George Washington University

The Five Tragedies in Macbeth Author(s): Miguel A. Bernad Reviewed work(s): Source: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Winter, 1962), pp. 49-61 Published by: Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2866894 . Accessed: 18/04/2012 15:31
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The

Five

Tragedies

in

Macbeth

MIGUEL A. BERNAD, S.J. NE of the most remarkable things aboutShakespeare's Macbeth is the artistry with which the playwright wovenfive has
distinct tragedies into one. Hamlet is intriguing, King Lear is profound, but Macbeth is complex, and it is this complexity which gives the play its richness, making a study of it so rewarding and every stage performance a new discovery. Para-

doxically,the play is complexdespitean extremelysimpleplot. There are no sub-plots.But the action is made to advanceat five differentlevels, each of
which may be called a distinct tragedy because each involves a reversal of fortune in a particularorder.

At the most obviouslevel is the physicaltragedy-physical,for want of a

better term-in which a person of high estate (to adopt Bradley's paraphrase of the well-known Aristotelian definition) falls into an exceptional calamity involving complete ruin or death. A matchless soldier, kinsman to the king, wins the king's battles and the king's praise; but prompted by inner ambitions and external urgings he murders the king and assumes the crown, which he soon finds to be a "sterile" crown. Since "to be thus is nothing but to be safely thus", he plunges into an orgy of crime which eventually loses him his queen, his crown and his life. This straightforward action makes for dramatic neatness. Everything is tucked in. There are no loose ends, as there are in Hamlet or in Lear. Its neatness of construction, unity of action, swiftness of movement, and great compression and brevity (at least in the state in which the text has come down to us) have prompted the critics to liken Macbeth to a Greek tragedy-in so far as the baroque could be likened to the classic. But this simplicity is merely apparent,for a Shakespearianplay is never thin. The simplicity of Macbeth is coupled with an intensity which made Bradley call it "the most vehement, the most concentrated, perhaps we may say the most tremendous, of the tragedies".1 Macbeth's downfall involves more than the mere loss of life or crown. It involves another downfall equally real: the rapid and radical disintegration of two splendid personalities. II There can be no doubt that Macbeth is initially a splendid personality. His conduct in war is spectacular. He is "braveMacbeth", "Bellona's bridegroom". He is impervious to fear when merely natural foes confront him. For him there
1A. C. Bradley, ShakespeareanTragedy (1904), see lect. i0; on its brevity, Appendix, Note AA.

lecture 9. On the "simplicity" of Macbeth,

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is no terror in the "rugged Russian bear, the arm'd rhinoceros or the Hyrcan tiger". Even at the end, with defeat inevitable, he is still the soldier who will fight "till from my bones my flesh be hacked". Only for one moment does he falter, as indeed any human being might. Such a soldier commands respect. There is nothing puny about him. If his crimes are enormous, they are committed by a man who has the makings of greatness.2 Lady Macbeth, likewise, has the makings of greatness. Even if one were not prepared to accept Bradley's assessment of her as "the most commanding and perhaps the most awe-inspiring figure that Shakespeare drew",3one must acknowledge a greatness visible in the very distortion of feminine nature which in others is tender, yielding, dependent, but which in her is iron-willed, masterful, dominant. No ordinary woman could call upon the spirits of darknessas she does: Come,you spirits That tend on mortalthoughts;unsex me here, And fill me from the crownto the toe top full Of direst cruelty. (IL 41-44) v. If this wickedness is horrible, it is the wickedness of the horribly strong. Neither Macbeth nor his wife is "normal",if by normal is meant the ordinary, the mediocre, the run-of-the-mill.No tragic hero or heroine is normal in that sense. Tragedy is the downfall of a person in high estate, but this "high estate" is not merely a political or social concept; it includes a personal dimension which has nothing to do with the physical. The hero must be a moral colossus, gigantic in moral stature, drawn on a "heroic"-therefore an abnormal-scale. Though other mortals be made of spirit and clay, in him there must be less of the clay and more of the spirit, even if it be the proud spirit of Lucifer. But Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are "normal"in another sense of the term, for they are not insane. Initially, they are not maniacs. They become progressively less sane as the story unfolds. Their personalities, initially splendid, disintegrate. Having tried to control others, they end by losing control of themselves. Magnificent at first, they become, in the one case, a monster of iniquity, in the other, a pathetic victim of hallucinations who ends by killing herself. III This gradual disintegration of character is fascinating to watch. It begins harmlessly and imperceptibly enough in a certain abstractedness:"Look how our partner's rapt." It betrays itself further in a certain jumpiness, and even in hallucinations "proceeding from the heat oppressed brain": Macbeth sees a bleeding dagger in the air; Lady Macbeth sees a resemblance of her father in Duncan; both start at the hoot of the owl, the cry of the wolf, the shout of a
2 Robert Bridges among others has called attention to this heroic stature of Macbeth.The interest in Macbeth, he says, "is the perpetrationof a crime by a man whose magnificent qualities of mind, extreme courage and poetic imagination, raise the villainies above common meanness and give occasion for a superhuman conflict of images and ideas."-Apud E. E. Stoll, Art and Artifice New York 1951), p. 78. in Shakespeare(I933, reprinted 8 Shakespearean Tragedy, lect. Io.

