Shakespeare's Faces of Desire

Like all creatures in this world, man is guided by his instincts. As the driving forces in the human mind, natural instincts have such powerful effects on a person that one may be driven to actions otherwise unimaginable. One of the most basic instincts is that of human desire. The feeling of wanting and desiring, be it a material thing, a feeling, or another person, is anchored in our psyche, pushing us ahead day after day. As Robert M. Hutchins, editor of Great Books of the Western World collection pointed out, "[b]ecause hunger and thirst so readily symbolize the essence of desire ... the words 'appetite' and 'desire' are frequently used as synonyms." Aspects of human desire are interwoven into our arts, and have intricate and powerful influences on the shaping of society. To see some of the greatest examples of desire, and its effect on the human race, one must look no further than to the writings of William Shakespeare. Throughout the many plays and poems written by the mysterious and powerfully poetic Shakespeare, desire is the one theme that seems to dominate and fuel each story. From the innocent and loving desires of the youthful Romeo and Juliet, to the dark and treacherous desires of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, to King Richard III's obsessive and deep desires, desire becomes evident in every form. Therefore, we can conclude that the basic instinct of desire is a deeply rooted and powerful theme in Shakespeare's writing.

When discussing influential dramatic works, few plays are as well-known and renowned as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This dark tale of two young lovers from feuding families is laced with the desires of the couple, and the conflict those desires create among the two families. This deep desire Romeo and Juliet feel for one another is almost instantaneously inherent in the interaction of the two characters, and Romeo's first words to Juliet are evidence of this, shrouded in a religious metaphor: "If I profane with my unworthiest hand/This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this/My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand/To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss" (I. v. 98-115). As 21st century literary critic Cristina León Alfar wrote of this first conversation; "Romeo's and Juliet's conversation juxtaposes the image of hands turned palm to palm in heavenly devotion to lips in a kiss. The act of prayer, in this context, becomes a metaphor for desire....When Romeo extends his metaphor to the purgation of sin through the kiss, he subverts religious morality and adopts a worship of desire (67)." In this brief conversation, with nothing more than an innocent kiss, Romeo and Juliet set in motion a series of events that will change the very nature of their world.

Alfar goes on to discuss the unique character of Juliet, and her deep resolve to do what she wishes. Juliet has such a strong level of physical and emotional desire to marry her new love Romeo, so strong that she is willing to disregard the wishes of her parents, actions that were nearly unheard of for a young woman (considered the possession of her father) in that time (Alfar 65-76). She presents a firm stance, and "unlike Romeo, she casts off a romanticized, compliant idealism and adopts an active and material self-determination. Relentlessly, Juliet pursues her desire, even in the face of her father's attempts to control it" (Alfar 67-68). By creating this character of Juliet as a strong-willed rebel, Shakespeare brings her desires and determination to fulfill them out as a central issue in the play, that eventually leads to Romeo's suicide, then her own (V. iii. 91-178). In this dark tragedy, Shakespeare reveals the entrenched truth of desire, and the dire consequences that can ensue.

Another powerful example of desire being a major theme in Shakespeare's writing is in the mature tragedy of Macbeth. On the opposite end of the innocent desires of the young couple of Romeo and Juliet are the villainous Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Rather than loving desires, Macbeth is filled with lustful and murderous desires. The play opens with Macbeth, a general in the army of King Duncan of Scotland, having been declared Thane (the equivalent of a British Lord) of two regions of Scotland, due to his major military accomplishments (I. ii. 17-77). However, unsatisfied merely with those titles, Macbeth and his wife plot to assassinate the king, blame the murder on his guards, and ascend to the throne as King and Queen (I. vii. 1-93). Macbeth states to himself after learning of a threat to his crowning, "Stars, hide your fires/Let not light see my black and deep desires..." (I. vi. 57-58). Periodically throughout the play, three witches appear, and prophetically offer foreshadowing of what is to come. Although their truthful predictions affect the actions of the protagonist, as scholar Dennis Biggins states, they do not control him. "Shakespeare carefully avoids portraying a Macbeth helplessly caught in the grip of irresistible demonic forces; the Weird Sisters' malice is evident in all their traffickings with him, yet nowhere are we shown invincible proof of their power over him" (256). If these witches are not the ones affecting the actions of Macbeth, the other most plausible motivations for his actions are his desires and the desires of his power-hungry wife.

Perhaps one of the most deeply discussed topics in literature is that of one of Shakespeare's historical plays, The Tragedy of King Richard III. Richard, Duke of Gloucester and brother of England's King Edward IV, born premature, humpbacked, and deformed, plots to usurp the throne - much like Macbeth does - and to wed the widow of the Prince of Wales, whom Richard has murdered himself in his lust for the throne (I. i. 1-45). Throughout the play, the sinister character of Richard chills and charms the audience, for in his character the deepest desires for power and love (though in Richard's case, his love seems to resemble sexual desire more). However, many of the conflicts that hinder Richard's attempts to achieve his desires - and force him to murder and manipulation in order to achieve them - stem from his own feelings about his outer ugliness. As literary historian Tzachi Zamir states: "He [Richard] cannot fulfill desires planted in him by his formative context because of his ugliness. In a space of ten lines that follow the first part (I. i. 14-23) Richard uses no less than nine different expressions to describe his deformity. Only one of the constructions used by Richard--"rudely stamp'd"--metaphorically refers to his ugliness. Three others designate activities he cannot perform because of it ...