Literary Analysis: By the Shrieking of the Owl
Tag: Macbeth
Blog Post 5: Annotation of Virtue, Natural Law, and Supernatural Solicitation: A Thomastic Reading of Macbeth
An article by Stacey Hibbs and Thomas Hibbs titled, Virtue, Natural Law, and Supernatural Solicitation: A Thomastic Reading of Macbeth, delves into a close reading of Macbeth through the lense of Thomas Aquinas to exhibit how the plot and character decisions closely reflect the philosophical and theological teachings of Aquinas. Specifically, the use of Aquinas’s theory of virtue, natural law, and the supernatural are used to explain why some characters reflect what Aquinas describes as truly good, all things that are actualized, or natural evil, “a lack of an appropriate perfection” (Hibbs’ 277) This article inquires into this topic through a close reading of Macbeth along with many excerpts from Aquinas’s work in Summa Contra Gentiles, along with many other accredited philosophers, theologians, and scholars. Stacey Hibbs and Thomas Hibbs use the work of outside sources to both accredit and challenge Aquinas’s theory as it relates to the work of Macbeth, and then they strategically pull pieces of dialogue or monologue from Macbeth that speak to the teachings of Aquinas through most all the characters. They do a thorough job of covering most of Macbeth, but my specific interest lies in their reading of the supernatural forces that take place in Macbeth and how Thomas Aquinas would explain the role of the supernatural in relation to the world of man, the supernatural consisting of witches, miraculous Kings, and the Grace of God, and how these forces can guide us to the natural good of humanity unless we lead ourselves away in temptation towards the inhuman. So their focus on the prophecy of the Weird Sisters and the “divine Grace” Malcolm speaks of are what connect my question to their work (Hibbs 291). The article is thorough and convincing in its claim that Macbeth reflects Aquinas’s theory. They leave little room for holes in their reading, and the holes they do leave they continue to question which suggests that their inquisition is never complete which is ultimately a sign of thoughtful inquiry. They were specific with the examples they used, and detailed in their analysis of each one, leaving little room to disagree with their reading of Macbeth as it relates to Aquinas. This article has contributed to the formation of my question of inquiry and how I might possibly view it through the teachings of Aquinas. I now know my question to be, how does the supernatural and divine found in Macbeth guide it’s characters to either a human or inhuman state, and with this article I can offer an argument for and against my question with Aquinas’s theory and regarding the role of the supernatural in human decisions, and whether that role exists to lead us astray or not.
Hibbs, Stacey and Thomas Hibbs. “Virtue, Natural Law, and Supernatural Solicitation: A Thomistic Reading of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.” Religion & the Arts, vol. 5, no. 3, Sept. 2001, pp. 273-296. EBSCOhost, login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=6109694&site=ehost-live.
haley.williams@emory.edu
28 March. Macbeth 4&5
Questions about the Annotations?
Macbeth 4 & 5
- 1. Why do the weird sisters, Hecate, and “their masters” (4.1.78) want to effect the affairs of state? What’s their stake in the outcome of battle for the throne of Scotland?
- 2. How are we supposed to read the spells? Are the spells a metaphor for how nature effects culture? Or are they just silly—nothing would happen if all those items were mixed together.
- 3. What three apparitions does Macbeth see and what prophesies do they bring him? How does Macbeth respond? Is his response consistent with Hecate’s expectations?
- 4. Why does MacBeth kill MacDuff’s family? What’s your assessment of Lady MacDuff and her son?
- 5. Of what is MacDuff attempting to persuade Malcolm? Why is Malcolm suspicious of MacDuff? How does Malcolm test MacDuff’s character? Will Malcolm make a better king than Macbeth, why or why not?
- 6. What do the Gentlewoman and the Doctor observe Lady Macbeth doing? What conclusions do they draw from their interpretation?
- 7. How do Malcolm and his forces disguise themselves as they move on Macbeth’s castle? What are the implications of their disguise?