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man-though apparently no one has shouted. Keyed up as they are, they lose nerve at the crucial moments: she at the point of delivering the fatal blow, he after it. Lady Macbeth, who at the beginning is unaffected by imaginary fears and could laugh at apparitions, is later tormented by an imaginary spot. Macbeth, before his crime, is fearless of blood and could "doubly redouble" strokes upon the foe "as if to memorize another Golgotha"; after his crime, the sight of blood on his hands unnerves him, and the sight of Banquo's gory locks sends him into hysterics. The "sights" that overcome him "like a summer's cloud" become habitual, haunting him by day, torturing him at night, making him "eat his meal in fear", and sleep In the affliction theseterribledreams of

Thatshake nightly. us

(III-ii. 17-19)

It is interesting to note that this permanent loss of sleep is ironic. Let them but gain possession of the throne, says Lady Macbeth (echoing what every ambitious person has said before and since), and there will be a lifetime of joy, Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solelysovereignaway and masterdom. (I. vi. 69-71) Yet no sooner are the words spoken and the crime perpetratedthan they find their nights and days no longer their own. Sleep is no longer possible. Macbeth's hysterical announcement is prophetic: "Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more." In the end, they envy the very victims whom they have killed: Betterbe with the dead Whom we, to gain our peace,have sent to peace, Than on the tortureof the mind to lie (III. ii. 19-22) In restlessecstasy. How much better off is Duncan, who is beyond the touch of any vicissitude, than is his murderer: Duncanis in his grave; After life's fitful feverhe sleepswell. (III. ii. 22-26) After life's fitful fever he sleeps well: how enviable that must be to those who could not sleep! In desperation, Macbeth seeks solace in blood. But it brings him no peace. He becomes perpetually restless, subject to fits and moods. One moment he puts on his armor, the next he pulls it off. One moment he bellows defiant orders; the next moment he whimpers in defeat. Edmund Kean, we are told, when acting Macbeth, would run out on the stage and shout in a voice of thunder, "Hang out our banners on the outward walls!" Then a pause. His sword drops to the ground. And he whispers: "The cry is still, 'They come, they come. "' "What a noble mind is here o'erthrown",says Ophelia of Hamlet. May not the same be said of Macbeth and his lady?
4A. C. Sprague, ShakespeareanPlayers and Performances (Harvard, 1953), p. 75.

