A Descent into Madness in The Poison Tree and Macbeth

Introduction

Internal conflict is a psychological struggle within the mind of a literary character that has been influenced by external forces and ambitions. Macbeth, written in 1606, is one of Shakespeare’s many tragedies, and "The Poison Tree," written in 1793 by William Blake, are two different narratives from distinct literary presentations. However, these two stories share the theme of internal conflict and guilt, which is explored equally throughout the texts. These two texts will be compared and contrasted by outlining the context, conventions, and language features that were used to bring their text productions to life. Shakespeare utilizes his five-act structure and the conventions of a dramatic text to portray and depict the tragedy of the play within the contextual time period. Meanwhile, Blake uses symbolism and literary devices to give meaning to his poem "A Poison Tree."

Background and Context

William Blake, born in 1757 London, had a passion for creating poems and presenting them in an artistic manner. He published his first illustrated set of poems in 1789 called Songs of Innocence, followed by a second illustrated set of poems Songs of Experience in 1793, from which "The Poison Tree" is derived (Blake, 1793/1965). While creating the texts, Blake focused on understanding and writing about the hidden emotions of humans that harness the two states of the human soul. On the other hand, William Shakespeare was born in 1564, about 400 years before William Blake lived in the era when King James VI ruled England. Shakespeare’s play Macbeth was written as a text to show gratitude to King James VI, who was recently crowned (Shakespeare, 1606/2008). However, Macbeth can also be seen as a cautionary tale in response to the Gunpowder Plot, a failed assassination of King James VI. In contrast, Blake’s set of poems may have been a response to the Republic of France’s declaration of war on England. This may have also vaguely influenced William Blake to publish "A Poison Tree" to depict the ultimate loss of France by metaphorically depicting the country as the foe in the poem.

Structural Conventions and External Pressures

Both texts share similar structural conventions, in which both Macbeth and "A Poison Tree" follow the journey/events that lead to the ultimate development of the protagonist into the antagonist. However, the difference between the two texts is the presence of external pressures that influence the protagonist. Shakespeare’s tragedy deals with the ambitious Macbeth, who pursues becoming the King of Scotland by betraying King Duncan. He does so by giving in to external pressures that inflict internal conflict, leading to his ultimate demise. In "A Poison Tree," the narrator was not prone to any external factors but only internal emotions that allowed them to consume their foe with hatred. The line “My wrath did grow” shows the narrator’s internal conflict in settling the differences with this foe. To support this, the narrator “watered it in fears, Night & morning with tears: and sunned it with smiles.” There is no evidence in the poem suggesting that there were any external pressures that influenced the narrator to kill their foe. In Macbeth, however, many characters and symbols pressured Macbeth to kill King Duncan, driving the plot of the story. One of which was Lady Macbeth, who embodied the will to kill the king. Due to her role as a woman, she wasn’t suspected of the murder of the King, as women would have been seen as weak in Shakespeare’s time period.

Language and Stylistic Features

Blake and Shakespeare both use language and stylistic features to express and explore the idea of internal conflict through the characters of Macbeth and the narrator from "A Poison Tree." Symbolism is one of the main stylistic features used to explore the external pressures/forces that influence Macbeth to pursue his ambition to become King. Before committing “the deed,” Macbeth undergoes an apparition where a bloodied dagger materializes itself in front of him. “And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before” depicts a manifestation of Macbeth’s restlessness over killing Duncan, as the blood symbolizes the guilt and the sins Macbeth and his wife are about to commit. Lady Macbeth, who possessed a strong resolve and a strong sense of purpose at the start of the story, deteriorated to a state of mind where her guilt took over her actions. In Act 2, Scene 2, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were under hallucinations that their hands were stained in blood, symbolizing the guilt and the murder they have committed. In order to get rid of the blood, Lady Macbeth said, “A little water clears us of this deed.” The stain may have been physically removed, but it signified the murder and was still present internally in both characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In Act 5, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth, overwhelmed by guilt and conflict, scurried to remove the stain from her hands: “Out, damned spot; out.” In "A Poison Tree," the tree itself is a symbol of the narrator’s “wrath,” which he/she “waters in fears,” enabling him to grow his anger and bear a metaphorical poison apple that will eventually conquer his foe. The narrator from "A Poison Tree" harvests the hatred-filled apple to successfully “outstretch his foe beneath the tree,” while Macbeth was able to channel the pressures of Lady Macbeth and his ambitions to kill King Duncan.

Conclusion

Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Blake’s "A Poison Tree" are two literary texts presented as a play and a poem, respectively. Despite the type of narrative, both share similar themes that have been addressed through similar language styles such as metaphors and symbols. However, each text contrasts in the sense that there were no external pressures in "A Poison Tree" that initiated internal conflict in the narrator, while in Macbeth, there were many forces that influenced Macbeth’s actions. Overall, both texts depict a theme of internal conflict and guilt, which drives the plot forward.

References

• Blake, W. (1965). Songs of Experience. In D. V. Erdman (Ed.), The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (pp. 28-29). Anchor Books. (Original work published 1793)
• Shakespeare, W. (2008). Macbeth. In S. Wells & G. Taylor (Eds.), The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (pp. 976-1002). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1606)