Review: Macbeth

Macbeth by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating 4 out of 5 | A Grade; Inquisitive, Era Defining, Ever Relevant.

Themes Explored:

⛊ Universal Human emotions such as Greed, desire & lust for power, justice.
⛊ Guilt & Remorse
⛊ Betrayal of the moral order
⛊ Rightful rule of the land
⛊ How unchecked power gives rise to Tyranny. How Power Corrupts.
⛊ A couple as toxic as Frank & Claire Underwood
⛊ Prophesies, Half-truths, misdirection, deceit in sooth sayings
⛊ Fate vs free will

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Review:

♜ Ambition, unfettered by morality is a recipe for tragedy.

What was Macbeth's crime? Was it his desire to be king? To have the power that came with? Believing that he was more worthy of the throne of Scotland than Duncan or his heirs? Or Blind trust in the words of witches who dabbled in superstition and black magic?

Wanting to be a king, or wanting power is not by itself an evil thing. After all, Arthur wanted to inherit the throne which was rightly his, and which the whole of existence deemed he was an heir to. Alexander wanted to rule over the world, and he did so with blood, sweat and a lot of death. Chandragupta Maurya, aided by the eclectic Chanakya, was able to usurp the Nanda empire to establish his own dynasty.

What sets them apart from the tale of Macbeth is that, to varying degrees they stuck to some moral guideline or set of principles to obtain said power. Be it a warrior’s code, sense of honor, right of the victor to rule, or divine providence.

Macbeth however, wanted to be king. But he didn’t build up his power base and confront Duncan for the right to rule. He didn’t seek the right, by combat or popular opinion, or rightful divine providence. Instead he chose a path which was unscrupulous, and his actions seemed to leave a scar on the very fabric of reality, as the natural order of succession was usurped, angering the very spirits.



♜ Macbeth’s Guilt & Remorse

Macbeth starts off as a loyal vassal to King Duncan. Then the witches poison his mind with half truths, prophecies and delusions of grandeur. Or rather, it would be accurate to say that they took that morsel of murderous intent buried in the Thane’s heart, and inflated it to a disastrous degree.

When Macbeth stood at a precipice, at a crossroad between good and evil, he had to make a choice. Being weak willed, and sort of a coward emotionally, he looked to those close to him for guidance, so that they may shape his opinions.

Banquo, the angel on his shoulder told him to ignore this superstitious talk tinged with black magic and vile spirits, to remember his oath to Duncan. Lady Macbeth, in contrast, stoked the embers of ambition, of desire, of evil in his heart. By questioning his courage, his manhood, she emotionally spurs him and gives him the push necessary to commit treason and murder, for their own benefit.

Macbeth chose to throw away the good advice of his well wisher, and chose to succumb to his desire. Therein signing the deed to his demise and all the suffering which he wrought on his quest to power.

♜ Macbeth’s spiral down the path of villainy & Tyranny

Once Macbeth murdered Duncan, and ascended the throne of Scotland, he had sealed his fate. Though he had become king, as the witches foretold, like the one who sits under the sword of Damocles, he has never a moment of respite to enjoy his ascension.

Doubt & fear grip him, urging him to latch onto the other prophecy of the witches, this time aimed at Duncan. If his own prophecies came to fruition, why not Duncan’s he begins to fear. That paranoia drives him to further acts of villainy.

While the murderous couple rationalize Duncan’s murder by painting ambition & desire, afterwards both are noticeably affected by the act. Macbeth chooses to immerse himself in the shackles of the prophecy and do everything in his power to secure his power. He lives in denial of the severity of his actions and instead tries to thwart fate, by murdering Duncan & his son. Duncan is killed, but his son escapes, giving Macbeth sleepless nights.

He might have continued down this spiral of fear and paranoia, had the witches not intervened yet again, shoring up his beliefs, and unbeknownst to Macbeth, direct him firmly onto the path of destruction.

Believing he was invincible as long as the Birham forest didn’t move to Dunsinane, and unless confronted by a man not born of women, Macbeth lets loose the fetters of his mind, and doubles down on the tyrannical nature he had kept hidden. Lashing out against Macduff & anyone who he saw remotely as a threat, murdering innocents of Macduff’s household as his family, Macbeth exhibits the traits of someone who sees himself free from the constraints placed by morality and fear of divine retribution.

With all his competitors and dissidents visibly killed or exiled, Macbeth reigns with an iron fist, wrought death and misery on anyone who seeks to challenge him. Thus, he was unifying the forces of resistance who were organizing to throw off his yoke of oppression.

Up until the final moments, false belief in the witches, as well as his own invincibility, drove Macbeth to be impetuous, to the point that even the news of Lady Macbeth’s demise is merely treated with indifference. Not until his dying breath, not until his end at the hands of Macduff do his delusions shatter, at which time there is nothing more to be done.



♜ The three witches, destiny and the inevitability of fate.

Taking a quite Hellenistic approach, Shakespeare shapes his story by means of a plot device of the three witches and their slew of self fulfilling prophecies. They confront Macbeth, and seduce him with delusions of grandeur. They take the morsel of ambition buried in his mind, and inflate it by magnitudes thus directing his down the path of murder & tyranny.

One could say that by revealing his future to Macbeth, the witches chose to test him. For if you wish to understand the mettle of a person, give him power, in this case the power of foreknowledge, and see what he does with it. Macbeth, when shown a vision of power and kingship, chose to use this as a sign to release the ambition & desire within him, and chose to feed those two wolves, while starving his sense of honor & loyalty.

Before you start decrying the three witches, one has to remember, they presented the prophecy not only to Macbeth, but also to Banquo. The latter however chose to ignore it as hogwash, and let his saner mind prevail. Imagine how much of a shits creek it would’ve been if Banquo, taken by the prophecy, chose to act out like Macbeth, to secure the crown, not for himself, but for his son? Banquo chose to ignore the prophecy, robbing any power it & fate might have on him. While Macbeth chose to be chained by it, thus ensuring he would be forever subservient to it.

♜ Lady Macbeth; a match made in purgatory



If the witches’ prophecy uncovered the ember of ambition & desire within the heart of the Thane of Glamis, then Lady Macbeth is the one who provided the kindling to sustain that ember and bellowed it to a raging flame which consumed the Royal family, and the people of Scotland.

The prima donna in the opera that is Macbeth’s tyranny & downfall, Lady Macbeth is a person of great ambition & desire which matched her husband. And unlike him, she was not fettered with constraints of morality, honor or loyalty. Shrewd and resourceful, she was, as soon as she received news of the prophecy from her husband, ready to put into action the path which would crown him king. In front of the indecisive Thane, wavering between desire and duty, she fanned the flames of desire, throwing inflammatory words insulting Macbeth’s courage & manhood to enrage him into murder.

Yet despite talking big, when confronted with the actual act, and the consequences of her action, the face of her victim, the obstacle to the throne, haunts her to no end. Whatever sliver of empathy & humanity which she had kept locked away to feed her ambition, gave her sleepless nights, and hallucinations. Delusions of never leaving stains of blood, a symbol of her deeds, continue to haunt her to death. Even David harbor’s tide detergent would be able to wipe away the stains of her deeds; let alone the waters of Neptune or all the spices of Arabia.

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Synopsis

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