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IV
has Oddly enough,afterthis disintegration gone a long way, Lady Macbeth There is nothinglovable begins to elicit our sympathyand even our affection. or "withthe valourof hertongue", as she her abouther as she chastises husband unscrupulous, calls upon the powersof evil to unsexher. She is the ambitious, cruel woman who would pluck the infant smiling at her breastand dash its brainsout. But beneaththis iron front is a heartof flesh that must eventually courage,she puts up To recognizeits own weakness. bolsterup her husband's she a bravefront; but when alone, she sees how empty-handed is: had,all'sspent, Nought's content. (III. 4-5) is Whenourdesire gotwithout ii. Obviously,no sympathycan be wastedon her when she is toweringin her for and strength.But man is by naturecompassionate thereis compassion this evil woman when things have gone againsther. She has becomelike a scared of littlegirl, suddenly conscious all the wrongshe has done.Whentherewas real lightly. the bloodon herhands,shehaddismissed matter but Myhandsareof yourcolour; I shame so To weara heart white. (II.ii. 63-65) Nothing seemedeasierthan to wash awayboth bloodandguilt: "A littlewater clearsus of this deed."But afterthe blood is washedaway,the bloodremains. When she is asleep,when that iron controlis relaxed,when sleep "thatknits fears up the ravelledsleeve of care"no longerknits it, then all the suppressed and regretscome up to the surface,and what she could not or would not see when waking, she sees when asleep.She sees the blood on her hands. She smells it. All the perfumesof Arabiacould not sweetenthat little hand. It is then that she uttersthat triple sigh which must tax the actingability saysthe doctor;"theheart "Whata sigh is there", of even the greatestactresses. replies:"I would not havesuch To is sorelycharged." which the lady attendant a heartin my bosomfor the dignityof the wholebody." She is the At such a time, Lady Macbethbecomesan objectof sympathy. heart-broken little girl sitting on the doorstep,weeping over her brokendoll. on No manis so callousas not to havecompassion herweeping. For Lady Macbeth, afterall, is only a woman.And even her greatestambiquality.It is not for herself unselfish tion, criminalthough it is, has a strangely but for her husbandthat she wants the crown."It is of him she thinks: she wishes to see her husbandon the throne,and to placethe sceptrewithin his his departsfrom his sources,"purging Lady Macgrasp."In this, Shakespeare appears beth of the personal ambitionthat the Lady Macbethof the chronicles to be full of."" may find it easy to shareMacbeth's In such a frame of mind, the spectator over his wife's illness.He pleadswith the doctorto cureher. He pleads anxiety wistfully,knowing that his pleadingis in vain.For even the doctoris helpless: "More needsshe the divinethanthe physician."
5 For an amusing anecdote that illustrates how real Mrs. Siddons made this blood seem on her hands, see Furness' VariorumMacbeth,p. 477. of *Mrs. Jameson, Characteristics Women (London, 1833), apud Furness' Variorum, pp. 477478.

THE FIVE TRAGEDIES IN MACBETH

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Canstthou not ministerto a mind diseas'd, Pluck from the memorya rootedsorrow, Razeout the writtentroublesof the brain, And with some sweetobliviousantidote Cleansethe stuff'dbosom of that perilousstuff (V. iii. 40-45) Which weighs upon the heart?

merely.He is observer of The spectator such a scene is not a dispassionate involvedsomehowin the requestto haveher cured.He wantsthe patientcured.
And he shares the frustration that Macbeth feels when told that his wife is dead: "She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word." Lady Macbeth, hateful in the hour of victory, becomes an object of affection in her hour of defeat. From a tragic, she has become almost a pathetic figure. And that is her tragedy: she, who sought to rule the world by ruthlessly crushing others, comes closest to ruling it when her own heart is crushed. V There is a third tragedy, a downfall in the moral order. On this point it seems necessary to take exception to what some of the better critics have said, who sometimes speak as if the charactersof a play were static creatures who from play's beginning to play's end retain the same interior qualities. Thus Elmer Stoll, agreeing with Bridges, speaks of the "unpsychological contrast", or contradiction of "a brave and honourable man plunged into cowardly and dishonourable conduct; an ambitious man, with his thoughts, both before and after the crime, set, not upon the reasons which would impel or justify him, but upon those which deter himn.T But the point is, that the brave and honorable man becomes cowardly and dishonorableby committing a cowardly and dishonorabledeed, and, in so doing, opens the door for greater cowardice and dishonor. The soliloquy If it were done when 'tis done,then 'twerewell It were done quickly
(I. Vii. 1-2)

is that of a man who has already ceased to be honorable, at least in intention, although he is still aware of the demands of honor. Later on, even the idea of honor no longer means anything to him. For mine own good All causesshall give way.

