Flipping an Ethical Switch or Fraying the Emotional Wires? : An Analysis of J. P.

Dysons The Structural Function of the Banquet Scene in Macbeth

When life turns sour, becomes destructive and spins out of control, it is a typical human reaction to try to analyze why such things happen. How did things go wrong? Was it an instantaneous turn of events, a moral shift from good to bad, or an unremitting wearing away of the psychological wires, ultimately leading to an emotional short circuit. J.P. Dyson, i n The Structural Function of the Banquet Scene in Macbeth argues that Macbeth, during the banquet, turns from good to evil, ultimately leading to Macbeths damnation and simultaneously creating chaos out of order. A possible alternative reading of the scene provides a more progressive picture of Macbeths personality, a man existing in a haze of the horror of his conflicted psyche. From the day of his appointment as the Thane of Cawdor until his ultimate death, he lives in the abyss between his mind deliberating considerations of worldly success and his inner-self constricted by conscience. The banquet scene is just one moment in Macbeths ongoing misery, one in which his life moves towards isolation, an obvious byproduct of the dual nature of his being. Dyson begins his discussion of what he considers to be Macbeths path toward damnation by exploring Shakespeares metaphors of the raven (I.v.45-61) and martlet (I.vi.4-12) to epitomize evil and good. He depicts the raven passage as an expression of evil forces at work in the play:the bird of prey; the constricted, closed-in atmosphere (battlements, thick night, blanket of the dark); mutilation and sterility (unsex); hell; hospitality violated; hate. 1[1] He says that the martlet passage clusters the positive Macbeth valuessuch as the medieval notion of hospitality (guest); sleep and security (pendant bed and procreant cradle); the lightness

1[1]

J. P. Dyson, The Structural Function of the Banquet Scene in Macbeth

and delicacy of the atmosphere, free-playing breezes, and airy heights.2[2] The dilemma that comes to light in Dysons inquiry of the marlet and the raven metaphors is not whether acts of good and evil exist within the play, but, rather, what are their relevance to Macbeths character? Is Macbeths character transformed from good to evil within the banquet scene, leading him on a direct path to hell, or is he continually living a tormented life of uncertainty throughout the entire play? It would appear that damnation is not the final product of Macbeths crimes. He suffers tremendously as he commits each and every criminal act. Dyson, having established his definition of good and evil, proceeds to explore the relevance of the banquet scene in reference to the whole movement of the play. 3[3] He sees the banquet scene as a moment of transformation from order to chaos,4[4] both within and around Macbeth. This analysis again raises questions, in that an investigation of the preceding scenes of the play reveals evidence of a progression toward chaos before the opening of the banquet scene. Macbeth is tortured by the fact that, from the beginning of the play, he knows he is living in an ambiguous world of a clash between his conscience and his desire for kingship. He verbally manifests his acknowledgement of this internal clash prior to the banquet scene: I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair And make my seated heart knock at my ribs Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man That function is smothered in surmise, And nothing is but what is not. (I.iii.146-155)

Ibid. Ibid. 4[4] Ibid

2[2] 2

Fulfilling the witches prediction, Macbeth becomes the Thane of Cawdor and, although he capitulates to that suggestion, he cannot reconcile the reality of the truth of the first prophecy with his intense and unnatural fear, or his horrible imaginings. The actuality of the witches prophecy shakes so [Macbeths] single state of man, makes his seated heart knock at [his] ribs, and [unfixes his] hair. Not only is Macbeth shocked by the materialization of the witches first prophecy to the point of believing that nothing is but what is not, but he is also frightened at the possibility of the fulfillment of the witches other prophecies, which would make him king. The witches first prophecy goes against the use of nature and this unnatural situation twists Macbeths mind into moral knots very early in the play. Macbeths action of killing Duncan is also contrary to nature and he knows it. The wounds inflicted on Duncan look like a breach in nature (II.iii.132), and even the sun seems to feel the effect of the murder: Ross: By th clock tis day, And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp. Is t nights predominance or the days shame That darkness does the face of earth entomb When living light should kiss it?

Old Man: Tis unnatural, Even like the deed thats done. (II.iv.8-14) Duncans murder has not only affected Macbeth psychologically, but it has also disturbed his sense of the natural world by masking the traveling lamp with dark night. This darkness that fills the face of earth is considered unnaturallike the deed thats done, the deed being the murder of Duncan. The event of Duncans murder not only disrupts Macbeths moral sense, but also the order of the natural world previous to the further unrest that ensues during the banquet scene.

