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"Indeed, the whole action
takes place in a kind of hell and is pitched to the demons'
shriek of hyperbole. This would appear to be a peculiar
setting for a study of the commonplace. But only at first
sight. The fact that an ordinary philistine like Macbeth
goes on the rampage and commits a series of murders is a
sign that human nature, like nature, is capable of any
mischief if left to its "natural" self. The witches,
unnatural beings, are Nature spirits, stirring their
snake-filet and owl's wing, newt's eye and frog toe in a
camp stew: earthy ingredients boil down to an unearthly
broth. It is the same with the man Macbeth. Ordinary
ambition, fear, and a kind of stupidity make a deadly
combination. Macbeth, a self-made king, is not kingly, but
simply the original Adam, the social animal, and Lady
Macbeth is the Mother Eve."
Source: Mary McCarthy's
"General Macbeth", Harper's Magazine, June 1962
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