Unnatural Deeds, Unnatural Troubles
by Thomas Canfield
Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy is also his darkest and most intense. For over 400 years, Macbeth has shocked and bewitched audiences with its eerie magic and gory spectacle. Set in a world where “fair is foul, and foul is fair,” the play portrays a noble, valiant hero brought to murder and tyranny through a combination of fate, external manipulation and “vaulting ambition.”
An array of prophecies uttered by the Weird Sisters in Act I initiates Macbeth’s sinister transformation. After hailing him as Thane of Glamis, the witches demonstrate their uncanny knowledge by disclosing that, unknown to Macbeth, he is also Thane of Cawdor. The third portion of their greeting that he “shalt be King hereafter” is their most cryptic revelation, especially since it seems to contradict their prediction that Banquo, Macbeth’s companion, will father a line of kings.
This “supernatural soliciting” leads the main character down the primrose path to murder and destruction, although the initial crime that crowns Macbeth is achieved through his wife’s steely determination. Remarking that he is “too full o’th’milk of human kindness” to accomplish King Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth urges him to “screw your courage to the sticking-place” and assists him in consummating their plan. Once this deed is undertaken, a string of violent murders—inspired by guilt, fear, and suspicion—follow in an effort to maintain Macbeth’s “fruitless crown” and “barren sceptre.” Realizing that “blood will have blood,” Macbeth remarks that he is “in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” The potent image of “blood” appears over 100 times in the play.
Macbeth contains passages of tremendous power that have a life of their own outside the play, while the onstage opportunities for theatrical spectacle are unmatched. Prior to Duncan’s murder, the image of a bloody dagger haunts Macbeth who utters, “Is this a dagger, which I see before me?” and afterwards he is plagued by terrifying voices crying, “Macbeth does murther Sleep.” The dark humor of the Porter’s speech offers a brief interlude before further gruesome events, including the ghost of the murdered Banquo, which disrupts a celebratory feast. Consulting the witches again, Macbeth is shown fantastic apparitions and given more seemingly-impossible prophecies that must occur before his defeat. Before her untimely end, the sleepwalking Lady Macbeth utters the famous line, “Out damned spot!” while washing imaginary blood from her hands. Ultimately resigned to defeat, Macbeth valiantly proclaims, “Lay on Macduff” before literally losing his head in a sensational battle.
Often termed the most Jacobean of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth may have been performed at court for James I, the Scottish-born king of England. The play’s locale and the character of Banquo, from whom James claimed descent, would have appealed to the king. The mirror shown to Macbeth by the witches in Act IV reflects the Stuart line extending “to th’ crack of doom” and James himself. The king also had an interest in the occult, as evidenced by a treatise titled Daemonologie (1597) that he wrote on the topic.
Enduring theatrical superstitions surrounding Macbeth also have led to the popular belief that it is unlucky. One legend is that Shakespeare plagiarized the play’s incantations from a coven of witches, while another maintains that a props master stole a cauldron to use in a production; in both tales, the witches cursed the play in revenge. A third myth is that Shakespeare incorporated curses in the play to ensure that no one else could direct it. Productions of Macbeth are said to have been plagued with misfortune, supposedly originating with an unfounded tale of the play’s premiere when the actor playing Lady Macbeth fell suddenly ill and died backstage. In another production, an actor was murdered when a real dagger was substituted for a prop.
Theatres performing Macbeth are said to have suffered from bankruptcy and other disasters, although one explanation is that, because the play has always been a box office draw, it was often staged by theatres already in financial turmoil. The euphemism of “the Scottish play” is employed by those who believe that mentioning or quoting from it inside a theatre will cause misfortune, and an elaborate cleansing ritual must be performed by the offender. Macbeth also was a favorite of Abraham Lincoln, who read it on the day the Civil War ended—five days before being shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, an actor who had once performed the title role. This may lend credibility to the legend or it may be, in Macbeth’s own words, “a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.”
