Traveling In Fiction: What Is The Journey Of Macbeth? Research Paper

English

“By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.” This quote from the play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare depicts the whole idea of the duality of the protagonist’s inner world. In this essay, I would like to analyze the inner and outer travelling of the main character of this play, the reasons for his way and the consequences for him and for his surroundings. By the example of Macbeth, we shall look through the problems of travelling character, which main aim is to find himself through the way of either constructive endeavor, or of destruction.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In 1603, the Queen of England Elizabeth I had died and Jacob I came the English throne, he was the son of beheaded Scottish Queen Mary Stuart. Paying tribute to the Scottish origins of the new king, William Shakespeare wrote a tragedy on the Scottish theme in the summer of 1606 – “Macbeth”. Shakespeare took the material for his tragedies in the history of Scotland, described in “The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland” by R. Holinshed. The prototype of the main character of the tragedy was a real historical figure - King Macbeth of Scotland (1005 - 1057), however, Shakespeare made from Macbeth, who was a wise and just ruler, a villain and a despot, who with his absolute desire to find his right way appeared not to see the reality of his acts.
“Macbeth” might please the new king of England for another reason; it fully disclosed the theme of the inner travelling. The rise of arrogance and intelligence. This theme not only overtook, but also hurt Shakespeare. It is imbued with the utmost respect for the intellect. He did not despise, he did not even hate those “knights of intellect” that were the most cynical ones. He understood their particular freedom, their predatory grace; their incomparable human dignity lay in the fact that they despised all sorts of prejudices. 
Shakespeare created a tragedy “Macbeth”, in which the protagonist became a person of such kind. The tragedy was written in 1606. “Macbeth” is the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, it has only 1,993 lines. Its story is taken from “The History of Britain” (Baker 41). However, its brevity does not influence the artistic merits and composite tragedy. In this work, the author raises the question of the destructive influence of one-man rule and especially - the struggle for power that turns the brave Macbeth from the valiant and celebrated hero in all hated villain. William Shakespeare’s constant theme sounds even more frequently in this tragedy; the theme of search of a character of his own “the I”, his "journey" and the end of this journey through the death of the protagonist (Borlik 146). In “Macbeth”, this law is particularly bright. Shakespeare pays special attention to the analysis of the individual and society’s way of life in all his works - individually and in their direct interaction. He analyzes the sensual and the spiritual nature of human interaction and the agony of feeling, diverse mental state of a person in their movements and transitions, the emergence and development of affects and their destructive power. Shakespeare focuses on turning and crisis states of consciousness, on the causes of spiritual crisis, causes external and internal, subjective and objective. Moreover, this internal conflict and human tragedy is the main theme of “Macbeth”: “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (Shakespeare Act I, Scene IV).

MACBETH AND HIS REALIZATION OF EVIL

The protagonist is rich in contradictions, and the chief among them is the birth of light consciousness of the demonic unconsciousness, reflected in agonizing reflections of Macbeth. Macbeth’s speech from the hell of his own experiences is both a grim picture of the human fall, and the testimony of the finest redemptive qualities of human experience. We see in “Macbeth” not a sermon on the theme of morality (WRAY 353), but a way of psychological climbing, birth identity, which occurs as a result of immersion in the dark worlds of human nature. The protagonist develops from the unconscious impulse and irrational action to conscious reflection and eventually to his death. it is necessary to rethink its basic images in order to see it positive rather than negative psychological processes. A murder, a violation of the sacred taboos, can be seen as a metaphorical image of feelings related to psychological growth, death, old mentality, and not as the real things. A fear of the unknown creates a huge obstacle for growth of the character, the resistance of consciousness to unconscious. Macbeth begins the chronic of his collapse since the inception of the murder plan. He is accurate and impartial. When he emerges from the chambers of Duncan with a bloody dagger in his hands, his lips say a recognition of the terrible truth: “I have done the deed” (Shakespeare Act II, Scene II). Macbeth’s inner travelling begins with his meeting with witches, which represent an archetype of evil.
Hemingway once wrote that, when you watch a bullfight, the most difficult thing is not to turn a blind eye. Undoubtedly, Macbeth successfully overcomes this aspiration, although the projection and hallucinations haunt him throughout the play. Therefore, Macbeth always objectifies a painful process of mortification of the soul. While Lady Macbeth demands that he threw his thoughts not to go crazy, Macbeth persists in an effort to realize the process of their own fall, hear a voice ravaged humanity. He says he is not able to pray, does not know the peace of sleep, fear, fueled by a sense of guilt, like a giant ocean wave, and, finally, that he cannot accommodate a perfect “To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.” (Shakespeare Act II, Scene II). One of the paradoxes of the play lies in the fact that Macbeth is both the person whose mind is split as a result of the disastrous actions, and holistic consciousness, reflecting the very course of alienation and disintegration of the psyche. This process of birth of awareness of the unconscious darkness is more than a private revelation. In his speeches, Macbeth hears an echo of an impersonal truth, the inner voice, as if reading a chronicle, but in one respect, Macbeth essentially preserves the integrity: he describes the way of absolute truthfulness of his own fall (Delaney 7). Sometimes it is simply overwhelming in the course of the play. Macbeth testifies truthfully to himself in the process of fleeing from himself.
This function of “mirror” can be comprehended at different levels: theological, artistic, and psychological. Undoubtedly, many of heartbreaking complaints of Macbeth after the murder of Duncan can be considered as the voice of conscience: “Had I but died an hour before this chance,// I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant,// There 's nothing serious in mortality:// All is but toys: renown and grace is dead” (Shakespeare Act II, Scene III).