(III.iv. 135-136)
The character of Macbeth has visibly deteriorated. The first suggestion of murder "unfixes" his hair and makes his heart pound against his ribs "against the use of nature". But it is a principle both of moralists and of detective story writers that the first crime is the hardest, and that one crime leads to another with progressive ease. The murderer, having done violence to all that he holds sacred, finds it less violent to repeat the deed. He becomes used to the idea of murder and when occasion offers will resort to it again. "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill" (III. ii. 55). So it is with Macbeth. The anguished
7

Art and Artifice in Shakespeare,p. 77.

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soul-searching precedes murderof Duncan is entirelyabsentfrom the that the murderof Banquo.Murderbecomessecondnatureto the murderer. has He "supped with horrors", full until nothingbecomesany longer horrible. has He waded so deeply in blood that "returning were as tedious as go e'er"(III.iv. 138). The man who at first was awareof his "double trust", unmindfulof not the loyalty that he owed Duncan as king, as kinsmanand as guest, the man who was not without a sense of gratitudetowardsso gentle and generousa sovereign,later on becomesso completely callousas to order the murdernot only of his enemiesbut of their wives, childrenand servants, he entertains and the opinion that he has scarcely begun to do anythingevil! "We are yet but young in deed"(III.iv. 144). Such a man eventually comesto hate,not only his enemiesbecausethey are evil to him, but any good man precisely because is good.8He ordersBanquo's he deathbecause in hisroyalty nature of Reigns whichwouldbe fear'd: that . . . andunderhim is MyGenius rebuked, it is said as Mark was Antony's by Caesar. (III.i. 50-57) This gradualhardeningof the heart,this blunting of the conscience, this of obfuscation the mind, this loss of a moralsenseendingin a total callousness to evil, is not as easilyperceptible the downfall"of a personin high estate": as but it is a downfallnone the less. It is a tragedyin the moralorderas real (if not as spectacular) the physical political as and downfallof a king. It is ironic that as the moral sense becomesmore blunted,the person,insteadof enjoyinggreater peaceof mind,enjoysfar less. VI At this point the splendid craftsmanship the Banquet Scene becomes of apparent. is one of the bestconstructed It scenesin Shakespeare, it is entirely and his, since there is no mentionof it in Holinshed.It is sometimessaid that the turningpoint of the play is the escapeof Fleance.This may be true historically but not dramatically. From a dramatic pointof view, Fleance's escapeis of little importance, hardlyaffectingthe actionof the play.The real turningpoint,or peripety,of the play is not Fleance'sescapebut the great BanquetScene, in which, among other things, Fleance'sescapeis announcedand the ghost of Banquoappears. Macbethinvoluntarily revealshis secretcrimesin the presence of his entirecourtgatheredwith the greatest pompand circumstance a state for dinner. It is a glitteringscene, the kind that Shakespeare, with an eye for theater, gloried in. The lordsand ladiesof the kingdom,dressedin theirrobesof state, file into the banquethall and are shown to their places-for protocolmust be observed the orderof precedence and followedminutely:"Youknow yourown
8 Wilson Knight has put it very well: "So he fears, envies, hates Banquo who has the reality of honour whereas he has but the mockery, a ghoulish dream of reality. He envies Banquo's posterity their royal destiny won in terms of nature, not in terms of crime . . ." The Imperial Theme (3rd ed. London1951), p. 131.

