CHARACTER OF MACBETH:

William Shakespeare is an immortal poet whose works have survived to posterity. His poems
and plays are fresh even today and appear relevant. Macbeth is among the four great tragedies of
Shakespeare and it deals with the tragedy of ambition. Macbeth the protagonist of the play is a
tragic hero who has all the virtues of an Aristotelian Hero but because of his tragic flaw
“vaulting ambition” falls from glorious heights of virtue to degradation and death. Macbeth
portrays the human drama of emotions – both external and internal. Shakespeare appears to be an
expert at ‘psycho-analysis’ and his play enacts somnambulism, hallucination and ‘mind-
sickness’

Macbeth and Banquo are the army generals of King Duncan of Scotland. Macbeth is a great hero
and is described as ‘valour’s minion’ and ‘Bellona’s Bridegroom’. At the beginning of the play
Macbeth and Banquo are returning from a bitter war and it is amply made clear that it was the
heroism and untiring strength that has won the war. Macbeth represents the aged, meek king
Duncan.

Macbeth meets the three weird sisters- the witches, who profess the title of thane of Glamis on
Macbeth. The witches also promise that the fate holds royalty for him. The prophecy of the
witches provides an opportunity for Macbeth to look into himself and his ambition. Macbeth
admits:
“ I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which O’ver leaps itself
And falls on the other.”

Duncan awards the ‘thane of Glamis’ on Macbeth and he hopes that the other part of the
prophecy may also come true. After a prolonged psychological inner battle, Macbeth succumbs
to the temptation and yields to the provocation of Lady Macbeth and decides to murder Duncan.
Initially Macbeth is shocked at the gruesome murder and becomes wayward, but soon graduates
into an expert in cold-blooded murders and plans the murder of Banquo and Fleance. He falls
from nobility and valour to wretchedness and villainy. He becomes a murderer and a butcher
with the inhuman butchery of the wife, children and all the relatives of Macduff-the thane of
Fife. Macbeth never enjoys peace and rest. He becomes a slave to his own ambition and
unfounded fears. He becomes uncontrollable aided by the powers bestowed on him by the
witches that he need not fear till the Birnam forest moves towards Dunsiane castle and that no
man born of a woman can vanquish him.

Macbeth distances himself from his wife, peace, and nobility. He becomes an autocrat and a
butcher who is feared by one and all. All his deputies flee Scotland. Lady Macbeth suffers from
somnambulism and kills herself violently. Macbeth is attacked by Malcolm with the support of
the British and the prophecy of the witches becomes true when the trees of the Birnam forest are
used by the forces to disguise and Macduff admits that he is not born of a woman. Macbeth
fights like a hero but is killed by Macduff.

Macbeth undoubtedly possesses all the virtues but because of his ambition and unfounded fears
moves towards doom and destruction.

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CHARACTER OF LADY MACBETH:

William Shakespeare is an immortal poet whose works have survived to posterity. His poems
and plays are fresh even today and appear relevant. Macbeth is among the four great tragedies of
Shakespeare and it deals with the tragedy of ambition. Macbeth the protagonist of the play is a
tragic hero who has all the virtues of an Aristotelian Hero but because of his tragic flaw
“vaulting ambition” falls from glorious heights of virtue to degradation and death. Macbeth
portrays the human drama of emotions – both external and internal. Shakespeare appears to be an
expert at ‘psycho-analysis’ and his play enacts somnambulism, hallucination and ‘mind-
sickness’

Lady Macbeth is one of the extraordinary female characters created by Shakespeare. She
presents herself as a lady of strong will and determination. Her provocation is selfless and she
aspires to see her husband prosper. Though she is described as the fourth witch in the play, one
can see that she is full of humane feelings and she is against the series of murders perpetrated by
her husband. When she reads the letter written by Macbeth from the battlefield, she realises the
ambition in Macbeth and promises him all that is promised by the witches. “ . . . thou would be
great. Are not without ambition.” She prepares to use the ‘valour’ of her tongue and pursues
Macbeth to murder king Duncan. Even after the murder she appears calm and composed and
advises Macbeth to hide his feelings and put up a manly posture. Even during the Banquet scene,
Lady Macbeth comes to the rescue of Macbeth and presents herself as a matured and devoted
wife. Though attempts to murder Duncan, she fails because the motherly feelings prevent her
from doing so. The malignity of Lady Macbeth ends with the murder of Duncan but her husband
continues to kill people.

