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• 1 media/macbeth5.jpg 2015-11-22T21:41:44-08:00 Death and Desire: Contrasting Morbidity and Sexuality in Macbeth and Sleep No More 17 Emma Indelicato image_header 2015-11-23T17:44:53-08:00

  When reading Macbeth, it does not appear as a particularly romantic or sensational piece of literature; in fact, it actually seems to de-sexualize itself. Every joy or luxury seems null and void in Macbeth’s journey to tyranny and self-destruction. In fact, Lady Macbeth asks to have no connection to her gender or sexuality, as it would make her too weak for the evil at hand: 

  
  "Come, you spirits 
  That tend on my mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
  And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full 
  Of direst cruelty . . .
  Come to my woman's breasts
  And take my milk for gall, your murd'ring ministers,
  Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief." (ActI, Scene V)      

   

   

  In a basic reading of Macbeth, it would appear that the work is solely a piece of gory and gloom. However, Sleep No More brings Macbeth to life by painting the rich crimson hues in blood and blush, murder and lust. Sleep No More is an entirely sensual experience, from its carnal choreography to the fact that you can taste any food that is on the set. This really contrasts with the original play, which is comparatively stagnant and drained of all physical delight.
  
  To get a showcase of this death and desire duality, let us focus on the way Sleep No More interpreted that banquet scene, particular the first representation and last representation.
  
  When I followed the bloody Macbeths into the dining hall, the whole cast was there to take part in the revelry. Though all the players kept stern countenances, it was a scene of great debauchery. The wine glasses were always full and the actors kissed and caressed in hetero and homoerotic affections. The orgy was bathed in drifting smoke and fiery-orange lighting, like warmth of passion or the jaws of Hell (look to cover photo). Once Banquo appeared athwart Macbeth, the free-spirited festivites did not falter for a moment; the two foes merely raised there glasses to one another, as if cheering the depravity of their actions. 
  
  However, Sleep No More made the interesting decision to combine the final scene of Macbeth with one last run-through of the banquet.
  
  Once Macbeth takes his seat at the head of the table, the scene starts to play out as it did countless times before. However, the fondling begins to lack feeling and all the wine is gone. The set glares with a grotesque green. As Banquo counters Macbeth from the other side of the table, the toast turns into a point- an accusation. Though the ghost went unseen before, the guests now notice him, and all follow suit, pointing at Macbeth, physically putting the blame on the murderous monarch. The party ends, as the guests back away, and the buffet becomes a scaffold for the king's gallows. The color becomes a darkness that surrounds Macbeth as he is crowned with a noose.
  
  Even when the banquet was nothing but pleasure, there was still a sickliness to it: The King and Queen arr drench in blood, and the though the guest are partaking in merriment, their expressions exhibit no sign ecstasy. I took that to be a foreshadowing of the true horrors that Macbeth will create behind his facade. The color choices were another component that intrigued me. Though at first the orange and smoke reminded me of the opening to the Inferno, I also felt it could symbolize the raging fire of intimacy and passion. Then later when the production used green lighting, it reminded me of envy and the stench of death. This makes sense being that it was Macbeth's envy that lead to his ultimate demise. Macbeth showed how feeding into pride will lead to one's downfall. However, Sleep No More in it's very intimate nature suggests that in was the gluttony of passion (sex and outraged murder) that became the Scottish King's end. 
  
  This idea of the inter-connection of sinister and sexuality plays out in many of the texts we have discussed in class. 
  
  In Paradise Lost, after Eve and Adam are tricked into eating the fruit, they make passionate love. Before, when the sole humans had sex it was pure, for they did not know evil; but now that they fell into the downfall of the Devil, the first thing that Adam and Eve do is erotic, lustful and hence sinful.
  
  
  
  A similar metaphor is actually made in Macbeth:

  "Look like th'innocent flower,
  Bt be the serpent under't. He that's coming
  Must be provided for." (Act I, Scene V) 

  Here, Lady Macbeth goads her husband to act naturally to hide his devilish thoughts and actions. Not only being a direct biblical allusion, this speaks to the idea that Sleep No More has; Macbeth must hide with the beauty and fragrance of sensuality (the flower) to hide his truly repugnant demeanor (the serpent).
  
  Also, Frankenstein plays on these themes by using romantic Victorian language to describe extremely creepy and morbid occurrences. Furthermore, it is interesting how dead body parts are given the sensation of life and the passion of a human mind heart, plus he desires a woman to keep him company (sexual company is implied). The Creature is a literal combination of death and sex. Meanwhile, it his interesting how Victor's only two interests are his twisted and macabre view of "natural philosophy" and, to quote the video below "his cousin Elizabeth's bangin' bootay".   

  Victor's death/sex schism is further developed later, when Elizabeth is killed by the Creature. Victor describes with graphic sensuality his feelings and the sight of his dead wife. 

  "She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across he bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure - her bloodless arms and relaxed form flung by the murdered on its bridal bier." (Shelley, 135-136)

  
  There is something very post-coital about the dead Elizabeth. To get a visual understanding, we look to Fuseli's "The Nightmare"In a deeper analysis of the 18th century painting, "The Nightmare" also brings up sexuality and death in the Victorian era, as women of that time were thought to be "ultimately corrupted or destroyed when faced with sexuality."

  However, this sentiment can be brought into the Underworld's idea about sexuality. According to the majority of the underworld journeys that we have studied, it would appear that death and sex are in bed to together. Though sex can often be seen as the opposite of death (as it is the creation of life versus the destruction of life), in the throes of passion lies the path to Hell.