Macbeth the Evil Protagonist

To be evil is to go against the ethical rules of a society both in action and thought.  In a culture that values respecting others, evil could manifest itself in a person who kills other people for his/her own benefit.  Furthermore, if being noble in a society means being selfless, an evil person could be someone who only thinks of him/herself regardless of other peoples’ values or well-beings.  In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character Macbeth shifts from being a respected nobleman in Scotland to a ruthless, evil murderer of the king and his best friend.  

In the beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth is not the least bit evil, but he soon takes the first step into evil because of a prophecy that three witches tell Macbeth in Act One of the play.  The witches say, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (Macbeth, 1.3).  The witches imply that Macbeth will one day be Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland by addressing him as such.  Macbeth very much believes in fate, as shown by his remark later in the play, “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir” (Macbeth, 1.3).  Through the use of the word “chance,” Macbeth shows that he values the witches’ beliefs and thinks that their words were prophetic.  The witches’ prophecy therefore enticed Macbeth’s greed for power by making him wholeheartedly believe that he is destined to be the ruler of Scotland.

Although the witches sparked Macbeth’s lust for power, Lady Macbeth played an important role in Macbeth actually killing the king and thus taking his first step into evil.  Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to kill the king so that he can fulfill the prophecy: “And live a coward in thine own esteem, / letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’ / Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” (Macbeth 1.7).  To persuade Macbeth to murder Duncan, she insults his manhood by calling him a “coward” and using a simile to compare him to a cat who refuses to get its paws wet even though it wants a fish.  Later, Macbeth agrees to kill the king so that he and his wife can become powerful: “I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat” (Macbeth, 1.7).  In this line, Macbeth conveys that he will commit the “terrible feat” of killing Duncan because he is “settled,” in other words, he has made up his mind.  Macbeth becomes evil, because he decides to kill another human being to get what he wants.  Although he is described in the beginning of the play as heroic, brave, and respectable, his actions after hearing the words of the witches and being persuaded by his wife to kill the king show that he is also easily manipulated.  This flaw, combined with his desire for power that the witches helped plant in him, result in him taking his first step into evil.

As a consequence of Macbeth becoming evil, he suffers from guilt and insanity.  After killing Duncan, Macbeth demonstrates his massive guilt: “What hands are here? Ha!  They pluck out mine eyes!” (Macbeth 2.3).  Macbeth is horrified by the crime he has committed, as shown by his shocked exclamation marks as though he cannot believe what he has done. He uses personification to show his guilt, saying that his bloody hands seem to rip his eyes out of his head every time they remind him of what he has done.  Later, after Macbeth sent two Murderers to kill Banquo, Macbeth’s guilt and insanity manifest themselves into Banquo’s ghost.  When he sees his best friend’s ghost, he begins to talk to it and says, “Approach thou like a rugged Russian bear, / The armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; / Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves / Shall never tremble” (Macbeth 3.4).  In this quote, Macbeth says that he would not be afraid if the ghost looked like a bear, a rhinoceros, or a tiger.  But since the ghost looks like the dead Banquo, Macbeth is terrified.  This display of insane fear of an imagined ghost shows how Macbeth’s character has been totally changed by his shift to evil.  While Macbeth used to be described as brave and courageous, he is now fearful and crazy.  Ultimately, becoming evil has caused Macbeth to become a different character from the man that was introduced in the beginning of the play.  While he used to represent the ideals of Scottish society, Macbeth's character has shifted to go against all that his culture values and he is now an insane, fearful, greedy man that will sacrifice anyone to maintain his power.

 

    The title of this 1585 art piece is "Ewer," and the structure is about 13 ⅝ inches tall. The porcelain was made in China and once it arrived in England, a silver-gilt mount was made for it in London.  