Sleepwalking scene is a classic example of Shakespeare’s psychoanalytical abilities. Lady

Macbeth suffers from somnambulism and the words uttered during the night, portray the inner
agony and trauma experienced by her. Her condition is prompted by remorse and repentance.
Her words portray the discussion between the Lady and Macbeth and her persuasions to put an
end the series of murders committed by him. Though the death of Lady Macbeth is reported to
Macbeth, later one comes to know that the ‘fiend-like’ queen killed herself with violent hands.

Lady Macbeth is not beyond remorse and regeneration. She encourages her husband out of her
love for him but once the ambition is realised she aspires for a peaceful life. She does not believe
in mindless murders, but she is a conscious woman who could not avoid the burden of guilt on
her shoulder for a long time. Once the burden of guilt becomes too heavy for her, she commits
suicide.

The character of Lady Macbeth is unique in the sense that she exhibits iron will and unflinching
courage, but inwardly she is soft, humane and motherly. The ‘witch-like’ qualities in her can
ascribed to her interest in her husband’s ambition and furtherance of his interest. She is mellow
and motherly for she fails to murder Duncan, and after passage of some time, she gives herself
unto remorse and finally kills herself.

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BANQUET SCENE:

The Banquet scene takes place in Act III, Sc.iv. It is a very important scene because it catches
the crisis in the play besides the supernatural element, which heightens the inner drama of
conflict and dichotomy in the mind of Macbeth. Macbeth’s unfounded doubts and too much faith
in the words of witches, make him plan the murder of Banquo and Fleance. The scene also draws
comparison between the strong will of Lady Macbeth and the continuing hallucinations with
Macbeth. Macbeth arranges murderers to kill Banquo, and the murderers manage to kill only
Banquo, where as Fleance escapes. The news of the murder is conveyed to Macbeth and
immediately at the mention of his name at the banquet table the ghost of Banquo makes an
appearance. The ghost is visible only to Macbeth and further heightens the irony and tension.
The reaction of Macbeth throws clues at the murder and Lady Macbeth intelligently puts an end
to the confessions. The invitees are shocked and at the same time the reverie of Macbeth is ‘
revealing’ for some. The words of Macbeth reveal that the sight of the ghost is appalling and
unnerves even a hero like Macbeth. The ghost disappears for some time and Macbeth wonders if
the graves were making way for the dead. With the reappearance of the ghost, Macbeth becomes
quite talkative and Lady Macbeth fears that Macbeth may speak out the details of the murder of
Duncan. The scene shows the inner cowardice of Macbeth. It also shows the guilt, fear and the
corruption deep within Macbeth. The scene portrays the fears in Macbeth about the
consequences of his sin.

THE SLEEP WALKING SCENE

The sleepwalking scene in Macbeth is a much celebrated and appreciated scene in the play. It
gives an insight into the psyche of Lady Macbeth. Act V, Sc.i, in Macbeth is identified as the
sleepwalking scene. Shakespeare’s uniqueness and ability are very much visible in the scene. At
a time when the very term psychology was unknown, he uses psycho-analysis to lay bare the
psyche of his characters and we come across words like ‘ mind sickness’. The scene provides a
peep into the sick mind of Lady Macbeth, who becomes a patient of somnambulism after the
distancing of Macbeth and the feeling of guilt weighing heavy on her. The doctor who is called
to treat her accepts that he has no cure for such ‘unnatural’ disease. The lady walks out of her
chamber with a lighted candle, writes something, reads and utters strange words which shock the
doctor and the maid. The lady rubs her hands repeatedly ‘washing’ the bloodstains created by the
too much blood of the ‘old man’. The words of Lady Macbeth also intermittently capture the
discussion between the Lady and her husband. Her words reveal that she objected to the series of
murders perpetrated by Macbeth. She mentions the death of the ‘old man’ and Banquo besides
the lady and children of Macduff. She opines that all the perfumes of Arabia cannot cleanse her
pretty hands. The words show the deep-seated guilt in her and her attempts to wash off the guilt
from the soul. The lady becomes sick, when Macbeth fails to provide the necessary support and
company to his wife, pursuing his own trail. The doctor opines that he cannot treat the ‘infected
minds’ and only the divine can help the lady. The scene portrays the terrible feeling of sin, and
guilt experienced by Lady Macbeth, which also shows that she is capable of regeneration where
as Macbeth continues to be a criminal all through.

