The Selfless and Selfish, The Honourable and Dishonourable: A Reflection of Modern Societal Views in Macbeth Through Violence

Transcription

1 Dent 1 Stu Dent Mr. Ruest English July 2017 The Selfless and Selfish, The Honourable and Dishonourable: A Reflection of Modern Societal Views in Macbeth Through Violence It takes the contributions of many people to help a society grow and prosper. When people work only for themselves, it can halt or hinder a society s development. In Shakespeare s Macbeth the intentions of various violent acts changes society s view of the result, selfish being dishonourable and unselfish being honourable. Emotional violence can be used selfishly to put others down or to motivate them to contribute to society. Murder can be in cold blood for a self serving purpose or to avenge others and restore unity. Psychological violence can be used to manipulate other s perception to suit one s ideals or to evaluate the trustworthiness of peers which creates community. Society depends on contributors and a sense of community to grow which causes society to view selfless acts as honourable and selfish acts as dishonourable. Emotional violence is typically shunned in society when used harmfully because it can be detrimental to one s self esteem, but when used as incentive to act emotional violence is beneficial to society. When insults are thrown with no intention of helping others grow it is rude and does not further society. Son questions Lady Macduff s legitimacy and she replies, Poor prattler! how thou talk st! ( ) Son s rudeness can be solved with a short education on manners but Lady Macduff decides to hurt him emotionally by discouraging him from talking. Many people selfishly choose to ignore and discourage ideas they do not want to accept which is

2 Dent 2 unproductive for society and disempowers people from sharing their ideas to help society grow and reach an understanding. In contrast to empty hurtful words that serve no constructive purpose, emotional violence can motivate one s selfless actions which makes it justifiable by society s views. Macduff upon hearing his family is dead does not wallow in sadness but instead decides to make...medicines of [his] great revenge. ( ) An emotionally charged statement like the death of family members would normally cause negative emotions. However negative comments and statements that are heard, listened to and spun into fuel for action become positive because they help to push society towards change and growth. Discouraging people s thoughts and opinions hinders society s development but encouraging members of society to act in ways that promote community is beneficial. Similarly to how emotional violence is subjective, physical violence like killing is also up to society s interpretation. When murder is done in cold blood for selfish reasons it is seen as negative compared to avenging a kingdom or community. Macbeth decides to murder King Duncan, but The only thing motivating [Macbeth] is [his] ambition. ( ) Macbeth has no reason to murder the caring and helpful king except for the hope to further his status in the kingdom. Macbeth is a representation of the people who think only of themselves and believe society is a competition instead of a community. This thought process helps only one, not the whole group. On the other hand when a group wants to move ahead, they must leave behind the people that bring them down. Murdering somebody who is oppressing a community and suppressing the community s growth is justified and honourable. Malcolm and Macduff plan to start a revolution and overthrow the oppressive ruler Macbeth like good men/ Bestride [their] down-fall n

3 Dent 3 birthdom ( ) To save their people from being held down by a tyrannizing ruler, they must overthrow Macbeth to help their community thrive. Similar to society, it cannot move forwards without getting rid of the things that hold it back. Society cannot grow when one person is focused on their own growth. Dishonourably acting only for one s self growth pushes the community away instead of maintaining a sense of unity and support which will help the long term growth of society. Like emotional violence, psychological violence affects the thoughts of others. People can be manipulated negatively to act against society or positively to create trust. Manipulating people at the expense of others is selfish and dishonourable because it hurts the sense of community a society has. Macbeth manipulates the murderers he hired into believing that Banquo is the cause of their nation s misery ( ) when in reality Macbeth is shifting the blame in an attempt to cling to his status. Manipulating the thoughts of others to suit one person s narrative causes the society to lose its sense of equality and abandon any sense of community. Oppositely, psychological manipulation is justified in cases of building a sense of community and trust amongst members of a society. Upon discovering Macduff s true beliefs about leadership through manipulation, Malcolm accepts Macduff on account of his good truth and honour. ( ) Psychological manipulation can be used honourably as a tool to find out who one s friends and enemies are. Establishing connections and trust in a community is important because it helps keep the group together. Selfishly manipulating others to break ties in a community harms the community s unity and trust but manipulation is justifiable when used to establish a sense of community because it makes the group stronger. Society s dependence on selflessness affects their morals making altruistic acts

4 Dent 4 acceptable but self serving acts unjustified. Emotional violence is justified when used as incentive for restoring a community. Murder is honourable when it serves the common good. Psychological violence is acceptable when used to establish connections and trust in fellow community members. Communities need the contributions of every individual to keep progressing so if people are choosing to go against helping their community grow or deliberately acting out for self benefit it is seen as wrong. Selfish actions are seen as attacks against the community because it takes a team to build a village but just one person to burn it down.

5 Dent 5 Works Cited Roy, Kenneth, Harriet Law, Margaret Kortes, and William Shakespeare. Macbeth. Toronto: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich Canada, Print.