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the Thereis a soundof trumpets, lordsand ladiesbow, the attendants degrees." enter, and behindthem, in full regalia,the king and queen. It is an hour of triumphfor Macbethand Lady Macbeth.They mount the dais. The queen welcome: smiling and in a heartyvoice,bids everyone sits down. Macbeth, at first And last,the heartywelcome. There is a murmurof thanks,a sound of shuffledchairs,the lords help the sit ladies,then they themselves down. he The king does not sit down. He feels so carefree, must descendfrom the in daisand minglewith the guests.Thereis a heartiness his voiceand a smileon this. as his countenance he announces withsociety, Ourself mingle will host. Andplaythehumble ITe queen remainson the dais.She will keep her state,but "in best time"she ironicthat will descendto mingle with the guests.It is of coursedramatically it when she doesdescend, will not be "inbesttime"but in worst.This, however, is in the future.There is no hint of it as yet. There is no cloudon the horizon. Lady Macbethis gracious.Macbethis jovial. Both are the perfecthost and hostess: it Macbeth. Pronounce forme,Sir,to allourfriends; Lady Formy heart speaks, arewelcome. they thanks. thee See,theyencounter withtheirhearts' Macbeth. It is their hour of triumph.Why not? Are not all the lords and ladieshere (Macduff,of course,and Banquoexcepted),attiredin glitteringrobesof state? and his queen's"solelysovereign And are not all here to acclaimMacbeth's sway and masterdom"? There is of courseanothercause for rejoicing.Banquo at this moment is Banquo who knew too being put out of the way-Banquo the troublesome, has much,Banquoand his son,Fleance,destinedto begetkings.Macbeth never felt more secure.He feels that from now on nothing can troublehis peace. He feels "perfect": founded therock, as Wholeasthemarble, as As broad general the casingair. and There is a chair in the middle of the guests'table.It is the seat of honor, for Macbeth reserved Banquo.With charming goes to the chairand informality sits down with the guests. Bothsidesareeven;hereI'll sit in the midst. a to He urgeseveryone enjoyhimself.Lateron he intendsto propose jovialtoast: we'lldrinka measure Be largein mirth: anon, The tableround. likes to indulgein sharpdramatic contrasts) At this moment (Shakespeare A there is a little interruption. liveriedpage comes into the banquethall and whispersa messagein the king's ear. Someoneto see him outside.Macbeth

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standsup. The lords and ladiesstartto rise to theirfeet but he prevents them. He goes to the door.The murderer standsbeforehim. "There's blooduponthy face",saysthe king, anxiously. The replyis boastful:"'TisBanquo's then."Ah. That's fine. Macbethcan afford to joke: "'Tis better thee without than he within."He saysit with a chuckle, pointingwith his thumbtowards banquet the hall. But he wants explicitinformation: he dispatched?" "Is Dispatched. The thug does not know what the word means.His vocabulary limited.He is a is bluntman who callsa spadea spade. MyLordhis throat cut; is ThatI did for him. Macbethchuckles. indulgesin a pun: "Thouart the bestof the cut-throats." He And of course, withouta doubt,Fleancemustbe deadtoo? he'sgoodthatdidthelikeforFleance: If thoudidstit, thouartthenonpareil. And then, for the first time during that glittering evening, somethinggoes wrong.The murderer hesitates, looksdown on his hands,shiftshis weightfrom one foot to the other."Mostroyalsir-" he breaksoff and looksaway.Macbeth staresat him. What can possiblyhave happened?Speakup, man! The murdererblurtsit out. "Fleanceis scap'd." Macbeth stunned.In a momentall his is has security gone crashingto the ground.He now feels constrained, suffocated: cribb'd, "cabin'd, confin'd". The fit, however,is momentary. After all, the essentialthing has been done. Banquois dead.If Fleancehas escaped, least he is not yet a full-grownserat pent. He has no venom yet, "no teeth for the present". Macbethgoes back to the banquethall, and resumesthe mannerof the heartyhost: wait Now, gooddigestion on appetite, And healthon both. He even gives a little speech, typeof flattering the speechone hearsat banquets: Herehadwe nowourcountry's honour roof'd, Werethegrac'd of person ourBanquo present; WhomayI rather challenge unkindness for Thanpityfor mischance. It is safe enoughto talk of Banquo.Safe in a ditch he lies. But somethinghas again gone wrong. There had been an empty chair before. Now the table seemsfull. Pleas't yourHighness To grace withyourroyal us company? Why doesn'the sit down? Why does he look puzzled aroundthe table?"Tle table'sfull!" Why, the man must be getting blind. Can'the see? "Hereis a sir."Macbethlooksabouthim in bewilderment. placereserv'd, "Where?" They point to the emptychair."Here,my good lord."But the king is staringat that empty chair. He is staringin an intent manner,his eyes bulging. What can be the matter?"Whatis't that movesyour Highness?"Then the king speaks. His voiceis unnatural. is trembling over: He all

