The Nature of Blood in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the African Political Space
By
Segun Omosule Ph. D
Department of English, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye.08052037088; jala1964@yahoo.com/omosulesegun@gmail.com/www.scholarsviews.com
ABSTRACT The preoccupation of this paper is to prove that Macbeth and the orgies that are associated with him are borne out of fear and that the series of killings that are recorded during his reign are meant to prove that he is a fearless soldier and a true statesman. The fault with Macbeth is his inability to distinguish the battlefield from the civil centre-stage and the fact that he is a weakling whose hallmark is the battlefield and scuttled from that stage, he becomes a dictator whose strength …show more content…
He is though presented as a realist through the doubts he casts on the predictions of the witches but his subsequent attachment to their “double sense” amplifies the double nature of every individual. He calls them “imperfect speakers” but he places much premium on the predictions of the witches to the detriment of his humanity. He degenerates gradually till he could no longer detach himself from further association with the witches and their predictions. Imputed to Macbeth therefore, it may be claimed that in him “are united two almost irreconcilable characteristics...” (Rousseau (1965: 693). These characteristics are good and bad as may be salient to every human being. His earlier resolution not to kill Duncan is amply nullified by Lady Macbeth and this he readily swallows hook line and sinker without the least …show more content…
While succumbing to the superior prop of Lady Macbeth, he declares his masculine capability: I dare do all that may become a man;/Who dares do more is none. From this stage, Macbeth allows himself to be led by his wife but not without the childish question he asks her: If we should fail-. His determination to pursue the business becomes more glaring through what may be considered his mission statement: I am settled and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat./Away, and mock the time with fairest show:/False face must hide what the false heart doth
By
Segun Omosule Ph. D
Department of English, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye.08052037088; jala1964@yahoo.com/omosulesegun@gmail.com/www.scholarsviews.com
ABSTRACT The preoccupation of this paper is to prove that Macbeth and the orgies that are associated with him are borne out of fear and that the series of killings that are recorded during his reign are meant to prove that he is a fearless soldier and a true statesman. The fault with Macbeth is his inability to distinguish the battlefield from the civil centre-stage and the fact that he is a weakling whose hallmark is the battlefield and scuttled from that stage, he becomes a dictator whose strength …show more content…
He is though presented as a realist through the doubts he casts on the predictions of the witches but his subsequent attachment to their “double sense” amplifies the double nature of every individual. He calls them “imperfect speakers” but he places much premium on the predictions of the witches to the detriment of his humanity. He degenerates gradually till he could no longer detach himself from further association with the witches and their predictions. Imputed to Macbeth therefore, it may be claimed that in him “are united two almost irreconcilable characteristics...” (Rousseau (1965: 693). These characteristics are good and bad as may be salient to every human being. His earlier resolution not to kill Duncan is amply nullified by Lady Macbeth and this he readily swallows hook line and sinker without the least …show more content…
While succumbing to the superior prop of Lady Macbeth, he declares his masculine capability: I dare do all that may become a man;/Who dares do more is none. From this stage, Macbeth allows himself to be led by his wife but not without the childish question he asks her: If we should fail-. His determination to pursue the business becomes more glaring through what may be considered his mission statement: I am settled and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat./Away, and mock the time with fairest show:/False face must hide what the false heart doth