Thanks to the Social Psychology course (PSYC102) that I have seen last term, I have some psychological intuition. In that course there is a whole chapter about "The Self". There are bunch of topics and theories in that chapter. Nevertheless, I would like to focus on the "Self-Awareness Theory" and "deindividuation"
Sometimes we turn the spotlight of consciousness on ourselves, particularly when we encounter something in the environment that triggers self-awareness. The theory claims that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behaviour to their internal standards and values. For example, in some experiments the tendency of the stealing as an act were analyzed. If the subjects see their reflection on a mirror while they are about to steal an object, they are less tend to steal.
Deindividuation is also related with the theory of self-awareness. It suggests that, members of large groups do not pay attention to other people as individuals and do no feel that their own behaviour is being examined. In this domain, being unidentified has the psychological consequence of reducing inner limitations and increasing behaviours that are usually suppressed. For further and more detailed information please visit here.
With the help of such background information, one can analyse and interpret the behaviours of Macbeth in Act 2 Scene 1 from 35th to 63rd lines.
In that scene Macbeth sees an imaginary dagger that is appear and disappear consecutively. Then he also sees bunch of false creations such as the wolf which is acting as murder's sentinel, Tarquin who is the last king of ancient Rome that raped a woman. By saying "ravishing strides", Shakespeare indicates that Macbeth is on his way to kill the king Duncan as Tarquin is on his way to rape a woman.
As one can observe, Macbeth tries not to feel that he is alone at night while he is going to kill the king Duncan. Also he tries no to hear his footsteps. As the the self-awareness theory implies, when he hears his footsteps, he focuses on himself and starts to consider his internal values. That is why he don't want to hear his footsteps. Also by being not alone, he deindividuates himself. By doing that he thinks that his behaviours and acts will not be judged.
So essentially, he tries to justify the forthcoming murder internally.
So essentially Macbeth tries to compansate himself. At the beginning of the play he tries to act well but he thinks bad stuff. Right now, he thinks and acts badly at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSuch a change in his behaviors is acceptible because the nature doesn't like unbalanced situations. The number one rule of the nature is "balance is the ultimate good". And nowa'scenes' he keeps his balance.