Assignment 1 : 'Macbeth' in light of Aristotelian Concept of Tragedy : 22392 Paper 101: Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods

 

•   Name : Nirav Lalitbhai Amreliya
•    Batch : M.A. Sem. 1 (2021-2023)
•    Enrollment N/o. : 4069206420210002
•    Roll N/o. : 30
•    Subject Code & Paper N/o. : 22392 - Paper 101: Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods
•    Email Address : niramreliyaunofficial@gmail.com
•    Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English – Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University – Bhavnagar – 364001
•    Date of Submission : 20th December, 2021
 
Macbeth as an Aristotelian Tragic Hero
 
    Introduction : ‘Macbeth’ is one of the foremost & famous play written by Elizabethan poet & dramatist William Shakespeare in 1606. The play is one of the shortest plays written by ‘the Bard,’ having five acts and twenty-eight scenes in total. The play is sometimes referred to as ‘the Tragedy of Ambition' as well, for it deals with the Hamartia of the protagonist having over-ambitiousness which eventually leads him and his wife who is quite alike him too to the tragic death. Even the play is sometimes labelled as a ‘cursed play,' for it follows the chain of blood, gory, and murder from the very beginning to the end of the plot.  
 
The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book. It was most likely written during the reign of James I, who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. James was a patron of Shakespeare's acting company, and of all the plays Shakespeare wrote during James's reign, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with the sovereign.  
 
Shakespeare's source for the tragedy is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. In recent scholarship, the events of the tragedy are usually associated more closely with the execution of Henry Garnett for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  
 
Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy : Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) in his 'Poetics,' provides the progeny of dramatists with a world-famous definition of 'Tragedy' as a form of drama. 'Tragedy,' according to him, is  
 
"is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions."  
 
— Aristotle. The Poetics, Part VI.
Translated by S. H. Butcher  
 
Having acquainted with Aristotle's idea of what an ideal 'Tragedy' is supposed to be, we can now fragmentize each central turn of phrase to understand the definition in an easier way in order to compare the idea of 'Tragedy' as form to that of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth.'  
 
We can breakdown the definition in seven parts :  
 
(1) It possesses mimesis.  
 
(2) It is expected to be serious in tone.  
 
(3) The action must be complete and of
      a certain essential length.  
 
(4) The language used is supposed to
      be adorned with several types of
      figures of speech as well as should
      possess rhythm and rhyme.  
 
(5) The aesthetic ornaments should be
      used in different parts of the play
      than uniformly throughout.  
 
(6) It is expected more to be performed
      than to be narrated.  
 
(7) Two chief emotions - Pity and Fear -
      get aroused while watching the
      drama. Catharsis (purification or
      purgation or tempering/moderation
      or satisfaction) plays important role.  
 
Further, Aristotle introduces six major components by which the tragedy is composed, and nothing besides them :  
 
(1) Opsis (The Spectacle for Overall
      visual appearance of stage and
      actors.)  
 
(2) Melos (Melody & Songs)  
 
(3) Lexis (Diction or Word Choice for
      dialogues, versification and overall
      narration of a drama)  
 
(4) Ethos (Characters - The Medium of
      action)  
 
(5) Dianoia (Thought - Intellectual
      qualities and Ethics of characters)  
 
(6) Fable (Plot or Mythos - The
      harmonious arrangements of
      events or incidents and actions
      in the story)  
 
Aristotle asserts that the Plot and Character are the quintessential elements for any drama to be on pace till the end is reached with a desired effect upon audience. 'Tragedy is written not eerily to imitate man but to imitate man in action. Thence, according to Aristotle, 'happiness consists in a certain kind of activity rather than in a certain quality of character.'  
 
Now, having given apt information through the means of Aristotle's dictum, let us compare the tragedy of Macbeth and also try to see to what extent it conforms with Aristotle's concept of tragedy discussed in his 'Poetics.'  
 
First of all, the three witches establishes the activating incidents which are necessary for complete action as Aristotle's requirement. The protagonist Macbeth along with his companion Banquo, meet the wicked sisters whose role was to act as the forces of fate which is to lead Macbeth on to his own destruction eventually. The prophecy seems to lead Macbeth to decide of murdering king Duncan which sets the ground for the tragedy to develop and to be of a 'certain magnitude.' The point of realization is also experienced here as audience get to know the shades of tragic end of Macbeth due to his wrong decision spurred by the prophecy of three mischievous witches.  
 
