What the #*%@ was Macbeth about?
By Macbeth, I mean the original play by shakespeare (refuse to capitalize his name). Trying to read it isn't easy. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of flowery language and metaphors people today can't relate to. I don't mean the literal metaphors like a floating dagger, because that was cool. I mean the references to a fleet of trading ships that hasn't existed in hundreds of years. Stuff like that is not cool. I didn't read the updated English version...so I had to suffer through the grammar and vocabulary thats now considered awkward.
The main character is obviously Macbeth. Some ignorant people would argue he was not a hero. They say he was a villain. A person to be hated. I won't name these self-entitled literary critics, but I will say that I don't hold them in very high regard.
I will simply regard him as a politician, in the truest sense of the word. He was a Machievellian Prince (sorry about using a AP Euro term.) He was a general, a #*%@ing successful general. He saved his country from attack. He longed for power, thats true. Lust for power is not a weakness. In our current corporate world, this trait is called ambition, drive, will power, and a strong desire to succeed. He killed King Duncan to win the throne, also true. He did not commit this act in a flurry of emotion, but in a calculated move. He had a plan, a scapegoat, a trustworthy accomplice. It was a very successful mission. Murder may be considered wrong, but Macbeth was a successful General who has most assuredly killed many. One more death should have mattered little to him.
Some people call him indecisive. He merely weighted each option in his mind before actually committing the act. He sought advice from others he could trust. He never failed to finally reach a decision. A politician of this caliber is rare, even in literature.
He was brave and actually served in the #*%@ing front lines of a battle. This is no small undertaking. The front line is most assuredly an extremely dangerous post. During war, King Duncan was safely reclined in his fort. He only heard news of the war from messengers. The fact that some consider this coward a king superior to Macbeth is laughable.
If Macbeth was so great, why did he have so much guilt and was finally murdered? This is the most blatant plot hole in the play. The source is obviously shakespeares own insecurities. shakespeare (not even capitalizing the name when it begins a sentence) superimposed the supernatural witches over the story to act as a artificial source of morality. He believed that when a person acts contrary to his own perceived sense of morality he should be punished. Thus, shakespeare's three witches prophesized Macbeth's downfall. He added the non-believable subplot of Macbeth's guilt. To think that a hardened General would be emotionally scarred from a single killing is preposterous. It is inconceivable
History agrees with my version of Macbeth's psyche. He was a successful king. There is no records of him ever acting "evil." Macbeth controlled Scotland for 17 years and he had enough confidence in his kingship that he regularly left his country for long periods of time without fear of revolts. Lady Macbeth as a factor in Duncan's death, Banquo, Duncan as a kind and sagely king, the three witches, Macduff, and other characters shakespeare used to instill morality are now believed to be completely fictitious.
Sadly, history has been overtaken by shakespeare's fiction. People are now more likely to believe that Macbeth was evil than researching the true Scottish king. Consequently, shakespeare himself can be considered "evil" for ruining the reputation and name of a historic figure.
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