Prior to his vision of Banquos ghost, Macbeths multiple imaginings of physical phenomena, tied to his conscience, attempt to block him from crime, while causing him internal strife. Signs of Macbeths mental torture appear before the banquet scene: Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (II.i.44-51) The dagger that Macbeth envisions before [him] is definitely simply a dagger of the mind, a false creation that Macbeths torn conscience creates. As he proceeds in killing Duncan, Macbeth is simultaneously psychologically persecuted all along the way. After Duncan is killed, Macbeths mind creates another sign: Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep Still it cried Sleep no more! to all the house. Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more. (II.ii.47-48, 54-57) This voice that Macbeth seems to hear cry Sleep no more! is solely a product of his emotional agony. It is as if his three names, Lord Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and Macbeth give him three personalities in which to suffer the doom of sleeplessness. This unnatural occurrence is followed by yet another soon after: Whence is that / knocking? (II.ii.74-75) This mysterious knocking should be perfectly familiar to him. Yet what scares him is that he does not know what world this sound is coming from- the world of his imagination or the real world, at the door of his castle. Macbeths state of mind as he approaches the throne in the banquet scene is a clear composite of all his crises of conscience that precede the scene. The fact that Dyson does not address these events in his paper suggests a possible omission in his analysis.

Defending his argument of its structural importance as a critical juncture in the play, Dyson delves into a detailed examination of the banquet scene where Macbeths mindset moves from that of the martlet to that of the raven. He divides the scene into five moments, in which he asserts that Macbeth essentially flips from good to evil. A close reading of these moments reveals the possibility of an alternative interpretation of the purpose of the scene. Dyson sees the function of the first moment, from the opening of the scene to the entrance of the first murderer, as the establishment of the banquet as twofold, a symbol of order and hierarchy as well as a symbol of union. His focus on hierarchy appears to be right on track as a reflection of the formal setting of the Elizabethan society in which the play transpires. Macbeths language of degrees and state realistically reflect the social conventions of the time in the upper class crust of society. However, Dysons reference to the banquet as a representation of fellowship between the king and his community does not appear to be applicable to this particular event. Superficially, all is well between Macbeth and his people, but prior to this scene Macbeth has already deceived them by having both killed Duncan and planned the murder of Banquo. Consequently, the subtext of the opening of this feast can only be one of dishonesty, as opposed to harmony. Macbeth, to use Dys ons terms, could not possibly, at this point, be part of the martlet world. Dyson interprets the second moment of the scene, Macbeths conversation with the murderer, as an ironic interlude in which the stage is set for Macbeths turn from good to evi l. It is at this point that Shakespeare sets side by side symbolically the two levels of reality before one makes chaos of the other. Dysons argument is credible in that Shakespeare does juxtapose the two sides of Macbeths internal conflict, possibly for the more subtle purpose of communicating to Macbeths psyche the misguided notion that continual killing will not control

his conflict and take away his torment. The fact that the murderer reports the news that Fleance is still alive and that Macbeth will have to kill again destroys Macbeths superficial calm. This allows his conflicted soul to erupt yet again. He is cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in / to saucy doubts and fears. (III.iv.26-27) The turning point of the scene, in Dysons eyes, occurs as Macbeth envisions Banquos ghost sitting in his chair at the banquet. He sees this moment as the center of the play, the moment when Macbeths world turns over, the moment of tragic insight. A precise reading of Macbeths words reveals another possible interpretation. Dyson neglects to make note of the fact that Macbeth uses the plural when referring to the ghosts that are haunting him: But now they rise again. (III.iv.96) The plural they that Macbeth uses implies that Banquos ghost is representative of more than one of the murders that Macbeth has committed. Namely, Banquos apparition haunts Macbeth from both Duncans as well as his own grave. The presence of the ghost gives a visible form to the multiplicity of Macbeths terrors. To Dyson, the consequence of the ghosts visit is, of course, chaos. Chaos, in Dysons fourth moment leads to Macbeths damnation in the form of moral exhaustion and isolation in the fifth moment. It is clear to Macbeths community that he is not a man capable of leadership due to his fit (III.iv.66) when Lennox says to Lady Macbeth, Good night and better health / attend his Majesty. (III.iv.148-149) The psychological agony that Macbeth has been experiencing internally throughout the entire play now has been broadcast to his people. The fallout of this scene is not a new sense of exhaustion and isolation as Dyson claims, but rather an extension of his exhaustion and isolation that already existed. What Dyson does not discuss is how Macbeth will handle his isolation by showing the resolve to immunize himself from his own torn emotions: My strange and self abuse / is the initiate fear that wants hard use. / We are yet

but young in deed. (III.iv.174-176) Macbeth recognizes that he will toughen himself up and return to an act with which he is quite familiar in his days as a heroic warrior: killing. Yet, now the purpose of his killing is to shut out his haunting emotions.