lack of enlightenment and
  perception is fatal both on the part of the
  tyrant and his victims
• Macbeth wishes so desperately to hang onto what
  he has that he loses everything he has and
  everything he is
• Its the mirror image of Siddhartha, where love
  sets us free in Macbeth, love helps to entrap
  Macbeth and seal his fate
• In one, a man seeks enlightenment in order to
  find spiritual perfection and while his search
  is difficult, he reaches his goal
• In the other, a mans misunderstanding drives him
  to seek earthly perfection (power, after all, is
  control) and he falls terribly, terribly short

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Extras and Miscellany

• Disorder The natural order (of succession) has
  been disturbed
• The friendships we rely upon as a source of
  strength cannot be trusted
• The weather is odd constant darkness and storms
  provide the impression that things have gone
  horribly wrong
• Are the gods angry?
• Consult the omens in II.iv

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Extras and Miscellany

• Truth The hallucinations we see often reveal
  deeper truths
• Its an odd move on Shakespeares part using
  the unreal to reveal the real but it also
  functions symbolically
• These peoples dreams drive them to do in secret
  what they could never do in the light
• Why wouldnt visions of a different sort reveal
  just as much about them?

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Extras and Miscellany

• Darkness Besides the pervading darkness of the
  skies over Scotland, its worth noting that most
  of the murders (Banquos, Duncans) take place at
  night
• Perhaps this reflects the darkness of Macbeths
  soul!
• Also, pay attention to how much of the important
  action takes place offscreen unseen and unheard
  (Macbeths death, Duncans murder, etc.).

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Extras and Miscellany

• Desperation Think about the murderers, men who
  have nothing left to lose
• Contrast them with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who
  one could argue are equally desperate
• What does desperation reveal about human nature?

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Thats It!

• If you have any questions, please contact me via
  e-mail or the blog.
• Online Study Session from 5-8pm on Thursday,
  January 22nd.