Humanism Interpretation to the Tragedy Macbeth

He Wei

(College of Foreign Languages　Zhongzhou University,Zhengzhou　Henan　450044)



Humanism Interpretation to the Tragedy Macbeth

He Wei

(College of Foreign LanguagesZhongzhou University,ZhengzhouHenan450044)

Ⅰ.Typical manifestation of Macbeth’s humanism

Macbeth is a typical representative of Shakespeare’s humanism in the Renaissance.Mr.Yang Zhouhan once said “humanism and even the whole process of the Renaissance movement is a noble movement in general”.〔1〕In the work,Macbeth’s actions are similar to the usurpation of the feudal aristocracy,while the throne and the crown are not the ultimate goal for him.When he gradually walks towards the craziness,his ambition and conscientiousness are constantly fighting each other,goodness and evilness in him are also waxing and waning,which fully shows the typical images of humanism in Shakespeare’s drama.

Macbeth was full of patriotic fervor and trying to change the existing situation.In the 11th century of Europe,as an official in feudal times,Macbeth’s battle achievements were remarkable,and he was a person with moral perfection.Due to the influence of the bourgeoisie,he advocated to emancipate the mind in order to realize his ideal,i.e.being a king.However,when he struggled to achieve this goal,he found out that all these he pursued were not what he had been thinking.In Shakespeare’s time,the order of the monarch and his subjects is supreme as well as sacred and inviolable.As an official in feudal times,Macbeth should obey the order of the monarch and his subjects abide by the ethics laws and be loyal to the king.The king Duncan also exercised his rights in accordance with his normal status.In Shakespeare’s time,the Britain’s political life is not stable,many nobles watch for one’s chance to seize the throne,and the conspiracy of usurpation occurred repeatedly.“The situation of the political murder does not just exist in remote areas or foreign countries.”〔2〕Therefore,civilian public’s supporting legitimate kingship and being against the noble’s splitting power becomes understandable.

Macbeth,however,wants to skip the normal way to gain the throne and the crown,and finally he eventually falls into the devil’s trap.He’s pursuit of fame and fortune is unjust.In the drama,besides the schemer,Shakespeare also describes a group of other ministers who observe the social order,scrupulously abide by their duties and are thus the image of the loyalty.The shaping and characterization illustrate that the ideas and destiny of man is not determined by the witch’s prophecy.The tyrannies,regicide,usurpation are determined by his ambition.

In the play,the Three Witches represent darkness,chaos,and conflict,while their role is as agents and witnesses.Their presence communicates treason and impending doom.During Shakespeare’s day,witches were seen as worse than rebels,“the most notorious traitor and rebel that can be.” They were not only political traitors,but spiritual traitors as well.Much of the confusion that springs from them comes from their ability to straddle the play’s borders between reality and the supernatural.They are so deeply entrenched in both worlds that it is unclear whether they control fate,or whether they are merely its agents.They defy logic,not being subject to the rules of the real world.The witches’ lines in the first act:“Fair is foul,and foul is fair:Hover through the fog and filthy air” are often said to set the tone for the rest of the play by establishing a sense of confusion.Indeed,the play is filled with situations where evil is depicted as good,while good is rendered evil.The line “Double,double toil and trouble,” communicates the witches’ intent clearly:they seek only trouble for the mortals around them.

The disastrous consequences of Macbeth’s ambition are not limited to him.Almost from the moment of the murder,the play depicts Scotland as a land shaken by inversions of the natural order.Shakespeare may have intended a reference to the great chain of being,although the play’s images of disorder are mostly not specific enough to support detailed intellectual readings.

