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One of the most clear arguments put forward in Macbeth - and this fits with whatever interpretation you choose to follow - is the idea that too much ambition is a bad thing. Really, it says that you should stay in your place within the natural order. Though some people quite happily argue this today, the idea of there being a natural order to things was even more important in Jacobean England, simply because the gap between the richest and the poorest was so big.
One of the most clear arguments put forward in Macbeth - and this fits with whatever interpretation you choose to follow - is the idea that too much ambition is a bad thing. Really, it says that you should stay in your place within the natural order. Though some people quite happily argue this today, the idea of there being a natural order to things was even more important in Jacobean England, simply because the gap between the richest and the poorest was so big.
How could a peasant be happy living in squalor and starving while a King sat on a throne with all the luxuries money could buy and a full belly? How could they justify it? The answer was simply that it was down to God's natural order - or The Great Chain of Being as it was called. You were where you were because it was where you were placed, and the best thing anyone could do was to make the most of what they had rather than trying to shake the apple tree and risk it all collapsing.
How could a peasant be happy living in squalor and starving while a King sat on a throne with all the luxuries money could buy and a full belly? How could they justify it? The answer was simply that it was down to God's natural order - or The Great Chain of Being as it was called. You were where you were because it was where you were placed, and the best thing anyone could do was to make the most of what they had rather than trying to shake the apple tree and risk it all collapsing.
In simplest terms, the story is this:
In simplest terms, the story is this:
The witches represent a challenge to the natural order: they're women who have seized power by turning against God. Their actions are supported by Lady Macbeth, who, as a powerful woman, also challenges the natural order. The four of them - the witches and Lady Macbeth - encourage Macbeth, a loyal soldier, to go against his masculine nature and kill the King. This, in turn, topples the natural order. As a result, chaos ensues... The moral? Don't listen to women, stay in your God given role, and don't kill the king!
The witches represent a challenge to the natural order: they're women who have seized power by turning against God. Their actions are supported by Lady Macbeth, who, as a powerful woman, also challenges the natural order. The four of them - the witches and Lady Macbeth - encourage Macbeth, a loyal soldier, to go against his masculine nature and kill the King. This, in turn, topples the natural order. As a result, chaos ensues... The moral? Don't listen to women, stay in your God given role, and don't kill the king!
The Natural Order: Witchcraft
The Natural Order: Witchcraft
The Great Chain of Being was a hierarchy that existed with the God at the top, then the Angels, then the King, then the Lords, then the Ladies, then the peasants, and then the animals. It was how God had built the world, and it was how he wanted it to stay.
The Great Chain of Being was a hierarchy that existed with the God at the top, then the Angels, then the King, then the Lords, then the Ladies, then the peasants, and then the animals. It was how God had built the world, and it was how he wanted it to stay.
Witches were essentially women who wanted to change their place in the natural order - they were women who desired power! In order to do this, so the legend goes, they would make pacts with the Devil and be given magic powers in exchange for their immortal souls. In many respects, the fear of witchcraft was basically the fear of powerful women. The witchcraft trials were as good an example of misogyny as you're ever going to get (misogyny is the irrational fear or hatred of women.)
Witches were essentially women who wanted to change their place in the natural order - they were women who desired power! In order to do this, so the legend goes, they would make pacts with the Devil and be given magic powers in exchange for their immortal souls. In many respects, the fear of witchcraft was basically the fear of powerful women. The witchcraft trials were as good an example of misogyny as you're ever going to get (misogyny is the irrational fear or hatred of women.)
The witches in Macbeth fit this mould perfectly: they desire to turn the world upside down, and, through Macbeth, they achieve it.
The witches in Macbeth fit this mould perfectly: they desire to turn the world upside down, and, through Macbeth, they achieve it.
Fair is foul and foul is fair / so fair and foul a day I have not seen - The witches' repeated lines from A1S1 are all about things turning on their heads - nothing is going to be as it seems. In this way they preempt the collapse of the natural order that they will bring about.
Fair is foul and foul is fair / so fair and foul a day I have not seen - The witches' repeated lines from A1S1 are all about things turning on their heads - nothing is going to be as it seems. In this way they preempt the collapse of the natural order that they will bring about.
I would say you were women but your beards forbid me to interpret so - Banquo observes this of the witches when he sees them. This establishes that the witches are not normal; they don't fit into any definite mould. The fact that they've got beards is probably just a dig at them being old women with some facial hair, but it also makes them seem to breaking the borders of gender, which was one of the firmest natural orders that the Jacobeans believed in.
I would say you were women but your beards forbid me to interpret so - Banquo observes this of the witches when he sees them. This establishes that the witches are not normal; they don't fit into any definite mould. The fact that they've got beards is probably just a dig at them being old women with some facial hair, but it also makes them seem to breaking the borders of gender, which was one of the firmest natural orders that the Jacobeans believed in.
