ECLECTIC EYE (a minor rant on major musical issues....or viceversa)
Ever felt entangled in the web of your preferences when it comes to music? Or trapped as if wishing to get out of there and either discover something new or just rest your hearing until it gets too rested an hungry for sounds? I think any true music lover has a spectaculously interesting relationship with music, especially when the range of genres liked aren't a few, but so many.... and when there's also the feeling of waiting and having expectations from music, things get even more complicated. A beautiful and complicated relationship then? Hmm... I have one, that's for sure. And lots of stories to tell about. It's indeed a longlasting relationship, full of good and bad episodes, derailed directions, steady and loyal tastes as much as adventures of one night or one season .....but a relation which will be there until the sunset of my life. I pour my heart out in a moment of crisis, when I feel that many of the feats which characterized this relation seem to shake and I don't find myself in the same place as 2 years before, let's say. This particular moment gave me the occassion to look back on the history of crisis in this relationship and the mind machine registered these vivid episodes still:
Childhood: first frustrations I can remember of, were sometime before I went to kindergarden and what annoyed me most at the time was that I learned so easily all sorts of songs, but didn't know all the languages in which they were played, even if I pronounced words correctly and would correct people around me if they mistaken one... They were 80's pop rock songs, I recall of some 60's and 70's also (well, now I know they date from back then). That's gone now. Thank Lord of Foreign Languages! Long live the 80's (too late now, bah!......)!
Beatles: probably around the age of 6-7....sad moments when I couldn't get hold of all of their songs.
Teenhood...one of the most ravishing and tragic period of them all. Bad moments went one after another: given it was the 90's clearly I had suffered from the trauma of European dance music wave, as much as the shame I confess here.....I liked Take That.No shame in admitting I played as much Ace of Base, as everyone of my age did. The good and saving part: Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Metallica and lots of other rock and metal bands, plus medieval and pre-classical music addictions. Lots of angry days that good music isn't made anymore.
Late teenhood: über-anger caused by music..or lack of it as I woudl call it back then: almost given up metal music in favour to classical. Über-happy: Lacrimosa and Therion saving my soul from falling into the trap of a closed mind and a metal radio show where I enriched my musical culture (a good school I'd say, and it would take at leats 81372746547 pages to talk about all the bands and the music I learned about). Ah, and developing a taste to all sorts of ethnic music which impacts on me today still.
And now...the always ending ''now''.
I know it's an blasphemous act of injustice to not mention all that music which stayed constant and near my heart but maybe that deserves another written page ...one day it shall be done. In that good and non-crisis sense, since late teens I can only count happy episodes which were too revolutionary to what I've known up until now in music and too dear to me as not to mention/name them .... what is happily coincidental is that these major bands which changed my way of being around music, metal music especially, came all from the land of (more than) a thousand lakes: Finland. In order of their apparition: Finntroll, Korpiklaani and two years back, Auringon Hauta. Everything else good which came along the way (i.e. lots of folk-metal bands), simply revolved around these marks. Back to the current crisis... it's an era when and where I can get loads of informations on and about music, and indeed the discoveries were not a few in the last years...yet, I find most days an acute wish of more than I already know and can listen... Jethro Tull keeps me company, one of the best and the it's the kind which time, life events and any other music can never tear down from its special place... But being the most eclectic person I know, I had Shaman coming in my mind today, as well Judas Priest. After a good portion of silence. Maybe I'm not lost for metal after all...not totally. Hopefully this is not going to turn into a major relationship crisis and trips to some music counsellor...yet, for better and for worse, in sickness or in health, me and music are loyal companions, lovers, haters, best friends and spiritual partners. As it should be.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
BEOWULF IN FILMS - or how cultural patterns establish....
The13th
Warrrior (1999),
along Beowulf
and Grendel
(2005 ) and Beowulf
(2007) seem to form the triad of films that is most praised and valued in the
popular conscience when it comes about the exploit of Beowulf figure. And not for nothing. A fast forward look on some aspects in these films, show how the figure of Beowulf made way and into collective memory and how it appears even in some films (very loved ones) that don't treat the topic in itself.
