Things Bad Begun Make Strong Themselves By Ill
William Shakespeare
There is something frightening about the attractiveness of villains. Harold Bloom wrote that:
‘Our identification with Macbeth profoundly troubles me. Shakespeare uncannily subsumes all of us in relation to Macbeth. Every man feels a destiny, however dimly perceived; every man feels wronged by life and needs to seize the moment; every man feels he needs to defend himself to the end against unjust and decided fate.’
It seems to me that this appeal begins at a young age. Who can say that they were not terrified of Voldemort as a youth? And yet who can deny that they were simultaneously compelled by the draw of his character?
To end all doubts, I need only point to the popularity of ‘the Joker’.
What draws us to these villains? Is it their evil? Is it the fact that they act as a mirror, showing us our own? All of these are interesting questions, and the time to answer them will come. Right now, however, my interest is the consequences of an evil path.
As I have explained, Macbeth’s ambition caused tremendous harm both to himself and those around him. At one point, in lament, his wife asked him what was next, and he told her to ‘be innocent of the knowledge’ until she ‘applaud[ed] the deed’. Finally, he warned that the good things of day began to droop and drowse while night’s black agents to their preys did rouse. By this he meant he had laid his bed, he had constructed his path, he had chosen his destiny.1 It was for the holy to repent while he continued his pursuit without relent.
There was no escaping this escapade – the only way out was through. And so, things bad begun made strong themselves by ill.
Of course, what he literally meant is the righteous were heading to bed while the unrighteous awoke, ready to inflict horrors. The implication of this statement is concerns me.