 

    This art piece represents a fusion of Chinese and English cultures.  The porcelain was created in the Wanli period of China (1573-1620), which was a time within the Ming dynasty rule.  The Ming dynasty emphasized the recurrence of more traditional Chinese culture in art like realistic composition, bird and flower pairings, narratives, and large landscapes.  Although this piece was created relatively late in the Ming dynasty’s rule, it was still influenced by the earlier Mongol Yuan dynasty traditions that mixed Chinese and foreign customs.  This is why the porcelain has a blue and white pattern, because that color pattern is common in Islamic art and is therefore indicative of the Muslim influence that occurred through trade during the Mongol Yuan dynasty.  

In the 16th century, Chinese craftsmen began to make porcelain pieces specifically for a European market, making functional forms like ewers, mugs, and candlesticks that were not used in China.  Chinese porcelain, however, was still very rare in England at this time, so the most worthy silversmiths were instructed to create beautiful mounts for each piece.  Queen Elizabeth ruled England when this silver-gilt mount was made, and during her rule, English arts and economy flourished.  The most popular works were often decorative, which is exemplified in this piece with its intricate carvings.  In fancy dishes of the time, foliage designs were often used, which is probably why the extensive decorations on the mount are leaves and flowers.  As the middle and upper class grew due to the booming economy, silver was becoming much more popular, which is probably the mount of this ewer is made of silver.  Creating gilded sculptures with bronze was also popular, which is why this mount has a bronze gilt tinting its silver color.

The compositions of both art forms are telling.  In the porcelain, the base pattern of the trees and birds seem to be arranged chronologically by the seasons, since one panel contains two birds in a flowering tree and the next one contains the same two birds in the tree that has fruit where the flowers used to be.  The neck of the ewer has a more decorative purpose, since it just contains leaves.  Both of these techniques allude to traditional Chinese art forms containing vegetation and bird landscapes, as well as narratives like this one involving the seasons.  The structure of the mount is also interesting, since the majority of it contains small leaf- or flower-like carvings in the metal but it also contains a strange merman-creature.  The mount’s largest section is of a merman-creature with wings and a snake-like tail, arching up to create a curved handle.  Below this strange creature are strips of silver curving down the large base of the porcelain containing carved flowers and leaves.  The textures of the mount’s metal differ depending on the item--the merman’s tail is poked with dots to feel scaly while the face was fashioned to feel smooth.  Ultimately, all of these artistic techniques show the popular trend of opulence at the time, because the techniques enrich the work so that it is more decorative than functional.

The subject matter of both pieces greatly influences their significance.  Both the porcelain and the mount contain extensive vegetation.  The subject of the porcelain is a landscape containing birds in trees found in China, while the mount contains vegetation like leaves and flowers.  The significance of the Chinese porcelain could be to demonstrate the customs of China to the European world, since the narratives and vegetation-bird landscapes within the porcelain were a tradition of Chinese art.  The mount seems to follow this trend of establishing traditions with its vegetation, however it also shows something more unexpected--the merman-creature.  I believe that this creature is the most important part of the mount, because I think that it demonstrates the mount’s significance.  The creature could be representative of the supernatural world, because it seems to contain a mixture of different beasts--mermaids, angels, and devilish serpents.  In Queen Elizabeth’s time, the belief in the supernatural was prevalent in England.  This belief went contrary to what Elizabeth desired because Protestants like the Queen were not supposed to believe in such things like the supernatural.  Outlawed Catholicism, on the other hand, involved the belief of the supernatural.  Although many people claimed to be Protestants, this belief in the supernatural was still prominent in the region in this time period.  Ultimately, the meaning of this mount could be that Catholicism was prevalent within England during this mid-late 1500s even though it was outlawed.  

    Although the function of this ewer is to demonstrate rich British peoples’ wealth because of the rarity of Chinese porcelain, popularity of vegetation in decoration, and expensiveness of silver-gilt, by looking closer at the subject matter the more deep significance can be revealed.  For the modern audience, looking at the cultural and religious significance of this art piece results in a better social understanding of this part of British and Chinese history.