Macbeth: New Critical Essays (Shakespeare Criticism Series)

376 Pages·2008·2.06 MB·English

by  Nick Moschovakis

Macbeth
This volume offers a wealth of critical analysis, supported with ample histor-
ical and bibliographical information, about one of Shakespeare’s most
enduringly popular and globally influential plays. Its eighteen new chapters
represent a broad spectrum of current scholarly and interpretive approaches,
from historicist criticism to performance theory to cultural studies. A sub-
stantial section addresses early modern themes, with attention to the prot-
agonists and the discourses of politics, class, gender, the emotions, and the
economy, along with discussions of significant ‘minor’ characters and less
commonly examined textual passages. Further chapters scrutinize Macbeth’s
performance, adaptation and transformation across several media—stage,
film, text, and hypertext—in cultural settings ranging from early nineteenth-
century England to late twentieth-century China. The editor’s extensive
introduction surveys critical, theatrical, and cinematic interpretations from
the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first, while
advancing a synthetic argument to explain the shifting relationship between
two conflicting strains in the tragedy’s reception. Written to a level that will
be both accessible to advanced undergraduates and, at the same time, useful
to postgraduates and specialists in the field, this book will greatly enhance
any study of Macbeth.
Contributors: Rebecca Lemon, Jonathan Baldo, Rebecca Ann Bach, Julie
Barmazel, Abraham Stoll, Lois Feuer, Stephen Deng, Lisa A. Tomaszewski,
Lynne Dickson Bruckner, Michael David Fox, James Wells, Laura Engel,
Stephen M. Buhler, Bi-qi Beatrice Lei, Kim Fedderson and J. Michael
Richardson, Bruno Lessard, Pamela Mason.
Nick Moschovakis has published essays in academic and cultural journals
including Shakespeare Quarterly, Milton Quarterly, and College Literature.
He has taught courses on Shakespeare and early modern English literature at
The University of the South, George Washington University, Reed College,
and elsewhere.
Shakespeare Criticism
Philip C. Kolin, General Editor
Romeo and Juliet Henry VI
Critical Essays Critical Essays
Edited by John F. Andrews Edited by Thomas A. Pendleton
Coriolanus The Tempest
Critical Essays Critical Essays
Edited by David Wheeler Edited by Patrick M. Murphy
Titus Andronicus Pericles
Critical Essays Critical Essays
Edited by Philip C. Kolin Edited by David Skeele
Love’s Labour’s Lost The Taming of the Shrew
Critical Essays Critical Essays
Edited by Felicia Hardison Londré Edited by Dana E. Aspinall
The Winter’s Tale The Merchant of Venice
Critical Essays New Critical Essays
Edited by Maurice Hunt Edited by John W. Mahon and Ellen
Macleod Mahon
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Critical Essays Hamlet
Edited by June Schlueter New Critical Essays
Edited by Arthur F. Kinney
Venus and Adonis
Critical Essays Othello
Edited by Philip C. Kolin New Critical Essays
Edited by Philip C. Kolin
As You Like it from 1600 to
the Present Julius Caesar
Critical Essays New Critical Essays
Edited by Edward Tomarken Edited by Horst Zander
The Comedy of Errors Antony and Cleopatra
Critical Essays New Critical Essays
Edited by Robert S. Miola Edited by Sara M. Deats
A Midsummer Night’s Dream All’s Well, That Ends Well
Critical Essays New Critical Essays
Edited by Dorothea Kehler Edited by Gary Waller
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Critical Essays
Edited by James Schiffer
Macbeth
New Critical Essays
Edited by Nick Moschovakis
Shakespeare Criticism Volume 32
First published 2008
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2008.
“To purchaseyourown copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2008 Nick Moschovakisfor selection and editorial matter;
individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Macbeth : new critical essays / edited by Nick Moschovakis.
p. cm. —(Shakespeare criticism ; 32)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. Macbeth. I. Moschovakis,
Nicholas Rand, 1969–
PR2823.M235 2008
822.3′3—dc22
2007036627
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-203-93070-3 Mastere-bookISBN
ISBN 10: 0–415–97404–6 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–93070–3 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–97404–2 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–203–93070–0 (ebk)
Contents
List of figures and acknowledgments vii
General Editor’s introduction x
1 Introduction: Dualistic Macbeth? Problematic Macbeth? 1
NICK MOSCHOVAKIS
2 Sovereignty and treason in Macbeth 73
REBECCA LEMON
3 “A rooted sorrow”: Scotland’s unusable past 88
JONATHAN BALDO
4 The “peerless” Macbeth: friendship and family in Macbeth 104
REBECCA ANN BACH
5 “The servant to defect”: Macbeth, impotence, and the body
politic 118
JULIE BARMAZEL
6 Macbeth’s equivocal conscience 132
ABRAHAM STOLL
7 Hired for mischief: the masterless man in Macbeth 151
LOIS FEUER
8 Healing angels and “golden blood”: money and mystical
kingship in Macbeth 163
STEPHEN DENG
vi Contents
9 “Throw physic to the dogs!”: moral physicians and medical
malpractice in Macbeth 182
LISA A. TOMASZEWSKI
10 “Let grief convert to anger”: authority and affect in Macbeth 192
LYNNE DICKSON BRUCKNER
11 Like a poor player: audience emotional response,
nonrepresentational performance, and the staging of suffering
inMacbeth 208
MICHAEL DAVID FOX
12 “To be thus is nothing”:Macbeth and the trials of
dramatic identity 224
JAMES WELLS
13 The personating of Queens: Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons,