- 8. How does Macbeth respond to the news of Lady Macbeth’s death & how does the form of his response fit into the larger scene? Does Lady Macbeth kill herself? Why does Malcolm make such a report?
- 9. Why might it matter that Malcolm is not “of woman born” (5.10.13)?
Let’s close read the following passages and then compare them:
Passage One
Wisdom—to leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion, and his title in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not,
He wants the natural touch, for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason. (4.1.6-14)
Passage Two
I will not yield
To kiss the ground before yourn Malcolm’s feet,
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,
And though opposed being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
O throw my warlike shield. Lay on, MacDuff
And damned be him that first cries ‘Hold, enough!’ (5.10.27-35)
RQ: Macbeth, Acts 4-5
Macbeth, Acts 4 & 5
1. Why do the weird sisters, Hecate, and “their masters” (4.1.78) want to effect the affairs of state? What’s their stake in the outcome of battle for the throne of Scotland?
2. How are we supposed to read the spells? Are the spells a metaphor for how nature effects culture? Or are they just silly—nothing would happen if all those items were mixed together.
3. What three apparitions does Macbeth see and what prophesies do they bring him? How does Macbeth respond? Is his response consistent with Hecate’s expectations?
4. Why does MacBeth kill MacDuff’s family? What’s your assessment of Lady MacDuff and her son?
5. Of what is MacDuff attempting to persuade Malcolm? Why is Malcolm suspicious of MacDuff? How does Malcolm test MacDuff’s character? Will Malcolm make a better king than Macbeth, why or why not?
6. What do the Gentlewoman and the Doctor observe Lady Macbeth doing? What conclusions do they draw from their interpretation?
7. How do Malcolm and his forces disguise themselves as they move on Macbeth’s castle? What are the implications of their disguise?
8. How does Macbeth respond to the news of Lady Macbeth’s death & how does the form of his response fit into the larger scene? Does Lady Macbeth kill herself? Why does Malcolm make such a report?
9. Why might it matter that Malcolm is not “of woman born” (5.10.13)?
10. Close read the following passages and then compare them:
Passage One
Wisdom—to leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion, and his title in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not,
He wants the natural touch, for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, agaist the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason. (4.1.6-14)
Passage Two
I will not yield
To kiss the ground before yourn Malcolm’s feet,
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,
And though opposed being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
O throw my warlike shield. Lay on, MacDuff
And damned be him that first cries ‘Hold, enough!’ (5.10.27-35)
Blog Post 5
21 March, Macbeth Acts 2-3
Housekeeping: Calendar Change
Part I: Secondary Articles and Annotation
- 1.Review Blog Post and Paper Requirements
- 2. Log-in to the MLA database
- 3. Find an article on the play you chose and one of the possible topics: animals, posthumanism, human, nonhuman, staging.
Part II: Discussion
1.What is the significance of the floating dagger (2.1.32-40)? Why Macbeth can see it but not touch it? In what way is the dagger similar to the prophecies?
2.What is the relationship between sleep and death in Macbeth? For instance, Macbeth says that he heard a voice cry, ”Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” (2.2.33-34); Lady Macbeth says “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures” (2.2.51-52); and Macbeth says of the knocking, “Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst” (2.2.72). How do the Macbeths’ musings on sleep in 2.2 anticipate the alarum raised when everyone discovers Duncan has been murdered in 2.3?
3.How do you think Shakespeare and his contemporaries staged the blood?
4.Why stage MacDuff and Lennox’s entrance to Macbeth’s castle as passing through the gates of Hell? Is Macbeth’s castle really a place of torment and punishment?
5.What sort of night have MacDuff and Lennox passed through (2.3.50-56)?
6.Which characters’ description of the murder scene is the best?
7.How does Macbeth persuade the Murders to kill Banquo? What goes wrong during the murder?
8.Is Banquo’s ghost real or a figment of Macbeth’s imagination? What difference does it make?
9.Are the Macbeths good hosts, why or why not? Let’s watch the Banquet scene at 3.4. Macbeth (2015) with Michael Fassbender and the Patrick Stewart version.
