Macbeth: “He Was Caught in the Machinery” – or – There Will Be Blood

1. Macbeth: “He Was Caught in the Machinery” – or –There Will Be Blood Feraco Search for Human Potential 4 December 2012

2. If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. Frederick Nietzsche We are merely the stars’ tennis balls, struck and banded, which way chooses. John Webster The greatest hazard of all – losing one’s self – can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss – an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. – is sure to be noticed. Sören Kierkegaard Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. Arthur Miller

3. Attentive readers may have noticed some relationships between Macbeth and our earlier curricular content. In Shakespeare’s constant worrying over how a man should “be” – as a father, a son, an individual – we see everything from Siddhartha to War reflected. In the difference between Macbeth’s impulsive, poorly-considered expectations and the bitter, heartbreaking reality he finally faces, we see Siddhartha, Govinda, and (500) Days of Summer. And if you go back and look at the blogs that ask specific questions – Searching for a Former Clarity, Will the Future Blame Us?, With Love We Will Survive – those question banks could pertain to Shakespeare’s play just as easily as they did to Hesse’s novel.

4. For those of you who are perhaps wondering why Search for Human Potential seems to have flown off the rails and headed into decidedly dark territory, then, it’s worth pointing out that it hasn’t. Sure, this story may end badly for its central character, but the concerns the class began studying months ago remain. We’ve just picked a different perspective to study from, and we’re going to shift again as soon as we can. But before we do so, I’d like to review the Macbeth unit a bit, and to conclude it in a proper way.

5. This play was based on complicated historical events, and Shakespeare’s contemporary concerns and education helped shape the way he presents them in his narrative. While the Bard touches on dozens of themes, motifs, symbols, and recurring images over the course of five acts, the play ultimately revolves around the characters – all of whom have flaws, and all of whom make mistakes – and the ways in which the search for security, identity, enlightenment, independence, and love intersect in one man’s desperate quest for power.

6. Macbeth was always flawed by design: it’s a chronicle of Scottish history from an Englishman’s second-hand perspective, and consequently suffers from a number of inaccuracies both intentional and unintentional. For example, the real King Duncan was ill-suited to rule Scotland, and he proved to be an ineffective king. The real Macbeth assassinated him in a noble (to him) act of nationalism, and he didn’t act alone. There’s no sign that his wife drove him to kill, but he had several co-conspirators, one of whom was Banquo. Yet in the play, Banquo stands in opposition to Macbeth’s plight. Why?

7. You’ll recall that Shakespeare’s company was employed by King James. Shakespeare therefore had a very specific audience to please, and took great pains to do so. Since he knew James believed that he was one of the historical Banquo’s descendents, the Bard didn’t dare show the king’s “ancestor” in a negative light.

8. But if Banquo wasn’t going to be a regicidal co-conspirator, there had to be a reason – so Shakespeare decided to portray Duncan as a wonderful king whom even Macbeth respects, whose widespread approval causes the reluctant thane to reconsider his plan. (Shakespeare, however, failed to cut the rebellion against Duncan out of the picture; either he simply forgot, or he hoped to sneak it past James.) The witches were another “shout-out” to James’s contemporary concerns, for reasons that we’ve documented before.

9. While Macbeth is loaded with rich historical, thematic, and plot-related issues, it’s important to remember that many of them fit under the umbrella of the five major areas we’ve studied all semester: enlightenment, independence, identity, security, and love. Shakespeare’s opinions regarding these five areas of study are complicated, and neither wholly positive nor negative…hence our study of this work.

10. One final thing to note before we begin: it’s worth examining how the points we’re about to discuss apply to other characters. Look closer at how other characters grapple with the concerns we’re about to cover. Start by examining, for example, how security and identity relate to Lady Macbeth, how enlightenment relates to Duncan, how love and security relate to Macduff, how identity relates to Malcolm, how enlightenment relates to Banquo, and how the Weïrd Sisters relate to independence…and continue from there.

11. While reading Macbeth, it’s best to ask yourself the questions that the playwright seems to be prompting you to consider. For example, Shakespeare bluntly questions whether love is a healthy, beneficial emotion. In Macbeth, love is the source of great pain – of blindness, hate, betrayal, guilt, violence, and revenge – without many indications that it can function as a source of great strength. If we take a wider view of Shakespeare’s body of work, we can see that this is something of a “pet theme” for him. Many of his tragedies, from Hamlet to Othello to Romeo and Juliet, feature characters who make mistakes and suffer awful fates in the name of love.

