Assignment-101 poetics justice in Macbeth
This Blog is part of an Assignment of sem -1 Paper no. 101 Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Assigned by Dr. Dilip Bard sir Department of English,mkbu. In this assignment I am dealing with the topic of poetics justice in Macbeth.
Information:
Name : Kavita N. Chauhan
Roll No. : 17
Enrollment No. : 5108230010
Semester : 1st
Paper No. : 101
Paper Code : 22392
Paper Name : Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods
Topic : Poetics justice in Macbeth
Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU
E-mail : kavitanchauhan2002@gmail.com
Point ponder :-
•Introduction
•William Shakespeare
•Poetic justice
•Poetic justice in Macbeth
•Example of poetics justice
•Conclusion
•Introduction:-
The phrase “poetic justice” is widely used nowadays in critical literature, especially in connection with the drama or the novel. It means that in literature the fate of a character should be guided by the rules of a so-called moral universe. It means that a good character in the play should be rewarded, and a bad one should be punished, according as he deserves. Shipley has explained the idea of “poetic Justice” in the following manner, “The literary scholar uses it to refer to the doctrine that all conflicts between good and evil. whether in the drama, the epic, or the novel, must be concluded with the reward of the virtuous and the punishment of the evil in order that good persons may be encouraged to preserve in their good works and that evil-does may be frightened from a persistence in evil course.”
•William Shakespeare:-
Shakespeare also spelled Shakespeare, byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.
Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers, but no writer’s living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theater, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before. The prophecy of his great contemporary, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson, that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time,” has been fulfilled.
It may be audacious even to attempt a definition of his greatness, but it is not so difficult to describe the gifts that enabled him to create imaginative visions of pathos and mirth that, whether read or witnessed in the theater, fill the mind and linger there. He is a writer of great intellectual rapidity, perceptiveness, and poetic power. Other writers have had these qualities, but with Shakespeare the keenness of mind was applied not to abstruse or remote subjects but to human beings and their complete range of emotions and conflicts. Other writers have applied their keenness of mind in this way, but Shakespeare is astonishingly clever with words and images, so that his mental energy, when applied to intelligible human situations, finds full and memorable expression, convincing and imaginatively stimulating. As if this were not enough, the art form into which his creative energies went was not remote and bookish but involved the vivid stage impersonation of human beings, commanding sympathy and inviting vicarious participation. Thus, Shakespeare’s merits can survive translation into other languages and into cultures remote from that of Elizabethan England.
•Notable Works:
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” “All’s Well That Ends Well” “Antony and Cleopatra” “As You Like It” “Coriolanus” “Cymbeline” First Folio “Hamlet” “Henry IV, Part 1” “Henry IV, Part 2” “Henry V” “Henry VI, Part 1” “Henry VI, Part 2” “Henry VI, Part 3” “Henry VIII” “Julius Caesar” “King John” “King Lear” “Love’s Labour’s Lost” “Macbeth” “Measure for Measure” “Much Ado About Nothing” “Othello” “Pericles” “Richard III” “The Comedy of Errors” “The Merchant of Venice” “The Merry Wives of Windsor” “The Taming of the Shrew” “The Tempest” “Timon of Athens”
Poetics justice
•Definition of poetics justice :-⚖️
"an occasion when something bad happens to a person who seems to deserve it, usually because of bad things that person has done"
Poetic Justice meaning:
Poetic justice is employed by writers to make sure that good is rewarded and bad is punished at the end of the play. It is important to bring out the moral lessons from the play, because most of the audience relates themselves with the good characters in the play, and they sympathize with their bad situation. It is expected that the good characters are compensated and the bad are punished accordingly, otherwise the play doesn’t deliver a good lesson, and it leaves the audience in trauma. In short Poetic Justice is a literary view that virtue wins and vice loses in the long run.
