Shakespeare: a quebra da ordem político-social e a relação entre governantes e governados

Abstract

The present research addresses the breakdown of the political-social order and the relationship between rulers and ruled in Macbeth's tragedy. The research theme is at the center of the political sphere presented by Shakespeare in the tragedies of Julius Caesar (1599), Hamlet (1600-1601), King Lear (1605-1606) and Macbeth (1606-1607), written shortly after his two sets of plays on the history of England. It is argued that in these tragedies the natural law, which is represented by Shakespeare in two ways, fits as a principle that sustains the political-social order that provides the common good of the communities in which the characters are inserted, thus, investigating if why the characters, especially the tragic protagonists, violate the natural law and break the political-social order and, as a result, affect the relationship between rulers and ruled. The investigation of the motives that lead the characters to act and the consequences arising from their actions are justified by being the central phenomenon of Shakespeare's tragedies. In this sense, the break with the political-social order and the decline that culminates in the death of tragic protagonists are mainly due to actions that lead to other actions. The first point addressed is a prelude to the tragedies, through a political contextualization of the Elizabethan and Jamesian periods, showing that Shakespeare writes his dramatic works in the midst of conceptions inherited, in part, from the medieval worldview and, in part, built on from Renaissance thought. Then, the two sets of plays on the history of England are put into focus, seeking to understand how Shakespeare, at the beginning of his career, approached the political sphere; how it represents the actions whose purpose is to obtain or maintain power and its consequences; and how it portrays the relationship between rulers and ruled. Next, it deals with the nature of the evil that befalls the tragic protagonists of Julius Caesar and Hamlet and their dramatic constructions. Finally, the object of this study is the tragedy of Macbeth: it exposes the political actions that characterize the characters; the nuances of the rupture with the political-social order carried out by the tragic protagonist are explored and the consequences of this rupture are shown; and the reason for the character to break with the political-social order is discussed. The study is conducted through the analysis of the dramatic construction of the protagonists and the structure of the tragedies of Julius Caesar, Hamlet and, in greater depth, Macbeth. As the main foundations of the analysis, texts by Barbara Heliodora, Agnes Heller and A. C. Bradley are used. It is concluded that the reason that leads Macbeth to violate the natural law and break with the political-social order must be explained on two levels: a superficial one, which is shown in the character's apparent behavior; and an internal one, which is a condition of possibility for the surface plane and is due to the way Shakespeare carries out the dramatic construction of the protagonist. As far as the ultimate plan goes, Macbeth is motivated by his unbridled ambition. Internally, that is, with regard to the dramatic construction of the character, Macbeth denotes the same condition for acting as the tragic protagonists of Julius Caesar and Hamlet: freedom.