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Topics: Macbeth's character. The role of the witches. At the top of Johnston's page is this note: [A lecture prepared for English 366: Studies in Shakespeare, by Ian Johnston of Malaspina-University College, Nanaimo, BC. This text is in the public domain, released July 1999. It was last revised in minor ways in June, 2001]The lecture has 5 sections:
As you can see, Jonston covers quite a bit of territory in one lecture. To me, the most interesting question that he wrestles with is this one: It worth asking ourselves what in Macbeth commands our attention throughout the second half of this play. After all, he is in many respects the least admirable tragic hero of all. In characters like Othello, Romeo, Cleopatra, Lear, Antony, Hamlet (to say nothing of Oedipus, Ajax, or Clytaemnestra) we can usually find something to admire. We may not like them (they are not very likable people), but there is something in their characters or their situation on which we can hang some sympathy, even if there is not enough for us to rationalize away their actions. But Macbeth is a mass murderer, who does away with friends, colleagues, women and children, often for no apparent reason other than his own desires. Why do we keep our attention focused on him?The core of Johnston's answer to his own question is that we see in Macbeth a perverse strength, such that "He simply will not compromise with the world, and he will pay whatever price that decision exacts from him, even though as his murderous career continues he becomes increasingly aware of what it is costing him." Johnston's analysis of the witches is a continuation of his commentary on Macbeth's character: The most obvious interpretation of the witches is to see them as manifestations of evil in the world. They exist to tempt and torment people, to challenge their faith in themselves and their society. They work on Macbeth by equivocation, that is, by ambiguous promises of some future state. These promises come true, but not in the way that the victim originally believed . . . . They have no power to compel belief, but they can obviously appeal strongly to an already existing inclination to force one's will onto events in order to shape the future to fit one's deepest desires. Bottom Line: Consistently interesting and persuasive. |
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