This past Saturday, Suzanne and I went to see the opening of the new season of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD. They were presenting Macbeth, featuring an all-star cast, including baritone Zeljko Lucic in the title role, the brilliant and beautiful Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth, bass Rene Pape as Banquo, and tenor Joseph Calleja as Macduff.
Most of us know the basic plot of “The Scottish Play,” and Verdi’s lovely score is quite faithful to Shakespeare’s play from which the opera is adapted. Macbeth is a Scottish general. He and Banquo are returning home from battle when they encounter three witches who prophesy that Macbeth will be made Thane of Cawdor, then King, but that Banquo’s offspring will be kings after Macbeth. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth invite King Duncan to the castle and kill him. Macbeth becomes king. He later has Banquo killed. Banquo’s ghost haunts him, but Banquo’s son escapes. Macbeth is given more prophecies, to beware of Macduff, that “no man born of woman” can harm him, and that he is safe until Birnam Wood marches on his castle. Macduff and Malcolm (Duncan’s son) show up with English troops, meet Macbeth in Birnam Wood, and kill him.
Macbeth, the play and opera, carries some important lessons. One of our Center’s founding ministers, Rev. Noel McInnis, used to say that evil was “insistence on birth at the wrong time.” The prophecy is that Macbeth will be king, not that he is to be king right away. By killing Duncan, he pushes the prophecy to happen at a time when it is not supposed to. Macbeth is making something happen, not letting it happen. One of our great spiritual challenges is to get out of the way and let Spirit work through us. Macbeth kills Duncan to make his kingship happen rather than letting it happen. He kills Banquo because he is haunted by the thought of Banquo’s offspring becoming kings. In that case, he is trying to prevent something from happening.
It also tells us not to be distracted by the “shiny objects” of this world, such as power. Chasing “shiny objects” like power can bring negative consequences. Instead, we must align with Spirit to bring about the good that is ours.
In her interview, Miss Netrebko said that she loves playing characters like Lady Macbeth because they enable her to let out her darker side. New Thought songwriter Daniel Nahmod says that our dark side is not necessarily bad, just the side we don’t choose to let out. But as Macbeth shows us, if we don’t let out that side, it can turn malignant. We need to express who we truly are as fully as we can.
Finally, we learn that karma is always at work. By his murders, Macbeth sets off a chain of causation that ultimately results in his own death and that of his queen. Every choice we make carries consequences. Even not choosing carries consequences. While we are always choosing, we do not always control the consequences of our choices.
All in all, it was a very worthwhile afternoon.
