The Tragedy of Macebeth


Recently I was reading Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth.  The following dialogues are worth mentioning.

"Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desire." Macbeth before murdering the king. "Is this a dagger I see before me? I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." Macbeth's guilt is manifested in the form of a dagger.

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" Lady Macbeth washes her hand every quarter of an hour. She sees blood stains in her hand. Her guilt is manifested in this way. She again says: "Here is the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."

It was a pleasant reading. There are a lot of things we can learn from this tragedy. There are Macbethian symptoms in our modern age. There are people who live in guilt and die of it eventually. Perhaps Shakespeare helps us to see the psychotic and neurotic tendencies that our modern men and women have.  

Comments

aneeshsdb said…
Arvind Adiga in his famous Man's booker prize earned novel "The White Tiger,"echoes macbethian veins... He says, "All the perfumes sold in the markets of India will not sweeten this little hand." Quote may not be exact, but this is what he says...

Good post...
Actions reveal personality... good also to read the acting person of John Paul II...

I have a question,Do guilt accumulate over time and eventually lead to death?
November 23, 2011 at 7:18 AM
debater said…
Thanks for reading the post confrere. Coincidentally I just got hold of Arvind Adiga's book now.
Once guilt creeps in it is most likely to remain in our sinful state than to repent and take a radical option for good. It has been the story of humankind down the ages. For example Judas knew that Jesus would forgive him for the wrong he had done but his guilt tied him down, leading him eventually to death.It takes courage to make a radical choice for good after a fall. To make a radical choice would mean that life has meaning only when lived authentically.
November 25, 2011 at 12:19 AM
aneeshsdb said…
Why Don't you think of the conversion of Peter. He too was guilty but changed for the better because of that loving glance of the Saviour.... Judas too was given a loving look,,,, but poor chap due to his own faulty and nagging conscience would allow him only to interpret the loving look of the Saviour only in an accusing manner....
or would you mean that an authentic living is possible only when one is freed from all internal and external compulsions..(i would definitely agree to that).. Judas would have been definitely free... if he would have been thoroughly convinced of the Love and Forgiveness of the Betrayed Lord. Is he to blame for the corruption of his nature??? IS he to blame for his finitude???
What was the plan of God when Judas took a turn - not to interfere in the freedom of Man? Perhaps, yes.....
good.....
December 5, 2011 at 2:09 AM
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