I'll speed 3 or more arrows in the bow and shoot straight at these:
The13th
Warrrior, has as source for its script Michael Crichton's
novel Eaters
of the Dead. In
the general view is constitutes one of the films that have accurate
references to the novel of Crichton, and to the original source of
inspiration as well. Yet there are some inaccuracies:
for example, Melchisadek, ibn Fahdlan's interpreter for Greek and
Latin is needed, yet in the book ibn Fahdlan knows both languages.
Also the fact that the ambassador, ibn Fahdlan uses Latin in his
communication with one of the Norsemen until he can speak the Norse
language, is actually presented in the film in a more theatrical way
(he appears to just listen the Norsemen while they talk to each other
in their native language, and learns it by just that, surprising them
one night with some memorable lines).
Beowulf
(2007) seems to bright into light the fantastical aspects of the
story line in the poem, enhanced also by the effects of animation; it
is the most modern made version of Beowulf, but I'm not exactly abounding in praise or love for it, nor have much to cling to in what I mean to point here. I may be mistaken, but....Moving forward!
I'm
reserving a special place for Beowulf
and Grendel (2005).
Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson is one of the best versions of the
Anglo-Saxon epic poem, being set in the 6th
century AD; not only filmed in a wonderful setting in Iceland, also
respects historical data in what concerns the customs/traditions
depicted there and the amazing costumes, very close to what the
Vikings used to wear. Buildings, weaponry and life-style of the
Vikings were clearly studied with care, and that can be seen in the
film. Another element of that aids the authenticity of the movie is
represented by the dialogue specifically constructed from English
words of Germanic origin only, without including
Latin or French words. This aspect enhances the memory of the versed
alliteration in the original poem.
It presents the
first part of the glorious deeds of the young Beowulf, and respects
the main lines of the original plot, bringing as a new element an
intention to respect the history and present the events in the light
of most accurate data, and be as historical as possible. It incites
because it's not as simple as one might think in its content: it
stirs the viewer to think about motivations to kill (Grendel, the
thanes lead by Beowulf, and the hero himself), revenge as an act of
some sort of justice (Grendel for personal reasons, Beowulf in his
mission as a hero), a wide range of feelings experienced in the front
of understanding another culture (Beowulf), psycho-social reactions
and relations, the clash between opposed cultures and worlds, the
superficiality with which the Christian fate was adopted among the
Danes (or the whole of Scandinavia as a matter of fact). It is a film about the dawning on
a new world, the raising of a powerful conscience: the scene in which
Beowulf, after killing Grendel and his mother, piles up stones and
raises a honorary little barrow close the place where the killing
took place so that Grendel's son sees it and be aware that not all
human are bad and also with the indirect message of not repeating
his father's deeds.
These three aren't
the only films ever made on Beowulf, there are precedents in the
history of film making, more or less related or connected by critics
with archetypes contained in the poem, or simply episodic plot events
they have in common: there are at least seven more, and more perhaps
to have drawn inspiration from the poem, and especially the figure of
the hero.
But my aim in analysing these films lies in the lines below...
In
the final of his lecture from 1936, Tolkien ends with a memorable
sentence:It
is to idols that men turned (and turn) for quick and literal answers.
(p.19)
Is it that once with the development of the different forms of media
that men do indeed search for quick ways to idols like Beowulf? How
can a poem so old be so influential in arts? Why?
There
are some possible answers. The poem Beowulf seems to have surpassed
the centuries through its heroic character exactly because people
need to believe in things which are above them, in demi-gods like
Beowulf, who give hope. In literature, film, music, people find a
refuge too. A poem like Beowulf ensures a cornucopia of perpetual
answers and has established a pattern in the popular culture.
