Aristotle describes
tragic hero as “a man of noble rank and
nature whose misfortune is not brought about by villainy but by some “error of
judgment” (hamartia)”[1],
by that definition, we can see Macbeth of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth
as a tragic hero who bears tragic flaw, which also called as harmathia or harmartanein in Greek. The play put
Macbeth on the “wrong” side alongside with Lady Macbeth, and put King Duncan on
the “right” side alongside with Malcolm, Macduff, and so on, while in my
opinion, this play placed Banquo and three Witches on the neutral side, between
“wrong” and “right”, when the characters of Banquo and three witches can be on
both of these conflicting sides.
If we talk about
the character of Macbeth who built in the the play, we can see how Macbeth been
placed on the “wrong” side, since the theme of the play is “fair is foul, and
foul is fair”, in the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth described as ambitional
characters who kill King Duncan when King Duncan visited Macbeth’s cassttle.
Agusto Boal writes
on his book, The Theatre of the Opressed,
that “The comic poet Aristophanes thought
that ‘the dramatist should not only offer pleasure but should, besides that, be
a teacher of morality and a political adviser’.” (P. 2). The quotation says
that a play must deliver message and moral lesson to spectators, that
assumption makes the play of Macbeth placed Macbeth on the “wrong” side, because
that positioning of Macbeth on the play can deliver messager to spectators that
“right” side always wins, since in the end of the story Macbeth died and lost
the battle. Beside moral lesson, Macbeth’s position on the play and also the
ending of Macbeth story brings political advise that say only Malcolm that
deserve throne as a King because he is the son of the King and the king throne
is not belong to Macbeth, since he is not
son of the King, in other words, it aims to shows some propaganda to
spectators in order to make spectators honor and obey the government.
Like what Agusto
Boal writes on his book, The Theatre of
the Opressed, “Tragedy imitates human
acts. Human acts, not merely human activities.” (P. 12) the play of Macbeth
may imitates human acts who fight for power, and murder other people in order
to get the power. In the book The Theatre
of the Opressed, Boal explain that according to Aristotles a man’s soul was
composed of rational and irrational parts, what Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did to
get the power may influence by their irrational part of soul if we see it from
play’s point of view, but we have to underline another perspective, that what
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did is rational.
Keir Elam, in his
book The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama,
writes “The drama presents what is very much a ‘pure’ model of social
intercourse, and the dialogue bears a very limited resemblance to what actually
takes place in ‘everyday’ linguistic encounters.” (P. 109). A play only
presents model of social intercourse that barely resemble what actually takes
place in ‘everyday’ life, so do Macbeth play. Macbeth placed in the “wrong”
side as a model, but actually Macbeth’s power struggle towards King Duncan is
rational if we do not placed Macbeth as model who must brings moral lesson.
The role and
function of three witches now becoming important, since what Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth do are much influenced by the prophecies of the three witches. If we
want to underline that alternative standpoint, we have to emphasizes what
Macbeth feel when Lady Macbeth try to influence him to murder the King. Inner
war that happened in Macbeth’s heart must be staged to give spectators another
point of view, and we don’t have to place Macbeth as model who has to deliver
moral lesson and political advice to spectators.
Works Cited
Boal, A. (2008). Theatre
of the Opressed.
Elam, K. (1990). The
Semiotics of Theatre and Drama .
Shakespeare, W.
(n.d.). The Tragedy of Macbeth.
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