Lincoln, Macbeth, and the Illusions of Tyranny

What Shakespeare reveals in Macbeth is the all too human temptation to embrace tyranny. In exposing this temptation, however, Shakespeare also shows that the alleged inevitability of tyranny is a contradictory illusion that cannot survive the cycle of violence that it spawns. In comparable terms Abr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe European legacy, toward new paradigms Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 137 - 147
Main Author Havers, Grant
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 01.04.2010
Subjects
Authors
Comparative history
Democracy
Justice
Lincoln, Abraham
Literary history
Political history
Politicians
Shakespeare, William
Tyranny
U.S.A
United Kingdom
Violence
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Summary:What Shakespeare reveals in Macbeth is the all too human temptation to embrace tyranny. In exposing this temptation, however, Shakespeare also shows that the alleged inevitability of tyranny is a contradictory illusion that cannot survive the cycle of violence that it spawns. In comparable terms Abraham Lincoln exposed the tyranny of slavery as the hypocritical mockery of democracy which threatened the very survival of the American republic. Instead of teaching an illusory and despairing resignation to the tyrannies that plague human history, however, both Shakespeare and Lincoln defend a biblical standard of hope and justice (for all human beings) that is the very opposite of tyrannical illusions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:1084-8770
1470-1316
DOI:10.1080/10848771003647899