The Perversion of Manliness in Macbeth

Transcription

Rice University
The Perversion of Manliness in Macbeth
Author(s): Jarold Ramsey
Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 13, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean
Drama (Spring, 1973), pp. 285-300
Published by: Rice University
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ofManliness
in Macbeth
The Perversion
JAROLD
RAMSEY
One of the organizingthemesofMacbeth is the themeof manliness:the wordand
forHamletto
throughtheplay. Whereit is deeplyaffirmative
itscognatesreverberate
say of his father."He was a man ....", inMacbeth Shakespeareexposes theambiguities and the perilsin a careerpremisedupon "manliness."At the firstof the play,
to a generalcode of humaneMacbeth's"manly" actionsin war are not contradictory
ness or "kind-ness"irrespectiveof gender:but as the play develops,his moraldegenerationis dramatizedas a perversionof a code of manlyvirtue,so thatby the end he
seems to have forfeitednearlyall of his claims on the race itself.Lady Macbeth
initiatesthis disjunctionof "manly" from"humane" by callingMacbeth'smanhood
(in a narrowlysexual sense) into question: he respondsby renouncingall humane
considerations,and, when he learns thathe cannot be killedby any man of woman
born,thisrenunciationof humankinshipand its moralconstraintsis complete.Other
figuresin the play-Banquo's murderers,Malcolm,Macduff-to some extentfollow
manlinessfromhumaneness(the virtuesthat
Macbethin his disjunctionof aggressive
distinguishthe race). The play ends with Macbeth restoredas a tragicvillain to
human-kind,and Shakespeare'squestion remainsopen for the audience if not for
Macbeth'skillers:what is a man, and of what is he capable as partof his sex and of
hisrace?
The most movingtributesthe charactersin
Shakespeare'splays pay to each otherare oftenthe verysimplest. The ambiguitiesin Antony'spositionas eulogistdo not
reallyundercuthis eulogy of Brutus,"This was a man"-and
nothingHamletsays in the highstyleis as eloquentof his love
forhis father,of his grief,of the nobilityof his own frustrated
aspirationsas thatquiet declarationto Horatio-"He was a man,
takehimforall in all. I shallnot look upon hislikeagain."
The natureof the greattragediesis suchthattheyrequireus
to ask, "Whatis a man?Of whatis he capable?Wheredoes his
worthlie? Whatare his moraland metaphysical
distinguishing
limits?"If thoselimitsare ultimatelydrawnforus withtragic
in thecareersof Sophocles'
narrowness
and a chastening
finality
heroes,or Shakespeare's,thereremainsat play's end the commay
pensatoryknowledgethatthemeaningof a man'ssuffering
lie in the realityof his human worth,as it has been revealed,
Overagainst
in the courseof his suffering.
tested,and affirmed
but doctrinaireapostropheto therace,"What
Hamlet'sstirring
286
PER VERSION
OF MANLINESS
a piece of workis a man! How noblein reason!How infinitein
faculty!"therecomes a certainand particularknowledgeof the
of Hamlethimself:he was a man.
supremeworthiness
Yet what does thissortof declarationmean,really,skirting
as it does the merelytautological?Clearlyits meaningmustbe
groundedin the contextof theplayin question,in therangeof
humanexamplesit offersto us. But beyondthisseemto lie two
a code of manliness,the
wider,concentricfieldsof significance:
wouldpointout
specialvirtuesof the male gender(misogynists
thatno one in theplayseverdeclares"This was a woman"); and
the race
wideryet, an ethos based on what best distinguishes
of gender.Thus Hamletis both manly,"The
itself,irrespective
courtier's,soldier's,scholar'seye, tongue,sword,"and in his
unharried moments, consummatelyhumane. Paraphrasing
WilliamHazlitt,we feelpridein beingpartakersof our sex and
our race-whenwe recognizethatthesex and therace can claim
such redeemingnobilityas Hamlet.1But timeand againin the
greatShakespeareantragedies,whenman is invokedas an ideal
or as a spurto action,we are compelledto wonderwhetherthe
word reallystandsfora coherentset of male virtuesor a conare
stant,"given"humannature,or whetherthe existentialists
rightin supposingthatman in eithersense denotesan unfixed,
evolving,
unappealablenature.
One of the organizingthemesof Macbeth is the themeof
manliness:the word (with its cognates)echoes and re-echoes
throughthe scenes,and the play is unique forthe persistence
and subtletywithwhichShakespearedramatizestheparadoxes
"manhood." In recoilingfromMacbeth'soutof self-conscious
rageouskind of manliness,we arepromptedto reconsiderwhat
we really mean when we use the word in praisingsomeone.