Another characteristic trait in Macbeth conforming to Aristotle's idea about the character or hero of a tragedy is that he is not perfect and possesses a tragic flaw or Hamartia which is error of judgement that was to murder the king in order to embezzle the kingdom as he was destined to do such a menial task by the crooked prophecy made by the three witches.  
 
Irony is another important element in Aristotelian tragedy and several ironic statements are found in the play; Macbeth's murderous act itself is an apt example of dramatic irony, for audience develops awe for his death in future and thus the pity is generated. Even the words he speaks after realizing his arduous course of action that he feels he should not have performed become the most stirring ones : "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." (Act 5, Scene 5)  
 
As far as the seriousness is concerned, the play upholds most the part on solemn events, sometimes voyages into comic effect when lady Macduff's little son shows his understanding of the world and another when a drunken man gives an account of the effects of drinking alcohol on body.  
 
Shakespeare has used an abundant number of literary devices such as similes, metaphors, personification, and allusion as well as sound devices such as alliteration and assonance for spectacular effects. For instance, in Act 1, the Sergeant arrives to report progress on the battlefield to King Duncan. The Sergeant describes what happens when Macbeth fights Macdonwald, who is leading an insurrection against Duncan.  
 
'Doubtful it stood;' as two spent swimmers, that do cling together/ And choke their art.' This simile uses the word as in the comparison.  
 
Another simile occurs later in the play after Macbeth kills Duncan and seizes the throne for himself. Angus and the other nobles do not believe Macbeth is fit to lead; Angus uses a simile to describe Macbeth as ill-fitted to the role of king.  
 
'. . . Now does he feel his title/Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe/Upon a dwarfish thief.'  
 
Macbeth is filled with metaphors, another type of figurative language. Metaphors are stated comparisons that, unlike similes, do not use the words like or as.  
 
In Act I, Macbeth tells his fellow warriors, 'Kind gentlemen, your pains,/ Are register'd, where every day I turn/ The leaf to read them.' In this example, Macbeth refers to memory as a book that can be read and re-read, just as memories can be replayed in the mind.  
 
Macbeth's famous soliloquy in Act V shows the depths of his despair after the death of his wife and his likely defeat in battle. This soliloquy is a metaphor that compares life to an actor saying his lines on stage.  
 
'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/And then is heard no more: it is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing.'  
 
Allusions are another type of figurative language in which meaning beyond the literal is conveyed. Allusions are references to other works that may be familiar to readers. In Act I, the Sergeant uses a biblical allusion. He informs Duncan that the opposing army he has just witnessed is as ruthless and violent as the soldiers who crucified Christ.  
 
The fine example of Alliteration can be seen in the concluding utterance by three witches at the end of Act 1, Scene 1 :  
 
'Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.'  
 
So, we can say that the drama fits into one segment of Aristotelian idea of Tragedy which is the language 'embellished with each kind of artistic ornaments' to remarkable extent.  
 
The Catharsis is a desired and expected effect of any tragedy, without purgation of the two chief emotions appealed at in a tragedy - pity and fear - a play directly shuts its efforts down for it fails to achieve a desired end. An ideal tragedy is said to have the quality of being so much frilled with realistic actions and events which ultimately allow the beholders to engage themselves to the tragic protagonist so that Catharsis can happen in a predestined way. It is so much true with the character of Macbeth too; when he gets succumbed to his own ill will of desires and moreover snatching throne by devious means which was to murder the king, audience, if sensible enough, generate the pity towards the protagonist along with a foresight of the decadence of the tragic protagonist. Thus, pity is generated. Now when we come down to Fear, it also happens that Macbeth and his wife come across horrible account of events that eventually led lady Macbeth to the unfortunate death whereas for Macbeth, it was a means for his self-realization and for his tragic end followed by his death at the end of the drama.  
 
Conclusion : We can safely wind up with a statement that Macbeth fits into the concept of Tragedy expounded by Aristotle in his 'Poetics;' although not up to the mark but at a considerable and comparable extent it conforms to the Aristotelian idea of Tragedy, as far as the Plot structure and Characterization are concerned.  
 
Thank you. 

Reference :

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/macbeth-an-aristotelian-tragic-hero-english-literature-essay.php

https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-noble-macbeth-an-aristotelian-tragedy/

 
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