“Shakespeare’s Conception of Moral Order in Macbeth”

by Carol Strongin TuftsEnglish 201

Dr. Nancy Knowles

Mary DeViney, TA

Power Point ExampleMacbeth

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Mirror Images

Tufts begins her discussion by saying that the beginning and ending of Macbeth mirror each other, for “The same events are seen through opposite perspectives” (169). The play begins as “the rightful king [is] threatened by rebel forces; at the end […] usurpers are threatened by the forces of the rightful king” (169).

And everywhere, there is blood.

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Disruption of Moral Order

In her essay, Tufts compares Macbeth with King Lear, citing a parallel between the murder of King Duncan and King Lear’s division of his kingdom between his three daughters, for both kings are unnaturally replaced. Through both plays, Tufts contends, Shakespeare explores the human capacity for good and evil.Lear is replaced by two evil daughters.Duncan is replace by one evil man – Macbeth.

And everywhere, there is blood.

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Something from NothingJust as there is nothing good in Lear’s two daughters, Goneril and Regan,

—there is nothing good in Macbeth’s murder of Duncan; hence, nothing good can come of it.

Continuing with her parallel, Tufts points out that Lear comes to see that there is no love for him within the hearts of his two eldest daughters. Macbeth, though, tries to create a secure kingdom for himself through an “act which will plunge him further and further into nothingness” (170). Drawing upon Thomas Aquinas, Tufts suggests that evil comes to both men because evil is defined by the absence of good (173).

And everywhere, there is blood.

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“Fair is foul and foul is fair.” (Arden’s Shakespeare I.i.11)

And everywhere, there is…With blood at the center of the play, Tufts points out that blood is a shifting symbol. Does it represent something or nothing? Macdonwald’s rebellion against Duncan: blood is bad. Macbeth’s heroism in battle: blood is good. Macbeth’s regicide: blood is bad. Malcolm’s battle against Macbeth: blood is good.

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Blindness and Moral Order“To know my deed, ‘twere best not to know myself” (Arden

II.ii.72).

Duncan cannot distinguish between fair and foul because his capacity for “unity, truth, and goodness” prevents him from seeing its absence in others (175).In choosing to murder Duncan, Macbeth diminishes his own capacity for unity, truth, and goodness. These qualities are diminished until they are gone.Then Macbeth, cajoled by his wife, mistakenly sees his manhood residing in murder. Blood becomes equated with sexual potency; killing produces arousal. Yet Tufts notes that the lust of Macbeth and his wife issue forth no life. Only death (178).

And everywhere, there is blood

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The Irony of it All

According to Tufts, irony lies in: Macbeth’s efforts to please his wife, as the two become isolated from

each other. Macbeth’s belief that “just one more” would make him “perfect”

(Tufts 179). Macbeth as a tragic figure—not due to what he had done, but what

he had undone: “honor, love, obedience, troops of friends” (179).

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The Fragility of Moral OrderAmid Echoes of its Disruption

Even while moral forces defeat Macbeth, Tufts says Shakespeare warns us that history often repeats itself. Quoting G. R. Elliott, she states, “perfect goodness…is by its very nature so vulnerable to its own undoing” (181). Hence, evil lies in proportion to the absence of good. In other words, darkness steals in as light fades away.Shakespeare then leaves Macbeth with a dangerous ambiguity, for Tufts points out that Donalbain has not come home and Fleance yet lives. Either could empty themselves of good and thus come back to the play’s beginning—

Till everywhere, there is blood.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. Ed. Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson, and David Scott Kastan. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 2001. 773-799. Print.Tufts, Carol Strongin. “Shakespeare’s Conception of Moral Order in Macbeth.” Renascence. 50.3-4 (1998):168-182. EBSCO. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

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