12. By questioning love’s ramifications, Shakespeare in turn raises interesting questions about trust. In order for relationships to function (at least on a healthy basis), both parties must trust one another. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the two must love everything about one another, that each must be blind to the other’s flaws, or even that they must forgive each partner for transgressions. However, it’s not controversial to suggest that a healthy relationship cannot function without trust at its core.

13. Yet Shakespeare also forces us to question whether trust is a good thing. Look at the mountain of evidence the Bard marshals in counterargument: • Banquo suspects Macbeth of treachery too late to save himself • Macduff underestimates Macbeth’s ruthlessness, and pays the price for his mistake in his family’s blood • Duncan’s trusting nature blinds him to the threat Macbeth represents • Macbeth himself trusts his wife’s better judgment while ultimately deciding to act in accordance with her wishes

14. Can we totally trust ourselves in the hands of another? Is it better to trust everyone (believing in the basic goodness of your fellow man) or trust no one? These questions have always made audiences uneasy. They’re some of the most fascinating aspects of Macbeth, and the most haunting ones once the play finishes – for if there are answers here, they may not line up with what you previously believed.

15. While considering Shakespeare’s attitude toward human enlightenment – as well as how his views shaped Macbeth – it’s helpful to use some simple questions to direct your exploration. How does knowledge provide the characters with power? How does it doom them? How does each character’s lack of “hard” knowledge influence the play’s narrative?

16. One could easily argue that Macbeth’s “knowledge” is the key to his power, since he never even considers rule until he knows the prophecy. One could just as easily argue that Macbeth’s “knowledge” dooms him because he puts too much stock in the Weïrd Sisters’ words, particularly after the first scene of the fourth act. One could even argue that Macbeth never knows anything; he just thinks he knows things.

17. We don’t even need to look at Macbeth to see how knowledge alternately empowers and compromises people. Duncan believes he can trust people based on what he knows, but it turns out he knows less than he believes. Lady Macbeth “overestimates” herself, oddly enough, and ends up dying as a result. Banquo’s knowledge traps him – he can’t come forward, but he can’t ignore what he secretly knows, and his secret ultimately dooms him.

18. Even Malcolm’s and Donalbain’s mutual decision to flee stems from their lack of knowledge about the killer, and from what they believe they know about his motives. It’s that lack of knowledge that allows Macbeth to take the crown. As you can clearly see, enlightenment requires more than an extensive collection of facts – it requires understanding. Knowledge without comprehension is a dangerous thing…especially here.

19. Just as with love, Shakespeare ultimately deals with security less in physical terms and more in terms of trust. Trust leads to comfort and confidence – witness how Macbeth is spurred to pursue greatness by sources he trusts – as well as to fatal errors. The security you provide essentially serves as currency in Scottish society. You gain a spouse and promotions (to a point) via your willingness to protect “what’s yours.”

20. After all, Macbeth gains Duncan’s favor through willing service, including his vigorous defense of the kingdom when the rebels and Norwegians attack. Yet it is Duncan’s willingness to trust Macbeth – to place his security in the hands of another – that leads to his murder. Shakespeare seems to be cautioning people that trust may not lead to security – that it may, in fact, compromise it.

21. That said, we have to remember that Macbeth’s rule is never secure because he trusts no one. He lives in constant terror of any threat to his seat of power, invents threats where none appear to exist, turns on his friends as though they were enemies, and compromises every ideal he once pursued and fought to uphold, all in the fearful pursuit of security. This is why Lady Macbeth’s quote early in Act III, when she says it’s better to be dead than to live under a constant shadow of guilt and fear, is so revealing.

22. Really, why does Macbeth want to be king? Is it to provide for a family that ends up dying as a result of his actions? Is it to establish a place in history’s record book so he could die secure in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be forgotten? Is it to win the security of independence and control – the two things he ends up losing first?

23. As we established in our previous discussions of love and trust, the latter can make you vulnerable. However, Shakespeare also seems to point out that a lack of trust is equally dangerous. So what is he saying? Is Shakespeare advocating trust, despite the inherent threats and vulnerabilities that accompany it? Is he using Macbeth’s paranoid inhumanity to say that the ability to trust and care for others ultimately makes us human? Or is he arguing that the world is inherently dangerous, and that the only way to protect yourself is to use others before they can use you – to “provide a false face” in order to save your own skin?

