Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Beyond Shallow and Silence
- 2 Just War Theory and Shakespeare
- 3 Shakespeare on Civil and Dynastic Wars
- 4 Foreign War
- 5 War and the Classical World
- 6 “The Question of These Wars”
- 7 Instrumentalizing Anger
- 8 War and Eros
- 9 Shakespeare’s Language and the Rhetoric of War
- 10 Staging Shakespeare’s Wars in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- 11 Reading Shakespeare’s Wars on Film
- 12 Shakespeare and World War II
- 13 Henry V and the Pleasures of War
- 14 Macbeth and Trauma
- 15 Coriolanus and the Use of Power
- Index
- References
14 - Macbeth and Trauma
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2021
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Beyond Shallow and Silence
- 2 Just War Theory and Shakespeare
- 3 Shakespeare on Civil and Dynastic Wars
- 4 Foreign War
- 5 War and the Classical World
- 6 “The Question of These Wars”
- 7 Instrumentalizing Anger
- 8 War and Eros
- 9 Shakespeare’s Language and the Rhetoric of War
- 10 Staging Shakespeare’s Wars in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- 11 Reading Shakespeare’s Wars on Film
- 12 Shakespeare and World War II
- 13 Henry V and the Pleasures of War
- 14 Macbeth and Trauma
- 15 Coriolanus and the Use of Power
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter offers a critical reading of Macbeth as a play preoccupied with war, including civil war and border warfare. Macbeth is arguably the greatest example of a character whose brutality is condemned so soon after being celebrated. There is an exploration of doublethink in a play that holds up savagery as heroism in its opening act in the shape of the severed head of a rebel and holds up the head of the executioner, a hero-turned-villain, in its closing scene. Working at the intersection of military history and medical humanities, this reading of the play tracks the effects and aftereffects of war and wounding, examines modern responses to the play by soldiers and psychiatrists that raise issues around care and control of veterans, addresses the politics of remembering and remembrance, and reflects on recent responses to Macbeth as a drama depicting the consequences of post–traumatic stress disorder.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War , pp. 239 - 255Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021