Malign Masculinity.
Shakespeare explores the complex issues around what constitutes a ‘man’ in Macbeth. The eponymous protagonist appears heroic in the opening scenes as he returns from saving the Kingship of Duncan through his ferocious and brutal defence of Scotland on the battlefield.
His heroism reminds the audience perhaps of a Greek hero like Achilles, whose savagery in the service of a ruler is essential to the preservation of the ruler’s kingdom. Masculinity in this version is therefore clearly linked to ferocious violence which is even a form of blood lust. Such ferocity could also be a compensation for the unresolved grief suffered by both Macbeths for the loss of their child. Significantly the brutality of Macbeth and his decapitation of the traitor foreshows his own demise at the hands of his nemesis, Macduff.
If Lady Macbeth seeks to attain agency in a fiercely misogynistic and patriarchal world, then what greater gift could Macbeth bestow on his beloved wife than the Crown? This distortion of affection through the need for compensatory power ruins both of the Macbeths and estranges them, before their lonely, abject deaths.
For in seeking to brutalise Macbeth’s secret capacity for intimacy and passionate loyalty, and even to hijack it for her own ends in order to heal her own feelings of futility and powerlessness, havoc is wreaked on both a personal as well as political level.
Paradoxically ( ‘fair is foul’ remember) masculinity and manliness can also link to humanity and morality. Yet this version is steadily demeaned by Macbeth’s wife who attempts to denigrate her morally torn husband into obeying her desire for power, through her verbal emasculation of his character. It even feels in Act One that Lady Macbeth is more masculine than her feminised husband whose conscience makes him struggle to define his manliness against a society and culture that applaud brutality and excessive bloodshed as evidence of their manliness and heroism. Thus Lady Macbeth is all too aware of her unimportance in a patriarchal and misogynistic world. Likewise, we see Lady MacDuff also aware of her disposable status with her husband in his pursuit of masculine heroism and glory aware of the family home which he abandons and results in their terrible fate.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Here the paradoxical mantra of the unholy trinity of witches displays their relish for moral anarchy and deception. If good and bad are interchangeable then how can we differentiate our behaviour and recognise what constitutes an ethical choice? And how can we also differentiate between appearance and reality? Such confusion is ripe territory for rampant deception and corruption. What does this mantra also suggest about ambition? Surely it gives permission to the ruthless pursuit of one’s desires?
What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
The opening words of Duncan foreshadow his impending murder. The applause that Macbeth receives for his evisceration of the traitor Macdonwald underlines Macbeth’s importance in maintaining the political order and sovereignty of Duncan as well as hinting at the King’s dependence upon Macbeth for stability and survival of his frequently fraught kingdom.
If you connect this to Act Five when we hear of Young Siward’s death and his father’s main concern is the exact manner of his son’s death on the battlefield: ‘Had he his hurts before?’
When he learns from Ross that his mortal wounds were on his front then Siward is content with his son’s heroic death because it subscribes to his version of manhood.
Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald–
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him–from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show’d like a rebel’s whore: but all’s too weak:
For brave Macbeth–well he deserves that name–
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour’s minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam’d him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.
The level of violence perpetrated by Macbeth upon Duncan’s enemy appears excessive. Yet this level of brutality is praised by the listeners, emphasising the perceived heroism of Macbeth as long as he serves his King. We wonder if such violence gives Macbeth pleasure as he enjoys endangering himself and refusing any compromise in battle. ( He shakes no hand!)
DUNCAN
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
DUNCAN
What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.
Duncan evidently relies on Macbeth and his exclamations illustrate his relief at being safe from usurpers due to the latter’s brutal heroism. The guileless aspect of Duncan is evident too as he fails to recognise the irony of promoting Macbeth through a traitor’s title. Duncan appears to repeat a cycle of betrayal through his poor judgment of character. Is he reckless, overly trusting or even desperate to placate Macbeth through a promotion that will command his loyalty and obedience?
Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
Wreck’d as homeward he did come.
The witch’ s desire to sabotage the human world and to undermine their literal and metaphorical direction ( morally) is expressed grotesquely here. The contaminating effects of the witches are physically apparent with their physically masculine appearance and macabre proclivities.
MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Macbeth’s first speech reveals the corrupting effects of the witches even before they speak to him. He is their toy to play with even to the point that they can tamper with his language and even the weather. The pathetic fallacy is mirrored in the linguistic ventriloquism of Macbeth. How much choice or self does he actually have?
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?
This is a revealing question and again stresses the intelligence of Banquo. He is under no doubt about the witches’ allegiance with their anti-social habitat, transgressive, masculine appearance and provocative promises. Yet he appears to be validating their words. Is he validating the promised Kingship and if so where does he lie with Macbeth’s impatient desire to fulfil the promises by criminal means? Remember he does not raise the alarm about Macbeth despite his suspicions.
BANQUO
What, can the devil speak true?
This is a revealing question and again stresses the intelligence of Banquo. He is under no doubt about the witches’ allegiance with their anti-social habitat, transgressive masculine appearance and provocative promises. Yet he appears to be validating their words. Is he validating the promised Kingship and if so where does he lie with Macbeth’s impatient desire to fulfil the promises by criminal means? Remember he does not raise the alarm about Macbeth despite his suspicions.
MACBETH
The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me
In borrow’d robes?
This image appealed to Stevenson in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde where the author plays with the idea of the doppelgänger. Macbeth is already demonstrating secrecy and subterfuge through the dramatic device of the aside. Macbeth is uncomfortable with being promoted into some other ‘robes’ despite being secretly deeply ambitious. He appears to be questioning his accelerating fortunes yet we realise he is also tempted to claim the position he has defended so well.
BANQUO
That trusted home
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But ’tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequence.
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
Look at the use of the noun ‘trifles’ and evaluate what this refers to. Does this seem curious if it refers to the witches’ promises? ‘Honest trifle’ feels almost oxymoronic with its bathetic deflating of the prophecies. Is Banquo even encouraging Macbeth’s ambition so that his own future gains can take place?
