The Forms of Expression of Macbeth’s Imagination and Their Significance as a Means of Projecting Wishes and Fears into the Future
On the basis of Shakespeare’s use of imagination as an essential means of personal characterization, a first step towards the psychological shaping and the individualization of the drama can be identified despite the fact that the character of imagination was not yet scientifically defined during that time. Therefore, in this chapter Macbeth’s different motivations for his actions and the background of his transitioning mental state shall stand in the centre of discussion. In the course of this, the depiction of imagination in the drama as well as its impacts on Macbeth’s psychological health, his concrete actions and on the further course of the plot will be examined more closely.
Generally, it is to be determined that “Macbeth’s self-awareness is bound up with his hopes and fears of the future. (Palmer, p.149, l.13-14).
10.1 Imagination as a Mirror of Secret Hopes and Desires: Positive Anticipation of the Future and Disillusionment in the End
10.1.1 Macbeth’s Hopes and Desires
Since his first encounter with the witches (see Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3), Macbeth’s vision of a bright future principally consists of being able to lead a carefree, lighthearted and happy life together with his wife, as a royal couple. Roger L. Cox also endorses this when he says: “The hero has immersed himself in guilt without really achieving his purpose, which is to revel in the unalloyed pleasure of being king.” (Cox, p.116, l.17-19).
To some extent, this becomes evident in the second scene of the third act when Macbeth feignedly1 instructs his wife before the banquet to meet Banquo with great respect: “Let your remembrance apply to Banquo, / Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue. / Unsafe the while, that we must lave / Our honours in these flattering streams, / And make our faces vizards to our hearts, / Disguising what they are.“ (Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 2, l.31–36). Thus, he here hopes to be safe soon by murdering Banquo. His unconditional wish for certainty and security becomes more obvious in act three, scene four when one of the murders has to confess to him that Banquo’s son, Fleance, was able to escape the assassination attempt. Half-angry, half-desperate about it, Macbeth says: “I had else been perfect; / Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, / As broad and general as the casing air: / But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears.“ (Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4, l.19–23).
Right when the witches greet him with “king”, he startles (see Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3, l.50-51). It is therefore reasonable to assume that the hope for an enhancement of his current power position (since he is ‘only’ one of the two generals of the royal army) has been latently present inside him for a long time and is now coming to light, since right after his appointment as Thane of Cawdor by the king’s messengers – which immediately confirms the first prophecy of the witches and, therefore, makes Macbeth believe that the prophecy of kingship will also come true quickly after – the hope of being able to become king himself emerges in him, whereby at this point he does not know yet how this is exactly supposed to happen.
Initially, he puts his hopes for the fulfillment of these prophecies into destiny: “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me, / Without my stir.“ (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3, l.146–147). But secretly, he already considers the murder of king Duncan at this point, in order to reach his goal, even though he does not dare to admit this thought even to himself yet.
However, his great hope, which he bears throughout the entire drama, primarily consists of reaching finality – which, above all, means security for him – through his murder of Duncan and to subsequently be able to enjoy it in peace (see Naumann, p.385, l.25-26). He makes this specifically clear in front of his wife: “[…] Whom [Duncan] we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, […]“ (Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 2, l.21). Thus he hopes to find his security in himself and his deed alone. In a monologue prior to his deed, he explicitly discloses this great wish which he ties to his upcoming crime: “[…] that but this blow / Might be the be-all and the end-all, […]“ (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7, l.4-5). He hence expects that his murder will put an end to his all too high power ambitions, so that he will be able to live a secure and happy life as king.
But shortly before Macbeth’s definite decision to commit regicide, “Not even his different senses are in harmony with each other, and Macbeth’s rhetorical division of eye and hand seems to express an illusory hope that one can commit a crime without being accountable for it with one’s complete person.” (Mehl, p.113, l.1-4): “The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be / Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.“ (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4, l.52–53). Thus, absurdly, he hopes to evade the net of consequences for his deed through a split of his personality (see Neis, p.53, l.28-32), but according to Marga Unterstenhöfer, this “hand-eye-opposition” is exactly what supports this process of destruction in Macbeth’s mind (see Unterstenhöfer, p.172, l.8-19). Moreover, as for this wish, the terms “eye” and “see” can be metaphorically understood as organs of his imagination.