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The Judgment Day
Sitting in this waiting room for more than about a day or two of the earthly time measures, Macbeth started to feel bored especially after the two other persons who were waiting with him have been called from the other room. Gazing at the ceiling, which seemed to have no color, Macbeth heard footsteps coming form the same door he entered two days ago. An old blind man came in led by one of those fierce angels, which Macbeth keeps meeting since they woke him up from his grave. After several failing attempts by Macbeth to make noise so to show the blind man that he’s not the only one in this room, Macbeth goes to sit in the chair next to this new visitor and starts a conversation, hoping to break the boredom of the past days.
Macbeth: You should make yourself comfortable here. You are going to spend some
time in this room, until one of the guardian angels would call your name and lead you to the next room.
Oedipus, disturbed by the voice, not knowing that there was someone else with him in the same room, moved his head to the direction of the voice.
Oedipus: How long have you been waiting here? I really can’t wait anymore.
Macbeth: I’ve been here for about a day or two. But for what are you so excited? If I may ask the question.
Oedipus: I can’t wait to know what their punishment for me is going to be. I’ve been suffering in my pain so long fearing this minute, when the Gods will decide the suitable punishment for me. I want it to happen, I deserve all this.
Macbeth, surprised and shaken by the words of this insane blind man, who wants to be punished, couldn’t take his curiosity back and asked about the sin of the other man.
Oedipus: I did “the blackest things a man can do, I have done them all!” I killed my father and sowed my mother (244). I’m a man of grief, my grief alone, my destiny that the Gods have drawn for me long ago.
Macbeth: Don’t feel so guilty. You should have listened to the two other men that I met before you. They both were tyrants killing half of their subjects, including women and children…Oh, I guess I have done the same things during my life, too. Now I’m the grieving man, not you.
Oedipus: You don’t understand, it was all fate that made me kill my father and marry my mother. It was all fate. I never knew the truth until this shepherd told me the whole story. All this is Apollo’s fault. “Apollo -he ordained my agonies- these, my pains on pains” (241). Not only his, but the shepherd’s fault, too. He should have killed me and saved me from all this pain. Curse him God. “If I’d died then, I’d never have dragged myself, my loved ones through such hell” (242). But it is also my own fault. I should have listened to Tiresias, the blind prophet. He was right when he said that this day would bring my birth and my destruction (184). I was the blind man then, not he. I didn’t even listen to my lovely wife…mother. Jocasta tried to prevent me from knowing the truth, but I didn’t listen (223). I couldn’t stop after coming so close to the truth. How could I? But it’s my fault I know. I should have given up to solve the “mystery of my birth”. I could have lived with it, as I’ve been living with it long before. But I couldn’t let my curiosity fade after getting so close to the truth. I just couldn’t.
This was a conspiracy. A conspiracy by fate and destiny. They both shaped the path for me to go through. They played with me. The Gods said the truth. I should have believed them from the beginning. The “dreadful prophecy” proved to be right…
Macbeth: Your words remind me of my old story, but mine was shaped by the witches. Those three witches I met after the battle, shaped my whole life, my fate and my destiny. Not only mine, but that of my wife also, who became insane at the end and killed herself. My wife, my wife, who strengthened me enough to kill the king. She’s the one to be blamed for making the witches’ words come true. She forced my own hands to push the dagger into my master’s flesh. She forced me to sin for the gain of power. She forced the fear out of my body. She made me “almost forget the taste of fears” (217). She made me become the tyrant that every single person was trying to get rid of. She is the one who made the whole world turn against me. She’s the reason for me sinning with no stop, with no turning back. There was no turning back. “What’s done cannot be undone” (201).
A long pause followed while each one of them was sunk in his own grief. Both not sure whether they are condemned to carry the burden of guilt or whether the blame was on the other peoples. They were both in deep thoughts when they heard a loud painful scream coming from not far away. Macbeth recognized the voice as belonging to one of the tyrants, who were sitting with him in the waiting room a couple of hours ago. He thought that he must be going to get the same punishment as this tyrant, because he has sinned the same way as him. Suddenly his frustration couldn’t be hidden anymore.
Macbeth: It was a conspiracy. A conspiracy between the witches, my wife and fate; all uniting against me. They all agreed on pushing me into this trap. They all planned for this end. They planned for me entering hell and suffering endlessly. They are the ones who should be punished. God, can you hear me? Can you see their fault, too? Are you going to punish them, too? They should be punished more than me God? They are the ones who forced me into this God and you know it. You know it very well God. Be merciful with me God, be merciful.
Macbeth started weeping louder and louder making Oedipus feel sorry for him and for himself, too. This is the end. Although Oedipus can’t see Macbeth, he has this deep feeling that this man was a very strong and powerful one on earth. Listening to him now weeping like an old woman Oedipus couldn’t help but regretting his life. Regretting killing his father at the crossroad. Regretting leaving his parents and setting out for Delphi. Regretting believing Apollo’s words at the wrong moment and not believing them at the right moment. Regretting coming to Thebes and solving the riddle. If he didn’t attempt any of these acts, he wouldn’t have been so miserable now. He wouldn’t have been grieving now. He would have been sitting in another room with other kings waiting impatiently to meet Gods and tell Them of the good things he had done to his people on earth and how he was just and fair in all his judgements, and he would enter heaven. While he was thinking of alternatives of how he should have acted while being the king of Thebes, Macbeth was thinking of what could have been his fate now if he didn’t meet the witches at the first place.
Macbeth: You know fellow, if I didn’t use this specific road while going home after the battle with Banquo, I wouldn’t have met the witches and I wouldn’t have even thought of killing my master. And if I were strong enough not to be influenced by my wife’s words, I would have been satisfied right now. I didn’t want to be the king. I’ve never thought of being the king, only my wife kept thinking of it I guess. And when the chance came to do so she forced me. She forced me with her soft character and fierce words to kill the king in his own bed. If I didn’t listen to her I wouldn’t have been sitting here with a man, who killed his father and married his mother. I would have been lying now in heaven enjoying my time, not thinking whether God will understand or not. Yes, I killed those other people without the influence of my wife, but she killed the fear inside me at the first place. She forced me to kill my master and since then all my senses didn’t work anymore and I had no conscious to guide me to the right path. I shouldn’t have followed her words. I shouldn’t have listened to the witches. I should have kept going with my life as it was. It was a good life of a respectful general of the king, who was known for his courage and bravery. I should have gone with my life as it was. It was a perfect life. It was a life that would never end. A life that after death would lead to a better life in heaven. A life never ending. A life everlasting…
By then both men turned their heads to the exit door, where they could here footsteps approaching. The door flung open and two fierce angels entered and called Macbeth’s name. He stood and went to the door, knowing that resistance won’t do him any good now. Looking at his fellow for the last time he left the waiting room following the two angels with a bitter smile on his face, remembering his wife’s words: “ Shall to all our nights and days come give solely sovereign sway and masterdom” (37).
Bibliography
Oedipus The King
MacBeth
Word Count: 1634
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