I would
like to say that this phenomenon plays a social function: taking for
example the series of very popular films Die Hard we can identify a
pattern which was established in and by Beowulf, a pattern followed
in these films: an outsider comes in to save the day against evil
villain,
the outsider is able to succeed where the locals
fail dismally, although they outnumber and out-gun him, he receives
wisdom and support from a local source and faces off against the bad
guy, the hero is threatened again at the end after the main villain
is killed. Does
the structure of Die Hard align with the poem Beowulf because Beowulf has
influenced a millenium of writers? Or is it that both tap in to a
concept of the hero?Why
must the hero be an outsider?
This
is where the social function arises: if the
outsider is a hero, then it can be any one of us, the audience. It
can be any of those men genetically designed to be doing heroic
things, a demographic predominantly of males aged 16-30, but who in a
modern society don't have that chance. If the hero who saves the day
is a member of the same group which is threatened, then by
implication, unless you are in a threatened group, you cannot be the
hero, being a psychologically closed system. Yet if the hero comes
from outside, especially if it's someone who is not ready or equipped
to do the deed, then it could be anyone.
Possibilities
are infinite. Dreams are allowed in, that triggers hope in too.
People from the audience identify with the character they see on the
screen, live the deeds through the screen.
There is
another significant aspect also: the effects of Christianity in the
social plan, meant more order, less confrontations and fights, a
''right'' held by men rightfully, a sign of manhood and a sense of
it. Confirmation of masculinity. Aren't these art products mentioned here meant to serve a large mass of population consumption,
as means for a quest? A quest in search not search of that which is
lost, a nostalgia for "The Heroic Age" where Beowulf is the
icon which fills the need of a Die Hard and viceversa?
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
NILS
Don't you just love those days when you can find easily on Internet a reminder that the day should be dedicated to an author, musician, scientist or any other personality that added a gem in treasure of humankind?And furthermore, one who has made such a strong impression while you where a child that no matter when you're reminded of that personality,the impact of the name or of the memory is as dear and intense? I'm pretty sure this happens to everyone out there. Today it was one of those days for me, when on various Internet pages, there were posts aboutSelma Lagerlöf , given she was born on 20th November (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_Lagerl%C3%B6f ).
As a child I watched in amazement and pure joy the cartoons inspired by her book about the adventures of Nils Holgersson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Adventures_of_Nils) and I remember that as soon as I could find and buy a copy of these adventures, the book had to be mine. And it was: I recall taking care of it after it was read and I can see even now with the eyes of memory the hardcover with a yellow background...and Nils flying with the geese. Nils stays as one of the beautiful characters that was generous enough to take me with him on his fantastic adventures...all thanks to Selma. Meanwhile, my book has found rest on a shelf of a child I gave it to, but the feeling of joy, melancholia and tenderness didn't disappear and I know I cannot borrow or give them to anyone. But I can share them, and listening the opening theme it's impossible to ignore the goosebumps and a little playful tear...
Monday, 19 November 2012
"Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams" or my first visit at GOMA
It's been a year and a bit since I kept these thoughts bottled up, so it's time sharing them. They come from the experience of visiting a temporary exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane (http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/ ). This post is in its honesty more of an attempt of learning, re -memorising the event and exhibition in itself... and the need of sharing this process of learning, with the hope of having your thoughts resting too for a bit... on the wings of surreal art. The exhibition has been one of the highlights of my trip there in the summer of 2011, something I have expected with genuine emotion, as I was aware of the Surrealist works which the Pompidou Centre (http://www.centrepompidou.fr/ ) was going to bring to the Antipodes for some months. Something which was again a bit surreal: I was embarking on this trip, coming from Europe myself and finally see these works which travelled themselves....and producing amazement when buying the ticket at the gallery in the moment of answering the compulsory question ''where are you from?'' (they seemed to keep a track of that, a statistic on the visitors within Australian states)... ''I'm from Europe'' produced a surreal look... I digress, time to enter in the gallery of memories about the exhibition "Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams"... The sensation of trembling accompanied me as a good mate, a mate that got over-excited when being welcomed by works of Max Ernst, Eli Lotar
(Tudor Arghezi's son, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Lotar), André
Masson ( http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3821 ) and Andre Bréton's Manifesto, in original...a sort of birth-certificate and an expression of the authenticity of the surrealist beliefs (http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm , http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=768). The trembling went on a different path once familiarity took its place once I saw on the wall a group picture with the artisans of the Dada movement ( happily recognising Tristan Tzara at first glance), and peace, installed at arriving in the room where there was wall projected ''Un Chien Andalou'' (the product of the fruitful collaboration between Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali).