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“OBITUARY”: A.K. RAMANUJAN
A.K. Ramanujan is an expatriate writer, but his poems are replete with the subjects that revolve
round India and its people. Different varieties of cultures and practices of the people find a place
in his poems. His famous works include ‘The Striders’, ‘Relations’ and Selected Poems.
“Obituary” is a poem, which blends pathos and irony. Though the narration is ironical and
sometimes satirical, the readers cannot miss the pathos and the pain, lurking in the voice of the
speaker.

The speaker in the poem recollects the events revolving round the death of his father. He talks of
the legacy left behind by his father and says that his father left dust, debts and daughters. The
irony is pungent as he mentions the daughters in the same breath with dust and debts. The father
has also left a dilapidated house leaning on to a bending coconut tree, a bed-wetting grandson,
spinal discs to be ‘thrown’ in a confluence, a changed mother and more than one annual ritual to
be performed by the son. The speaker makes an attempt to emphasise the fact that the father has
led a life that was devoid of any success, charm or achievement. He could not manage anything
in his life, including his birth and death. The father was born out of a caesarean operation and
died in a fruit market because of a heart attack. Though the speaker emphasises such issues, the
readers become well aware that no human being has any control over them. In his attempt to vent
out his ire, his helplessness and the voluminous burden left on him by the father, the speaker
ascribes everything to the old man, including things for which he was not responsible, for
example the bed-wetting grandson has nothing to do with the grandfather. The speaker highlights
that the father had nothing unique about him except his wrathful disposition, which made him
fume all the time. In an innocent way he observes that his father …“Being a burning type, he
burned properly at the cremation as before”. The reader cannot miss the unsentimental and
casual attitude of the son to the father’s death and the burning of the pyre.

Unlike an elegy, which celebrates the life of a person and mourns his death, “Obituary” portrays
the helpless condition of a middle class brahminical family, which is burdened by the death of
the head of the family. The peculiar habit of reading the obituary column in newspapers of the
speaker grows more intense after the death of his father and at the mention by somebody that a
few lines were inserted by somebody in a Madras Newspaper. The anguish and agony become
highly intense with the mention of the ‘changed mother and more than one annual ritual’, the
readers cannot resist the temptation to sympathise with the speaker for his helplessness and the
burden dumped on him by the tradition. The old mother is ‘widowed’ because of the custom of
the religion and the annual rituals which obviously put lot of burden on the speaker, make his life
all the more tedious. No doubt the speaker’s attitude is casual but it is mostly caused by the
burden and the avalanche of responsibility that is imposed on him by the death of the father. In
the absence of any financial support and the legacy, the speaker becomes matter of fact and
unsentimental. Besides one can know that he has interest in the religion and the customs imposed
by it. His gingerly attitude in collecting the spinal discs and his deliberate mention of the
inability to build a tomb or a monument is no doubt caustic, but it is all the more understandable
given the financial status, the absence of any legacy, the burden of responsibility of marrying the
sisters and performing the annual rituals.

“Obituary” is a unique elegy, which highlights the conditions of a middle class Brahminical
family.

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“YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE”: PETER PORTER
“Your Attention Please” is an interesting poem by Peter Porter that deals with the war theme.
Peter Porter is an extraordinary Commonwealth writer of Australian origin. “Your Attention
Please” presents not only the criticism of war but also the perversion and callousness in the mind
of the warmongers.

As the title of the poem suggests it is a radio-announcement, which warns the people about the
impending danger and destruction. The enemy has lunched nuclear attack with the help of five
rockets of one thousand megaton capacity each on all the major cities and the people are asked to
take shelter in the air-raid bunkers. The intention of the announcement is obvious that more than
making the lives of the people secure, it wants to emphasise the concern it has for the safety and
security of the people. The concern it has for their religious sentiments, for different
announcements at different wavelengths, is more emphatic than the concern it has for the lives of
the people, the lives of the old and the bedridden, that of the pets.

The announcement has clinical precision as it specifies the time available at the disposal of the
people in seconds and asks the people to abide by the instructions provided in the Civil Defence
Code. The tone is very clear when it instructs the people not to take the pets, the old and bed-
ridden for nothing can be done about them. The people are asked to press the air sealing and set
the radiation aerial, Geiger barometer etc, the jargon that is deliberately used to divert the
attention of the people and make them believe that the State is concerned about their safety. The
fact of the matter is that the precarious predicament on people is enforced by the warmongery of
the state. The announcement further asks the people to put the children to sleep by using a
specific pill and in case of emergency or the scarcity of oxygen in the air-raid shelter the people
are advised to take ‘Valley Forge ‘ for painless death, which is kept in the “Survival kit”. The
irony becomes more blatant with the mention of the survival kit and the painless death. People
are given a set of instructions to be followed in the air-raid shelter for survival and even their
religious sentiments are taken care of by the state in case they opt for painless death for the
Catholics are asked to follow the instruction of the priests.

