When I read this play before, I was so irritated by all the murder and evil plots in it that I didn't notice one of the greater themes: treachery and how it leads to mistrust.
Treachery comes up in almost every scene. When Lady Macduff talks to Ross and to her son, she feels sorrowful and worried about her husband having left them suddenly. She does not say outright that he is treacherous but it is implied that she does feel that Macduff was betraying his family, in a way.
It comes up even more significantly in the conversation between Macduff and Malcolm, the latter who is wary of placing his trust in Macduff based purely on the fact that he has not been targeted by Macbeth yet. Because of the murder of one king, the nation is plunged into chaos and former allies and friends can no longer trust one another. Shakespeare shows us this in the now ever-present idea of every man for himself ... no one can afford to be naively trusting on the basis of previous friendships. Perhaps Shakespeare lived in quite a cutthroat and harsh time; perhaps he is showing his more cynical side in Macbeth.
Treachery is the swine flu of Macbeth - everyone is afraid that everyone around them has it, and no one wants to get toooo close to anyone else...
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I think treachery becomes a problem when people start trusting people. They shouldn't trust people, they should trust or stick to their believes and core values. I think people become hurt when they trust other people, but if they started to live by their own sense of moral standards, they really wouldn't be hurt even if they were betrayed.
ReplyDeleteBut as there are no morals with Macbeth, the waters are pretty treacherous.
wooo
ReplyDeleteyou have much interesting thoughts.
I hope to understand your thoughts and see them in a way i know i wont be able to unless I became you. haha
I thought so with the two M s when that one guy kept asking the other to be a man because he was worried about his plann only.
Aye, I call for communism in Macbeth. From Hereon everyone shall refer to each other as Comrade Malcolm, Comrade Macduff etc.
ReplyDeleteThere should be a certain amount of trust you place in people, too much and you have a problem.