Discuss Shakespeare’s use of the popular beliefs and superstitions of his age in “Macbeth”.

Ans.

Shakespeare is fully aware of and awake to the preferences of the audience

Shakespeare was a practical, popular dramatist, and a man of the contemporary theater. He learnt from his own personal observation and experience what would appeal to the audience of his day. He met his audience halfway, as it were, by making a generous use of all the conventions, beliefs and superstitions of his contemporaries. Since the major part of the audience everywhere consists of the common people it would not be wise to write as if he were addressing only the thoughtful and critical part of that audience. He was right in doing so and the popularity of his plays is partly due to his attitude of his towards the current outlook of the contemporaries who witnessed his plays and enjoyed them.

Introduction of the Supernatural for dramatic elegance

Use of the supernatural witches, ghosts and fairies-shows that he had an eye for dramatic effect which the introduction of these elements ensure. But that does not imply that he personally believed in these beliefs and superstitions. He was always detached and divinely impersonal and stood apart both from his dramatic characters and the mass of mankind. He is objective in his use of these things. He, however, improves upon and subdues the material of his plays to suit his own purpose. The ghosts and fairies are no longer the crude monsters and fantastic creatures of popular imagination when Shakespeare touches them. His imagination transforms them into something rich and beautiful. He introduces them with a meaning and symbolism that is make believe and invests them with a grandeur and sublimity which are associated with fate and destiny. These strange, invisible and or nocturnal beings become visible symbols of the passions and prejudices, the fancies and illusion of humanity. They serve a dramatic as well as theatrical purpose. They not only provide a spectacle of theatrical effect, they become integral to the action of the play. Without them his play would be unimaginative, and boringly rationalistic. With them plays become invested with an atmosphere of awe, mystery and beauty.

The Witches of ‘Macbeth’

The witches in ‘Macbeth’ are not witches of popular imagination. As such they are called ‘the weird sisters’ recalling the fates of the three mysterious sisters of popular mythology who weave the web of human destiny. They are not the ugly hags inhabiting lonely cottages inspiring disgust, but sublime figures who are agents of evil, as well as agents of Nemesis. If they lead men to evil they also ensure punishment of evil doers. They are tempters who test humanity and put them a trial. They do not deny freedom of choice and will. They do not influence the will, in fact they may be said to test the strength and integrity of that will by playing temptations and observing their effects on mankind. This is proved by the manner in which people respond to their temptations. Macbeth yields to temptation but Banquo does not. Macbeth alone sees the ghost of Banquo, not even his own wife (who had no hand in that murder). The figures representing the invisible powers of Good as well as Evil are impartial creatures of incorruptible justice. It is strange to find that the weird sisters become in this sense the force of good. They do represent but they do not implant evil in human minds. They play the role of mentors-‘as it were-by subjecting men to moral discipline, by testing their strength of will in overcoming powerful temptations which they place before them. It is upto you to accept or reject them. Macbeth follows them, Banquo rejects them and each reveals his own character which, as it often said, is in Shakespeare fate itself. To conceive them otherwise and/or to present them as active shapers of men’s will would be to conceive men as puppets in the hands of Fate. This Shakespeare does not. The very idea of drama disappears if men are shown as puppets in the hands of Fate.

• Discuss Rabindranath Tagore as a poet.

• Write the critical appreciation of the poem No. 12 entitled Far Below Flowed.

• Write the critical appreciation of the poem No. 11 entitled Leave this Chanting.