Echoes of hidden crimes: meditating the Macbeths

This paper serves as an observation of mid-sixteenth through early-seventeenth century crimes of infanticide and witchcraft, as they relate to the Macbeths of the Shakespearean play. I observe the contemporary cases and literature pertaining to the crime and argue that Lady Macbeth’s character serves as an example of a married woman, socially and economically upstanding, who is capable of committing various crimes against her neighbors, family, and herself with relative social impunity. The Macbeths collectively act out various forms of the crime of infanticide with their resources and mindsets sharply contrasting those of the crime’s less economically-capable culprits. Shakespeare’s two villainous masterminds, along with other examples in the contemporary literature, act on their infanticidal and child-murdering urges and expose the immense double-standard of justice, culpability, and responsibility for the crime. We also compare Lady Macbeth’s contrasting murderers to the economically destitute – those whose crimes were more often motivated by necessity and fear rather than the ambition of the upper classes. This essay explores the character and mindset of the child murderer and discusses their capability to commit a murder most foul, strange and unnatural.M.A.Includes bibliographical reference