I've been fortunate enough to keep the notes I made at the place, and I'll enumerate here some of the works which interested me most, some newly discovered, some warming me with knowing a bit of their history. From this chaos of impressions and notes, arise artists and some of their works. I've provided links to each, so that the learning is as vast as possible, although the richness of it it's hard to be taken in a single reading and/or browsing of these artist's masterpieces) :
René Magritte: Les marches d'éte ,Le ciel
meurtrier , Souvenir de voyage, Le model
rouge....these I've seen, but here one can learn more about: http://www.rene-magritte.org/
Joan Miro, although I've remained with his Silence'in marked in memory....here's more:http://joanmiro.com/
Salvador Dali: ''Halucination partielle'' has been the first painting of his I've ever been close to. The rest..is a 15 years love I had for Dali's art. Possibly needless, but still.... http://www.salvador-dali.org/en_index.html
Listing proved the most efficient way of delivering the main points of the exhibition, and even without imparting too much of my personal impressions I still hope that my personal effort brings a little attention on these manifestations...anti-art. Until next post...enjoy life, love Art, learn!
Sunday, 18 November 2012
“FAIR
IS FOUL AND FOUL IS FAIR” – REVERSED ARCHETYPES IN
SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH
The intention of
this article is to depict the archetypal patterns which are present in
Shakespeare's Macbeth, with respect to the canon of Jungian
literary criticism and more so, with personal accounts based on the
frame of thought initiated by Carl Gustav Jung. In order that the
analysis of the archetypes in relation to the characters of the play
be succinct, there must be made a few accounts on what these (i.e.
the archetypes) represent.
Archetypes are
defined nowadays not only as meanings and symbols, but also as
carriers of cultural implications forged in time at the humans'
perception and creation fire, standing out as formed models on which
knowledge of individuals' nature is based and which find a good
lodging in the lines of a written work or another as well. In
Humanities, these models, or prototypes as they were often called,
have an established importance and have helped in understanding
typologies of characters, especially through their representations in
literature. Carl Gustav Jung and series of literary critics, have
enlarged the view on these archetypes, the first by tracing the main
lines/ characteristics of them and pointing a connection to
literature, the latter by developing this connection, namely
identifying the manifestation of these archetypal patterns in
different pieces of literary creation.
More
precisely, Jungian archetypes have been accepted largely as valid and
rightfully connected to general representations of human character in
its diversity, including in their embodiments found in literary
characters. The pattern which an archetype carries “finds worldwide
parallels, either in cultures (...)or in individuals (a child's
concept of a parent as both heroic and tyrannic, superman and ogre).”
1
In Jung's vision,
these images and ideas are inherited on a subconscious level from our
ancestors and preserved throughout generations, despite cultural or
geographical separation, etc.
Through
the concepts of archetypes, Jung marked thus a new vision in the
literary criticism, based on these archetype structures, also known
as archetypal criticism which connects literature with the
“collective unconscious of the human race” (as he called it in
his major work Archetypes
and the Collective Unconscious ).
Notable names in literary critique, such as Northrop Frye and Maud
Bodkin, point at these archetypes as unifying elements in the sense
that readers from different cultures and areas can relate to these
archetypes (or motifs), breaking the barrier of differences when
reading important works, such as the one in discussion in this paper
(i.e. Macbeth).