When Macbeth learned that his only confidant,i.e.his wife,has died,he has completely lost the courage and the point of living on.All his thoughts are blasted,and he foresees the cries of the Death.He plans to greet the punishment the Death gives to him,and he even says the lines that are rich in the philosophy of life:“Life is a story told by a lame clown,and is full of sound and the fury but is pointless”.〔3〕

It can be seen from the development Macbeth’s whole life and personality that Shakespeare tried to describe the fight of good and evil in Macbeth’s complicated human nature from the humanistic perspective;the fight between his ambition to make contributions to the country and his ambition to usurp the Crowne the throne;the fight between good and evil,intellectual ambition and ambitious conspiracy is constantly affected by the broad environment at the time of the Renaissance,and incessantly reflects the characteristics of social class.Macbeth was originally a warrior who makes contributions to the country,and as the rise of his achievements as well as his position,his inner desire for power is growing.The witch stirred up his ambition,and the old king Duncan’s Family-Governed Monarchic Country stimulated his idea of regicide.However,the good nature in him made him take no actions.At last,he murdered the king under his wife’s incitement and assistance,and becomes a king.Macbeth revealed the advancement and limitation of the 17th-century humanism thought.

Ⅱ.Advancement of humanism

As a noble and a royal army commander in chief of Scotland,he was born in a Family of Generals,and received good education when he was young.He is good-looking with literary and military talents,bears the ambition of serving the country worthily.He is brave and good at fighting on the battle fields,and is Invincible,thus winning his human dignity and the individual value.This is an important idea in a series of progressive advocates in European Renaissance movement,i.e.people first,emancipating the mind to the largest extent to realize personal status and value.The Renaissance in the transition stage of the spiritual and intellectual history of the Europe,and is a watershed between the middle ages and the bourgeois enlightenment.In the transition period,the humanism ideological trend fully contradicted the values of the Middle Ages,and liberates people from the fetters of the ascetical theology to give full play to people’s potential and will.It encourages people to pursue personal value and happiness one should enjoy in this life.These early bourgeoisie humanists spared no efforts to show and fully display their humanistic spirits.Therefore,they formed a very obvious characteristic of the Renaissance:active thinking and spirit of adventure;eagerness to learn and ceaseless to pursue.They are never commonplace,but giants of the time.He is worthy of the “hero Macbeth”.He is an excellent ever-victorious general in the minds of the king,ministers,and the people.Macbeth written by Shakespeare had the upright position and good heart in early stages,He not only wins the affirmation and respect of the royal family,but also he is more aware of the positive values in him.The self-awareness of individual value was a precious quality under the feudal theocracy.

Ⅲ.Limitations of humanism

Everything has two sides,if the personal value and personal dignity of the Renaissance forerunners are overemphasized,they will maximize personal ambitions.Macbeth’s personality is too greed to pursue power.At the start of the drama,Macbeth has reached the zenith of the value of life,and has gain the favor of the king Duncan and the affection of his subjects with brilliant exploits,However,once this personal ambition encounters temptation of the throne or crown,big mistakes will be made.Macbeth’s ambition of regicide and usurpation are then induced.“The witch’s words cannot decide his motive to usurp the throne,and he is just tempted by himself.”〔4〕His strong willpower enabled him to abandon everything and fill in his bottomless desire for rights and kingship.The gradual expansion of self-awareness and overly optimistic self-confidence are banished,which will lead to greed and extreme spiritual emptiness.In addition,the complexity of humanist thought makes the humanists incompletely and uncompromisingly believe in materialistic,just as Macbeth who does not question superstition and the witch while he extremely believes in his personal power.

The Renaissance humanist’s optimism spirit has affected Macbeth,and the compromise and incompleteness of the Renaissance humanist lead to his ruin.It is just the interweaving and struggle between the good and evil,ambition and conscience in humanism that makes Macbeth possess the advancement and limitation of humanism,thus jointly creating the Macbeth who has changed greatly in thoughts before and after,and who are paranoid and complex.