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Thou canstnot say I did it: nevershake Thy gory locks at me. There is consternation all around. Someone gets up. Someone shouts: "Gentlemen, rise! his highness is not well!" Everyone is on his feet. The queen rushes down from the dais. No, no. Sit down. Sit down everybody. This is nothing. Nothing at all. Go on eating, please! In a moment she is beside her husband. "Are you a man?" she whispers hoarsely. But he answers aloud, for every one to hear Ay, and a bold one, that darelook on that Which might appalthe devil. Oh nonsense, she says. This is another one of your hallucinations. Why do you make such faces?When all's done You look but on a stool. But Macbeth sees more than a stool. And he proceeds to give more damning revelations as he continues to look on the horrible spectacle which he alone sees. The apparition vanishes. Macbeth heaves a sigh of relief. He wipes the perspiration from his forehead. But the harm is done. The dinner is spoiled. He tries to save the pieces by proposing a toast. Give me a cup. Fill full. Lords and ladies, I give you-Banquo. Would he were here. And of course he is there. The cup crashes to the floor. The wine is spilled. "Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee!" He enumerates the blood-curdling details: thy Thy bonesare marrowless, blood is cold; in Thou has no speculation thoseeyes, Which thou dost glare with. The queen tries to cover up. This is a common sickness of his. It is nothing. Pay no attention to it. But it is difficult not to pay attention to the shouting king: Hence horribleshadow! Unreal mockery,hence! The ghost vanishes again. And Macbeth recovers. Why so, being gone, I am a man again.Prayyou, sit still. But the harm has been irretrievablydone. The cat is out of the bag. Macbeth has revealed his crimes to the entire court,.There is a pointedness to Ross's question: "What sights, my lord?" To prevent further revelations, Lady Macbeth has no choice but to dismiss the company peremptorily. At once,good night. Standnot upon the orderof yourgoing, But go at once. Few banquets have ended as precipitately as that. What had started as a royal dinner has ended as a shambles. And Macbeth, who began the evening with a feeling of confident cheerfulness, now feels that he is doomed. "It will have

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blood,they say: blood will have blood."You can'thide a murder.The birds, man of blood". the trees,the very stoneswill revealthe "secretest There is now no more hope. He will go betimesto the weird sistersto "know,by the worst means,the worst".He has waded so deeplyin blood,he Thereis no backingout now. For his own good, all might as well go in deeper. himself,he can at least things must give way. If he is doomedto destruction destroyothers.He has just begun.He is but youngin deed. effecAnd it dramatizes That is the BanquetScene.It is a grandperipety. tivelythe moraltragedyof Macbeth. VII psychoof If Macbeth's tragedyis a disturbance right orderin the physical, logicaland moralworld,it is no less so in the social.It is a rendingof the social of fabric,an overturning the right order,a twisting of the right relationship of among human beings.This seems the significance the repeateduse of the images:a mousingowl kills The word "unnatural". play is full of "unnatural" and a soaringfalcon; Duncan'shorses,"beauteous swift, the minionsof their coversthe face of day "whenlivrace",turn wild and eat each other;darkness ing light should kiss it"; and the weird sisters,who should be women, have too, the beardsof men. Unnatural, is the suspicionthat falls upon the grooms: Moreunnatural to they havekilled the king whom they weresupposed protect. is the suspicionthat falls on Malcolmand Donalbain,who are suspectedof killing their father.These are of coursebut images of the really unnatural bloody". in thing: "thenearer blood,the nearer The murderof Duncanis a multiplesin. It is a sin againstGod and against societyon manycounts:it is murder-a sin againstjustice;it is the murderof a kinsman-a sin againstpiety; it is regicide-a sin againstfealty,a sin of sacrisincein medieval and sacrilege, of perjury lege as the MiddleAges understood oath.Finally,it is the murderof a guest by his timesit was the violationof an host-a sin against the rules of hospitalitywhich all civilized nations deem
sacred. "False face must hide what the false heart doth know" (I. vii. 82).

