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A Structural analysis of Macbeth

Article in Communicatio · December 2007

DOI: 10.1080/02500168108537619

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 A Structural Analysis of Macbeth

Roy Williams (roytwilliams@[Link])

Abstract

This paper explores ways in which people can engage with the play, Macbeth,
by mapping or charting the layers of relationships between the contesting, and
resonating, elements in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The chart is a flexible
structure, and in the Piagetian sense it is a holistic structure – a means to
explore the ‘whole’ of the play.

In hindsight, years after first working on this, it is not so much a ‘structure,’

or an ‘analysis’. It is, rather, just a means to explore, to map out, to chart, the
rich poetry of the play – for yourself, and/or for other readers, actors,
producers, and audiences.

Originally, it was a tool for students of Shakespeare (aspirant teachers,

actually). It consisted of a perfectly blank ‘sheet’ of unbleached calico, about 1
meter squared, for each person to chart and map out the many ways they
experienced the ‘play’ between the ‘unstable opposites’ in Macbeth, sketching
out ways the scenes and the characters interacted, and writing important
quotes in, on each scene - using coloured pens of their choice. Macbeth was
the first of Shakespeare’s 37 plays to be ‘charted’ in this way, in what was
called ‘Shakespeare’s Mandalas’. The rest followed.

Note: Earlier versions of this paper were published in, or and

presented at:

1. Communicatio, 7,2: 1981

1981, Taylor & Francis Online, and UNISA Press, pp. 2-9, and

2. Semiotic Theory and Practice

1988, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin & New York, pp. 1205 – 1216

3. A presentation to the 13th World Congress on Semiotics, in Palermo,

Italy, in 1984).

The following text borrows liberally from all three of these versions.
All texts and media are copyrighted to Roy Williams, under a Creative
Commons, attribution, non-commercial license.

Introduction

The ‘whole’ in Piaget’s terms is not just an aggregate of it’s parts, but rather
something that gives definition to it’s parts. This is in no way a definitive
‘representation’ of the play. Seeing it as a representation might lead to the
misconception that the relations between the elements of the play are fixed,
and static. On the contrary, they change and evolve as the play goes on – on
the stage and in the mind of the reader or audience, long after the book is
closed, and the curtain comes down on the stage.

This play (and many others) are often approached via a linear and
reductionist approach, which tries to extract the ‘plot’, and derive an
‘understanding’ of the play from it. But that negates the poetic richness of the
text – on paper and on stage.

Instead, the chart is an open invitation to map out the back-and-forth echoes,
the fabric, the weave, of actors, actions, and words across the stage and across
the imagination and the memory of the audience or reader. To paraphrase
Shakespeare, “the play/s are the thing”, and there are many of them.

Manca (1978:12) talks of ‘harmony’ as opposed to ‘structure,’ and then of two

modes of harmony. One is characterized as a transcendental quest for an
absolute, for an answer, the other is a quest “for meaningfulness in and
through life,” a process.

In the first case, harmony is achieved as a resolution of opposites, as in

…Dante, and in most mystical poetry, where supreme reality is

attained by leaving the world ultimately behind … the centre of reality
… is generally seen to reside in an ideal world beyond the world of
becoming.

[Alternatively, as in]

… the works of Shakespeare, and in that of most modern poets … the

artist tends to seek meaning and order within the context of the
tensions of experiential being. The centre of reality is placed within the
flux and change of sense experience … harmony is a balance of unstable
opposites, perpetually endangered and destroyed by the forces of becoming”.

This has implications for the way in which we approach the play and the
charting, the mapping, the experiencing, of Macbeth. We start with a look at the
core of the chart.
The Scottish Castles

Figure 1. The 3 Scottish Castles and the Banquet Scene, III:4

This charting of the play is not necessarily definitive. But graphically it works
quite powerfully as a way to explore the echoes and resonances between the
‘unstable opposites’, scattered, as they are, on opposite sides of the Celtic
Cross that is the organising principle of this charting.

The central settings - and the seats of power in Scotland - are the three castles:
Inverness, Forres, and Dunsinane. There is some ambiguity about some of the
settings, and whether, for instance, Act 3, Scene 5, (See Figure 2, below) in
which Hecate takes over control, was written by Shakespeare in the first
place.

But if one accepts the settings in the commonly accepted text, one comes up
with seven scenes in each of the three castles: Inverness, Macbeth’s home and
power base; Forres, the Royal Palace of King Duncan (and later, for Macbeth);
and Dunsinane, Macbeth’s (accursed) fortress. And this structure, and it’s
extensions, accommodates all the other scenes too.

