First Musings

Lady Macbeth reminds me of Madame Defarge, and Macbeth of Monsieur Defarge.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I see the connection. Was Dickens inspired by Shakespeare? (Then again, who hasn't been?)

Lady Macbeth chastises her husband for being too weak to make his desire a reality by killing King Duncan (if that isn't a totally Scottish name, I don't know what is), just like Madame Defarge accuses her husband of backing down and being weak when he expresses doubts over denouncing the Darnay family, etc. The women are the forces to be reckoned with in both these books...

But, forgetting Dickens for a second... I'm most fascinated by the scene in which Lady Macbeth asks the evil spirits (or whatever) to "unsex [her]" and to "take [her] milk for gall" - it's interesting that she believes she has to do away with her femininity to be capable of murder. According to the cursory research I have just performed, men have always committed more crimes than women. I don't know how reliable my source is, however (don't worry Mr. H, it's not Wiki), but it sounds pretty accurate to me. And I'm wondering what were Shakespeare's thoughts on this? He obviously was aware that women can be capable of murder too - Lady M is much more for killing King D than Macbeth is, though Macbeth apparently had no qualms about running his sword through Sweno (sp?). But he couldn't just have her kill Duncan... he had to have her be "unsexed" whatever that actually means.

It's also pretty frightening when she tells her henpecked husband that if she had sworn to rip her baby from her breast and dash his brains out, she would have done it. Hands up if you think she really would have! *raises hand, then puts it back down hesitantly*

Another thing: Macbeth is quick to accept what the three witches/weird sisters (Ben: Now we know where JK Rowling came up with The Weird Sisters band from, haha) tell him about his future. He is so eager to hear what they have to say to him that the fact that they are quite obviously evil doesn't even bother him too much. Now this makes me wonder whether Macbeth is originally a "bad" person, or if the witches' prophecy brings out the worse side of him. The same for Lady Macbeth - is she originally such an evil-minded person or does the picture of fame and glory go to her head? Both seem unlikely. Someone as noble as Macbeth in their fighting cannot be so full of "original sin." But then, can greed and the hope of glory really bring out so much badness in one person?

The big idea I've always pondered on when I read this book was morality. Or lack thereof. I think it's because there is so little of it in this book - the only ray of hope lies with Banquo - that I dislike this play so much in comparison with Shakespeares' other tragedies. Othello, King Lear, and Hamlet's protagonists are not so devoid of morals. Speaking of which - can Macbeth be classified as protagonist? An anti-hero? I mean I'm definitely not sympathisizing with him but he's the main character, so what does that make him? An anomaly?

This is way too long. But I like the layout of this blog; it's very pretty.