In consequence,
Jungian Literary criticism relates fiction and the symbols contained
in them with the the mythical models pertaining to mankind's past, as
being rooted in it. The manifestations of the collective unconscious
in literature offers a perspective in examining the archetypes and
their variations and Shakespeare's works abound in such archetypes
explored in their evolution or involution by the Bard, embodied by
characters of major complexity. The tragedies particularly, through
their complex and strong characters offer the best possibilities for
such identification, or echoes better said, some of the archetypes
described by Jung, main or secondary.
My
aim is to highlight these exact archetypes and their variations as
mirrored in Shakespeare's Macbeth,
following the categorization of the archetypes described by Jung :
the Self, the Shadow, the Anima, the Animus, the Persona and some of
their variations. Some of Shakespeare's darkest characters from
the play portray a reversed image (archetype) that mustn't be
neglected and that is stressed in what follows.
The
Self,
embodies the centre which regulates the psyche and coordinates the
personal development of an individual. A person (or in this case, a
literary character) is on archetypal level made up of all the
archetypes and the sum of all learning which belongs to the
collective unconscious, but it differs from other individualities
through what defines it's own self (I). There's a interdependence
between the existence of all the other archetypes and the Self, and
they manifest through reciprocal influences. It may also represent
the strive to an ideal individuality.
The
most powerful Self in Shakespeare's play is Macbeth
himself, who in his individuation is influenced by other archetypal
characters (illustrating the interdependence between archetypes) and
who proves himself the opposite to the ideal Self, reversing this
archetype's characteristics.
Macbeth's
individuation
is most unnatural to what could mean ideal: in the beginning of the
play he's shown as a noble general in the army, who proves himself
brave and efficient in the battle, rewarded by King Duncan with
another title which makes him the Thane of Cawdor ( the second scene
of the first act) exactly as the witches had predicted to him before
he met the King. That episode of most unnatural source awake in him
the latent potential (the true nature of his id)
of his true and dark self: he becomes the slave of witches'
prediction and force events in order that his ascension as king
produce, by assassinating King Duncan and taking the crown which is
not rightfully his. He's in huge measure influenced (thus vulnerable
and unstable) by his wife, lady Macbeth who wishes his ascension
badly and sets him to the murder of the King. Ambition is the tragic
flaw he carries and which led him to the discovery of the unideal,
dark Self: greedy for power and with the ''support'' offered by his
wife who poisons his head with twisted encouragements, he kills
others as well with his hands or sends his men to do it (as in the
case of Banquo and his son, Fleance, and also Macduff's entire
family). He ruins all he has gotten already, by despising his good
fortune and position:
“For
brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name - Disdaining fortune,
with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody
execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage Till he
faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to
him, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd
his head upon our battlements. “ (1.2.19)
The
interdependence of archetypes mentioned before appears in Macbeth's
case in the form of evil influence: his reversed Anima (Lady
Macbeth, who keeps his interest aroused for power, making appeal to
his masculinity and lack thereof when he's doubtful) and the Shadow
(the witches, who reveal his fate and set him the series of murders;
the temptation to listen to them in fact, denote his real nature, the
Shadow inside him who now had the opportunity to manifest: Macbeth
serves as a fertile soil for the seeds of evil planted by the
witches. Here opposes Banquo, who even if he had his share of
prophecies of ascension, he doesn't take seriously what the witches
have said to him about the fate of his kin, thus revealing a good
nature, an invulnerable one).
Macbeth
is not an isolated archetypal character of the Self in this play:
his wife, Lady
Macbeth
follows him closely in a similar involution throughout the play;
their opposite could be Malcolm,
King Duncan's eldest son, who will restore the order of things as it
will be shown in what follows.