and the creation of female celebrity in the late eighteenth century 240
LAURA ENGEL
14 Politicizing Macbeth on U.S. stages: Garson’sMacBird! and
Greenland’sJungle Rot 258
STEPHEN M. BUHLER
15 Macbeth in Chinese opera 276
BI-QI BEATRICE LEI
16 Macbeth: recent migrations of the cinematic brand 300
KIM FEDDERSON AND J. MICHAEL RICHARDSON
17 Hypermedia Macbeth: cognition and performance 318
BRUNO LESSARD
18 Sunshine in Macbeth 335
PAMELA MASON
Notes on contributors 350
Index 353
fi
List of gures and
acknowledgments
Front cover image Stratford Festival Production of Macbeth in
Ontario, Canada (2004), Lucy Peacock as Lady Macbeth.
Production directed by John Wood, designed by John
Ferguson. Photo credit: David Hou. Reproduced by kind
permission of the Stratford Festival Archives.
Back cover image Almeida Theatre production of Macbeth (2005).
Ann Firbank, Jane Thorne, and Janet Whiteside as the
Witches. Production directed by John Caird. Photo
reproduced by kind permission of Hugo Glendinning.
1.1 Detail of Henry Maclise, The Banquet Scene in Macbeth (1840).
By permission of the Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London. 17
1.2 Almeida Theatre production of Macbeth (2005). Photograph
by permission of Hugo Glendinning. 39
13.1 Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs Siddons (1785). By permission
of The National Gallery, London. 246
13.2 Thomas Gainsborough, Queen Charlotte (1781). By
permission of The Royal Collection. 247
13.3 William Beechey, Sarah Siddons with the Emblems of Tragedy
(1793). By permission of The National Portrait Gallery. 253
15.1 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the Kunqu adaptation The
Story of Bloody Hands (Xie shou ji). By permission of
Shanghai Kunju Opera Troupe. 281
15.2 Macbeth and the three weird sisters in the Kunqu adaptation
The Story of Bloody Hands (Xie shou ji). Courtesy of
Shanghai Kunju Opera Troupe. 282
15.3 Macbeth in his war dress in the Beijing opera adaptation The
Kingdom of Desire (Yuwang chengguo). By permission of the
Contemporary Legend Theatre. 286
15.4 The mask dance at the banquet scene in the Beijing opera
adaptation The Kingdom of Desire (Yuwang chengguo).
Courtesy of the Contemporary Legend Theatre. 287
15.5 Lady Macbeth sharpening her knife in the Sichuan opera
adaptation Lady Macbeth (Makebai furen). By permission of
viii Figures and acknowledgments
the Youth Sichuan Opera Troupe of the Sichuan Opera School.
15.6 Lady Macbeth washes her hands in the Sichuan opera 292
adaptation Lady Macbeth (Makebai furen). By permission of
the Youth Sichuan Opera Troupe of the Sichuan Opera School. 294
17.1 Web page from HyperMacbeth. <http://www.dlsan.org/
macbeth/the_mac.htm>. By permission of Matteo Santoni,
a.k.a. dlsan. 323
Every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright holders. The
publishers would be pleased to hear from any copyright holders not
acknowledged here, so that this acknowledgement page may be amended at
the earliest opportunity.
Editor’s acknowledgments
Myfirst and most profuse thanks are due to the critics whose work appears in
this volume. I admire their assiduity and perseverance as much as I appreciate
the breadth and diversity of their expertise and the acuity of their insights.
The editor of this series, Philip C. Kolin, has supplied welcome feedback and
encouragement.
For much-needed assistance and helpful correspondence I am grateful to
staff members at the Folger Shakespeare Library (especially Georgianna Zie-
gler), the Royal Collection (Karen Lawson), the Guildhall Art Gallery
(Naomi Allen and Hannah Wardle), and the National Gallery (Vivien
Adams). I am also thankful to Matt Byrnie at Routledge (NY) and to Polly
Dodson, Huw Price, and Gabrielle Orcutt at Routledge (UK) for guiding me
through the publication process. Polly claims a special debt of gratitude for
her consideration and willingness to accommodate late changes. The last
stages of production were actually pleasant, thanks to the admirable
solicitude and professionalism of Rebecca Hastie, Tamsin Rogers, and
Richard Willis (all of Swales & Willis), Emma Nugent (of Routledge UK),
and our keen-eyed copy-editor, Liz Dawn.
I owe a more than ordinary debt to Bernice W. Kliman, my consulting
expert on matters performative, textual, and orthographical, and an unfail-
ingly supportive friend. Malcolm Smuts, Sarah Wall-Randell, William
Proctor Williams, Iain Wright, and William C. Carroll were all kind enough
to share their work with me when it was still unpublished or hard to procure.
In several cases Al Braunmuller facilitated this favor. Al has also generously
shown an interest in the progress of the volume as a whole, helpfully
calling my attention to sundry errors and omissions in a late draft of my
introduction.
For less formal advice, forbearance, good conversation, and good cheer on
various occasions while I was putting the volume together with its introduc-
tory chapter, I have the following colleagues and friends to thank (in no
particular order, and doubtless with some accidental elisions): Heather
Figures and acknowledgments ix
James, Michael Mirabile, Jay Dickson, Lisa Steinman and Jim Shugrue,
David Roessel, Pamela Beatrice, Joan and Yiannis Moschovakis, Anna
Moschovakis and Matvei Yankelevich, Eddie Cushman, Andrew Majeske,
and Jennifer Lewin.
Finally: I choose not to name my spouse here. No perfunctory public
acknowledgment could do justice to her patience, which—however sorely
tested by this project’s demands on my time—has never slackened. I only
hope she knows I’ll never take it for granted.