Play Review: Macbeth is about nature -- human nature, the natural world, women's nature in a man's world. Shakespeare's play is first a study of the human soul, of our humanity, of what we as humans may do. On the stage he essays ambition, murder, and guilt, but beneath the plot is a choice anyone may confront: whether to do wrong. As in King Lear, Shakespeare writes about these concepts through complex characters. Each of the title roles is a laboratory, an experiment in human nature; rarely has a writer put so much possibility into parts. Macbeth, apparently a good, loyal, brave man, becomes none of these when the Weird Sisters suggest he may rule without consequence. At first he hesitates, that moment is his human nature. When that spark of humanity is extinguished by his wife, he learns there are consequences aplenty. One murder begets two more, and then more until wife and husband crack. After first demanding murder, Lady Macbeth is punished by her better nature. She becomes a Freudian symbol, the archetype of a guilty soul.
Shakespeare uses the natural world as both the impetus for, and a reflection of, human actions. As in Hamlet, Shakespeare begins with the fantastic. He displays the Weird Sisters who, bound to nature, spark the action by presenting a possibility. They share prophecies with Macbeth and Banquo. Banquo is tempted, but the spark doesn't catch; Macbeth is tempted, hesitates, then acts against his nature. Nature herself has a role in the play. Predicting Duncan's murder, the sun fails to shine, horses become cannibals, the shy owl kills the falcon. These extraordinary events parallel the characters' abnormal acts. Nature is used as metaphor throughout, as in Lady Macduff's bitter speech about her unnatural abandonment by her husband, noting that even the "poor wren will fight against the owl." Later, the distraught Macduff compares his slaughtered family to his "chickens." Macbeth and his wife have gone against nature, both theirs and the natural order.
The three Weird Sisters embody nature, but also the strength of the feminine: maiden, mother, and crone. Shakespeare uses the feminine as a force of nature. The Sisters create the spark that Lady Macbeth fans, shaming her husband into murder by attacking his manhood. Lady Macbeth mocks her husband for not being man enough to do what she may not. She does all but wield the dagger. But after the murder she loses her resolve, conquered by her decent "female" nature, as Macbeth's "violent" nature takes over. Lady Macbeth, defying traditional roles, is contrasted with Lady Macduff who, relying on traditional roles, is betrayed by a husband who leaves her defenseless. Both die. Macbeth's executioner is one who "was not born of woman."
Macbeth is simple and straightforward. Shakespeare is confident his characters are strong enough to say what he wants to tell. Macbeth and his wife go against nature, and both disintegrate. Beneath the greater issues, we see a human need for hesitation and second thoughts, reflection before and after our acts, the pain of guilt to prevent us from future wrong acts, all so we may know what it is to be human. Simple thoughts, but powerfully shown. [5★]
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