Macbeth'scareermay be describedin termsof a terribleprogressivedisjunctionbetweenthe manlyand thehumane.In any
civilizedculture-evenamong the samurai,Macbeth'scounterpartsin feudalJapan-itwould be assumedthatthe firstset of
to and subsumedin thesecond.But,as
values is complementary
he so oftendoes, Shakespeareexposes withmemorableclarity
the dangersof such a comfortableassumption:the moreMacbethis drivento pursuewhathe and Lady Macbethcall manli1William Hazlitt, The Charactersof Shakespeare'sPlays, in Collected Works,Vol. I,
ed. A. R. Wallerand ArnoldGlover(London, 1902), 200.
JAROLD
RAMSEY
287
ness-the morehe pervertsthatcode intoa rationaleforreflexive aggression-theless humane he becomes, until at last he
forfeitsnearlyall claims on the race itself,and his vaunted
manhood,as he finallyrealizes,becomesmeaningless.
Afterthe play begins with the three witchespromisinga
generalseason of inversion-"Fairis foul,and foul is fair"-in
I.i., thehumanactioncommenceswiththearrivalof a wounded
sergeantat Duncan's camp: "Whatbloodymanis that?"(I.ii. 1)
The sergeant'sgore, of course,is emblematicof his valor and
hardihoodand authorizeshispraiseof Macbethhimself,"valor's
his morminion"-andit also betokenshisvulnerablehumanity,
nation,
his
with the King and the rest of
tal consanguinity
whichhe like Macbethis loyallyriskingto preserve.These are
traditionalusages,of course,and theyare invokedhereat the
beginningas normswhich Macbeth will subsequentlydisjoin
fromeach otherand pervert.
That process of disjunctionbegins in Scene v when Lady
humanecharMacbethcontemplatesher husband'sheretofore
bring:
time
of
might
the
coming-on
acteragainstwhat
It is too fullo' themilkof humankindness
To catchthenearestway.Thou wouldstbe great,
Artnot withoutambition,but without
The illnessshouldattendit. Whatthou wouldsthighly,
That wouldstthouholily-wouldstnot play false
And yetwouldstwronglywin.
(I.v. 17_23)2
Greatnessmust be divorcedfromgoodness,highnessof estate
from holiness,"the nearestway" from"human kindness"with,as usual, a seriousShakespearianplay on kindness:charthe process
ity, and fellowshipin the race. And then,carrying
forthe
herself
prepares
ritually
Macbeth
Lady
end,
its
logical
to
of
the
on
spirits
by
calling
deed her husband must commit
womanliness-"unsex
murderfirstto divestherof all vestigesof
me here'-with the implicationthat she will be leftwithmale
virtuesonly; and thento nullifyher "kind-ness"itself:"Make
thickmy blood,/Stop up the access and passageto remorse,/
the
to the playsis Shakespeare:
references
2The text of thisand all subsequent
(NewYork,1952).
ed. G. B. Harrison
CompleteWorks,
288
PER VERSION
OF MANLINESS
That no compunctiousvisitingsof nature/Shake my fellpurpose. . ." (42-47).
In his greatagonizedsoliloquywhileDuncan is at dinner,the
object of this dire rehearsalsternlyremindshimselfthat he
owes the King a "double trust,"as subjectto his monarch,and,
on the basis of kindnessagain,simplyas host to his guest.He
thenclinchesthe argumentby conjuringup thatstrangeimage
of "pity, like a naked newborn babe/ Stridingthe blast"
(I.vii.21-22)-strangeindeed for the battle hero, so recently
ruthlessin his king'sbehalf,to embracethisvisionof an ultimate object of humanpity.The sexlessnaked babe is theantithesisof himself,
of course,as themanlymilitary
cynosure:and
Macbeth'sfailureto identify
withhis own cautionaryemblemis
foretold,perhaps,in the incongruously
strenuousposturesof
the babe: "stridingthe blast," "horsedlUpon thesightlesscouriersof theair."
