Macbeth – The Danger of Passion, Power and Betrayal: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

Macbeth is a very popular play and is the shortest tragedy that Shakespeare wrote. The play was written between the years 1599 – 1606 and was performed worldwide in professional theatres. The play deals with the dangers of passion, power and betrayal among friends and as a morality play it presents the destructive power of evil. This evil is not necessarily particular to the characters but represents universal evil. The play transcends time and place and consequently is currently relevant. Psychoanalytic theory proposed by Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century and subsequently developed by his students and their successors, caused a dramatic change in understanding the drives underlying human behaviour and their effect on the life of the individual and society. In choosing the subject for the present article I have tried to combine two fields that are of particular interest to me: psychoanalytic theory, as developed by Freud and his successors; and classic literature. In the latter case, I opted for Shakespeare's Macbeth, a play that portrays exquisitely the intense struggle between mental forces in man, as well as the impact of these forces on behaviour and on the course pursued by individuals and society. This article does not purport to be a scientific analysis à la Sigmund Freud, but rather a treatment of the play as a metaphor for psychoanalytic structures and for the universal human drama in progress, as did Shakespeare himself, with messages that are relevant for contemporary society.