what might soft-pedals It is significant,as Stoll remarks,that Shakespeare in crime.Duncan's a have been considered mitigatingcircumstance Macbeth's and heir-apparent a was of appointment Malcolm as Prince of Cumberland That fact could well have given Macbeth violationof the rules of succession. a grievancewhich, though it could not possiblyjustifymurder,might at least have elicited sympathyfor him as an injuredparty.By glossing over this cirdeprivesMacbethof any grievance,and makes his cumstance,Shakespeare withoutany possiblemotivefor it except crime standout in starkheinousness, ambition"' "vaulting The murderof Duncan is only the beginningof the eversionof the social is order.Oncethe usurper on the throne,the reign of law gives way to the reign The tyranthas a spyin everyhousehold. Everyday of terror. New windows cry; howl,neworphans newsorrows on heaven theface.. . . Strike (IV.iii. 4-6)
9 E. E. Stoll, p. 8o and elsewhere.

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It is an unnatural stateof affairs, naturemust reestablish and itself.Ordermust be restored, at the expense thosewho violateit. but of Now o'ertheone-half world Nature seemsdead (II.i. 49-50) says Macbethwhen he commitshis first crime. But natureis far from dead. Natureis verymuchalive,andit is a vengefulnature. Unnatural deeds Do breedunnatural troubles. (V. i. 78-79) So Lady Macbethmust walk in her sleep: "A great perturbation nature,to in receiveat once the benefitof sleep,and do the effectsof watching"(V. i. IO-I2). And the tyranthimselfmust feel the tortures anxiety:"O full of scorpions of is my mind, dear wife" (III.ii. 36). Macbethfeels old age coming, perhapsprematurely.His way of life "has fallen into the sear,the yellow leaf". But he cannothope for the naturalconsolations old age. These are not available of to him who has violatednature: And thatwhichshould accompany age, old As honour, love,obedience, troops friends, of I mustnotlookto have; in theirstead, but Curses, loud,butdeep,mouth-honour, not breath, Whichthe poorheartwouldfeigndeny,anddarenot. (V. iii. 24-28) The land is sick; thereis no medicinal herbor purgative drugthat couldpurge it. Thereis only one cure:the tyrant's death. The diseasein the end is cured.The bodypoliticis purged.Orderis reestablished. It is ever thus in Shakespeare. matterwhat upheavalsmay occur, No in the end right orderreasserts itself. Learfoolishlydivideshis kingdom,only to have it reunitedunder Albany.Caesaris murdered and a civil war ensues, only to have anotherCaesargive ordersaboutthe disposalof Brutus'corpse. Hamlet dies, as does almosteverybody else, but Fortinbras arrivesin time to assumethe reins of state.Shakespeare a believerin the socialorder.It is an is order capableof reestablishing itself-but at the expenseof those who have tried to destroyit. And in Macbeth,it is significant that the downfallof those who haveviolatedthe socialorderbeginsin thatgreatsymbolof socialsolidarity, the banquet. VIII There remainsthe theological tragedy,a distinctdimensionof the moraland socialdramawe havebeen considering. This theological dimensionis seen,firstof all, in the preternatural influences that are broughtto bearupon the action.The weird sistersare a "supernatural that soliciting" act like a catalyst. a They do not plantin Macbeth desirefor the crown,whichpresumably has already he entertained: Goodsir,whydoyoustart, seemto fear and Thingsthatdo soundso fair?
(I.
iii. 50)

