Pathetic Fallacies in Macbeth

Definition:
A pathetic fallacy is the attachment of human traits such as emotions, thoughts, sensations and feelings to inanimate objects. It largely relates to the personification of objects. Examples are smiling/dancing flowers, angry/cruel winds, and brooding mountains.

Its Use In Macbeth:

"Thunder and lightning. / Enter three Witches / When shall we three meet again? / In thunder, lightining or in rain?" (1.1.1-2)

In the beginning of the play, we already see that the use of pathetic fallacies, particularly, the use of nature, to reflect emotions and events is an integral part in Macbeth. The play beginning with thunder and lightning with three dark and evil witches entering onstage establishes a omnious atmosphere for the play and also foreshadows the dark and dismal events to come.

"The night has been unruly: where we lay / [...] Lamentings heard i'th' air, strange screens of death, / And prophesying with accents terrible /[...] Some say the earth / Was feverous and did shake." (2.3.55-62)

This excerpt clearly uses pathetic fallacies to reflect the events that have happened during the night of Duncan's murder. The unruliness of the night, the "strange screams of death" heard in the air, the "feverous" and shaking nature of the earth (II.iii.55-62); these sinister personifications are all symbolic of the dark murder that happened the night before.

"By th'clock 'tis day,/ And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp; is't night's predominance, or the day's shame, That darkness does the face of earth entomb/ When living light should kiss it?" (2.4.5-9)

This excerpt comes at the end of the act, when Ross is talking to the old man, and speaks of how the dark seems to overpower even the goodness of light. There are several relevant issues; The King has been assassinated, the only witnesses of the murder (the guards) have been slain as well, the sons of the King have fled. There are also other foreboding symbolic happenings; The falcon being killed by the low-flying owl, the horses of the king breaking out of their stalls, going crazy, and eating each other. There is evil present; it is the darkness. All normality and goodness, or "travelling lamp" which is the sun, is being "strangled" or taken over by the evil.

Origin:
Modern Painters Vol. III, Part IV (1856). John Ruskin (1819 – 1900).

Word Origin
The word “pathetic fallacy” originates from two basic words: pathetic comes from the word “pathos” and a fallacy is the false interpretation of an external thing.

Explanation:
Pathetic fallacies were utilized before Ruskin’s time, even at the time of Homer. Also, there was a rampant use of pathetic fallacies towards the 17th century. Pathetic fallacies were used by both painters and poets.

Ruskin was the first to coin the term “pathetic fallacy” in the year 1856. In his renowned piece of work, Modern Painters Vol. III, Part IV, he states that people make pathetic fallacies because sometimes, they undergo a series of occurrences or events, which ultimately make them temporarily irrational. John Ruskin states his thoughts in chapter 12 of Modern Painters Vol. III, Part IV, “an excited state of the feelings, making us, for the time, more or less irrational"(5.205). As a result, pathetic fallacies produce in us a falseness of our impressions of nature.

Examples where Pathetic Fallacies are used:
Kingsley’s The Sands of Dee: “They rowed her in across the rolling foam – The cruel, crawling foam”.
In “On The Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” by John Milton (1608 – 1674), all aspects of nature react affectively to the event of Christ’s birth.

Sources:
http://ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/ruskinj/
http://www.victorianweb.org/technique/pathfall.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-pathetic.html

The Political and Social World of England in 1606

England in the Early 17th Century

Political Circumstances

• The British empire, which was already an extremely influential power in the world, expanded rampantly, especially in London
• Slave trading was very important in the British Empire
• (above two: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19032742.html)
• There was increasing tension between Catholic church and government
• There was a Catholic attempt to kill the king, which led to reduced rights for Catholics
• (above two: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/g08.pdf)