At any rate,Lady Macbethentersand makesshortworkof
her husband'svirtuousresolution.The curiousthingabout her
exhortationis that its rhetoricalforceis almostwhollynegative.3 Dwellinghardlyat all on the desirabilityof Duncan's
on doubts
premisesherarguments
throne,she insteadcunningly
about Macbeth'smanlyvirtue.All of his previousmilitaryconquests and honorsin the serviceof Duncan willbe meaningless
unlesshe now seizes the chance to crownthatcareerby killing
the king.And, strikingmore ruthlesslyat him,she scornfully
impliesthathisverysexualitywillbe called intoquestionin her
eyes if he refusestheregicide-"Fromthistime/Such I account
thy love" (I.vii.37-38).WhenMacbethsullenlyretorts,"I dare
do all that may become a man,/Who daresdo moreis none"
(46-47), he givesLady Macbeththe cue she needs to beginthe
radicaltransvaluation
of his code of manlinessthatwilllead to
his ruin.As RobertHeilmanhas observedabout thisand other
plays,4the psychicforcesconcentratedin thatcode are all the
more potent for being ill-defined;and in the scene at hand,
Lady Macbeth's onslaughtagainst Macbeth-comingfrom a
3A similarreadingof the rhetoricof thisscene is givenby Wayne Booth, "Shakes-
peare'sTragicVillain,"in Shakespeare's
7ragedies:
an Anthology
ofModernCriti-
4cism,ed. LaurenceLerner(Baltimore,1963), p. 189.
See RobertHeilman,"Manlinessin the Tragedies:DramaticVariations,"in Shakes-
JAROLD
RAMSEY
289
woman,afterall, his sexual partner-isvirtuallyunanswerable:
Whatbeastwas it then
to me?
That madeyou breakthisenterprise
Whenyou durstdo it,thenyou werea man,
And to be morethanwhatyou were,you would
Be so muchmoretheman.... (47-SO)
AgainstMacbeth'ssternbut theoreticalretortthathe will performonly thatwhichbecomesa man,and no more,she replies
that,on the contrary,by his own manlystandardshe willbe a
fromtheplot.
dull-spirited
beast,no man,ifhe withdraws
Then, witha trulyfiendishcunningshe goes on to tieup all
the strandsof her argumentin a singleviolentimage,the murder of her own nursinginfant.In this,of course,she re-enacts
reversalof sex-the
forMacbethherearlierappeal fora strategic
implicationbeingthatshewouldbe moretrulymashumiliating
culinein her symbolicact thanhe can everbe. And in offering
to dashout thebrainsof "the babe thatmilksme," in effectshe
rituallymurdersthe naked babe of pity thatMacbethhas just
summonedup as a tutelaryspirit.The upshootof thisincredible
mixtureof insinuationand bullyingis thatMacbethis forcedto
accept a conceptof manlinessthatconsistswhollyin rampant
has nothingto do with
True masculinity
aggression.
self-seeking
those more gentle virtuesmen are supposed to share with
womenas membersof theirkind;theseare forwomenalone,as
prove.
Lady Macbeth'sviolentrejectionsof herown femaleness
can
Macbeth
only reWhenshe has finishedthe exhortation,
tributeto her ferocity,
spond with a kind of over-mastered
whichwould be moreproperin him-"Bringforthmenchildren
only,/For thyundauntedmettleshouldcompose!Nothingbut
males"(72-74).5
1964), pp. 26-27.I did not
ed. EdwardA. Bloom(Providence,
peare1564-1964,
essayuntilthe
wittyand perceptive
characteristically
Heilman's
discoverProfessor
thatwhatI
I am happyto acknowledge
presentessaywas nearlycompleted-but
in a singleplay,Macbeth,
to do withthe themeof manliness
have attempted
in doingforall thematuretragedies,
Heilmanhas succeededadmirably
Professor
inMacaboutthefateof "manliness"
focus.Ourconclusions
usinga moregeneral
to explorethe
the same;I have,in addition,endeavored
bethare substantially
andhumaneness.
manliness
intheplaybetween
5relationships
as a means
withlineage,
obsession
herealso pointsto hisgrowing
Macbeth'stribute
hisownroyalfuture.
ofinheriting
290
PERVERSION
OF MANLINESS
Whenthe murderof Duncan is discovered,Macbethbetters
to "make our griefsand clamorsroar/
his wife's instructions
beforetheycan
thegroomsoutright,
and
slays
Upon his death,"
talk.Even in his stateof griefand shock,thehumaneMacduffis
did you
astonishedat this new burstof violence-"Wherefore
so?" (II.iii. 113)-and, in a speech thatvergessteadilytowards
hysteria,Macbethexplainsthathe slew the groomsin a reflex
of outragedallegianceand love forhis murderedking.It is the
savage and ruthlessMacbeth of recentmilitary
praiseworthy
fame who is supposedto be talking:his appeal is to a code of
manly virtue he has already perverted."Who can be wise,
Loyal and neutral,in a moamazed, temperate,and furious,/
ment?No man" ( 14-115, italicsmine). The speechrunsaway
withitself,but afterLady Macbeth'stimelycollapse,Macbeth
collectshis witsand calls foran inquest: "Let's brieflyput on
manly readiness,/And meet in the hall together"(138-139).
