OPPapers.com

Enemy In Macbeth

The Enemy with the Control

An enemy is never just an opponent. It becomes a part of an individual’s character as it manages to implant negative effects. This idea is explored greatly in “Faces of the Enemy” by Sam Keen and Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Through vivid examples and characters, both authors prove that enemies can take away one’s innocence, generate paranoia and instill fear. This ultimately conveys the universal message that it is one’s enemies that has all the control and not the individual himself.

An enemy can often become so malicious and intimidating that it can effortlessly destroy one’s innocence. In “Faces of the Enemy”, Keen uses the term “rapist” to describe an enemy to be the “the destroyer of motherhood” (Keen, “Faces of the Enemy”). He also depicts the enemy to be a “lust defiling innocence” (Keen, “Faces of the Enemy”) which goes to show the corruption an enemy can bestow upon on individual to the point that he loses all innocence. Similarly, in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth envelops some characteristics of a rapist by corrupting Macbeth and taking away his innocence. By advising him to “look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it” (Shakespeare, 1.5.72-73), she ultimately paves a path for his destruction as she consistently encourages him to kill Duncan. Later the reader is convinced that his loyal and innocent self is destroyed as he plots to commit more murders since he is “yet but young in deed” (Shakespeare, 3.4.170). This gradual change in Macbeth shows the control Lady Macbeth has had on him and how she defies his innocence through the use of her rapist characteristics.

In addition to destroying one’s innocence, an enemy can create great paranoia. Although Keen declares that “paranoia forms the mold from which [one] create[s] enemies” (Keen, “Faces of the Enemy”), the result is more paranoia once the enemy is created. Keen describes such an enemy to be “simply the stranger, the alien” (Keen, “Faces of the Enemy”)....