24. Shakespeare raises similarly complicated concerns regarding independence. Is Macbeth free? He’s certainly influenced by people (the Weïrd Sisters, Lady Macbeth), as well as by less tangible forces (the prophecy, his own paranoia). But it’s a question that audiences have grappled with for centuries. How much control does Macbeth really exert over the course of events in the play? Does he cause things to happen, or do things happen to him regardless of what he does?

25. When we first meet Macbeth, it’s hard to say that he’s independent in an anarchic sense. He owes his prosperous lifestyle to his willingness to risk his neck in service of his king, and every decision he makes has to be colored by that allegiance. He doesn’t have the freedom to, say, go play with the Norwegians; that’s not a decision he can even bring himself to contemplate. So in some sense, Macbeth is introduced as a prisoner to his national ties.

26. Yet we never get a sense that Macbeth is a prisoner, that he is unhappy, or that he has any desire to act in any other way. In this case, it seems that Macbeth’s independent pursuits are shaped by his allegiance to Duncan – that it’s less a matter of service restraining him as much as a matter of service directing his focus. If Macbeth doesn’t have any desire to fight for the Norwegians, we can’t really argue that his freedom is limited when that option is automatically closed (unless you think of freedom in anarchic terms).

27. When the Weïrd Sisters appear, however, Macbeth’s “independent focus” is redirected; he’s no longer acting in accordance with Duncan’s wishes. But can we argue that he’s any more independent when he’s following Lady Macbeth’s orders, when he’s trying to bring poorly-understood prophecies into fruition, than he was while fighting to defend the crown? We really have to wonder if Macbeth is even capable of making independent choices.

28. After all, he’s been born and raised to be one thing – the future Thane of Glamis – with promotions thereafter limited to positions that will tie him closer to the crown. Macbeth’s life has always been about serving Duncan, about following orders. Perhaps this is why he follows Lady Macbeth so readily, and why he searches for orders in the Weïrd Sisters’ prophecies that simply aren’t there.

29. Yet if Macbeth isn’t responsible for his actions, if he’s merely following his hard-wired need to, well, follow, then who is? Is Lady Macbeth independent, or is she as much a prisoner to her role in society as Macbeth? Can she ever be “greater” alone than as someone’s inferior partner? It’s hard to say whether Macbeth controls his destiny, oxymoronic as that concept may seem at first blush. Is he making choices, or is he following his programming? We see him think, see him debate, see him agonize over decisions – but how often do his actions match his thoughts? He seems to act against his beliefs, and that should concern us most of all.

30. Who is Macbeth? This, too, is a question the play grapples with and never satisfactorily answers. Is he a good person? A bad person? Loyal? Treacherous? Brave? Cowardly? Intelligent? Blind? Ambitious? Greedy? Weak?

31. Macbeth is haunted by his initial murder, then slowly descends into madness – just as Lady Macbeth does. Viewers and readers must decide for themselves whether the Macbeths’ inability to live with what they’ve done represents fundamental – buried, but fundamental – goodness, or whether it’s just weakness and fear repurposed as hatred of themselves and everyone else.

32. What do Macbeth’s monologues and soliloquies show? What happens to people who live their lives acting out roles, let alone to those who set out to “wear false faces”? Can you lose yourself in a lie, or in ambition? And if you do, what’s left behind? What’s left to strive for? What’s left to win?

33. Shakespeare has always been a master of asking difficult questions, and there is perhaps no better question in this play than of how we should ultimately view Macbeth. Is he a good man misled, an awful man who gets what’s coming to him, or just a man – a man with flaws and strengths who gets caught up in something bigger than he can handle? Should we hate him for his crimes at the end? Should we feel sorry for him when we realize what’s become of him, and what he’s lost? And is what we feel different from what we think? How is that possible when both thought and emotion emanate from the same source?

34. Ultimately, we spend time in the head of a character we never perfectly understand. We don’t know why Macbeth wants the throne. We don’t know why he loves Lady Macbeth. We see him act, hear his thoughts, but witness everything from a remove. And we don’t put ourselves in Macbeth’s blood-soaked shoes, perhaps because we don’t dare wear them – because we fear that in the same situation, facing the same circumstances and choices, we might just be capable of the same… …that we, too, could forget to be true to ourselves.