The
Shadow:
“By the pricking
of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. “ (4.1.43)
This
archetype is identified with possibilities which lie within oneself,
with traits that the ego doesn't identify with, but which doesn't
cancel the Shadow's existence or the possibility that those deep
within traits won't or can't manifest at some stage, if chance
offered.
In
full, the Shadow comes to life in Macbeth's case, his wife, Seton
(the only remaining loyal officer in Macbeth's army, who commits
crimes for him), even Malcolm (in his talk with MacDuff, when he's
doubtful of his good nature and leaves in his speech come out some of
the dark traits of character to be shown).
But
representative for this archetype are the witches coven. The
Three Witches
are the strongest personification of negative feats, being identified
with the evil and it could be said that their words/prophecies forged
the cauldron in which brewed the most awful thoughts Macbeth had.
They bring the unknown, the unmapped realm of future prophecies and
superstitions, witchcraft and spells, irrational and uncontrollable;
they connect this world with a world of spirits that allows
imagination to interpretations of various degrees of evil. They are
the personification of the Shadow:
“What
are these,
So
withered, and so wild in their attire, That look not like th'
inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on 't?” (1.3.39)
They
bring out to those weak at heart and mind luring images of future
through their language. “Fair is foul and foul is fair” (1.1.13)
comes as a paradox as “evil speaks a pleasant language”, dragging
Macbeth's mind to a territory most humans don't go, or let the Shadow
take their minds, leading him to the fall from a status which brought
him consideration ans respect. The Witches' knowledge of the truth
is that bate with which Macbeth is caught up in the whirl of madness
and frenzy for power, even if initially he seems only astounded by
the words they speak and still oppose some resistance to unnatural
creatures:
“What!
can the devil speak true?” (1.3.107)
“And
oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness
tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s In
deepest consequence. “(1.3.132)
The
Witches use a cryptic language, one that does not have a mortal sound
in its invocking:
Double,
double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. (4.1.10)
But the meaning of
the language has double sense, and it does not allude to the pure
truth, but use the information in a wicked way, as in the scene where
they encourage and assure Macbeth that his end will not come from a
mortal (or so it is interpreted by Macbeth himself):
“Be bloody, bold,
and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman
born Shall harm Macbeth. “(4.1.79)
The
Animais
described as being the sum of mysteries that constitutes the
femininity. It also is that which permits a man to be in touch with
a woman, being represented in dreams as a method of communication
with a person. The Anima possesses all female encounters
with men to help the relationship between the two better.
In
the play, the Anima also is a reversed archetype, just like all
others: instead of bettering it, the
husbandry of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
brings to life the worst atrocities, fuelled by greed, blind
ambition, hate, resulting in murder, madness and lost of feminine
identity (or transcendence of gender identity) in Lady Macbeth's
case ( Act I, scene V:
“The
raven himself is hoarse
That
croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under
my battlements. Come, you spirits
That
tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And
fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of
direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop
up the access and passage to remorse,
That
no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake
my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The
effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And
take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever
in your sightless substances
You
wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And
pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That
my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor
heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'
“ )
This transgression
to feats of the opposite gender, or even more, to a sort of
non-gender as she wishes only to become the personification of
cruelty itself, makes Lady Macbeth to stray from the path of
bettering her relation to her husband, and reversing that, she
encourages him to lose himself the traits of a good man and become a
tool of evil deeds. She advices shim to fake emotions and scorns him
when he seems to back off or doubt from their bloody purpose:
“Your face, my
thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile
the time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your
hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the
serpent under't.” (1.5.63)
The hesitation and
mad actions of Macbeth are fuelled by Lady Macbeth's unnatural
influence, an obvious distorsion of what a natural relation between a
man and a woman should be: “She turns his temptation to greatness
into a test of his masculinity, willfully deforming her own
femininity in the process. She attempts to share his greatness and
mitigate his psychic horror at his action but falls, in the end, to
mental torment and death, leaving him to the final, futile, solitary
stand against inevitable defeat.” 2
The
Animus,
similarly to Anima stands as its counterpart being the masculine
representation in a woman's psyche, allowing a female to understand
communication with a man, playing the same function if bettering the
relation between the two.
