Poisoned Chalice

For the last few weeks, I've had occasion to think deeply about the term 'a poisoned chalice'. A chalice is of course a ritual cup (from Latin calix, also Greek kalyx). The point about it being a ritual cup is that in the right (or wrong) circumstances, you are forced to drink from it; and if it proves poisoned, well, too bad.

Like many interesting phrases of the kind, this one originated from Shakespeare. It comes from that very familiar Scottish play — the one in which the intelligent eponymous monarch is harshly treated and maligned by the foreign playwright who is pandering to his own monarch. Here is the quote, from Act 1 Scene 7 of the play:

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come.
                                          But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips.

The situation the Family has been mulling over is of course one in which a not-so-righteous leader has been eliminated by his own act, and there is as yet nobody who wants the chalice so ingeniously poisoned by that person.

And yet, somebody has to take the chalice, once an honourable vessel and now tainted by the venom of serpents. It is appalling that what should reside in the tail of the wyvern now comes forth from its mouth. But there it is, and only the Divine can do anything about it.

Macbeth

This was the man whom Shakespeare recreated as a villain. But what if he actually had been a hero, a wise and farsighted king who kept his fractious demesne from fracturing? Then it is not beyond belief that his southern neighbours, envious of his firm and clever rule, should have left a legacy of subtle propaganda that would forevermore taint him 'villain'.

Sometimes, it is hard ploughing through the legacies and counter-legacies, as each successor attempts to make himself look better than the one before him. It might be worse: you could be the one doing the rewrite, under pain of death. It might be better: you could end up writing the truth for all to see.

Macbeth

The 'Scottish Play' (as some call it) chills me to the bone and yet exhilarates me with its fire and doom. It is one of the few Shakespearean tragedies (the only one, perhaps?) in which the protagonist never comes to any saving self-awareness before the end. From the moment he encounters the Weird Sisters upon the heath, he is doomed. Is he?

I have seen several versions of Macbeth. I think the version with Ian McKellen as the protagonist and with Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth is one of the most starkly horrifying ones that I've seen. Hardly any props or stage, just psychological drama, torment and death. Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is another powerful take on it (actually, his Ran is also a pretty effective version of King Lear).

An old literature teacher of mine recommended TV versions and even taped the play for us. I remember going to sleep with the audio in my ears and waking up the next day to score a top grade for English Literature. I learnt a lot from Macbeth, and later on, from Lear. Great men, subtle temptations; often, the greater the man, the easier the workings of the subtle snare.

I have seen this too, that a well-intentioned monarch of lesser strength be overtaken by his ambitious protegé and removed. I have seen it again, in waking dream and nightmare. Shakespeare wrote in such deep-veined thrombosis that it is impossible not to be moved (no matter what kind of clot you are) to extremes of disgust, pity, and vicarious terror. Right now, I am thinking of such things because the Folio Society is offering a limited Letterpress edition (1000 copies only!) of that play at GBP245 only. Or you can get Macbeth, Lear, Othello and Hamlet for only GBP1030! That's only about the price of a notebook computer...

Heh. Venality.