Macbeth and Oedipus
The Greeks wrote a lot of myths, and a lot of them were very wonderfully strange - like a lot of the old world mythologies were.
The Greeks wrote a lot of myths, and a lot of them were very wonderfully strange - like a lot of the old world mythologies were.
In one story, a young prince called Oedipus was separated from his family. He was told, later, that he would return one day to claim his kingdom, but that he would marry his mother and kill his father.
In one story, a young prince called Oedipus was separated from his family. He was told, later, that he would return one day to claim his kingdom, but that he would marry his mother and kill his father.
Eventually, after years of searching, Oedipus gives up on finding his kingdom again and seizes someone else's. He kills the King and then marries the Queen in order to confirm his claim to the throne. Unsurprisingly for any reader - but shockingly for Oedipus - it turns out that it was his own kingdom, and he'd just killed his father and married his mother. In response to understanding this he blinds himself.
Eventually, after years of searching, Oedipus gives up on finding his kingdom again and seizes someone else's. He kills the King and then marries the Queen in order to confirm his claim to the throne. Unsurprisingly for any reader - but shockingly for Oedipus - it turns out that it was his own kingdom, and he'd just killed his father and married his mother. In response to understanding this he blinds himself.
Or that was the Greek myth anyway. Then, at the turn of the 20th Century an Austrian called Sigmund Freud returned to the idea while studying human development. He argued that the Greeks were onto something and that there was an innate desire within all men to marry their mothers and kill their fathers. He said it was to do with our evolution as a species though, so it wasn't romantic at all.
Or that was the Greek myth anyway. Then, at the turn of the 20th Century an Austrian called Sigmund Freud returned to the idea while studying human development. He argued that the Greeks were onto something and that there was an innate desire within all men to marry their mothers and kill their fathers. He said it was to do with our evolution as a species though, so it wasn't romantic at all.
There is an opposite to it as well, called the Electra Complex but Macbeth is all about Oedipus...
There is an opposite to it as well, called the Electra Complex but Macbeth is all about Oedipus...
Lady Macbeth as a mother figure
Lady Macbeth as a mother figure
Throughout the play you could argue that Macbeth is a henpecked husband:
Throughout the play you could argue that Macbeth is a henpecked husband:
In A1 S5 Lady Macbeth says that she wanted to “chastise” Macbeth – the actions of a parent;
after killing the king, she tries to get him to wash his hands;
she tells him off for bringing the daggers with him;
she tells him that it’s “the eye of childhood that fears the painted devil.”
After he sees the ghost she compares it to the “air drawn dagger” he saw, in a way that reminds me of a mother scolding her child after hearing too many tales of some monster under the bed.
In A1 S5 Lady Macbeth says that she wanted to “chastise” Macbeth – the actions of a parent;
after killing the king, she tries to get him to wash his hands;
she tells him off for bringing the daggers with him;
she tells him that it’s “the eye of childhood that fears the painted devil.”
After he sees the ghost she compares it to the “air drawn dagger” he saw, in a way that reminds me of a mother scolding her child after hearing too many tales of some monster under the bed.
And in my favourite moment, Macbeth tells her, after he’s planned to kill Banquo, that she should know nothing of it until she “applaud the deed.” I imagine some strange toddler version Macbeth sitting on the potty while his beaming mother claps and smiles at his ability to do just what she’s taught him;
because, after all, here – when he kills Banquo – he is really only doing exactly what she taught him. He is hers now; owned, signed, sealed, delivered.
And in my favourite moment, Macbeth tells her, after he’s planned to kill Banquo, that she should know nothing of it until she “applaud the deed.” I imagine some strange toddler version Macbeth sitting on the potty while his beaming mother claps and smiles at his ability to do just what she’s taught him;
because, after all, here – when he kills Banquo – he is really only doing exactly what she taught him. He is hers now; owned, signed, sealed, delivered.
This idea finds its greatest expression when you look at the last thing Lady Macbeth says before Macbeth changes his mind in Act 1 Scene 7 - the whole baby-killing business:
This idea finds its greatest expression when you look at the last thing Lady Macbeth says before Macbeth changes his mind in Act 1 Scene 7 - the whole baby-killing business:
Based on the above interpretation of their relationship being oedipal, it could be argued that the reason Macbeth was so disturbed by the image of his wife smashing in their child’s head had nothing to do with any fictional child, but everything to do with the idea that Macbeth was the child. She'd "given suck" to him, and knew how "tender 'tis to love the babe" that milked her, but she'd kill him if he didn't do what she said.
Based on the above interpretation of their relationship being oedipal, it could be argued that the reason Macbeth was so disturbed by the image of his wife smashing in their child’s head had nothing to do with any fictional child, but everything to do with the idea that Macbeth was the child. She'd "given suck" to him, and knew how "tender 'tis to love the babe" that milked her, but she'd kill him if he didn't do what she said.
So maybe Lady Macbeth talking about killing their child wasn't a reference to her own baby at all, but a veiled threat of violence against Macbeth himself.
So maybe Lady Macbeth talking about killing their child wasn't a reference to her own baby at all, but a veiled threat of violence against Macbeth himself.
