Name:- Trushali Dodiya
Roll No:- 21
Semester:- 1(Batch 2022-24)
Enrollment number:- 4069206420220011
Paper No:- 101
Paper name:- Literature of Elizabethan and Restoration period
Topic:- Poetic Justice in 'Macbeth'
Submitted to:- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Email Address:- trushalidodiya84@gmail.com
Table of content
- Introduction
- What is Poetic Justice?
- Macbeth
- Poetic Justice in 'Macbeth'
- Conclusion
Poetic Justice in 'Macbeth'
★ Introduction:-
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is one of the greatest playwrights of the Elizabethan era and in English literature. Ben Jonson in his poem “To the Memory of My Beloved', the Author Mr. William Shakespeare” addresses Shakespeare as,
“He was not of an age, but for all time!”
In his life he has written comedies, tragedies, histories and sonnets. But he is best known for his tragedies like Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth Hamlet and King Lear. In most of his plays, there is an element of didacticism at the end, it doesn't matter if it was intended by the author or not.
The play "Macbeth" is one of masterpieces of William Shakespear. This is a tragedy in 5 acts. Macbeth is believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. It was first performed in 1606. This is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies; a darkly atmospheric drama of crime and punishment, of temptation, guilt, removes and retribution.(Shakespeare)
★ What is Poetic Justice?
Poetic justice in Literature means an outcome in which vice is punished and virtue rewarded, usually in a manner peculiarly or ironically appropriate. The general purpose of this Poetic Justice in literature is to refer to the universal code of Morality, in which Virtue triumphs over vice.
"Poetic justice: When at the conclusion of a literary work, good characters are rewarded (and bad ones not), it is said that poetic justice has been done. The phrase dates from the late seventeenth century, but the notion that it would be inappropriate not to see Virtue rewarded in a literary work has its root in classical Greece."(The Broadview Pocket Glossary of Literary Terms)
The term poetic justice was coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer of the 17th century, when it was believed that a work of literature should uphold moral principles and instruct the reader incorrect moral behaviour. (Poetic justice). There is a saying which claims this term of poetic justice,
"Reap what you sow."
This concept we can see everywhere. Religious books and sermons mostly contain this concept of virtue being rewarded and vice is punished. In the early stage of English drama, dramas were performed to give moral lectures through the story. Early Miracle plays have the concept of poetic justice by holding up a head of dragon -Hell to afraid people to not do wrong doings. Morality plays also ended with the triumph of virtue and punishment to the devil.
In Sanskrit literature, we can also find the same. There are tales of 'Panchatantra' and 'Hitopadesha', in which they give us a way of living. Though they give moral lessons of life, in most of the tales we can see the concept of poetic justice. Most of our movies are based on this concept and aim to give a kind of lesson to the people at the end of the movie. The great Bollywood star, Amitabh Bachchan sir once during an interview recalled his days with his father and words of his father, where he talks about poetic Justice in Bollywood and movies. He says,
"We always overcome evil with good. During the last years of my father’s life, every evening he’d watch my films. I’d ask him, ‘Why are you watching these films?’ He’d say, ‘You get to see poetic justice in two and a half hours.’ You and me may not get that in a lifetime, perhaps several lifetimes, and that really is the strength of Indian cinema, to be able to seek poetic justice and actually see it enacted in front of you. I don’t see why it should be attached to another industry. That is not to demean Hollywood: they are big, they are great and they have their own philosophy, their own standards.”(Lalwani Amitabh Bachchan: My father watched my films for their ‘poetic justice in two and a half hours’)
This is what Amitabh Bachchan sir told, and if we consider the words of his father we will agree with what he said to his son. While looking at this perspective, we must understand that not each and every movie has the concept of poetic justice at the end. It also has entertainment purposes that we should not forget when we look just at the Didactic sight of any literary work or movie.
The play 'Macbeth' is all about the ambition of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At the end there is the concept of poetic justice where both the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth reap what they have sown. Before understanding the concept of poetic justice in Macbeth, it is vital to look at what the play Macbeth is about and how his ambition draws him towards his tragedy, which is also applicable to Lady Macbeth as she kills herself at the end out of guilt.
★ Macbeth:-
The play 'Macbeth' starts with three witches and their two prophecies about Macbeth that he will be Thane of Chowder and the King of Scotland. Now Macbeth has become the Thane of Cowder. Macbeth tells it to his wife Lady Macbeth through the letter. This is how the ambition of Lady Macbeth grows. To get the throne of Scotland, Macbeth kills some of the innocents. After Macbeth became King, Macduff and Banquo have suspicions that it was Macbeth who slayed Duncan. Macbeth kills Banquo and tries to kill Macduff to avoid being caught, unfortunately Macduff has already assembled an army to kill Macbeth. When the army reaches Macbeth, Macduff fights him and kills him. With Macbeth gone, Malcolm rightfully becomes King of Scotland. The conclusion of Macbeth contains a high degree of poetic justice because of the slaying of Macbeth, Macduff being the man to slay Macbeth, Malcolm becoming King of Scotland and Lady Macbeth committing suicide.
★ Poetic Justice in 'Macbeth':-
The play Macbeth is about how ambition and way of its achievement can be disastrous for a person. Prophecies of three witches ignites the suppressed ambition of Macbeth and it gets its speed when Lady Macbeth provokes him.