MACBETH AND HIS INNER VOICE

Basically, Macbeth’s psychological reflections have a well-defined function. They are accompanied by actions that lead to self-denial; actions, alienating part of the psyche of the rod “I”. But the very evidence of these internal processes can only come from that part of the psyche, which in Jungian terms may be called the “I” or the “self” - the center of the psyche, which carries an unifying spirit, being the alpha and omega of the individuation process. This paradoxical state of Macbeth is especially expressed in his monologues. Macbeth’s monologues show a man, who is seared with ambitions that are alien to the normal human reaction, even instinctive reaction of fear (LANGIS 48). Macbeth describes himself as a child of inhumanity and of horror that destroyed the ability to experience patriarchal human feelings. The former “I” for him is like a memory of a dream - something that is remote and alien. He draws a portrait of his crippled soul very dispassionately, calmly and meticulously. There is also a painful compassion and the physical sensation of guilt in this monologue: “Here's the smell of the blood still: all the// perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten// this little hand.//” (Shakespeare Act II, Scene II) and full of agony consciousness of an irreversibility of the offense. These emotions generate from his expressive monologue, as well as the most ruthless analysis of his own inhumanity and the recognition that he was “sick of horrors”.
As a result of “emotional reconfiguration of consciousness”, Macbeth becomes completely indifferent to his ambitions, to the crown. This radical reassessment of the meaning of life is expressed in a powerful Macbeth’s monologue: “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,// 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” (Shakespeare Act V Scene V).
Emotionally, this monologue tells about despair, about the collapse of the projection. Macbeth’s insight points to the fact that “the I” is an aspect of personality that puts an end to all projections.
Basically, Macbeth is often described as a madman who wants to meet his own death at the end of the play. Is it possible to say that he is the character who has made a painful way of transformation of consciousness? The easiest way to say that Macbeth is too late to realize his negative anima-projection (in the form of Lady Macbeth), and post factum, he has already allowed her to act as she wanted to. However, there is a certain base in the text, which states that Macbeth is a hero and victim. He is a hero because he has realized his own evil; and a victim - because he was killed by the same projection, which he himself had showed in relation to his wife: “False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (Shakespeare Act I, Scene VII). Macbeth’s consciousness travelling leads him to a whole self-distraction. He cannot settle down due to his desire to rule, that appeared to be a blind craving. He realized his faults, but it was too late.

Conclusion

A profound paradox of this plays is that Shakespeare creates a picture of the spiritual ascent, drawing of a killer, which was the same as any of us, showing the way to integrity, which, apparently, is the only possible: assimilation, or awareness, murderers, Nazis within each of us. The experience of his own unconscious evil has a chance to reduce the unconscious destructiveness, withdrawal from the surrounding burden of our own “shadows” and eventually assimilation of creative energy, giving the power to heal, and not to hurt. Macbeth’s character and his inner travelling begins with his first real acquaintance with something evil – witches. Since that, he loses his mind and tries to find himself in a wrong vector.
Finally, "Macbeth" expresses in a wonderful way the needs, which are called “fidelity to the beginning of the dark”. Nevertheless, unconscious kindness can be as destructive as the deliberate cruelty. The “evil” unconscious can be transformed, becoming accessible to consciousness. Selfishness can become a discipline; violence can be represented in hardness or conscious impartiality. Macbeth, who had contacted with his “shadow” during his travelling to his “the I”, had found the contact with the unconscious that led him to his death. Even for pragmatic reasons, he could no longer ignore that inner strength, which is unconscious. Macbeth finishes his travelling only with his death. The inevitable led to the inescapable.

Works cited

Baker, Oliver R. "The Disaffection Scene In MACBETH: Fealty And Obedience To THE TRUE
LAWE." Explicator 71.1 (2012): 38-43. 
Borlik, Todd. "“The Way To Study Death”: New Light On A Variant In F2
MACBETH." Explicator 70.2 (2012): 144-148.
Delaney, Bill. "Shakespeare's MACBETH." Explicator 63.1 (2004): 6-9. 
LANGIS, UNHAE. "Shakespeare And Prudential Psychology: Ambition And Akrasia In
Macbeth." Shakespeare Studies 40.(2012): 44-52. 
Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Macbeth. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg, 1990.
WRAY, RAMONA. "The Morals Of Macbeth And Peace As Process: Adapting Shakespeare In
Northern Ireland's Maximum Security Prison." Shakespeare Quarterly 62.3 (2011): 340-363.