In
the play, it it reversed again:
Lady Macduff,
fails to understand the actions of her husband who is set to save the
country out of pure honour and patriotic feelings: “What
had he done, to make him fly the land?” (4.2.1739)
In
the dialogue she has with her son about Macduff's leave to England,
she judges him in haste and no sooner speaks words of most gravity:
“Son:
Was
my father a traitor, mother?
Lady
Macduff:
Ay, that he was.
Son: What is a traitor?
Lady Macduff: Why, one that swears
and lies.
Son:
And be all traitors that do so?
Lady Macduff:
Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged.
Son: And must
they all be hanged that swear and lie?
Lady Macduff:
Every one. “ (Act 4, scene 2)
She fails understanding his true
nature and intentions , and she dies convinced of his treason,
failing thus more in what their communion should be. Although,
better that Lady macbeth, she does not have in common with the latter
the admiration for her husband (much too exacerbated in Lady
Macbeth's case).
The
Personais
viewed by Jung as "functional complex ... by no means identical
to the individuality"; it has been said that it function as a
mask, usually one that protects the Ego from negative images or it
can be viewed as the opponent of the self.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
again correspond as the most relevant characters for the
manifestation of this archetype in the play, but Malcolm
isn't too far from it in the talk he has with Macduff about returning
to Scotland and and become a good king.
A
relevant example for this archetype's manifestation is to be found in
the in
Act I, scene v, as Lady Macbeth instructs her husband into the art of
pretence and falsety when expecting King Duncan's arrival, hiding
their cruel intentions and prove to be indeed fair on the outside
(persona) and foul in their nature, thought and feelings
(individuality) :
“Look
like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue:
look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't. “
The
symbolism carried by the serpent is full in meaning: it might be
herself, being the one who leads Macbeth into the act of murdering
King Duncan. She could signify the source of evil and Macbeth only
the tool through which the crime is done.
Banquo
sees under these pretences and masks and that will bring him his own
death at the order given by Macbeth.
Besides
these main archetypes, some variations of them which surge
throughout the whole corpus of literary creations must be mentioned
as they reflect themselves (or their opposites) in Macbeth.
They
cannot be left aside, especially through the importance they bring to
form a whole broader and perhaps more complete perspective of what
the play presents; these archetypes, complete the main ones and they
carry new information so to say, as they are the base of some of the
actions the main characters perform. From their multitude, in
Macbeth
can be identified the following ones: the Child, the Hero, the Old
Wise Man/Woman, the Martyr and the Warrior.
The
Child: as an archetype is closely related to to the hope and
the trust in new beginnings. In the play, Macbeth couple do not
have a child, a heir who could be a factor in slowing their
bloody deeds: it is most present through his absence, thus bringing
no hope into the murderers of King Duncan and no streak of humanity,
which always arises with a child's birth. Another tragic presence,
this time physical, is the young son of Macduff, who is
violently murdered by Macbeth's loyal executors, bringing an even
darker input into the tragic atmosphere of the play. Another killed
hope, one of noble descent himself and proven in fight, is young
Siward, the son of Siward Earl of Northumberland:
he follows his father to fight against Macbeth in Scotland, but he
is killed in battle, adding a minus more in the economy of good
versus evil: only the good die young. The only two characters of this
archetype to survive are Banquo's
son and Malcolm,
the rightful heir to the throne of Scotland.
The
Hero:
is an archetype of transformation, the hero being subjected to a
quest, an initiation and fulfilling the role of a sacrificial
scapegoat. In the play, Macduff
is
the real hero: he performs the journey to England and its symbolism
lies in his attempt to save the Kingdom of Scotland by this; he
leaves his family at home, unguarded, becoming thus the scapegoat by
attracting Macbeth's fury and ends in having his family killed by the
latter's ''emmissaries''. Macduff is the figure which embodies
honour itself, loyalty to the country and its rightful king (although
with some flaws himself) and courage. He is having his most dear
people in the world sacrificed on the altar of common good, for the
welfare of his nation, and in the end he restores the natural order
of things by being the one to end the life of the usurperer Macbeth.