•Poetics justice in Macbeth:-
In Macbeth, however, Shakespeare seems to have observed the rules of poetic justice. It is the only one of his great tragedies in which the hero turns into a villain. In all his other great tragedies the hero is on the side of virtue, and yet he suffers because of some inherent weakness (often called the “tragic flaw”) in his character. This inherent weakness comes in conflict with hostile circumstances and leads to tragedy. But in Macbeth the hero himself turns into a villain and most callously violates the moral order. His wife, too, becomes his accomplice in crime, and the two follow the path of evil out of their own choice Therefore, when they are punished in the end, we feel that they have been justly punished for their sins. Our sense of justice is thus fully satisfied in Macbeth.
The fall of Macbeth
At the start of the play Macbeth is a noble and heroic figure. He commands the respect of everybody. But there is one great flaw in his character, and that is his inordinate ambition. It is this soaring ambition which works as a motive force behind all his actions and ultimately brings about his downfall.
As time passes, Macbeth’s ambition turns into a burning passion and then into an obsession. It first of all compelled him to commit the murder of King Duncan who is not only a noble patron and guest to him but also his kinsman. After murdering Duncan, Macbeth usurps the throne of Scotland. making the lawful successor to the throne flee the country. After this first crime and the consequent fulfillment of his great ambition, we expect Macbeth to follow the path of good. But his inner weakness does not let him rest, for, as Hecate says in the play, “security is mortals’ cheapest enemy.” In order to make his position more secure, Macbeth indulges in even more terrible and heinous crimes than the first one. As a result his position becomes more and more shaky. He loses self-confidence altogether and depends more and more on superstition. He behaves like a hardened criminal. He hires assassins and gets his friend Banquo murdered. This is followed by the most inhuman murder of Macduff’s wife and children. He is a tyrant now and his own people turn and face terror from him. He is turned into a “hell-hound” as Macduff calls him.
Soon, however, his sins begin to recoil in his own head. He feels frustration, isolation, and mental affliction as a consequence. He faces desertion of his friends and well-wishers. His crimes and tyrannies cause widespread dissatisfaction among the people and in the end the silent rebellion brewing against him takes the form of an open struggle in which he is destroyed.
The fall of Lady Macbeth
Like her husband, Lady Macbeth, too. follows the path of evil and pays heavily for it. She becomes his accomplice in crime. She invites him to murder the King. When he hesitates to do so, she brings all her will-power to bear upon him and goads him to perform the heinous deed. Without her active support Macbeth would never have committed the murder. But very soon Lady Macbeth too realizes the futility of her position as a queen. She feels that the fulfillment of their ambition has not brought happiness to them, but it has become rather a source of great anxiety. They now live in a kind of “doubtful joy.” Her sins also recoil upon her and she constantly suffers from deep spiritual anguish. Nemesis overtakes her. On the night of Duncan’s murder she had confidently asserted, “A little water clears us of this deed.” But a time comes when she feels that “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” She rubs her hands together all the time in order to get rid of the blood-spots which, she feels, have stuck permanently on them. This is a symbolic action of the deepest significance. Lady Macbeth’s conscience will never let her alone now for her sinful violation of her womanly nature. In the end, we are informed, she dies at her own hands. Thus in her case, too. our sense of justice is fully satisfied.
•Other Example of poetics justice:-
Romeo and Juliet
In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the enmity between Montague and Capulet family finally comes to an end.
Othello
In Shakespeare’s play Othello, many characters experience poetic justice
Desdemona deceived her father for Othello and was finally killed by Othello.
Iago is sent to prison for all his evil deeds.
Cassio, who was a gentleman, is appointed as governor.
•Conclusion:-
Thus we find that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are guilty of most unnatural and inhuman crimes, for which both of them suffer greatly. Both are subjected to deep mental and spiritual tortures, and in the end both of them perish as a result of their crimes. But Shakespeare does not paint them as monsters: he pictures them very much as human beings, who are led astray because of their misconceived notions of glory and greatness. He enlists our sympathy for them by presenting before us their minds and hearts torn by internal conflict. We do not so much hate them as pity them. But in spite of all our sympathy we feel that they have justly suffered for all that they have done in the earlier part of the play. Poetic justice has been fully observed in their case.
Thank you visiting & reading my Assignment 😊
Words-1765
Images-3
•Work cited:-
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/poetic-justice
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