Macbeth, 1971

March 17, 2022 | JOSEPH CANGIANO

A troupe of witches appears to Macbeth and his buddy Banquo, prophesying a magnificent destiny for both men. Macbeth and his wife recognize that their goals of becoming king can only be realized via action...and killing. Ignoring the concerns of Macbeth's opponent, Macduff, and his once-loyal buddy Banquo, arrogant Macbeth and his power-crazed wife scheme to kill King Duncan and steal the crown of Scotland. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth undertake the unimaginable, and Macbeth discovers that the witches' prophecy may be his fate or a terrifying destiny from which he will not be able to escape.

Macbeth (1971) can uses Social Contract Theory by showing the events that haunted Macbeth after King Duncan's murder. Macbeth slowly falls into a deep state accord that would be reached among appropriately placed intelligent, independent, and equitable individuals. He is well-known for employing the social contract technique to reach the astounding result that we should submit to the authority of ultimate and unrestricted power or paranoia killing anyone he thinks can reveal his secret. He stops sleeping, eating, and eventually only thinks about his next kill. By the end of the film Macduff storms Macbeth's castle with the Scottish army and beheads him. This can all be attributed to Macbeth's overthrowing of the government and his noncompliance to Social Contract Theory.

March 17, 2022 | SARA BIZARRO

Macbeth was first performed around 1606, and Hobbes' Leviathan was published in 1651, a little bit more than 40 years later. It is very possible that Hobbes, having spent a lot of time in London, did see Macbeth. The character of Macbeth is very much along the lines of what Hobbes claims is the main characteristic of human nature, he is ambitious, driven by competition, searching for glory, and ruled by distrust. Competition, Glory, and Distrust are the three characteristics that Hobbes claims are responsible for keeping people in a state of war.

The King in the play, Duncan, is the benign king, he is gently and loved by all. However, his gentleness and his trust were what cost him his life, since it is easy for Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to plan and execute his murder. Hobbes may have thought that this King died because he did not have the power of a Leviathan, he did not act like a Leviathan, and therefore he was easily killed.

After committing the murder though, Macbeth finds no peace, his mind is "full of scorpions". He is tortured by the prophecy that said that he would be King, but also said that Banquo's children would be the start of a long lineage of Kings. Therefore he concocts ways to kill Banquo, who had been his best friend and his children. When he succeeds in killing Banquo, but not his children, his mind completely deteriorates as he sees the dead Banquo at his banquet. Lady Macbeth also starts having visions of blood in her hands and sleepwalking.

Macbeth seems to try to be more of a Leviathan than the previous King, he is ruthless, powerful, and has his enemies killed. However, this leads to his insanity, which is quickly noted by others - which leads to Macduff cutting Macbeth's head in the end.

I think the Tragedy of Macbeth can be seen as an argument against Hobbes because it shows how the Leviathan can always be defeated by another Leviathan, and how any authoritarian leader can only be deposed through violence. In fact, this is an argument that is clearly made by Hobbes when describing a state of nature, he says:

"Nature hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind as that, though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind than another, yet when all is reckoned, together the difference between man and man is not so considerable as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he. For as to the strengths of body the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secred machination, or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger as himself." Leviathan.

Leviathan's, kings and rulers, are also human, and no matter how strong they can always be defeated, either by secret machination, such as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth used to kill King Duncan, or by confederacy with others, such as what Macduff created, they can always be defeated and blood will be shed. John Locke had a better solution to this problem, by proposing democracy as a peaceful transition of government, we are not guaranteed a world free of violence, but we can at least eliminate the unavoidable violence of authoritarian regimes.

Additional Resources

Nicholas Dungey, Shakespeare and Hobbes: Macbeth and the Fragility of Political Order. First Published May 9, 2012 https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244012439557

Mark Connor, How Where Shakespear's Plays Performed?

Videos