'Mortal Thoughts' and Magical Thinking in 'Macbeth'
| Autor: | Marina Favila |
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| Rok vydání: | 2001 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Modern Philology. 99:1-25 |
| ISSN: | 1545-6951 0026-8232 |
| DOI: | 10.1086/493030 |
| Popis: | Mortal thoughts haunt Macbeth. Evil spirits tend them; Lady Macbeth inspires them; the hero embraces them. But like everything else in Macbeth, the term 'mortal thoughts' is deceptive, ambiguous to say the least. Try to define them and you move quickly from thoughts of murder to murderous thoughts, killing thoughts, thoughts that can kill and thus magical thoughts. Lady Macbeth calls on unholy spirits and begs them to take away her mother's "milk o' human kindness" and fill her breast instead with thoughts of killing, thoughts that will magically rid her of remorse and prompt her to plan a murder. (Not surprisingly, two scenes later she swears by a mother who replaces maternal nourishment with a murderous whack to the baby's head.) In turn, Lady Macbeth feeds these "mortal thoughts" to her husband.' They flash like a lightbulb above his head in the image of a sword dripping blood-a magical mortal thought that will materialize as a killing reality in the next scene. But before the play is over, these mortal thoughts turn and rend the thinker. For Lady Macbeth, mortal thoughts become a killing conscience; for Macbeth, thoughts of mortality. His wish to become king is no longer enough. He must be king always. Mocked by Banquo's line of dynasty, stretching to the judgment day, Macbeth embraces mortal thoughts, magical thoughts, and kills and kills again. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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