ABSTRACT
The kind of tragedy which William Shakespeare explores in Macbeth resembles, at first glance, the pattern he had already used in Othello. The first act and a half of Macbeth contains, in effect, a compressed version of the action which takes up the entire five acts of Othello. In Macbeth, Shakespeare twice uses the image of the banquet to suggest the civilized celebration of a king's reign, and both times he does so ironically, showing the celebration to be sham. Later in the play, Macbeth's own attempt to celebrate with a feast soon after his coronation is interrupted by the appearance of the murdered Banquo's ghost. In the world of Macbeth it seems to be taken for granted that manliness means, essentially, the ability to kill. Womanliness, which Lady Macbeth defines in theory even as she rejects it in her heart, is seen to be the nurturing and life-giving principle.
