This is not the first time I am reading Macbeth, but what I am experiencing the first time in reading it is
a desire for the story to go differently. In this first act alone, three, maybe
four, of my margin notes amount to “No. Don’t do the thing. Stop what you’re
doing.”
But I can only wish so much. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are
going to do the things. All of the
things. (Centuries-old spoilers; I still won’t spoil them if you don’t know.)
Only in this reading have I realized how quickly the
Macbeths consider killing King Duncan an option. Macbeth is ambitious, to be
sure: the witches speak Macbeth’s desires for power. (So there’s your answer,
Banquo: Macbeth starts “and seems to fear / Things that do sound so fair” (I.3.52-53)
because he is surprised to hear his desires spoken aloud. He probably hasn’t
even thought about these desires in actual words.)
But think about it! As soon as Macbeth internalizes that he is thane of Cawdor
as well as thane of Glamis, he thinks something very troubling. He asks himself,
“Why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair /
And make my seated heart doth knock at my ribs / Against the use of nature?” (I.3.138-141)
I don’t know, Macbeth. Why do you
jump so quickly to the idea that you might have to kill someone, despite your
visceral regrets? Who thinks of such a thing so quickly? Who considers it a
viable option?!
You’re not a disturbingly romanticized anime trope, Macbeth,
so there’s no excuse. (Not pictured: the girl who was with the boy before the
other girl killed her.)
At least Macbeth has regrets and reservations about it. At
least he has more than a mere semblance of humanity. His wife, on the other
hand, is eager to give up her humanity to get what she wants. “Fill me, from
the crown to the toe, top-full / Of direst cruelty” (I.5.32-33)? If Lady
Macbeth has any shred of humanity left in her, she wants it gone, wiped clean
from her. It is a disturbing and yet fascinating depiction of someone willingly
giving up her humanity to do evil. The disturbing aspects make me want to tell
Lady Macbeth to stop as soon as she is done reading her husband’s letter, but
the fascinating aspects are what make reading her lines so fun. Why, the moment
she finishes reading the letter, she laments about the “milk of human kindness”
holding her husband back (I.5.4). Goodness, who raised this woman? She
considers violence even more quickly than he does, and chooses it! Well, if
both think so similarly, perhaps they are well matched. If nothing else, they
are a strong power couple. Would that they’d turn their efforts to pretty much
anything else. . . .
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth: basically Bonnie and Clyde.
I pledge that I have neither given nor received any
unauthorized aid on this assignment.
First of all, I have to compliment your writing style here. Your thoughts are super easy to follow, and you support them very well! Anyways, I agree with your proclamation that the Macbeths are, at the very least, a strong power couple. I absolutely love how Lady Macbeth's character is given a role so equal to her husband's that it is usually interpreted as being more powerful (because she's more invested in the decision to kill Duncan than her husband is). I wonder what this play would look like in modern day if it was written from the Lady's point of view.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you when you refer to the Macbeths as a power couple; they really are just like Bonnie and Clyde in that they are almost considered equal. "Almost," of course, is the key word here... The Macbeths share their opinions and power equally, but Shakesperian society does not. Only Macbeth can be king; Lady Macbeth can merely be his Queen and therefore hold significantly less power than him. Unfortunately, there is no changing that.
ReplyDeleteI will never get the idea of yandere!Macbeth out of my head. If I draw fanart of this, you are to blame. Lady Macbeth is terrifying in susceptiveness to committing violence, but her almost inhuman ruthlessness is what makes her interesting to me. I can't help but wonder where the line between her unwavering support of her husbands ambitions and her own ambitions and desire for power are drawn. Maybe she's openly fantasized about being Queen whereas Macbeth's desires were more subconscious (at least until he met the witches).
ReplyDeleteI really like your point about how quickly Macbeth seems to think about killing Duncan! I didn't realize how swiftly he jumped to that extreme in my own previous reading, so you certainly aren't alone in that. I also really appreciate your connection to Bonnie and Clyde, especially when you consider how both couple's stories end. Though I can't vouch for the historical accuracy, in the musical Bonnie & Clyde, Bonnie starts to freak out about the whole murdering people thing, which prompts Clyde to give her a Lady Macbeth-style pep talk. Must be a common dispute among murderous couples!
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