"Manly" here, of course, means one thing-vengefulselfcontrol-to the others,and somethingelse-the abilityto be
craftyand dissemble-toMacbeth.
Hecate's laterobservationthat"securIn Act III, confirming
ity/Is mortals'chiefestenemy"-or in thiscase thevexinglack
of it-King Macbethseeksto be "safelythus"by killingBanquo
and cuttingoffhis claimson the futurein Fleance. Macbeth's
is an instanceof thegeneral
exhortationto the threemurderers
thatgovernstheentire
principleof repetitionand re-enactment
qualityof compulsive
drama and helpsgiveit its characteristic
and helplessaction.6Macbethbeginshis subornationby identitheverysamegrievanceagainstBanquo
fyingforthe murderers
he hasjust namedforhimselfDo you find
in yournature
Your patienceso predominant
Thatyou can let thisgo? Areyou so gospeled,
To prayforthisgood manand forhisissue,
Whoseheavyhandhathbowedyou to thegrave
And beggaredyoursforever?
(III.i. 86-90)
just as Macbeth
Whenthe FirstMurdererretortsambiguously,
6See the detailed study of the "raptness" themeby BrentsStirlingin his Unityin
ShakespearianTragedy(New York, 1956), pp. 111 ff.
JAROLD
RAMSEY
291
has earlierto Lady Macbeth,"We are men,my liege"(91), the
King twiststhis appeal froman undefinedcode of manliness
exactlyas his wifetaughthimto do in I.viiAye,in thecatalogueye go formen,
spaniels,curs,
mongrels,
As houndsand greyhounds,
Shoughs,waterrugs,and demiwolvesare clept
All by the nameof dogs.
(92-95)
the he and his fellowsaremen,theFirstMurderer
In protesting
means that they are as capable of moral indignationand of
violentresponseto wrongs"as the next man." But Macbeth,
like his wifebeforehim,underminesthispositionby declaring
that this hardlyqualifiesthemas men or even as humans,except in the merelyzoological sense.Thereis simplyno intrinsic
distinction,no fundamentalbasis of identityto be had in dein
claringone's male genderand beyondthisone's membership
the humanrace. WhatMacbethin the next scene refersto as
"that great bond/ Whichkeeps me pale" (III.ii.49-50), that
sharedhumanitydeeper than sex or class denoted in the cry
"Man overboard,"is here pronouncedto be a mere figment,
valid neitheras a source of positivevirtuenor as the ultimate
basis of moral restraint."Real men" (the argumentis old and
has its trivialas well as its tragicmotives)willprovetheirmanaction: Macbethis, in a sense,
hood in violentlyself-assertive
his wife'saspersions.
talkinghereto himself,stillanswering
with Banquo's
him-along
haunt
to
Those aspersionsreturn
ghost-in the banquet scene. As he recoils fromthe bloody
apparition,Lady Macbeth hisses, predictably,"Are you a
man?" and his shakyreply,"Aye, and a bold one, that dare
look upon that! Whichmightappall the Devil" (III.ii.58-60),
she mocks with anotherinsinuationthat uniderduress he is
womanish.One thinksof Goneril'ssneer at Albany,"Marry,
sluris a
you manhood!Mew!," but Lady Macbeth'shumiliating
of negativeexhortationof herstrategy
continuation
Oh, theseflawsand starts,
Impostersto truefear,wouldwellbecome
A woman'sstoryat a winter'sfire
Authorizedbyhergrandam.Shameitself!
(63-66)
PER VERSION
292
OF MANLINESS
When the ghost reappears,Macbeth in a frenzy"quite unmanned" recapitulatesas if by rote everything
he has heard
againsthis manliness.Once morethereis thedubiousappeal to
a pervertedcode- "Whatman dare,I dare." And thenfollows
the referencesto beasts, here prefiguring
Macbeth'sown fall
fromhumanenessto bestiality-thebeasts he nameswould be
fitting
adversaries:
ApproachthouliketheruggedRussianbear,
The armedrhinoceros,
or theHyrcantiger,
Take anyshapebut thatand myfirmnerves
Shall nevertremble.
and then an almostpatheticdesireto prove himselfin single
combat,like the old Macbeth:"Or to be aliveagain,/And dare
me to the desert with thy sword." and finallya humiliating
comparison,worthyof his wife,to the antithesisof manliness:
"If trembling
I inhabitthen,protestme/The baby of a girl"
(99- 1 00).