The people are assured of avenging the possible death toll because the President has ordered the
massive retaliation. Every member of the community is assured that he may not die but ‘some of
us may die. Remember, statistically It is not likely to be you”. It is ironical that death is spoken
about in very unsentimental terms and there is total casualness that is attached to the destruction.
Towards the end of the poem the announcement appears sham and the concern is shallow, for it
uses clichés like “the sun is shining”, “All flags are flying fully dressed” etc; because they have
nothing to do with the predicament of the people which is forced on them by the people in
power. The irony becomes all the more emphatic when the announcement ascribes everything to
the will of God. The jargon of the war perpetrators is not only ironical but the poet uses the
philosophic overtones to justify the callousness in the announcement. The announcement is
devoid of all human values but plays on the superficial side of life to assure the people that the
state has deep concern for their safety and security. The poem reminds us of the dictators that the
world has seen who justified their actions in the name of religion, doctrines, principles and faith
which had any meaning only to them who enforced them on the people and caused homicide.
‘War is mere sham and the war perpetrators have only personal and hidden agendas’ is the
message of the poem.

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“AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM”: STEPHEN SPENDER-

Stephen Spender is one of the remarkable poets of the modern times. He is part of the Oxford
Group led by W.H. Auden. Spender believed in the realisation of a new world facilitated by
Machines and Communism. He was fascinated by the ideals of Communism and hoped that the
world of equality and egalitarianism would become true. Spender strongly believed that poetry
must absorb the images and life of the modern times. He wanted poetry to capture the real world
and did not believe in romantisicing life in poetry. In his own words: “ Surely the point at which
modern poetry becomes revolutionary is the point where it tries to define truths which are related
to the worlds around us: to politics and economics. It is revolutionary because it has retired
altogether from the attempt to find satisfaction in the ‘possible worlds’ of mythology! It is back
in the world which surrounds us”.

“An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” is a highly realistic poem, which captures the life
of the small children in an elementary school classroom in a slum. It draws a contrast between
the world of romantics and beauty and the world of poverty caused by exploitation and
inequality. It draws contrast between the world of Shakespeare and the beautiful world in travel
posters with that of the grim world of politics and economic exploitation. The world of the slum
children in a classroom is far removed from the gusty waves of the sea and the colour and charm
that is associated with it. The faces of the children in a classroom are like rootless weeds. Their
faces are grim, pale and devoid of any life and charm. Their eyes have no gleam but are like rat’s
eyes. A paper seeming boy who is all bones is an heir to a gnarled disease of his father and has
bouts of cough. Another boy sitting at the backbench has a glare in his eyes caused by the dream
in those eyes, a dream far removed from the actual world.

The poet opines that the bust of Shakespeare on the sour cream walls is wicked. The travel
posters on the walls that portray valleys, brooks and wonderful world of natural beauty are bad
example for the children. For the world of Shakespeare represents romantic world, love, natural
beauty, but the world of the slum children is painted with fog. Their lives lead only to the cul-de-
sac (one end closed street) and it is covered by the lead sky devoid of natural beauty and it has
no brightness of the stars. The children are doomed to live in cramped holes and their bones peep
through their skin. Their lives are totally devoid of any hope and colour.

The slum school is a microcosm of the world for the children whose world opens to the outside
world only when an outsider: a governor, teacher, inspector or visitor drops in. Those visitors are
the windows that open their world. Their world is cut off from the outside world and they are
destined to live all through in the slums, in utter poverty and degradation. Their world waits its
turn for opportunity and material comfort. The classroom, which provides the comfort of
Shakespeare’s world only in books and teachings, cheats them and misleads them. The poet
calls for the breaking of this crouching tombs, the world of imagination and falsehood in those
books and teachings, that is devoid of reality and asks these children to be lead into the world of
green leaves and their tongues to run naked into books. The hope is obvious when he says: “The
history theirs whose language is the sun”. Spender calls for the world of learning and school
curriculum to be close to the world of reality. Poetry for Spender is a noble calling to achieve
social transformation.