Sunday, August 15, 2010
MacBeth, War and Death
Is the heroic pathway so hardwired into us we cannot control the context? Killing in battle was not enough, MacBath needed to extend the battle field into his own kingdom killing all those who could get in the way of his acheiving the throne. He and his wife, like Hickock and Smith, bands of brothers (and sister) coming togther to commit this crime that neither one would commit alone. The guilt becomes overwhelming for Lady and MacBeth slips into battle gear again which was never really retired only this time to meet his own death. Psychologically it is the same old story, the witches as messengers of the unconscious nag at our egos to become king, that is the supreme ruler, the predominant way of seeing the world. The king is always looking for supremacy. The unconscious is looking for wholeness but doesn't know the direct pathway, nor how to explain itself, so when the self says to kill the king, that is confused with killing the outer king (whoever is closest and highest in the land) But the real message is to kill the inner king so a new king can emerge. Whenever we confuse the outer world with the inner we make stupid mistakes like this. So why the guilt? Perhaps the psyche realizes it screwed up and instead of moving closer to wholeness actually moved far away and when you get those instructions wrong you realize you had only one shot at them really and what is done in the outer world is irrevocable. In the absence of true learning our neurosis takes over and we regress to handwashing and suicide or the terrible addiction to war.
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Macbeth seems to me the most tragic of heroes in that he truly fails any lesson in his downfall. Both Hamlet and Lear at least get a glimmer of enlightenment on the road to death. For Macbeth, there seems to be nothing but constant ego inflation until his final destruction. And yet the story compels us. We don't really root for Macbeth, though our shadow might. Perhaps on that level, we want to know what will happen if we indulge our darkest ambitions. Maybe by letting Macbeth's demons out to fly, we are reminded why it is so important to find some way to counterbalance our own and hold them in tension.
ReplyDeleteThere is a tragedy in not becoming conscious at the end of one's life. Is there any difference if one does battle with disease rather than one's human enemy? The heroic pathway is really all the same isn't it. Doing battle with the Hydra is not much different than doing battle with an invading army or with a rival to the throne. So perhaps the tragedy is not turning the conquest into anything meaningful. Mac Beth cannot carry the corpse of the dead parts of him because he refuses to. It is not part of his campaign and doesn't further him along his pathway. It would require too much self-reflection and he would need to come to terms with his killings. If Hamlet's fault is too much self-reflection, MacBeth's is none at all. And from that perspective he follows the path of most men toward death. The sin seems less that he murdered but that he didn't make it meaningful.
ReplyDeleteThis leads me back to Lear, who without question gains consciousness before his demise. Lear is only Shakespeare's bleakest tragedy if you measure by the body count. If you instead measure it by the growth in Lear's humanity, then it seems something at least is gained in exchange for the terrible price paid.
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