10.Why do so many unnatural things happen in 3.4?
11.What’s the goal of Hecate’s monologue and why is it in different meter?
12. What separates humans from animals in this play?
RQ: Macbeth, Acts 1-3
Macbeth, Act I, Questions
1.Why is it bad luck to say Macbeth backstage during a production of any play?
2. Do the Weird Sisters, the First, Second, and Third Witch remind you of the Furies?
3. What sorts of offstage sounds do we hear in 1.1? Does it matter that the animals in the first scene are named and the people are not?
4. Who, what, and where are the Witches talking about in 1.1?
5. We get two accounts of the battle in 1.2, compare the account given by the Bloody Captain to the account that Ross gives. Why tell the same story twice? Why does the Captain use such awesome similes?
6. Do the Witches cause the thunder?
7. What sort of spell do the Witches cast at the beginning of 1.3 and why?
8. What do the Witches predict will happen to Macbeth? To Banquo? Compare the way in which each character reacts to the sisters and their predictions. Esp. Macbeth (1.3.126-42). COMPARE TWO SCENES.
9. How did Cawdor die? Who inherits after Duncan dies?
10. When does Macbeth choose to kill Duncan (1.4.48-53)?
11. What does Macbeth say in the letter he writes to Lady Macbeth? How does she respond? Is she a good reader–compare her reading practices with Julia or Silvia’s. Would Macbeth have committed the murders if not for Lady Macbeth?
12. Lots of birds so far. What do you make of “The raven himself is hoarse/That croacks the fatal entrance of Duncan” (1.5.37) and “This guest of summer,/The Temple-haunting marlet, does approve/By his loved masionry that the heavens’ breath/Smells wooingly her” (1.6.2-5).
13. In his famous soliloquy (1.7.1-28), Macbeth reasons through the pros and cons of killing Duncan. What are some arguments against the murder? What are some arguments in favor?
14. How does Lady Macbeth finally convince Macbeth to go through with the murder?
Act 2
1. Banquo tells Macbeth something the king did right before going to bed. What is this final action of King Duncan’s life? What does it tell us about King Duncan? How does it reinforce the themes of the play?
2. What is the significance of the floating dagger (2.1.32-40)? Why Macbeth can see it but not touch it? In what way is the dagger similar to the prophecies?
3. When Macbeth says, ”I go, and it is done” (2.1.62), what has finally convinced him to murder Duncan?
4. How does Shakespeare show in this scene that Macbeth’s natural relationship with god, man, animals, and the world has been disrupted?
5. What is the relationship between sleep and death in Macbeth? For instance, Macbeth says that he heard a voice cry, ”Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” (2.2.33-34); Lady Macbeth says “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures” (2.2.51-52); and Macbeth says of the knocking, “Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst” (2.2.72). How do the Macbeths’ musings on sleep in 2.2 anticipate the alarum raised when everyone discovers Duncan has been murdered in 2.3?
6. Where does blood show up in 2.2, and why do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth respond so differently? How do you think the Shakespeare’s theater staged the blood? Do you think stage blood might behave in ways the actors cannot control?
7. Why stage MacDuff and Lennox’s entrance to Macbeth’s castle as passing through the gates of Hell? Is Macbeth’s castle really a place of torment and punishment?
8. What sort of night have MacDuff and Lennox passed through (2.3.50-56)?
9. Which characters’ description of the murder scene is the best?
10. How do the character react to the murder?
11.In 2.4, how does the natural world both predict and react to Duncan’s death?
Act 3
In 3.1, Macbeth invites Banquo to dinner? Are the Macbeths good hosts?
How does Macbeth persuade the murders to kill Banquo? Why do the Murders agree to take the job? Why does Macbeth want Banquo and Fleance dead?
How do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel about their new positions? What do the phrases, ”doubtful joy” (3.29) and ”sorriest fantasies” ( reveal
Lady Macbeth says, ”Naught’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content.” What does this line mean? Why is it significant for her character?
