Thursday, April 7, 2016
conversation #4 Group E
Macbeth's reaction to Lady Macbeth's suicide in Act 5 scene 5, the famous "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech (p.179-180) is filled with some of the bleakest reflections on life in any work of literature. What, exactly, is Macbeth saying here? Why is he saying it? How does it suggest the way that this powerful protagonist has fallen?
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Macbeth was not surprised, saying he knew his wife would die sooner or later. His outlook on the world grew very dark after everything spun out of control and the days dragged on endlessly. He lost his virtue, his confidence, his faith, and his wife, and even started to believe that life is a dark shadow which, according to the side note, refers to “an image without substance.” Macbeth used to be someone who took great pride in his nobility and then became someone who sinned, demonstrating the height he had fallen from as he was left without purpose. He compares life to a pitiful actor who worries too much about his performance and then is never to be heard from again. I think here he is referring to Lady Macbeth as the actor because similar anxiety and fear consumed her until her death as well. He also refers to the Genesis, which says people come from dust, and will return to dust. I looked it up, and apparently the dust refers to souls forming and dying. He said fools burn a “brief” and “dusty” death, which I want to say is him referring to himself, but I do not think he ever matured enough to say that. I am not exactly sure what dust and souls have to do with this so does anyone have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteI think that the dust, as Emma alluded to, has to do with fate, and how the fate of everyone is already set, and people just live their life on earth and then are gone. However, I find this slightly ironic that Macbeth mentions fate, since he was the disruptor of fate by killing Duncan, as well as attempting to kill Fleance, who was fated to be the next King of Scotland - throughout the play, all Macbeth does is disturb the natural flow of events, killing people who could even be a remote threat to his rule.
DeleteMacbeth's mention of fate is humble compared to when he previously thought he could defeat it. It is interesting because he still continues to be arrogant, believing the witches' prediction will come true. As you said, Macbeth seeks higher level guidance and reassurance, initially from King Duncan, and later from his wife and the witches. He chooses to overthrow Duncan for his wife to gain her approval, even though maintaining throne requires much more self assurance.
DeleteMaybe it has to do with his sanity; he has seen so much death that he just simply cannot feel the difference between life and death. In addition, I believe that Macbeth has become accustomed to death. Having had Banquo and Duncan die, even though it was because of him, has taken a tole on his emotions. I think Macbeth has become "burnt out" from the flux of emotion, whether it is his hunger for power, depression, anxiety, that he can't feel anymore. Hi sway of dealing with his situation, his nothing; to be bleak.
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DeleteThat makes a lot of sense! For his sanity, Macbeth needs to believe that, in the end, everything works itself out, and order restores, that the dust we came from reverts to dust after we die. I think subconsciously he knew all along that he would not be able to get away with becoming king, which is why he hesitated so much in the beginning. At one point, he was a noble man who put his faith into the Chain of Being and trusted the established order. I think he fooled himself into believing the witches because he wanted to prove his manliness and maintain his ego after his wife belittled him for that. Doing so also fulfilled his need to put his faith somewhere after he no longer could put it into the Chain of Being. However, that never held the same type of security that his trust in God did, which is why he, as you said, burned out.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I feel that Macbeth has become a man reliant on fate since he went to the witches multiple times to see what is coming next for him. There is the chance that he has realized he is not in control of what happens, and that his wife was supposed to die, just like he was fated to be killed by a man born from a c-section.
DeleteI feel like Macbeth wasn't super reliant on fate but I think he felt like he needed something to justify what he was doing.
DeleteThats a good point. I now realize that he manipulated what the witches told him to gain what he wanted. The witches never told him that he has to kill duncan to become king, but he did it anyway
DeleteYeah. I think that while the witches were pushing him in a certain direction, Macbeth chose to look at only one side of what they had told him.
DeleteI think Macbeth thought of Lady Macbeth not only as his lover, but also as his confidant and his anchor, someone who would always set him in his place if he was veering off track (even if for bad purposes, i.e. killing Duncan). The death of Lady Macbeth seems to both affect Macbeth and not affect him. I think Macbeth is mostly in resignation - I am pretty sure that he would have felt some sort of sadness or frustration of Lady Macbeth's death, but in his speech he seems to wave the news away as if it doesn't bother him, especially when he says, "she should have died hereafter" (p. 177). I don't think it's because he doesn't care, but more because he feels hopeless, as everything and everyone near and dear to his heart is crumbling away.
ReplyDeleteI think that Macbeth was the 'hand' of the duo, while Lady Macbeth was the 'heart', or brains, of the operation. When Lady Macbeth died, Macbeth had no one to take orders from, or to listen to, and I think that was the last straw for him - a hand needs to have orders from the brain in order to function.
I agree with what you're saying. At this point Macbeth definitely feels hopeless after losing his most trusted person. I also think that he appears to not care a crazy amount is that he has more "important" goals in mind (solidifying his kingship, etc.).
DeleteI think that Macbeth is saying that he knows what's coming for him, and he knows that the end (potentially) is nigh. This suggests that Macbeth is like the former thane of Cawdor, someone who will die as someone who has known what it is to throw everything away. I still do think that Macbeth believes that he will have a fighting chance but his future does look bleak.
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