The Natural Order: Lady Macbeth
The Natural Order: Lady Macbeth
There are a number of suggestions that Lady Macbeth was a witch - not least the fact that she casts something that sounds a lot like a magic spell almost as soon as she's on stage. But, whether we see her as a fifth witch or not, she's certainly a woman who desires power, and that went against the natural order. Throughout the play, she bosses Macbeth around in a way that would have seemed unnatural to the more traditional members of the audience.
There are a number of suggestions that Lady Macbeth was a witch - not least the fact that she casts something that sounds a lot like a magic spell almost as soon as she's on stage. But, whether we see her as a fifth witch or not, she's certainly a woman who desires power, and that went against the natural order. Throughout the play, she bosses Macbeth around in a way that would have seemed unnatural to the more traditional members of the audience.
Most importantly, though, when Macbeth kills the king he does something that brings the natural order down; and Macbeth very clearly does this because his wife pushed him into it. So, really, in this play Macbeth breaks the natural order by letting his wife push him around; this then leads to the natural order of the entire kingdom collapsing.
Most importantly, though, when Macbeth kills the king he does something that brings the natural order down; and Macbeth very clearly does this because his wife pushed him into it. So, really, in this play Macbeth breaks the natural order by letting his wife push him around; this then leads to the natural order of the entire kingdom collapsing.
My battlements - one of her first lines on stage establishes that Lady Macbeth sees herself as being more important than her husband. The use of the pronoun "my" expresses her sense of ownership over the castle, which would have challenged some people's ideas of gender roles.
My battlements - one of her first lines on stage establishes that Lady Macbeth sees herself as being more important than her husband. The use of the pronoun "my" expresses her sense of ownership over the castle, which would have challenged some people's ideas of gender roles.
Unsex me here - despite what some people think, Lady Macbeth is not asking to be made more masculine in this quote (if she'd been more masculine her masculine sense of loyalty would have made her unable to kill Duncan as well.) Here, she asks to have all gender roles removed from her, turning her into something that Jacobean society would have seen as being monstrous.
Unsex me here - despite what some people think, Lady Macbeth is not asking to be made more masculine in this quote (if she'd been more masculine her masculine sense of loyalty would have made her unable to kill Duncan as well.) Here, she asks to have all gender roles removed from her, turning her into something that Jacobean society would have seen as being monstrous.
Her welcoming Duncan to the castle - similar to the quote above, Shakespeare makes it clear that Lady Macbeth manages the castle as she is the one who welcomes Duncan to the castle. She runs that place, and there's no question about it!
Her welcoming Duncan to the castle - similar to the quote above, Shakespeare makes it clear that Lady Macbeth manages the castle as she is the one who welcomes Duncan to the castle. She runs that place, and there's no question about it!
Her killing her baby - there are few more famous speeches in the play than the one where Lady Macbeth claims that she would have gladly killed her own child if she'd promised to. There can be few things that would seem more unnatural for a woman to do than kill her own baby, while it was breastfeeding, but Lady Macbeth says she'd do it and confirms her place as the queen of the unnatural order!
Her killing her baby - there are few more famous speeches in the play than the one where Lady Macbeth claims that she would have gladly killed her own child if she'd promised to. There can be few things that would seem more unnatural for a woman to do than kill her own baby, while it was breastfeeding, but Lady Macbeth says she'd do it and confirms her place as the queen of the unnatural order!
The Natural Order Collapsed
The Natural Order Collapsed
confusion now hath made its masterpiece
Duncan's horses eating each other
The message? Stay in your place!!
The message? Stay in your place!!
At its heart, the message of Macbeth is quite simple: stay in your place.
At its heart, the message of Macbeth is quite simple: stay in your place.
Some scholars argue that it is about excessive ambition and there's some truth in that, but really, given the way that Lady Macbeth, the witches and even Macduff are treated it's real message a bit more blunt.
Some scholars argue that it is about excessive ambition and there's some truth in that, but really, given the way that Lady Macbeth, the witches and even Macduff are treated it's real message a bit more blunt.
Lady Macbeth shouldn't have been ambitious for anything other than having children as she was a woman; the witches shouldn't be getting involved for the same reason; but Macduff did the right thing when he chose his loyalty to Malcolm over his wife and children. Macduff knew his place.
Lady Macbeth shouldn't have been ambitious for anything other than having children as she was a woman; the witches shouldn't be getting involved for the same reason; but Macduff did the right thing when he chose his loyalty to Malcolm over his wife and children. Macduff knew his place.
You could argue that Macbeth went too far when he killed Duncan, but no-one wept for poor Macdonwald who was knave to chaps cleaved and then had his head stuck on the battlements. The truth, according to this play, is that it's ok to kill people if you're doing it for the right reasons; and ideally those reasons should be to protect whatever natural order God put in place.
You could argue that Macbeth went too far when he killed Duncan, but no-one wept for poor Macdonwald who was knave to chaps cleaved and then had his head stuck on the battlements. The truth, according to this play, is that it's ok to kill people if you're doing it for the right reasons; and ideally those reasons should be to protect whatever natural order God put in place.
The message: know your place and stay in it!
The message: know your place and stay in it!
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