“Occupy Macbeth: Masculinity and Political Masochism in Macbeth"
ResearchPaper
English
Macbeth—a play associated with conflicts of royal succession, contested theories of absolutism, and the dangers of treason—has been defined by critical readings that privilege analyses of Stuart politics.While this play may offer insight into the crisis of monarchical legitimacy, its most salient contribution to the English political imaginary remains unacknowledged. What is remarkable about Macbeth is not its engagement with established political topoi but its tendency to strain the parameters of early modern political discourse itself. Rather than simply stage competing ideas of sovereignty, Shakespeare insistently focuses on the affective mapping of national identification, and in this way pries open the very category of the political.“Occupy Macbeth: Ma…Faculty62901Amanda L BachertPalgrave