In the early stage of his life, Macbeth is being affected by prophecies of witches and provocation of his wife. Now he has become the Thane of Cowder. But as he thinks of the throne and plans to kill king Duncan, which brings the tragedy of him. Her wife is equally responsible for his downfall. Lady Macbeth keeps a plan ready to kill Duncan when he was sleeping. Macbeth kills Duncan during sleep. After killing king Duncan, Macbeth kills Banquo because according to prophecies, Banquo's children will rule after Macbeth. But Banquo's son Fleance flew away. Then Macbeth kills Macduff’s family, because he knows that Macduff has a suspicion that he killed King Duncan.
In act 2, scene 2, after killing the King Duncan, Macbeth utters these words of repentance as he has killed King Duncan during sleep.
"I had most need of blessing, and “Amen”
Stuck in my throat."
"Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,”—the innocent sleep; Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast."
"Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house: “Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more!”(Macbeth)
Macbeth is having a kind of fear of wrong doings after killing King Duncan, but thereafter he kills Banquo. In act 3, scene 4 Macbeth sees Ghost of Banquo, and this is how his deed doesn't let him to stay stable. Only Macbeth is the one who sees the Ghost of Banquo. Macbeth's this kind of behaviour shows his repentance of what he has done.
In act 5, scene 1, Lady Macbeth has completely gone mad of what she has done. She is constantly washing her hands to remove imaginary stains of blood. Which she can only see. These are some of the lines, which proves her state of mind.
"Yet here's a spot
Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!
Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave.
To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed." (Macbeth)
Now nothing is left to her. And out of guilt, she hangs herself and commits suicide. After her death, words which are spoken by Macbeth are very important. Now this is a poetic justice of Lady Macbeth as she has been cruelly punished.
"She should have died hereafter.There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! 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." (Macbeth)
But Macbeth is still alive. He is still confident that none of the women born shall harm him.
"The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth."(Macbeth)
At the end he is killed by Macduff as he was born in an unnatural way. Poetic justice is established when Macbeth is slain, because he had killed many people, all of which were innocent and had done nothing wrong to Macbeth. He finally gets proper justice when Macduff kills him for his actions throughout the play.
At the end virtue is being rewarded and vice is punished. After killing Macbeth, Macduff speaks to the dead body of Macbeth, “Hail, King, for so thou art. Behold, where stands Th’ usurper’s cursed head: the time is free. I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl, That speak my salutation in their minds; Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,—Hail, King of Scotland!”.(Macbeth)
By these words Shakespeare portrays how Macbeth is punished.
The final words of Malcolm at the end of the Play are more independent. Which are,
“We shall not spend a large expense of time……………………………..So thanks to all at once, and to each one, Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone.” (Macbeth)
The line of Malcolm, "Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen”, is the most striking line which gives conclusion or judgment of the play.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both have their own tragic way of life and get an outcome of what they have done. But at the same time there is a difference between the punishment given to both of them. Both the characters are having their errors but Lady Macbeth is punished more cruelly than Macbeth. Lady Macbeth commits suicide, which is called in Christianity as a sin, while Macbeth is killed as a warrior while fighting.
In the beginning of 'Macbeth: The Pattern of Idea and Action', Irving Ribner writes that,
"The hero accepts evil in the third scene of the play. In the second act he commits the deed to which his choice of evil must inevitably lead him and for the final three acts, as he rises higher in worldly power he sinks deeper and deeper into evil, until the end of the play he is utterly and finally destroyed."
Many critics have pointed out Macbeth's crime as unnatural and as opposed to the harmony of the universe. Duncan himself is a symbol of the fruitful aspect of nature; he is the source of the goodness which Macbeth may hope to glean from life. This concept we can see in Act 1, scene 4 where Duncan converse with Macbeth and Banquo,
"I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing."(Macbeth)
Macbeth is murdering Duncan this cuts off the source of his own being and this idea is echoed in Lady Macbeth's Statement in act 2, scene 1,
"Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t." (Macbeth)
These lines are largely emphasized on the symbolism of Father or existence.
By the lines of Duncan and Macbeth's act of breaking the chain of nature with the current scenario of the world. We humans are destroying Earth by cutting down trees and misusing natural sources and as a result of it as Macbeth ultimately finds his tragedy, we are also facing tragedy in the form of Global warming and shortage of Natural sources, health issues and other. Humans are destroying their source of living by their deeds.
Conclusion:-
To conclude, the term poetic justice is perfectly fitted in the Play of William Shakespeare 'Macbeth'. By this play Shakespeare becomes successful to illustrate how ambitions bring a person to his complete downfall when it is possessed of too much cruelty and wrong direction. At the end of the play vices are punished and virtue is rewarded.
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Images:- 5
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Work cited:-
Buzzard, Laura. The Broadview Pocket Glossary of Literary Terms. N.p., Broadview Press, 2013.
Jonson, Ben. “To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr....” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 1623, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44466/to-the-memory-of-my-beloved-the-author-mr-william-shakespeare.
Lalwani, Nikita. “Amitabh Bachchan: My Father Watched My Films for Their ‘Poetic Justice in Two and a Half Hours.’” The Gaurdian , 4 Feb. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/03/amitabh-bachchan-bollywood-indian-cinema-shamitabh.
Long, William J.. English Literature. India, Copia Interactive, LLC, 2021.
Ribner, Irving. “Macbeth: The Pattern of Idea and Action.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, 1959, pp. 147–59. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2866920. Accessed 30 Oct. 2022.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. United Kingdom, Wordsworth Classics, 1992.
Shakespeare, William. The Works of William Shakespeare: In Reduced Facsimile from the Famous First Folio Editon of 1623. United Kingdom, Chatto and Windus, 1876.
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