Macbeth

My wife and I went to see Macbeth last night, and to be honest, I was looking forward to it about as much as getting my teeth cleaned. I wished I wouldn’t have waited until intermission to read the program – during the first 90 minutes I was completely lost trying to figure out what was going on. Yes, it has been that long since I had to read the script in high school. For that matter, I might have even just skimmed the Cliffs Notes back then. Although I loved being able to see the play outside on a warm August evening, it didn’t help much that I was perched on a tree root for most of the performance.

That’s not to say that the Idaho Shakespeare Festival folks didn’t do a great job with the production, because they did. It just seems as if a 400-year old play can be something to be endured more so than enjoyed. Shakespeare was one of the Great Authors, who wrote a few of the Great Books, which many of us read because we feel obligated to contemplate the Great Ideas. It’s good for you, like spinach.

I like what Greg Nagan, in The 5-Minute Iliad and Other Instant Classics, has to say in this regard:

…if you don’t familiarize yourself with the themes and ideas of the Great Books, you’re going to lead a miserable life and die. You’ll probably lead a miserable life and die anyway, but an acquaintance with the Great Books can help you understand your misery and death in a broader context. That’s got to count for something.

As far as Nagan is concerned, Shakespeare “was invented in order that the British would have someone impressive to quote.”

But seriously, and all ranting aside, I did come away with a lot to think about last night, thanks to the Weird Sisters. These are the three witches in the play who predict Macbeth’s rise to become King of Scotland. Maybe you remember the lines: "Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble, blah, blah, blah."

In the Idaho Statesman review, Dana Oland described them this way: “Their animalistic quality and birdlike demeanor give them a magical and fascinating presence.”

Magical, fascinating…and pretty freaking bizarre, if you ask me. Apparently, the inspiration for these characters came from Japanese Noh theater, in which ghosts and deities play familiar roles. Seeing them hobble around on what looked like stilts, and covered with black capes and white face paint, was downright creepy.

Anyway, the keys to the entire play are the predictions made of Macbeth’s “fateful” ascension to power. To what extent did the words of the Weird Sisters create evil desire in the heart of “the Scottish king”? How did his belief in the inevitability of their fulfillment lead him to his tragic end? Were they supposed to be actual predictions (as with the oracles in the plays of ancient Greece) or were they instead warnings (as with the spirits in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol)?

I don't know the answers to those questions, exactly. I couldn’t help but be reminded, though, of Jesus’ saying in Mark 4:24. He tells his disciples, simply but directly, “Take care what you listen to.” In other words, if you happen to encounter three phantoms along the road guaranteeing you power and immortality, it’s best to keep on walking.