This play is about the rise and fall of
an ambitious and murderous man named Macbeth. The play is set in Scotland
in the midst of a civil war. After a minor victory, Macbeth meets three
witches who successfully foresee that he will be named the new Thane of Cawdor. Once Macbeth sees this come true, his desire
for more power grows, and he plans to kill Duncan, the king of Scotland, to take the
crown.
Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife,
encourages Macbeth to carry out this plan, so that they can have wealth and more
influence. Macbeth kills Duncan in his
sleep and blames it on the guards.
Following this, Macbeth is crowned king of Scotland. When Banquo, one of Macbeth’s friends from
the king's army, shows suspicion about Duncan’s death, Macbeth hires two men to have
him killed.
At this point, Macbeth again encounters
the three witches who foretell three things about Macbeth’s future: (1) that he
should beware of Macduff, (2) that “no man born of woman can harm him,” and (3)
he will not be conquered until “the forest at Birnam marches to Dunsinane.” With this information, Macbeth decides to
have Macduff’s family murdered, which makes Macduff vow revenge, and seek to overthrow
Macbeth’s rule.
Macduff raises an army with Malcolm,
one of Duncan’s sons, and moves in on Macbeth under the camouflage of branches
from Birnam forest. Macbeth is unafraid of
Macduff until Macduff reveals that he was “delivered surgically” from his
mother’s body, and was therefore not “ born of woman.” Following this, Macduff kills Macbeth and
promises to restore order and peace to Scotland.
I think one of the central themes in this play is the paradox of fate and free choice. If we know, or think we know, something is going to happen to us, can we really change it? And if we try to change it, but fail, are we responsible for our own fate? This reminds me of the scene in the Matrix where Neo visits the oracle and she says to him, "and don't worry about the vase," and he responds, "what vase?" just as he turns and knocks over her vase breaking it. He stands there looking confused and asks her how she knew that was going to happen and she responds, "oh, what's really going to bake your noodle later on is would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything." What if the witches hadn't said anything to Macbeth? Would he have done all the terrible things he did without their prophecy? And if so, is he solely responsible for his actions?
For me, I don't sympathize with Macbeth's tragedy as much as I do with, say, Hamlet's, because Macbeth intentionally decides to act in manipulative and conniving ways even though he knows (1) it's wrong to do so, and (2) he will probably regret it. And Macbeth does agonize over what he's done. But Hamlet, for example, only acts in a way that he believes is just, or at least in a way that rights a wrong done to his father. So, when Hamlet dies because of his quest for revenge, I feel for him in a way that I just can't for Macbeth when dies because of his quest for power. I almost wanted to see Macduff take Macbeth down.
Macbeth is absolutely something I will teach someday. For one thing, it's shorter and more accessible than other Shakespearean plays, and there are numerous "retellings" in movie or graphic novel form that would help students visualize the various scenes in the play. I think it's also important for teenagers to think about the "bloody quest for power" as a general way one might live and whether it's worth it or not. This doesn't mean that students will consider a life of literally killing people to get what they want, but there are certainly rough analogs in the business world, for example. We talk about being "cutthroat" as a good thing. It's encouraged, if only implicitly sometimes, to trample over people to get what you want. Some students will live this way, but perhaps they could at least think about a little through the tragedy of Macbeth in their high school English class. Perhaps Macbeth could be taught in a class centered around the good life, or on the kinds of lives we might desire to live as opposed to those that are desirable, or worth emulating.
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