Thread by @GCSE_Macbeth

Sex and Violence in Macbeth.

I'm intrigued by two moments in the play:

a) Act 1 Sc 7 -- Lady Macbeth: "What cannot you and I perform upon / The unguarded Duncan?"

b) Act 2 Sc 1 -- Macbeth: "With Tarquin's ravishing strides".

1/

In each case the murder of Duncan is framed in sexual terms.

Lady Macbeth's use of "perform" foreshadows the Porter's use of "performance" in a sexual sense a couple of scenes later.

2/

The Porter's association of alcohol with impotence echoes Lady M's accusation towards Macbeth that his "hope" was drunk; he will not be able to commit the murder.

(shouts to @SPryke2 for bringing this reading to my attention).

3/

Lady Macbeth's desire to "perform" on Duncan puts me in mind of the First Witch in 1.3:

"I will drain him [the sailor] dry as hay".

In the Witch's case she will act sexually; Lady M is performing violence.

4/

But the image of the woman who visits her victim in the night to act upon his helpless body -- perhaps invoking the image of the succubus in each case -- is common to both the Witch and LM.

5/

Onto Macbeth and Tarquin.

Tarquin, the Roman king Sextus Tarquinius, performs the titular Rape of Lucrece in the story (retold by Shakespeare) of the same name.

So why does Macbeth frame his imminent murder of Duncan as a rape?

6/

It reflects how this killing is so different for Macbeth than all the violence he's committed previously. Bloodshed comes easily to him on the battlefield, but this is different -- it's unnatural, secret, a violation of natural order.

7/

I think part of giving the murder its psychological, even supernatural impact in the play is rendering it as something beyond "just" a murder. This has to be something that traumatises Macbeth beyond being a killing done out of expedience and political gain.

8/

You don't need to think too hard, either, about the phallic symbolism of Macbeth "penetrating" Duncan with his dagger.

I find LM's insistence on going back into the chamber herself, to further interfere with D's body and blood, particularly suggestive (and haunting) here.

9/

Now: AFTER the murder. Macbeth turns his attention to Banquo, and the language of this new enmity still tends towards phallic and suggestive imagery:

- "put a barren sceptre in my gripe" (3.1)
- "every minute of his being thrusts / Against my near'st of life) (3.1)

10/

- "root and father of many kings" (3.1)
- "I to your assistance do make love" (3.1)
- "We have scotch'd the snake" (3.2)

For Macbeth, the challenge from Banquo comes not in the form of strength or violence but in the ability to father "a line of kings

11/

Macbeth perceives Banquo's fecundity pitted against his own "fruitless"-ness. It is a challenge to his manhood, and I think that's why he imagines it in these terms.

12/

I'm sure there's more -- it's certainly interesting to note that Malcom is a self-certified virgin ("I am yet unknown to woman" 4.3).

I hope this provides a starting point for thinking about how sexuality figures in the violence of Macbeth.

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