Macduff can also be seen through his actions as another version of
the archetype of the
Martyr.
King Duncan as well, can be identified as a martyr.
In
the literary critique, some opinions are formed towards Macbeth in
the sense of a tragical hero, but even so, it's not corresponding to
the classical acceptance of the term or to the frame of the
archetype. His character indicates towards an anti-hero, more than
anything; suffice to say only that weakness and vulnerability or
cowardly killings cannot sustain a position of hero.
The
restaurative or helping figure of the Old
Wise Man lacks
as archetype and presence in the play, but it must be mentioned in
relation to the next archetype discussed here. There's no such a
figure, except if considering the initiative of Macduff as pertaining
to a wise man, yet Macduff is made out of more hero material than
philosopher who gives advice or guides others .
TheOld
Wise Woman/Womenappear
in the play , as a representative of the collective unconscious. But
it appears in the reversed
form
of it: there's no wisdom, but superstitions and popular believes and
a whole corpus of dark witchcraft practices. The
Three Witches
illustrate yet another reversed archetype along Macbeth couple,
functioning in close relation to the two. The coven of witches have
also traits which belong to the archetypes of the Trickster and also
to the Evil.
An individuality belonging this archetype, could be considered
Hecate,
the
queen of the witches, but her advices function also in a negative
sense, thus reversing the ''normal'' archetype.
The
Warrior's archetype
finds in the play a few types (typologies) of warriors: Macbeth is
one of them, at the same rank with Banquo, yet his falling into
mischief and murder disqualifies himself from the belonging to this
honourable category; he's the total opposite of those all brave who
once fought along him: next killing he performs is a shameful one, it
doesn't happen on the battlefield, and that dishonours him, by
breaking a code of honour, not only a human law, as he kills the good
King Duncan like a coward, at night, with a dagger.
In
opposition there's brave men and embodiments of true warriors like
Macduff,
BanquoLennox,
Ross and
Siward
Earl of Northumberland
and his son, Siward.
To exemplify how this archetype function in its course of action, it
deserves to look at the death of the Young Siward: it is seen by his
father as an honourable one - he asks how his son died and then says
there's no time for mourning (though not without pain), as his son
gave his life in battle and for a good cause of his country. This is
the real nature and trait of a true warrior. Macduff personal
sacrifice, besides his deeds in battle is again taken as a real
warrior would and does: he swears to revenge against Macbeth and he
goes all the way through by beheading him during battle, not like a
coward.
The play is filled
with supernatural and unnatural and that is revealed not only in the
events contained in it, but reading in depth the nature of the
characters, it is full of darkest images. The characters and they
archetypes they represent are a sum of the darkest traits of human
nature, all gathered in a plot of hyper-stressed greed for power,
dehumanisation, loss of morals, vulnerability and blind trust in
inhuman forces, distorted relations, imploding madness followed by
death, social disorder caused by the actions of disordered minds.
One of the best exploits of the Scottish play has been done by the German band, Rebellion. (All credit goes to the band.)
WORKS
CITED AND REFERENCES:
McLuskie,
Kathleen-
Macbeth, the Present, and the Past, page
393,
in
A Companion to Shakespeare's Works, Vol.
I-The Tragedies, Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture,
2003, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, USA
Sanders, Andrew -The
Short Oxford History of English Literature, Third Edition, Oxford
University Press, 2004
2Kathleen McLuskie-Macbeth,
the Present, and the Past, page 393, in A Companion to
Shakespeare's Works, Vol. I-The Tragedies, Blackwell Companions
to Literature and Culture, 2003, Blackwell
Publishing Ltd, USA
