Monday, September 6, 2010
Being of No Woman Born
So MacBeth is brought down as the witches predicted, by a man of no woman born and by Birnam wood that was honed into bows for battle. So what of this detail. A man not born of woman was the only one who could kill MacBeth while MacBeth himself was born of woman. So macBeth had a vunerability that MacDuff did not simply by being born of a woman. The wounding inherent in the mother complex was MacBeth's undoing and now we have the full picture. MacBeth could not say no to his wife despite his initial resistance to her suggestions. The witches represent the dark mother and both husband and wife fall completely under it's powers. But it takes a true man, one not under the influence of the mother complex to undo MacBeth. Removed by cesarian section MacDuff symbolically escaped the bondage to the mother complex. MacBeth's moment of truth was when he failed to overcome his wife's corruption and break the shackles that bound him to his mother. All his prowess in battle was simply symbolic opposition to the mother with no true inner strength to confront himself. There is no depth to MacBeth. He reminds me of James Gagney in White Heat. No more perfect image of the devastation caused by the mother complex than a man on top of exploding fuel tanks saying, "Look at me ma, I'm on top of the world".
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Great summation. I don't think there is much more to be said. As I take steps away from the mother realm, I find the whole play less interesting than I did in my youth. I guess it is appropriate that high schools have it in the curriculum, as boys are becoming men and there is a chance they will heed the warning. But at age 40, we should make people go back and take an obligatory class on Lear. It has much richer information for the second half of life's journey.
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