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Quite oddly, the 17th century Shakespearean play, Macbeth relates to this 2010s Supreme hoodie with a comic illustration at the back and “Skate and Destroy” on the hood. The illustration recalls the work of the renowned pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein.
works of Liechtenstein
In the foreground, it portrays a disturbed woman crying with a thought bubble “OH GOD! WHY CAN’T MY BOYFRIEND SKATE?!” and a straight-faced man in the background, likely to be the boyfriend she is thinking about.
zoomed in illustration
If Macbeth were to happen in a contemporary setting, Lady Macbeth would be this type of girl who wants a boyfriend matching her imagination. I consider the start of the play analogous to Lady Macbeth receiving a text from Macbeth:
Lady Macbeth takes that comment seriously and starts imagining Macbeth becoming a skateboard prodigy. The story proceeds as Lady Macbeth attempts to fabricate a skateboard genius. She starts encouraging Macbeth to skateboard, even though she knows well that he has terrible balance. Then, the story ends with Macbeth falling and injuring himself and Lady Macbeth crying in disappointment as in the illustration.
At the core, Macbeth is the story of the creation, implementation, and destruction of a vision Lady Macbeth has on her lover.
this is a link!!↑
Instead of a text, in Macbeth, this vision starts with Macbeth’s letter to Lady Macbeth on his encounter with the three witches after a won battle.
When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the king, who all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor,' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time with 'Hail, king that shalt be!' (I. v)
Lady Macbeth concretizes this equivocal prediction into an actual vision of the coronation of her husband. While Macbeth himself “stood rapt in the wonder,” still shook by the sudden appearance of the three witches and their bold claim, Lady Macbeth takes no doubt believing that her husband holds the title of both Glamis and Cawdor and shall become the King as promised. She is convinced that Macbeth’s crowning is his destiny and favored by the odds as she spoke about “fate” and “metaphysical aid” (I. v).
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised.
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal. (I. v)
Once Lady Macbeth conceives her vision, she starts devising the usurp of the throne. Macbeth proceeds to a conflict and rising action following the exposition of the witch scene and the letter according to the traditional plot arc. The plot goes on a rising hill after Macbeth informs Lady Macbeth on the coming of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth then implements her vision by scheming the murder of the royal majesty for his husband. She sees Duncan’s visit as “coming / Must be provided for” and demands Macbeth to be at her “dispatch” (I. vii). As the plot climbs, Lady Macbeth has herself caught in the middle of a conflict with Macbeth- Macbeth hesitates whether he should commit such a crime. On contrast to Macbeth’s hesitation, Lady Macbeth displays great determination and desperately calls him out that “when you durst do it, then you were a man” (I. vii). There is nothing Macbeth could do but compromise with his wife. Hinting how dumb this decision is, he then carefully asks Lady Macbeth the consequence of failing this assassination. Not expecting that she answers him in scorn, “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we’ll not fail” (I. vii), relentlessly pushes themselves further down to the paths where there is no “passage to remorse” (I. v).
The ghost of Banquo haunts Macbeth (Ian McKellen)
Whereas the denouement of my modern analogy is a literal fall, Macbeth is a figurative fall- a fall into the abyss of madness. The ending of Macbeth ironically corresponds to the words of Lady Macbeth when she stages her vision, “These deeds must not be thought / After these ways. So, it will make us mad”(II. ii). The guilt of his own deeds haunts Macbeth, drives him crazy, and forces him onto a path of no return after the murder of Duncan. Urged by the need to secure his place, Macbeth goes on a killing rampage: he sends assassins to Banquo and his son and goes after the MacDuff family. Macbeth becomes more and more paranoid day by day. He starts seeing the apparition of Banquo and believes anything he heard from the witches; he does at any cost to wipe out anyone who is a potential threat to his reign.
Nonetheless, Macbeth is not only one who falls into insanity, as Lady Macbeth experiences a drastic change from a manipulative antagonist to a pathetic character chased by her own karma. At this point where Macbeth becomes a maniac, not even Lady Macbeth, who puts him in this absurdity, has any control on the situation. She is as tormented and insecure as Macbeth. She walks and talks in her sleep. She comforts herself saying, “What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?”(V. i).She blames the wrong doing on Macbeth claiming, “You mar all with this starting (to Macbeth)”(V. i). She confesses her sins divulging, “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!” (V. i). This is Lady Macbeth’s last appearance before her suicide that introduces the resolution of the play.
Lady Macbeth's Madness (Roman Polanski 1971)
Lady Macbeth has her first appearance shortly after the prelude and her last long before the finale. She neither has a bulky part to play, nor was the title of this Shakespearean tragedy under her name. However, I consider Lady Macbeth to be the greatest contributor of the plot-she dictates the conspiracy, the murder, and the consequences. Lady Macbeth is evil in the making, yet she fails to complete her own vileness and ends the play in destruction. She could be the upbeat yet pesky girlfriend in the illustration- “Skate and Destroy.” She is the charming yet controlling wife in the play- Coronate and Destroy.
Macbeth (2015 film)
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