Social Circumstances

• In the early 17th Century, England underwent an explosion of improvements, even for the lower classes. In terms of Agriculture, methods were upgraded to yield more bountiful crops.
• Trade amongst the European countries increased greatly; they gained access to the foreign crops, fruits and plants which could not thrive in England’s cooler climate.
• There was rapid increase in wealth among nobility due to agricultural revolution
• Created a new taste of luxuries in housing, furniture and dress - Elegant and substantial houses, elaborately carved furniture, household items included: glass mirrors, intricate carpets, velvet chairs and ornamental French clocks
• Literature was since neglected, however, because of rise of figures such as Spenser and Shakespeare, literature had higher impulse on people
• (above five: http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_Vol_1/life17th_dh.html)

Versions of Macbeth: Oxford Edition v.s. Literature Page

Examining Differences Between the Oxford Edition's Text and the Literature Page's e-Text of Shakespeare's Macbeth

Please refer to:
Oxford Edition's Text:
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth (Oxford World's
Classics). New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1998.

Literature Page's e-Text:
http://www.literaturepage.com/read/shakespeare_macbeth.html

Introduction
The two versions of Shakespeare's Macbeth by Oxford University Press and the Literature Page have many differences in displaying character information, language, paragraph structure, punctuation, and stage directions. By analyzing the differences between the two versions, it is clear that the Oxford University Press provides more of an organized and enriching reading experience to any student reader studying Macbeth.

Character Information
One can acknowledge a multiplicity of differences when comparing the e-Text version of Macbeth to the Oxford text. The differences between the Characters Lists in each version start at the title; in the Book, the title is “THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY”, whereas the e-Text says “Persons Represented”. However, the greatest difference lies in the order of the characters. Looking at the book’s list, it seems as though the characters were put into different categories such as Supernatural Characters (e.g. The Weird Sisters, Hecate), Scottish Characters, English Characters, and Unnamed Characters. Within these categories, they are grouped based on familial ties (e.g Duncan and his Sons, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) and positions (e.g. Thanes) – all of these groups were ordered by significance. Conversely, in the e-Text, the characters are listed firstly in order of appearance, significance, and then they are categorized into Men, Women (including Hecate and Witches), Unnamed Characters and Ghosts/Apparitions.

Language and Paragraphs
In further examining the differences between the two versions, there are also variations in paragraph formatting, language, and syntactical changes such as adding dashes, parentheses and in punctuation. For instance, in the e-Text version, in Act One, Scene Two when King Duncan extols Macbeth for his leadership in the fight against Macdonald, “O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!” (I, ii, 1, 24) an exclamation is utilized, whereas an exclamation mark is not used in the Oxford text. Moreover, dashes are used throughout the e-Text document at the end of several lines; the author could be adding dashes to provide more dramatic fluidity since a dash as a form of punctuation would provide more interpretation to the actor, than a period or a semicolon would, which are more definite forms of punctuation. Conversely, the words are virtually identical.

The literature page site varies slightly in physical layout compared to the Oxford version. Font selection seems similar, as do the lines. The e-Text, however, does not indent a line when it starts midway. Furthermore, there is no numbering of lines, a complete absence of notes, and makes no use of italics or bolding. Stage directions regarding how a line is to be spoken (i.e. MACBETH (aside): ) are merged into the actual lines (i.e. [Aside.] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor). Although similar in some extent, the absence of line numbers greatly takes away from the proficiency of this site.

Punctuation and Stage Directions:
Lastly, the punctuation in the literature page edition bears almost no relation to that of the Oxford Edition. Almost all of the punctuation marks are changed, and while this normally has little effect on meaning, the movement of commas in this case completely changes the meaning of a line. The stage directions also have some differences. A few of the stage directions are merely reworded, but some of the stage directions in the Oxford Edition are moved or even omitted, and a few new ones are added.

Overall Analysis
Overall, this source is more confusing that the Oxford Edition, due to the lack of line numbers, unneccessary added punctuation, and general character information grouping. Although some punctuation add more dramatic effect, such as the use of dashes, the way the word is read should be originally what Shakespeare had intended, diminishing the reliability of the site. There are also no notes, which make the reader's reading experience not as enriching as if they read the Oxford Edition, making the online resource not a beneficial resource for students studying Macbeth.

How to lift the Macbeth curse

Follow the example below

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