This harrowingsceneconcludeswith Macbeth-nowisolated
not just in his crimesfromhis peers but in his hallucination
fromLady Macbeth-broodingon the emblematicmeaningsof
blood: the goreof regicideand homicide,of retribution
in the
name of humanblood-tieshe had denied.The "bloody man" of
the firstscenes, whose wounds, like Macbeth's,were public
tokensof hismanlycourageand valor,is now succeededwholly
in theplay'simageryby "the secret'stmanof blood" (126).
The final step in the degenerationof Macbeth'smanliness
comes in Act IV whenhe appearsbeforethewitchesdemanding
to know his manifestfuturemore certainly.The firstof the
propheticapparitions,an "ArmedHead," is suggestive
both of
the traitorMacdonwald'sfateand of Macbeth'sown gruesome
finalappearance;the second apparition,a bloody child,points
backwardto the "naked newbornbabe" of pityand to Lady
Macbeth's hypotheticallymurderedchild, and ahead to the
slaughterof Macduffs children,as well as to Macduffhimself,
Macbeth'snemesis,who was fromhis mother'sside "untimely
ripped." With a fearsomeirony,the prophecyof the second
apparition,an object of pity,servesto releaseMacbethfromall
basic humane obligationsto his fellows.If "none of woman
born/ShallharmMacbeth,"thenhe need recognizeno common
JAROLD
RAMSEY
293
withhis
eitherof originor of mortalvulnerability
denominators
kind, and nothingin the name of "kind-ness"can interfere,
it
seems,with the perfectionof his monstrous"manliness.""Be
bloody, bold, and resolute,laugh to scorn/The power of
man. . ." (IV.i.79-8 1).
The pageantof Banquo's lineageand the bad news of Macduff'sflightto England,whichfollowimmediately
accordingto
the breakneckpace of thisplay,onlyserveto confirm
Macbeth
in his new freedomfromall kindness:henceforth,
beginning
with the slaughterof Macduff'sfamily,he will act unconstrainedeitherby moralcompunctionor by reason."From this
The veryfirstlings
of my heartshallbe/The firstlings
moment/
of my hand" (146-8). So, havingearlierremarked,ominously,
that "Returningwere as tedious as go o'er" (III.iv. 138), and
havingjust witnesseda seemingly
endlessprocessionof Scottish
kingsin Banquo's line, he now entersfullyinto what can be
termedthe doom of reflexand repetition,7
in whichLady Macbeth,withherhellishsomnambulism,
shares.
At thispoint in the play,as he so oftendoes in thehistories
and tragedies,Shakespearewidens our attentionbeyond the
fortunesof the principals;we are shown the cruel effectsof
such villainouscauses, and much of the action on this wider
stage parallelsand ironicallycommentson the centralscenes.
The evils of Macbeth's epoch are dramatizedin a peculiarly
poignantway, for example,in IV.ii., when Lady Macduffdenounceshervirtuoushusbandto theirson forwhatseemsto her
to be Macduff'sunmanly,even inhumanabandonmentof his
family.It is a strangetwistedversionof Lady Macbeth'sharangueand her husband'sresponsesearlier;thereis the inevitable appeal to an assumedhumannature,and eventheby-nowfamiliar
comparisonof manand beastHe lovesus not,
He wantsthenaturaltouch.For thepoor wren,
The mostdiminutive
of birds,willfight,
Heryoungones in hernest,againsttheowl.
(IV.ii.8-11)
And thispoor woman,who fearsherhusbandlacksthatmilkof
doom of nonsensein the careerof
7Cf. ArnoldStein's tracingof a similarly-patterned
Style(Minneapolis,1953).
Milton'sSatan-Answerable
294
PER VERSION
OF MANLINESS
humankindnessthatLady Macbethdeploresin herspouse,ends
on thebadnessof thetimes,
herlifewitha terriblecommentary
in whichto protestone's innocenceis accountedmerewomanish folly.Macbeth'sreignof "manliness"prevails:"Why,then,
To say I have done
alas,/Do I put up thatwomanlydefense,/
no harm?" (IV.ii.77-79) This lamentassumesa reallydreadful
ironyin thenextscenewhenRoss assuresMalcolmin Macduffs
presencethat "your eye in Scotland/Would create soldiers,
make our women fight/To doff theirdire distress"(IV.iii.
186-8).
