Idealistic Time Travel

Time-traveling with Ideas: An Exploration of Shakespeare’s
“Macbeth”

A dagger quivers within the withered grip of a woman—a

retired femme fatale, slowly sinking into the depths of insanity.

Many literary works, although set in a particular place or time,

convey certain ideas or ‘morals’ that are universal. Shakespeare’s

“Macbeth” is a prime example; as he conveys the idea of trust as

an oft-fluctuating object (to be dispensed with a lot of reservation)

and of course, the idea of retribution (or Karma, if you will) as an

omnipresent part of existence. Literary devices, effectively coupled

with detailed human interaction mean that “Macbeth”, despite

being primarily set in Middle-Age Scotland, contains ideas

transcending time, this being true to a great extent of other literary

works as well.

The ideas of trust being a commodity to be bestowed with

reserve, and perhaps the normality of betrayal are propagated

throughout the play. Possibly the most apparent example of this

would have to be between the original king and Macbeth. Macbeth

professes his complete and boundless loyalty to the king, almost

behaving in the manner of a humble servant. Later in the play, he

ends up killing the king by repeatedly stabbing him in order to

dethrone him and assume the role of “ruler”. Yet another instance

of this would have to be between Macbeth and MacDuff

(coincidentally similar names). Having taken over as King, Macbeth

believes that previous King’s staff will have to bear the same

loyalty to him. Though putting on a brave face and regarding

Macbeth with utmost courteousness, MacDuff planned to escape

and make rise to a movement to overthrow Macbeth and reinstate

Malcolm (King Duncan’s eldest son). Here we have instances

where too much trust is emplaced, resulting in a betrayal (the King

and Macbeth), and one where excessive trust is assumed one of the

individuals’ part, resulting in a surprising deceit. Though occurring

in the setting of stringent monarchy and in the time of battles and

relative lawlessness, “Macbeth”- through the effective portrayal of

human relationships and artful use of literary devices (static and

dynamic characters, irony etc.) conveys ideas that are universal.

The idea of retribution, or “Karma” is conceivably the most

propagated “universal theme” throughout the play. The queen,

portrayed by Shakespeare as a Machiavellian, bloodthirsty femme

fatale is the first example that comes to mind. Essentially, she is

majorly culpable for most of Macbeth’s outlandish despotic actions.

She is the one who goes back to bloody the daggers and frame the

drunken guards. Eventually, Lady Macbeth begins to lose her mind

as she sleepwalks, eerily talking about the murders she has

committed and obsessively washing her hands. Not even Neptune’s

great waters could cleanse the blood that tainted her hands. In the

end she dies, hallucinating and without her husband. The same

goes for Macbeth, in terms of sinking into insanity after having

committed an array of unlawful killings. He dies in a rather gory

fashion, having his head severed by the great MacDuff, after finding

out that he was in fact of no woman-born. Hamartia constitutes a

substantial part of “Macbeth”, but looking closely we can observe

that Hamartia and Karma often go hand in hand in literary works

(especially dramatized ones like Macbeth). Shakespeare’s use of

cyclical structure, action and consequence and power as the

protagonist’s hamartia help circulate the idea of retribution

throughout the play. It is quite reminiscent of the quote “For your

sins you will pay, today or later but never neigh” by Walter Moers

in his book The City of Dreaming Books.

The conveyance of transcending ideas of ‘morals’ in literary

works, irrespective of place or time is present to a great extent in

literary work. Though, in order to effectively observe to what extent

universal ideas are community is various literary works we must,

by association, address some other pieces of literature. Before this

is done though, it must be addressed that these ‘ideas’ are more

often found in literary works exploring interactions of living

organisms (generally humans, but sometimes not). This is because,

as readers, empathy occurs majorly when we can associate

elements of another situation to our own existence or experience.

Most of the morals and ideas that we conceive are in relation to

human interactions and human life. Writers need their literary

audiences to be able to empathize with elements of their texts in

order to be emotionally impacted. Now, let us look into some other

works that convey certain universal ideas. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina,

set in 19th century Russia, contains the ideas of infidelity as a

catalyst to paranoia and doubt, and that of aesthetics and wealth

being the sole guide to ‘high society’. Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird

conveys the ideas of the importance of friends as a source of

support, as well as that of human beings leading very multi-faceted

lives. Though these ideas are not specifically mentioned within the

texts mentioned, one can deduce their presence through their

recurrence, as well as association to our experience.

Observing the presence of the universal ideas conveyed in

Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, perhaps the two that immediately come

to mind are that of trust being rare and karma being an

omnipresent constituent of existence. Ideas, irrespective of

relevance, time or place are always communicated to an extent in

literary works, especially those delving into details of human

interaction. Though empathy being an innate virtue if oft

questioned, readers are emotionally impacted by all of these

famous “literary classics” primarily due to the fact that they are

able to draw certain “morals” and overtones from them.




(credits to Deviantart for the picture)