On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth

by Thomas de Quincey

Parues en 1823, les pages de Thomas De Quincey sur Macbeth, qui ressuscitent ses propres souvenirs, annoncent De l'assassinat considéré comme un des beaux-arts, publié en 1827. Elles étaient connues de Baudelaire qui s'en inspira dans Les paradis artificiels, et de Mallarmé qui en traduisit quelques passages. Nous les donnons ici dans une traduction de Gérard Macé, qui les fait suivre d'un commentaire où les échos dans la vie de De Quincey lui-même, ainsi que dans l'esprit de Baudelaire, donnent lieu à un jeu de l'esprit aussi fascinant que vertigineux. Au point qu'on ne sait plus ce qui appartient en propre à un auteur ou à l'autre, puisqu'ils semblent partager les mêmes hantises, le même imaginaire, dans un théâtre intime dont Shakespeare est le prestigieux souffleur.

Genres: Essays, British Literature, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction

45 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Thomas de Quincey was an English author and intellectual, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821).
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_d...

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in the London Magazine (October 1823), this short piece by the author of Confessions of an Opium Eater may be the best thing Thomas De Quincy ever wrote. Its subject is the moment in Macbeth, after King Duncan’s murder, when MacDuff begins knocking at the gate, and how—to the boy De Quincey—it “reflected back upon the murderer a peculiar awfulness and a depth of solemnity.” Why? The adult De Quincey wondered, and proceeded to explore the topic in this brief essay.

I have heard this essay described as one of the first examples of psychological criticism, but I think it is more unique than that. Psychological criticism, as I understand it, is the psychological examination of the motivations of the individual character or perhaps of the writer himself. But this essay is something rarer, more characteristically Romantic: the explorations of the sensations of the observer of the work as a method of determining meaning:

my understanding could furnish no reason why the knocking at the gate in Macbeth should produce any effect, direct or reflected. In fact, my understanding said positively that it could not produce any effect. But I knew better: I felt that it did; and I waited and clung to the problem until further knowledge should enable me to solve it.

Then De Quincey proceeds to solve his problem, not by reference to Aristotle or Longinus or the writings of Samuel Coleridge, but to the story of the Ratcliff Highway Murders, a sensational event of the time.

I won’t spoil your reading pleasure by summarizing De Quincey’s discovery, but I will say that his essay helped me solve a related problem. Why is it that, every time I watch Hitchcock’s Psycho, and Norman Bates, having loaded Marion’s corpse in the trunk, shoves her car into the river, why is it that when the car pauses for a second, floating as if miraculously, putting all Norman's efforts in danger, why is it that (though I like Marion, loathe Norman) I find myself completely on Norman's side now, shouting at that floating car once again: “Down! Goddam you! Sink down!”

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vexed by anyone who knew of the existence of this short essay and didn't bother telling me De Quincey actively had thoughts on Shakespeare. Fans of Macbeth, read it here.

[Ami 乁⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠o⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠ㄏ (written by Jane Austen) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a short essay but it really packs quite a punch.

[LaCitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carlo Linati nel 1921 decide di raccogliere in questo libro alcuni estratti dalle opere di De Quincy con lo scopo di fare conoscere al pubblico italiano lavori diversi dal celeberrimo Le confessioni di un mangiatore d'oppio. Si tratta di un insieme eterogeneo di lavori che spaziano dalla critica letteraria del saggio che dà titolo alla raccolta, al racconto di episodi di vita quotidiana, di sogni che diventano ispirazione per altre opere, di viaggi, di riflessioni.
Fermo restando che alcuni pezzi sono molto interessanti, nel complesso la traduzione risente del passaggio del tempo e la lettura appare ostica e non molto scorrevole. Mi riprometto però di leggere altro di questo autore.

[Maxim K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Замечательное подтверждение моей теории о "Макбете" как прото-нуаре: де Квинси подробно останавливается на том, каким образом Ш. заставляет нас сочувствовать не жертвам, а преступнику.