âGainst Nature Still: Reading Macbethâs Murder of Duncan

Timo Uotinen

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âGainst Nature Still: Reading Macbethâs Murder of Duncan

In: Global Perspectives on Villains and Villainy Today

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Timo Uotinen

Timo Uotinen
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 155â163

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848880528_018

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Macbeth is one of the most complex villains in literature as he seems to be aware of the gravity and consequences of his actions but, at the same time, blind to his chosen path of self-destruction. On one hand, he acknowledges a kind of fate or poetic justice, in which âbloody instructions return to plague thâinventorâ; yet, on the other hand, this does not impede his course â rather it makes him more âbloody, bold, and resoluteâ. Despite Macbethâs will to succeed the metaphysical mechanism of fate proves to be stronger as the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel points out: Macbeth âstepped out of nature itself, clung to alien Beings, and so in their service had to trample and slay everything holy in human nature, had at last to be forsaken by his gods (since these were objects and he their slave) and be dashed to pieces on his faith itself.â For Hegel, this mechanism stems from Macbethâs hostility to life, which also puts him at odds with nature. Already the murder of Duncan is characterized as unnatural and being against nature in II.iv. The perceived unnaturalness of Macbethâs villainy mediates the horror and suffering that is causes. Moreover, his villainy is unnatural because his hostility to life is also hostility towards himself â therefore it is a path of self-destruction. In my chapter, based on a reading of Hegel, I aim to problematise and critique the current understanding of nature (and culture) with this reading of Macbeth and draw attention to the mediatedness of the concept of nature. The chapterâs focus will be on elucidating the ethical and social dimension of Macbethâs hostility to life and the implications it has on the concept of villainy.

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Global Perspectives on Villains and Villainy Today

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848880528

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 08 May 2011

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- Social Sciences
  - Comparative Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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âGainst Nature Still: Reading Macbethâs Murder of Duncan

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Global Perspectives on Villains and Villainy Today

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âGainst Nature Still: Reading Macbethâs Murder of Duncan