In this next scene,beforeMacdufflearnsof the sacrificehe
has made to his patriotism,he labors to persuadeyoungMalcolm to lead an armyof "good men" in theliberationof Scotland. For the firsttimesince the openingscenes,a conceptof
to Macbeth'sis broached;it is,
manlyvirtuethatis alternative
of course,the code thatMacbethhimselfonce servedso valorously. Malcolm shrewdlyrespondsto the invitationwitha remarkabledouble testof Macduffas theemissaryof theScottish
and directlyof his honestyand allegiance(is he
loyalists-first
reallyonly anotherassassinsentby Macbeth?),and secondand
of the depthand qualityof thatallegiance.By repreindirectly
sentinghimselfvice by vice as a monstereven moredepraved
than Macbeth, by forcinga disjunctionof patriotismfrom
morality,the politicMalcolmcan determinetheexactlimitsof
Macduff'sofferedsupport.As Kinghe could not, presumably,
that it
accept an allegianceso desperateand indiscriminant
wouldignorethetotalviciousnesshe paintshimselfwith.
One aspect of his hypotheticaldepravityin particularMalcolm's "bottomlesslust"-seems to shed some light on
Shakespeare'sconceptionof Macbeth.Frequently,evildoersin
the plays manifesttheirvillainy(among otherways) in some
indeed,in Edmund
formof sexual excess,actual or threatened;
that
thefreedomeviltakes
and RichardIII, Shakespeareshows
upon itselfcan make the villainsexuallyverycompelling.We
expect,then(ignoringShakespeare'sdebtto
mighttheoretically
to
his sources),thatMacbethwould ultimatelyadd lustfulness
his moraldegeneration,
especiallyin viewof his wife'srepeated
insinuationthat he is "no man." But thereis not the slightest
eitherin his speechesor in those of his adversaries,
suggestion,
thathis evil takesthisfamiliarform-infact,in thecomparison
he draws betweenhis vices and Macbeth's,Malcolmseems to
JAROLD
RAMSEY
295
acquitthetyrantof thisone enormity
at least:
mydesire
wouldo'erbear
All continentimpediments
That did oppose mywill.BetterMacbeth
Than sucha one to reign.
(IV.iii.63-66)
The broad implicationof this"deficiency"in Macbethis that,
unlikeEdmund,unlikelago and Richardof Gloucester,he is
not capable of embracingthe absolute freedomthata wholeheartedcommitmentto evil seems to give its Shakespearean
champions.Where,say, lago can improviseand shiftwith almostan artist'sfreedomof invention,
Macbethfromtheoutset
seemsdriven,compelled,"rapt": in the verynarrowness
of his
degenerationinto a bestial "manliness,"he becomes a tragic
villain, and his tragicclaims on our sympathy,Shakespeare
makescertain,are neverwhollynegated.8
But in the scene at hand,thoseclaimsmustverynearlysnap,
beginninghere withMalcolm'sassay of Macduff.Given Macduffs straightforward
soldierlygoodness,his ferventhopes for
his country,and his growingapprehensions(which Malcolm
plays on) about the familyhe has left at the mercyof the
tyrant,it is a deeply cruel if necessarytest,one thatthe unhappypatriotmustpainfully"fail" in orderto pass. In itstone
and in the logic of its placement,the entirescenein Londonis
analogous to that remarkable sequence of scenes in
2HIV-Hal's oblique denunciationof Poinsand othersmallbeer
(II.ii), Lady Percy's denunciationof Northumberland
(II.iii),
and Hal and Poins's spyingon and ratherbrutalexposureof
Falstaff.(II.iv.) There,as here,a persistent
crueltybetweenallies
seemsto signalthe beginnings
of a drastichomeopathiccureof
thewholediseasednation.
In Macbeth, thishomeopathytakes a predictableform:in
orderto purgeScotlandof Macbeth'sdiseased"manliness,"the
forcesof rightand ordermust to some extentembracethat
inhumancode. As Macduffcollapses under the news of his
Malcolmexhortshimto converthisgriefand
family'sslaughter,
guiltwithoutdelayinto"manly"vengeful
rage: "Be comforted.
8See Booth's essay for a full analysisof Shakespeare'smethodsin maintainingand
shapingthissympathy.
296
PER VERSION
OF MANLINESS
Let's make us medicinesof our great revenge/To cure this
deadly grief.. . . Dispute it like a man." To which advice Mac-
duffcries back, "I shall do so, But I mustfeelit like a man"
(IV.iii.213-215,219-222). Nowherein the play is therea more
cruel disjunctionof the moral claims on "Man", betweena
narrowcode of manliness,and a general"natural"humaneness.
