Thesis
"Performing in measure, time, and place": Shakespeare's skepticism towards human absolutism in Macbeth
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2014
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101301
Abstract
A common and overwhelming reaction to William Shakespeare's Macbeth for many scholars is to note the play's black, dark, and evil thematic concern. In order to reconnect such interpretations to scholarly objectivity, this thesis argues that Shakespeare inserts a decided skepticism towards human absolutist behavior in Macbeth. Shakespeare's skepticism takes form in various ways: his depiction of an unfavorable absolutist monarchal government exemplified by Duncan and Macbeth, a textual fixation on slippery meanings and definitions of gender, and a psychological realism that removes early modern emphasis of the physical over the psychological. Thus, Macbeth is removed from being simply evil and becomes a play that comments on human behaviors beyond morality and law. In this need to explore Macbeth past human society, I compare Macbeth's attempt at performing the role of absolute power to John Milton's Satan character in Paradise Lost, who is able to successfully perform absolute transformation into another type of being. This comparison reveals Macbeth is unable to completely metamorphose into a creature of evil because of a lingering and constricting humanity that Satan does not possess. Macbeth's response to his human inability to perform iv absolutist behaviors results in his nihilistic end, which is reinforced at the conclusion of the play by the restoration of the monarchal order being "performed in measure, time, and place." Shakespeare's skepticism of human absolutist behavior effectively questions early modern cultural literacy of value. Macbeth, a play about human limitations contrasted with supernatural proficiencies, provokes a critical need for scholarly detachment from interpretations of normalcy, right, wrong, and unquestioned assignment of worth.
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Details
- Title
- "Performing in measure, time, and place"
- Creators
- Benjamin E. Carlton
- Contributors
- William M. Hamilin (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- English, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525392601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis