I Am Punctual. My Blog Post Is Not.

Does becoming a traitor by murdering the king and taking his place make Macbeth a bad person? According to Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene, it does. If “a strategy’s niceness is recognized by its behavior, not by its motives (for it has none) nor by the personality of its author (who has faded into the background…), [and if] …a computer program can behave in a strategic manner, without being aware of its strategy or, indeed, of anything at all” (228), we can infer that Macbeth’s actions are not “evil” at all, but rather “strategic” and genetically selfish. Through the logic that Dawkins proposes, Macbeth is not the guilty party (for he is simply the computer program designed by a computer programmer, Lady Macbeth, who isn’t guilty either). The guilt lies in the strategy of achieving “success”.

The culprit in Macbeth, as The Selfish Gene proposes in Chapter 12, is Lady Macbeth’s strategy of achieving the crown by deceptive of “defective (231)” means. The mentality of receiving all and giving none is purely selfish. While Dawkins advocates that this selfishness lies in the strategy, I believe it is born, in Macbeth’s case, with the author, Lady Macbeth. Even if her motives are predictably selfish, for they are inscribed and programmed on her genes, she chooses to accept them. She, as all humans, has the luxury of choice. She does not appreciate it. Her instincts overpower her. This makes her program the malleable Macbeth into her survival machine.

So, is Macbeth truly guilty for his actions? According to our understanding of choice, he is. Macbeth had the choice, unlike “programmed strategies” to override his directive.