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But if they do not give him the idea, they induce him "to catch the nearest way". Later, they induce in him a recklessness arising from false security. "Be bloody, bold and resolute." Hamlet's mistake (from a purely dramatic point of view) is in not heeding the ghost despite confirmatory evidence; Macbeth's is in paying too careful attention to these "juggling fiends" That palterwith us in a doublesense; That keep the word of promiseto our ear, And breakit to our hope. (V. vii. 48-5i) But the theological dimension of Macbeth is likewise seen in another direction altogether. It is impossible to read Shakespeariantragedy without perceiving its theological implications. For Shakespearian tragedy deals with such things as sin and free will, guilt and retribution,fate and chance, good and evil, God and human destiny, God's goodness and the problem of human suffering, God's love and man's inhumanity to man. These are the basic problems of man, and these are theological problems. There is a sense in which we may consider the story of Macbeth a special theological tragedy, over and above the moral, psychological and social tragedy already considered above. Although every mortal sin is (in a manner of speaking) a tragedy, since it entails the loss of God's friendship and the frustration of man's end; neverthelessrepentancewipes away sin. "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool" (Is. i. i8). For this reason, though every sin is a misfortune, it is not proper to speak of it as tragic. The Church herself, while condemning sin, speaks of Adam's sin as a happy fault-O felix culpa quae tantum meruit Salvatorem-as if Adam had actually done us a favor by sinning! It is of course only a manner of speaking, but it illustrates the point we wish to make, namely, that although in one sense every serious sin is tragic, in another sense there is only one sin that is really and truly and hopelessly tragic-and that is final impenitence. Peter sinned, Peter repented, Peter is a saint; Judas sinned, Judas hanged himself. "It were better for that man never to have been born." Judas'sin is tragic, Peter's is not. In this sense, Macbeth is theologically a tragic figure. He is different from Lear or Hamlet: both are sinners, but both die repentant. Macbeth realizes his sin and its consequences. He deplores the uselessness of his crime: If't be so, For Banquo'sissue haveJ fil'd my mind; For themthe graciousDuncan have I murther'd in Put rancours the vesselof my peace, Only for them; and mine eternaljewel Given to the commonenemyof man, To makethem kings..... (III. i. 64-70) But to regret the uselessness of a crime is not repentance. At no time is Macbeth repentant. Wilson Knight perhaps does not put the matter very happily when he says (with reference to V. iii. 24 ff.), "Macbeth at the last, by self-

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is Self-knowledge indeed a grace and is a first knowledge,attainsgrace."'10 does not lead to reWith Macbeththe self-knowledge step towardsrepentance. in but pentance, remains the realmof self-pity. In the end he gives way to despair.His crimeshave broughthim nothing but ruin. He growswearyof life itself.He findsit has no meaning:a walking shadow,a tale told by an idiot,full of soundand fury,signifyingnothing.The is point aboutthese comparisons not that they are literallytrue-for they are of the true. not-but thatthey aredramatically They express meaninglessness life to a man who has expectedtoo much from it, and who, in tryingto graspall, life'strue meaning,he findsit in the end meaninghas lost all. Having rejected less. with full knowledgeof The full horror his sins is that they arecommitted of decisionto risk damtheirbeing againstthe law of God, and with a deliberate nationin hell: "We'ldjump the life to come."But one cannotjump the life to One cannot deliberately come. One must be ready to pay the consequences. turn one'sbackon God andexpectto do it with impunity. theology,which is the frameof Within the framework, therefore, Christian He soul is damned.He dies unrepentant. is no work of the play, Macbeth's longer his own master.He has become a slave of "the common Enemy of Man":"theangel whom thou still hast serv'd"(V. vii. 43). Having gainedthe tragedy. that world,he has lost his soul.To the Christian is the greatest othertragicheroesdie, tenderthings are said of them. When Shakespeare's "This was the noblestRoman of them all", says Antony of Brutus.Of the When Lear'sgreatand dying Othelloit was said that "he was great of heart". foolish heartfinallybreaks,it is like the breakingof a dike, and all the hearts in aroundhim are overwhelmed the flood.When Hamlet dies, he is calleda And But dies,he is calleda "hell-hound". it is the prince". when Macbeth "9sweet is has word.How "nobleMacbeth" turnedinto a hell-hound a only appropriate order.It is moral,social,and theological psychological, tragedyin the physical, the fearfuldownfallof a spiritthathad the makingsof greatness." Ateneo de Manila Manila,Philippines
'0The Imperial Theme, p. 128. 11 Citationsfrom the play are from the Oxford Shakespeare, ed. Craig.