Soon Macduffis driveninto that familiarharshpolarization
accordingto sex of human feelingsthat shouldbelongto the
race as a whole: "Oh I could play the woman with mine
Macduffwouldbe proeyes.. ." (230). In othercircumstances,
foundlyunworthyof his manhood if he could not feel and
show his losses,and Malcolm'simpatienturgingswould simply
is cruellynecessary,there
be intolerable.As it is, if his strategy
in his endorsement
is an unpleasantnote of politicsatisfaction
of Macduff'swrenchingof privategriefinto publicwrath,the
wrath,afterall, thatwill place Malcolmon thethrone:he says,
briskly,"This tunegoes manly"(235). As Edmundsaysto the
context,"men/Are as
murderer
of Cordeliain a verydifferent
it seems,to a considerthe timesis" (V.iii.30-1): thereformers,
hiskinglyvirtues
able degree,as well as the evildoers.Whatever
otherwise,it seemsclear thatMalcolmwill neverrule Scotland
with the simplegraciousnessand humane trustof a Duncan.
The timesforbidit; Macbeth'ssavagereignrequiresthathe be
succeeded by a kingof cold blood and clear mindwho stands
by "littlelove
with thatShakespeareancompanydistinguished
but much policy": the young Antony, Octavius, Aufidius,
Hal.
Bolingbroke,
In the concludingscenes,while Macbethbetrayshis special
to "the boy Malcolm"and abusing
preoccupationsby referring
boy", (V.iii.2,15) Malcolmhas, we
his servantas "lily-livered
are told,enlistedthe supportof a whole generationof untried
"boys" whose valorousservicein his greatcause will "Protest
theirfirstof manhood."(V.ii. 11) Young Siwardis theirleader,
and his subsequent brave, fatal encounterwith Macbeth is
truemanlinessin
recognizedby all as evidenceof a resurgent
Scotland,based (as Macbeth'sconduct was at the beginning!)
on selflessnessand heroic violence in the cause of rightand
justice.Old Siwardrefusesto allow Malcolmto lionizehis dead
son beyondthesimpletermsof Ross's eulogy:
JAROLD
RAMSEY
297
He onlylivedbut tillhe was a man,
The whichno soonerhad hisprowessconfirmed
stationwherehe fought
In theunshrinking
But likea manhe died.
(V.viii.40-43)
The largerquestions in this familiardeclarationof praise"Whatis a man? Whatshould he be? Whatstandardsof manof Macbeth's
hood?" are begged,as theywerein the beginning
that
implication
existentialistic
the
again
is
there
story:indeed,
an
evolving
man's natureis not an a prioriconstantbut rather
and unstableset of possibilities.But if youngSiward'skind of
manlinessis seen in the contextof the storyas beingambiguas wellas ofglories,
ous, volatile,capableof hideousperversions
as the only moral
dramatically
to
us
it is nonethelessoffered
in the play. In the familiarShakespearanmanner,a
alternative
testedin actionforus as
code has beenrealistically
hypothetical
viewers-notmerelynullifiedand replacedwithanotherset of
unexaminedverities.No one would denythatyoungSiwardhas
indeed achieveda formof manhood-butthe structureof the
play allowsus to cherishno illusionsabout thatkindof achievement.
The swiftresurgenceof a measureof sympathyforMacbeth
in the last sceneshas alwaysbeen recognizedas one of Shakeof tone.As WayneBooth9
speare'smost brilliantmaniuplations
it is based upon our almostinand othershave demonstrated,
supportableintimacywithMacbeth-we knowhimas no one in
fullness
his own worlddoes-and upon the terribleimaginative
of his knowledgeof his crimes,if not of the effectsof those
an access of sympathyin the
crimeson himself.Whattriggers
to a semblanceof direct,unhis
return
is
finalscenes chiefly
complex action, "we'll die with harness on our back,"
(V.v.52)-so painfullysuggestiveof the old Macbeth.But now
he is championof nothinghumanor humane;he must"trythe
last" in utteralienationfromthe communityof men,whichin
some otherlifewould have~grantedhim,as to any man, "that
whichshould accompanyold age,/As honor,love, obedience,
troopsof friends,"(V.iii.24-5). At the last, all the invidious
comparisonsof earlierscenesbetweenmenand beastscome due
9Booth, pp. 189-190.
