Macbeth

So far, I love this play. I particularly love that Shakespeare’s supernatural plays take place in countries other than England. Hamlet, which featured a ghost and raised lots of questions about the afterlife, was staged in Denmark and Macbeth, with its gaggle of witches, is in Scotland. I think it’s important that Shakespeare didn’t include any of these supernatural appearances in any English plays. I think it’s brilliant that Shakespeare can weave together war and politics and witches and still be taken seriously.
I also love Lady Macbeth! I don’t think she’s a particularly nice woman but that’s what I like about her! I am impressed by a woman with a mission. Lady Macbeth knows what she wants and she will stop at nothing to get it. I’m sure that eventually this ambition will lead her or her husband to do something terrible that I don’t approve of at all, but my initial impression is that she is in fact a strong, smart woman. Like I said, I’m SURE she’s going to mess up somehow. I also so far like the dynamic of the relationship- I have a personal appreciation for a woman who isn’t afraid to tell her husband how she is feeling or make suggestions to him about his life.
I feel that I am always looking at the women in these plays, and how their roles in society are portrayed through the art being produced, and Shakespeare does not usually have any kind of positive female model. I know a little bit about this play, although I have never read it before, and I know of her eventual fate…I can’t help but wonder what brings that on.
While the role of women in this play is important (the witches are women, too!) It’s also important, I think, to discuss prophecy. So far this semester prophecy has played a role in three plays we have read. Before this, there was a prophecy in Richard II, when his uncle was dying, that the way he ruled was wrong and would lead to his eventual downfall. This carried over into Henry IV, and although it isn’t outwardly stated, it plays a big part. King Henry’s downfall was due to the violent way in which he obtained the throne; violence which dying Gaunt had warned against in his final speech. Prophecy was also important in Richard III, which I read last semester.
I find it interesting that the other plays in which there has been prophecy were history plays. I wonder if that suggests something about the nature of Macbeth. Perhaps it was intended to be understood as a history play? Is any of the action historically accurate? I feel that there is a connection between war and witchcraft, but I don’t know exactly what I’m thinking. I will have to ask about this more in class.