Ⅳ.Macbeth’s helplessness and Shakespeare’s humanism

Throughout Macbeth’s life tragedy,it can be concluded that what Macbeth has experienced is a tragic road of self-actualization that almost all the humanists in the 17th century had experienced.His personality changes also have four stages:braveness,procrastination,massacre,and collapse.The typical characteristic of humanism in this era is the pursuit of self-expression and self-worth,which is the human nature to survive as well as the basis of social development.It is also the Macbeth’s inherent motive force to pursue personal values.Even he clearly knows that this is a road that leads nowhere in the final moments of his life,he still defies fate and put up a desperate struggle.Even in the face of death,he cannot terminate self-expression and has to seek the end-result of himself in death.

“Let these deceptive devils never to be believed,they use vague words to deceive us,through every word comes true,the result completely runs counter to our initial expectations.”〔5〕This is Macbeth’s comprehension and bitter repentance before his death.Macbeth is willing to destroy the social order and subverts his identity as a general in order to achieve his ambition,and he becomes a king.However,due to his brutality,his position as a king and the crown eventually bring devastating disasters to the society,as well as pain to himself.His family is broken up at last as the punishment.

Howard Lawson once said:“the most cores of Shakespeare’s complicated social relationships should be ambitions”.In Shakespeare’s deep heart,he piously believed that people are born with the desire to advance,and such desire to advance can overcome all obstacles and conquer all things in the world rather than violence or cunningness.Shakespeare always regards conscience and awareness as the medium to adjust between personal purposes and one’s social responsibility given by the society.”〔6〕However,the conscience of Macbeth is taken up by his ambition,which leads to the overflow of the hidden weakness of humanity and brings him to the abyss of depravity with no return and no way to extricate himself.

Shakespeare placed his humanism ideals:yearning for good human nature and a moral society as wells as his curse to evil forces that destroy humanism in Macbeth’s death at the end,i.e.people who subvert the good human nature will inevitably die.This also embodies the difficulties for the humanism to survive in the Europe in the 17th century.Macbeth’s life tragedy exposes that even good people with conscience will step on the Road of No Return under the powerful ambitions.Macbeth’s death is the final end for his trampling and defying humanism.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

The tragedy of Macbeth caused by the change of his identity shows the collision and confusion of the humanistic ideas in Shakespeare’s time.The fight between his conscience and ambition when he walks towards self-destruction manifests the struggle between good and evil of the humanist during this period under the lure of the dark forces,and also reflects the Shakespeare’s awareness of unexpected development of humanism.

Shakespeare has criticized the darkness of the feudal dynasties by Macbeth,as well as evil of human nature that is extended by Macbeth’s desire for rights and power.He has also pointed out that the final fate of evil is to perish.Shakespeare promoted the humanistic thought that his has been advocating by the character Macbeth,i.e.although the evil of human nature enables a person to get some interest in a short period of time,it will destroy a person at last.

References:

〔1〕杨周翰：《镜子与七巧板》，中国社会科学出版社，1990年，第105页。

〔2〕安德鲁·桑德斯：《牛津简明英国文学史》，谷启楠等译，人民文学出版社，2000年。

〔3〕莎士比亚：《莎士比亚全集(悲剧卷):下》，朱生豪译，南京：译林出版社，1999年。

〔4〕A.C.Bradley,Shakespearean Tragedy:Lectures on Hamlet,Othello,King Lear and Macbeth，London:Penguin Books,1991，p.316.

〔5〕麦克白：《莎士比亚喜剧悲剧集》，朱生豪译，北京：译林出版社，2001年。

〔6〕张泗阳、徐斌、张晓阳：《莎士比亚引论(上)》，北京：中国戏剧出版社，1989年。

Macbeth is a brutal regicide and a schemer who usurps power,and he is at the same time the representative of the typical Renaissance humanism.In Shakespeare’s work,Macbeth is a tragic character combining with humanism progressiveness and limitation.What he had done represented part of the humanistic thoughts in the Renaissance.But with the development of the plot,his thinking and action ran counter to the idea of humanism step by step and further and further.

tragedy;Macbeth;humanism;interpretation

About the author：He Wei,associate professor at College of Foreign Languages,Zhongzhou University.