『맥베스』: 에고의 본성

Abstract

Throughout the tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare investigates the egotistical tendencies of human beings. When indulging in our own ego, we become detached from ourselves and identify more closely with our possessions and titles rather than our ultimate reality. The desire for enhancing one’s egoic identity is built into the very structure of the mind of human beings. To guard against this foolish human tendency, Ken Wilber reminds us that we are one with ultimate Wholeness and Nature and must work to maintain that bond by shedding our attachment to possessions and to our own egos. In order to exemplify the dangers of egoism, Shakespeare uses Macbeth as an illustration of a man possessed by his own ego, who murdered king Duncan and then was cut off from his fellow men, indeed from reality itself. The characteristics of ego in Macbeth is identification himself with the higher power to enlarge himself and incapability of staying at present moment. By killing the traitor, thane of Cawder, Macbeth was entitled to get the title of the thane of Cawder, but he was not satisfied with the present glory and tried to step up to the higher power and failed to enjoy the blessed present moment. The structure of the drama beginning with a war of a treason and ending with a treason again implies that the desire for the higher power, the desire for the immortality of human beings repeats continuously. The ego’s pursuit, however, turns out to be just an illusion which is the detachment from reality. Underlying the detachment from reality is a strong current of fear, the fear of death. To secure himself from the specter of mortality, Macbeth incessantly schemes against his countrymen to tighten his control over his circumstances and secure the power. As he accomplishes increasingly violent and despicable atrocities in the name of self-preservation, he becomes more fearful of the gains he has made and is driven deeper into paranoia and insanity. Through Macbeth’s descent into madness and his brutal obsession with security, Shakespeare provides readers with a chilling example of the menace which an insatiable desire of ego prohibits one from realizing the unity with an ultimate Wholeness.