This does not assume that Shakespeare had this (or any other geometry) in
mind when he wrote the play. But it does assume that part of the genius of
Shakespeare’s work is that he creates plays that are ‘wholes’; wholes which
are riven by conflict, or contradictions (in the case of the comedies).
The Celtic Cross is, probably the only symmetrical graphic structure that has
3 sections, each with 7 sub-sections, so it is more than fit for purpose. And it
has an irony built into it.

As Macbeth moves ‘upwards’ from one castle to the next, he finds that Forres,
the Royal Castle, has been cursed by his and Lady Macbeth’s own doing, so
he flees to the his final (and ‘topmost’) castle and fortress, Dunsinane; only to
discover, cruelly, that it is the most endangered of them all – an irony foretold
(as it happens), but an irony which has long since been cast aside by the
Macbeths’ ambitions.

The Celtic Cross also allows for the pivotal Banquet scene (III: 4) - See Fig 1,
above - in the Royal Palace of Forres, to be placed in the centre of the
mandala; the core of good (or in this case, bad) fortune.

The Heath Surrounding the Castles

Figure 2: The Surrounding Scenes on the Heath

The scenes on the Heath (I:1, I:3a, I:3b, III:5) - see Figure 2, above - take place
in the areas around the Castles. They are placed in the circle around the
points of the Celtic Cross. A minor liberty has been taken in separating scene
1:3 into two parts, a and b, as ‘a’ is clearly and introduction to ‘b’.

The graphic placing of these scenes mirrors the threat that the chaotic heath
poses to the inner world of the supposedly impregnable, stable, castles.
The External Forces

Further out from the castles, and the Heath, are the scenes of Act 4, which are
distant from the Scottish castles, but which, like the Heath, have a deciding
influence on the turn of events inside them. (See Figure 3 and 4, below).

Figure 3: The Surrounding Forces

There are three of these scenes in the text: Hecate’s cavern (IV:1), Fife (IV:2),
and England (IV:3). Birnam Wood - which is just a setting, is however integral
to the way the witches’ prophesies take material form. It is the site where the
deceptions of the two forces opposing Macbeth, from England and from
Hecate’s cavern, act in concert, (unbeknownst to each other), via Birnam
Wood, to lead inevitably to Macbeth’s death.

In terms of the balance, or the echoes of various the elements in the play,
these scenes opposite each other are linked – once again across the Banquet
scene: Hecate’s cavern to the atrocities in Fife, and the gathering of forces in
England to the liberation of Scotland, via Birnam Wood.

Colour

As well as the overall architecture of the Celtic Cross and its extensions, and
the geometry of opposites, the charting also uses colour. Red is used for the
castles, which are all overtaken by the lust for power and blood-shed. Grey is
used for the scenes of confusion and chaos – in Hecate’s cavern and in Fife,
and Green is used for England and Birnam Wood, as it is from here that the
redemption and liberation of Scotland develops and finally has succeeds.
(‘Green’ in this graphic should be much brighter – a technical glitch).
 Figure 4: The External Settings, in colour

The characters are also coded using colour and shape, all of which can be
decided by the person who is creating a chart, or they can go with the choices
that have been made here.

The characters are divided into four main group, plus the witches and Hecate,
who are placed in the centre. There are also four other sub-groups of
supporting characters (See Figure 5).

Figure 5: The Characters

Duncan’s family are gold for Royalty. Duncan has a crown, the princes,
coronets. The green band at the top of some of the characters signifies youth.
Macbeth’s family are blood red. Their dark grey hearts indicate disloyalty and
treason. They have golden crowns as King and Queen, and Macbeth has a
helmet as a general. A circle is used for women, and a rectangle for men.

Banquo’s family are yellow to indicate integrity and balance. The colour
yellow is based on Shakespeare’s symbolic use of it to indicate the source of
life. Macduff’s family are royal blue, to indicate his loyalty.

Hecate has a crescent moon as Goddess of the Night; the English soldiers are
green, the Scottish soldiers, purple – from the heather and the thistle. The
murderers are dark grey; the members of the household are brown, with
added symbols for their roles – a scroll, a medicine bottle, and a key (for the
scribe, the doctor and the porter).

In this set of characters, taken from the tape-slide programme on the chart,
minor characters are not specified. On a full-scale chart, they are indicated
with a letter for their names.

The Balance of Unstable Opposites

Manca’s “balance of unstable opposites, perpetually endangered and

destroyed by the forces of becoming” are to be found in the patterns of the
where the characters appear on the chart, as well as in the patterns and (often
ironic, and cruel) echoes of what they say in the play. The constant struggles
between the forces ‘behind the scenes’- both good and evil, are of course to be
found in the text of the play, and in the selections from the text that are
written onto each full chart, so that people can immediately pick up the
echoes, the ironies, and resonances within the text, right across the whole play
– as they see them, and at a glance.

