Macbeth (Vol. 44) | James L. o'Rourke (essay date 1993)
James L. o'Rourke (essay date 1993)
SOURCE: "The Subversive Metaphysics of Macbeth," in Shakespeare Studies: An Annual Gathering of Research, Criticism, and Reviews, Vol. XXI, 1993, pp. 213-27.
[Here, O'Rourke rejects the providential interpretation of Macbeth, claiming instead that the play depicts a world in which there is no rational sequence of motivation, action, and consequence, nor any restoration of order at the close. There is no accounting for the dramatic action, the critic argues, only an indifferent fatalism that subverts a Christian explanation of human existence.]
The persistence of the providential reading of Macbeth may be the best evidence for the continuing influence of A. C. Bradley on Shakespeare studies. Based on the introductions to Macbeth in standard classroom editions,1 Bradley's blend of metaphysical idealism and psychological realism which presents Macbeth as a...
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