No man born of woman, eh?
Feb. 11th, 2016 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
untonuggan"Fear not, Macbeth. No man that’s born of woman
Shall e'er have power upon thee."
One of the things all my teachers and theater buffs and PBS told me about Shakespeare is that he works for any time. Few stage directions! No set costumes! [No copyright restrictions!] You can make all sorts of adaptations!
Here's the thing, though. I know that there's tons of things that are different from Shakespearean times to now. For example, Juliet then would be 13 to Romeo's 25, which would now be a whole host of illegal creepitude. (Not necessarily a bad way to perform the play, since creepitude is there anyway, but that's another story.) I know that monarchs do not wield the same amount of power in the UK now as they did then. Etc.
I know there's also a fair amount of "learning what the lines actually mean," as a performer or a reader. Hopefully you go into the show knowing something, too, or you see a really good production that shows you meaning you didn't realize was there.
But the "no man born of woman" line from Macbeth has always felt the most jarring to me as a 21st century viewer. Maybe because I was very ??? the first time I read it, and also because I was born via C-section and so I was perhaps a little personally offended. Macbeth was defeated because he literally could not conceive (ha) of my birth. Which, uh, yeah childbirth was super dangerous then and C-sections were rare.
Though maybe I'm really pissed because the first time I read it my brain went, "Well clearly a woman is going to defeat him then, because that fits the prophecy." When that did not happen, it was irritating. MacDuff, srsly?
This is a roundabout way of saying that here are other possibilites (besides MacDuff the C-section baby) for MacBeth's downfall, assuming the prophecy to be correct:
Shall e'er have power upon thee."
One of the things all my teachers and theater buffs and PBS told me about Shakespeare is that he works for any time. Few stage directions! No set costumes! [No copyright restrictions!] You can make all sorts of adaptations!
Here's the thing, though. I know that there's tons of things that are different from Shakespearean times to now. For example, Juliet then would be 13 to Romeo's 25, which would now be a whole host of illegal creepitude. (Not necessarily a bad way to perform the play, since creepitude is there anyway, but that's another story.) I know that monarchs do not wield the same amount of power in the UK now as they did then. Etc.
I know there's also a fair amount of "learning what the lines actually mean," as a performer or a reader. Hopefully you go into the show knowing something, too, or you see a really good production that shows you meaning you didn't realize was there.
But the "no man born of woman" line from Macbeth has always felt the most jarring to me as a 21st century viewer. Maybe because I was very ??? the first time I read it, and also because I was born via C-section and so I was perhaps a little personally offended. Macbeth was defeated because he literally could not conceive (ha) of my birth. Which, uh, yeah childbirth was super dangerous then and C-sections were rare.
Though maybe I'm really pissed because the first time I read it my brain went, "Well clearly a woman is going to defeat him then, because that fits the prophecy." When that did not happen, it was irritating. MacDuff, srsly?
This is a roundabout way of saying that here are other possibilites (besides MacDuff the C-section baby) for MacBeth's downfall, assuming the prophecy to be correct:
- one of the clones from Orphan Black (or a less-awesome clone I suppose)
- a rabid bear
- any non-human animal, actually
- lightning, hurricane, tidal wave, or other Act of God
- alien abduction, followed by Shakespearean Mulder and Scully (and/or Mulder's ancestor)
- stopped washing hands because of Lady Macbeth's creepy hand-washing, died of germs
- Lady Macbeth herself
- some sort of Ophelia crossover
- Lady Macbeth kills him, creates some sort of regency, takes Ophelia as her lover. Hand-washing was a ploy.
- someone prayed to the Goddess of Marriage and she fixes everything for Lady Macbeth/Ophelia, including getting rid of Macbeth
- Daleks
- The Doctor
- the US Enterprise fell through a hole in time and it crashed it onto Macbeth while Worf was at the helm
- he is Immortal and There Can Be Only One. Watcher files sketchy on what happened after his first death. Possibly sighted in modern politics.
- tripped and hit his head on one of those stone castle walls
- "tripped" and hit his head on one of those stone castle walls
- mob of angry peasants and/or guillotine (there's power in groups and groupthink no matter how you're born)
- realizes error of his ways, becomes a wise, beloved and long-living king
- does not eat vegetables because he is king and no one can make him so there, dies of scurvy
- unwisely visited crossroads at dusk, never seen again
- forgot to pay witches for services, never seen again
- forgot to pay witches for services, they totally lied about the prophecy, killed by someone who paid them well to dupe MacBeth McSmartypants
no subject
Date: 2016-02-11 08:06 pm (UTC)- fell off horse
- fell off x other tall thing
- it was the sword that killed him, not the wielder
- Killed by Eowyn in surprise crossover
Obviously Shakespearean Mulder and Scully have to be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. xD
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Date: 2016-02-12 02:57 pm (UTC)also like all of these
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Date: 2016-02-11 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-11 08:29 pm (UTC)DeathBeth as a Burns Night special and then it would be some sort of haggis-themed monster... probably secretly controlled by the Daleks.no subject
Date: 2016-02-11 08:34 pm (UTC)while being mind-controlled by Daleks.P.S. The Ghost in Hamlet is also a caretaker in disguise and the travelling players, who specialise in performing "mystery" plays, arrived in a strange vehicle known as the Mystery Players' Machine.
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Date: 2016-02-12 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 03:58 pm (UTC)and if they remove their masks is it the grumpy old caretaker underneath?no subject
Date: 2016-02-11 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 02:56 pm (UTC)I'm cool with it for now.
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Date: 2016-02-12 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 02:56 pm (UTC)(and then all kinds of fic because people were offended Tolkien had so few women in LoTR)
I do like that Lady MacDuff one
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Date: 2016-02-12 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 02:55 pm (UTC)I keep forgetting the UK doesn't have rabies which is funny because I know about all the restrictive pet travel laws.
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Date: 2016-02-12 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 03:14 pm (UTC)It used to be a 6 month quarantine or something for the UK? But now you can do all these papers with your vet and then do 10 days after the flight, which would still basically drive my cats to a starvation diet because of the stress so yes.
Things you know when you have a terrier mostly found in the UK but people don't want to let them out of the UK because then it's hard to get them back in, so you're 12 and there's all these discussions among your dog people friends about transporting frozen dog sperm to keep the gene pool viable.
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Date: 2016-02-12 08:26 pm (UTC)i love dw
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Date: 2016-02-13 07:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-12 04:59 pm (UTC)I'm rather fond of the Shakespearean Mulder and Scully myself. Or the various solutions involving Lady MacBeth.
no subject
Date: 2016-02-13 10:56 am (UTC)