298
PERVERSION
OF MANLINESS
as he feelshimselfreducedto the stateof a solitaryanimalin a
"bearlikeI mustfightthe course"(V.vii.1-2).
bear-baiting:
Nowhereis Macbeth'salien conditionmorestarklyrevealed
thanat themomentof his wife'sdeathin Scenev. As he and his
followersdoubtfullyparade on stagewithbannersand prepare
for the siege of Dunsinane,there comes a "cry of women"
offstage.It is a hair-raising
strokeof theater,worthyof the
Greeks: at the death of the ambitiouswifewho would have
unsexedherselfto provokeherhusbandinto forgetting
his ties
withhumanity,the womenof Dunsinaneraise theimmemorial
voice of theirsex in griefand sympathy,
so longbanishedfrom
Scotland.It is as if a spell is broken;all the deathsin the play
are bewailed,those of the victimsas well as thatof the murderess-butso barrenis Macbethnow of humanefeelingthatit
takes Seytonto tell him thatwhathe has heardis "the cryof
women" (V.v.8-9), and when he learnsit is his own wifewho
has died, he can only shrugwearilyoverwhathe cannot feel,
and then lamenta life devoidof all humanmeaning:"Tomorrow, and tomorrow,and tomorrow..." (19). Aftera brutal
careerof striving
"manfully"to imposehis own consequentiality upon the future,Macbethnow foreseesa futureof mere
repetitivesubsequence-"time and the hour" do not "run
throughthe roughestday" but are stuckfastin it (I.iii.146-7).
The First Witch'scurseagainstthe Masterof the Tiger,"I shall
drain him dry as hay" (I.iii.18), has come true in Macbeth's
soul.
Yet it is stilla humansoul,and in thelastsceneShakespeare
seemsto take painsto enforceourunwilling
of that
rediscovery
fact. Confrontedat last by Macduff,Macbethrecoilsmomentarilywithan unwontedremorse:"get theeback,mysoul is too
much charged/Withblood of thinealready"(V.viii.5-6).And
when he perceivesthat Macduffis the object of the witches'
equivocation,the mortalman Fate has chosento be its instruof
mentagainsthim,Macbethgainsthelast and fullestfragment
tragicknowledgethe dramatistgrantshim in this tragedyof
limitedand helplessknowledge.Thoughhe confessesthatMacduffs revelation"hath cowed mybetterpartofman"-meaning
the reckless,savagemanhoodhe has embraced-theinsightitself
suggestsa step back towardsthecommonhumanconditionand
its "greatbond."
JAROLD
RAMSEY
299
be thesejugglingfiendsno morebelieved
Thatpalterwithus in a doublesense,
That keep thewordof promiseto ourear
And breakit to ourhope. I'll not fightwiththee.
(V.viii.19-22)
The pluralityof thesepronounsis morethanroyal: havingalview of all
readyextrapolatedfromhis own ruinto a nihilistic
humanlifein the "tomorrow"speech,Macbethheregeneralizes
validlyforthehumanrace at large.Fate is enigmaticto us all; it
is, he realizestoo late,one of theimmutablecommondenominators of our condition;no career of rampant"manly" selfor controlit.
assertioncan hope to circumvent
In thisframeof mind,then,at leasttenuouslyreawakenedto
bindinghimto hisrace,Macbethis rousedby
the circumstances
Macduff'sthreatthat he will be exhibited"as our rarermonstersare" if capturedalive,and hurlshimselfintosinglecombat
for the firsttime since he was "valor's minion."There is no
morequestionof redemptionthanof escape,of course,as Macof fellowbeth himselfknows: but who would deny a stirring
feelingat this spectacleof a singlemortalman activelyfacing
"tryingthe last?" WhenMacduffreappearsbearhis mortality,
aning Macbeth's severed head, and Malcolm triumphantly
nounceshis successionto "this dead butcherand his fiendlike
queen" (69), it seemsimpossibleto denythesenseof a dramatic imbalancebetweentheclaimsofjusticeand thoseof humaneness.We know Macbethfarbetterthando any of the Scottish
worthieswho celebratehis gruesomedeath;we havebeenprivy
to all the steps of his ruin: the tragicparadox in his natureis
imaginaextraordinary
thatthemediumof his degeneration-his
tivesusceptability-isalso the mediumof our neverwhollysuspended empathywith him. Such is the main thrustof these
concludingscenes: they revealMacbethto us as a monsterof
degenerate"manliness"-butas a humanmonsterforall that.
The circleof human sympathyand kindness,brokenby Macis re-formed:
narrowly
beth's careerof regicideand slaughter,
a
and vengefully,on-stage;broadly and with heavy sense of
limitsand capabilities,in theaudience.
man'sundefinable
300
PER VERSION
OF
MANLINESS
To Macbeth'srhetoricalquestion,"What'she/That was not
born of woman?" the tragedyrepliesagainand againwithits
own unanswerable
question,"What'she thatwas?"
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

The Perversion of Manliness in Macbeth

Transcription

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