Macbeth, William Shakespeare - the equivocal ambiguities, puns, play with words and mirror effects

Résumé du document

"Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / the instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray / in deepest consequence? (Act I scene 3, 123-126). Banquo warns Macbeth, who is wandering if he can believe the rest of the three witches' Prophecies, as he just had been named Thane of Cawdor. Banquo tells him that the weird sisters could lure him by introducing implied meanings in their speech. He is actually giving us a definition of equivocation. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, to equivocate is to use ambiguous or evasive language. It leads to misunderstanding, and ambiguity. This seems to be a key to understanding this famous play of Shakespeare. Equivocation, that implies several meanings, also raises several questions: is it only an "instrument of darkness" in Macbeth? How can the reader perceive and understand its implied meanings when he first reads the play without knowing its end? What is the importance of equivocation in Macbeth and, more generally, in theatre?

Extraits

[...] According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, to equivocate is to use ambiguous or evasive language. It leads to misunderstanding, to ambiguity. It seems to be a key to understand this famous play of Shakespeare. Equivocation, that implies several meanings, also raises several questions : is it only an instrument of darkness in Macbeth ? How can the reader percept and understand its implied meanings as he first reads the play without knowing as it ends ? What is the importance of equivocation in Macbeth and, more generally, in theatre ? [...]

[...] Then, during the final battle, as Macduff tells Macbeth that he wasn't born of woman Macbeth against expresses his feeling of having been lured : And be these juggling fiends no more believed, / That palter with us in a double sense; / That keep the word of promise to our ear,/ And break it to our hope (Act scene 19-22). Thereby, some clues betray the use of equivocation by Shakespeare as the main instrument, leading to the tyrant's death, leading the tragedy itself. Finally, isn't theatre itself full of equivocation ? [...]

[...] But in Macbeth, the equivocation leads the whole play : Macbeth's ambition of becoming the king of Scotland is built on the ambiguity, on the misunderstanding provoked by equivocation. It is a key to understand the tragically-ending fate of the hero : Macbeth didn't suspect he would fall from his throne because of his naivety in believing the lie of evil in only its first and obvious meaning. But equivocation isn't only the instrument of darkness : as the lie, it can be used in a good purpose. [...]

[...] We often attend misunderstanding in theatre, and after all, equivocation is nothing but a key to produce ambiguity and misunderstanding, according to its own definition. First, theatre is the place of illusion, of lies. It is a conventional place : the spectator knows that he is going to see a play that was product by the author's imagination. Writing a play is actually pretending to tell the truth, but telling an imaginative story instead. The play is almost an equivocation itself ! [...]

[...] But the equivocation is based on the word born opposed to ripp'd : Macduff came to life by a caesarean section. It doesn't count ! The third apparition is a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand (Act IV scene 86). According to the apparition, Macbeth shall never be vanquished until the wood of Birnam shall come to high Dunsinane (Act IV Scene 92-94). Macbeth understands it as a promise that he will never be defeated, as if it was a metaphor for his invulnerability. [...]