The chart is there to map out relationships between what people say, what
metaphors they use, and how they deceive (or support) each other, just as
much as it is there to map out the dramatic events in the play.

These patterns and echoes add numerous layers of tension, irony, and hubris
to the play, and can be explored either within one chart, or by comparing
differences of emphasis across different people’s charts.

To start with, in the first three scenes of Act I, several potential lines of tension
and conflict and temptation, are already laid out. (See Figure 6).
 Figure 6: The first three scenes

The play starts on the Heath, which is outside the walls of the castles, but
always poses a potential threat to them. This is puzzling and ironic, as the
threat to Scotland at this point in time is not military (that battle is over). The
imminent threat it is the ever-present evil that can creep into people’s souls,
via the ephemeral forms of the witches.

In scene two we move into the Royal Palace at Forres, where King Duncan is
in charge, clearing up the end of the battle, praising the valiant Macbeth,
issuing orders for Cawdor’s execution, and restoring order in the kingdom.
Everything is going to be in harmony, it’s all clear cut, and ideal values are
once again imposed.

But as the audience knows, other forces are at work on the Heath. The play
immediately leaves Forres and returns to the Heath.

The vector of the first and third scenes on the Heath, (graphically in a pincer
movement on the scene in Forres), is a telling illustration of how real the
threat of the Heath is to the order and integrity of the Royal Palace. (See
Figure 6). This is confirmed by the way Macbeth immediately starts to echo
the magical chants of the witches, in I:3a and I:3b, both in Forres, Macbeth’s
castle, which is where the threat will take form.

In this way, the graphics frame what happens in the text and in the actions in
the play; in short, the way in which “balance is destroyed by the forces of
becoming”. The contest between good and evil is already fated to end badly.
The walls of the castles no longer keep evil at bay.
The echoes and resonances – across many of the sites where balance and the
‘natural order’- both in Scotland and in the Heavens, are overturned –
continue throughout the play, adding layers of richness and dramatic tension.

These layers of intra-textuality continue to build up throughout this play and

many other plays. For example Brown (1973:11) says of the play Hamlet

…[the fact] that certain analogies exist between the opening and
closing scenes … is a commonplace of criticism … but what does not
seem to have been generally recognized is quite how far such
symmetries can be traced further on into the play – certainly far
enough … to make it unlikely that in doing so one is doing nothing
more than finding pictures in the fire.

Echoes Across the Centre

There are layers and layers of geometrically opposite scenes that are
thematically linked across the central scene of the play, the Banquet scene,
III:4. (See figure 7). And each have layers of rich textual resonances and
metaphors to match.

Figure 7: Echoes Across the Central Scene, (1)

We can start at the scenes closest to the centre. In III:3, we see Macbeth, now
ensconced in the Royal Palace of Florres, seemingly successfully disposing of
the threat from Banquo and, so he thinks, from his son Florres. The opposite
scene – on the chart, III:6, shows how Macbeth has achieved just the reverse,
and how some members of his court are already openly condemning him as a
tyrant.
The other scenes in the inner circle of the Celtic Cross show the same kinds of
developments. In I:5, Lady Macbeth calls upon the powers of darkness to
invade her being, and in the graphically opposite scene, V:5, those powers
have tormented her to her death.

In I:7, Lady Macbeth taunts Macbeth to proceed with the murder of Duncan,
and in the graphically opposite scene, V:1, we find her desperately washing
her hands in mid-air as she sleep walks, tormented by the scenes of Duncan’s
murder.

In the other two scenes, a similar transformation takes place. In I:6 and,
opposite, V:3, we are shown Lady Macbeth first confidently concealing her
intentions, while she welcomes Duncan to Inverness, and secondly, in V:3, we
hear of her mental breakdown which leads to her suicide.

And in yet another pair of opposing scenes, III:1&2, and I:2&4, we are
introduced to the new king, Macbeth, who is plotting to murder his best and
most loyal friend and, opposite, we are introduced to Duncan, punishing
treachery and rewarding the loyalty – of Macbeth!

Figure 8: Echoes Across the Central Scene, (2)

Yet another example is the contrast between the group of scenes at the base of
the Celtic Cross, II:1-4 (see Fig. 8), which deal with the murder of Duncan and
the public’s reaction to it, and the corresponding group of scenes opposite, at
the top of the Celtic Cross, (V:2, 4, 6 & 7) which lead to the killing of Macbeth,
and the public reinstatement of the rightful King and heir, Malcolm.

Figure 9: Echoes Across the Central Scene, (3).

In Figure 9, we can also see the echoes between the (outer) Heath scenes, I:1
and I:3b, in which Macbeth echoes the witches “fair is foul” spell, and the two
Heath scenes (I:3a & b), in which the witches conjure up their magic to control
Macbeth, across from III:5, in which Hecate chastises them for not consulting
her, and she takes over.

There are many layers of relationships here which all highlight the instability
of the ‘natural order’. All of them are balanced, or contrasted, across the
central Banquet scene.

If we look at the overall picture, we always come back to the idea that it is the
integration of unstable opposites that creates the artistic harmony of the play,
and simultaneously sustains the dramatic tensions.
 Figure 10: The Full Colour Chart

On the full colour chart, above, (in which the scenes in England and the
setting of Birnam Wood should be a brighter green) - this is forcefully
depicted in the inner four scenes (V:1 & 5, and I:5 & 7).

These scenes, even though they are in fact inside the castles - which are
coloured red, are coloured grey instead, as it is in these scenes that Hecate’s
influence is strongest. It is also in these scenes that Lady Macbeth figures
centrally. For the same reason, the central Banquet scene should perhaps be
grey, as it is here that Hecate casts her strongest spell – Banquo’s ghost.

Harmony

Manca writes that Shakespeare’s idea of harmony encompasses discord as an

essential part of it’s nature. This implies that good and evil have similar
ontological status, and both are enduring parts of reality (1978:6).
The evil of Hecate is not merely a statistically rare and marginal phenomenon.
Both Hecate and the positive forces in Macbeth’s world are unstable. Both are
perpetually “endangered by the forces of becoming” (Manca, 1978:12).

If we take a step back from the play, we see that Macbeth and Duncan are
both threatened by the (external) forces of ‘evil’, and Macbeth is in addition
threatened by his own – and Lady Macbeth’s own - ambition and desire for
advancement. These are their ‘inner daemons’ or what Manca (rather kindly)
calls ‘the forces of becoming’.

Shakespeare uses Hecate to demonstrate, unmercifully, to Macbeth and Lady

Macbeth that the whole is much more than the aggregate of a selection of its
parts. The charting of the play reinforces the ‘unstable balance’ of forces, and
the vigilance that is necessary to maintain harmony. The ‘structure’ of the
chart of Macbeth reveals in cruel detail the complexity of the task of balancing
these forces, - an ongoing struggle between the starkly conflicting, and cruelly
resonating, forces in the play, as mapped out across the chart.

Macbeth is vanquished, but Hecate remains. She is, if anything, the more real
force because she is seldom if ever seen, and she only interacts with Macbeth
via the witches as proxies (and Lady Macbeth too, depending on how you see
her). Manca (1978:73) writes that the order Shakespeare depicts is one ridden
by disorder and flux. Any harmony envisaged must both emerge from, and
contain, the opposing tensions that can cause it’s dissolution at any time.

Conclusion
The geometric form of the chart allows one to explore the whole and the
parts, the overall structure and the minutiae of the text, simultaneously. This
includes the terrible, formal beauty of the play, on the one hand, and the
potential ‘imbalance’ of opposing forces as soon as their opposite is taken into
account, across the central and disruptive Banquet scene on the other hand.

From almost any point on the aesthetically beautiful chart, one can move
across to the geometrically opposite side, and find a resonant scene. But it
inevitably points yet again to human dissolution and tragedy, which is
always possible, and which is depicted in the often stunning beauty of their
speeches – even in their cruelest and most tragic moments.

The way in which the geometrical balance of the chart mirrors, so exactly, the
echoes and resonances – positive and negative – of the text and the drama of
the play is in a sense proof of the value of this charting and mapping of the
play. It is also a unique opportunity for people to explore the play, and an
invitation to embark on their own mapping and charting of their own
experience of the play and the text of Macbeth.
 Bibliography

Brown, K. (1973) Form and cause conjoined. Shakespeare Survey, 26,

pp 59-67.

Manca, M. A. (1978) Harmony and the Poet. Den Haag, Mouton.

Piaget, J. (1968) Structuralism. London, Routledge.

Notes

1. For a masterful example of the interaction between the many layers of

poetic, dramatic, and textual richness in Shakespeare, see Ian McClelland’s
exploration of Macbeth’s speech in V:5, “Tomorrow, and tomorrow and
tomorrow …” here: [Link]

2. The chart itself, in all it’s layers, was the product of its original creator,
Ellen Williams (mother of the current author), who was still working on a
PhD at UNISA on all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays, when she died in 1980.

She visualized each play as a mandala - an interactive “balance of unstable

opposites, perpetually endangered and destroyed by the forces of becoming”
(Manca, above). The mandala that she used for Macbeth (which just so
happens to be a Celtic Cross), came to her in a dream, as did the mandala for
all 37 plays (see elsewhere).

She and I jointly developed the graphics for a tape-slide programme of the
play, some of which have also been used in this paper.

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