The Relationship Between Macbeth and ICB

While reading further into Macbeth it finally hit me the similarities between Macbeth and ICB. Lady Macbeth is like Dick and Macbeth himself is like Perry. First Perry V. Macbeth is similar in many ways, although a bit of a different motive for why they shall kill there are a lot of similarities. As we’ve discussed in this blog and in class, Capote makes it so we sort of sympathize for Perry and feel bad for him, especially when looking at who “wears the pants” in Perry and Dick’s relationship. I feel the same for Macbeth as well; I feel a bit bad for him because he seems to be so confused and just doesn’t seem to have the right influences around him (Lady Macbeth). Like Perry having Dick consistently playing tricks, making him believe he’s his friend and such, Macbeth has Lady Macbeth who only seems to be content with what Macbeth wants when it is involving her gaining power through Macbeth. Like when Lady Macbeth got the letter from Macbeth, she was so excited that he might become king, that is what the witches had said, and so she’s encouraging Macbeth about continuing a quest to become king, to kill the king, Duncan. Here Lady Macbeth is just using Macbeth to gain more power; Dick does the same thing to Perry always demanding what will happen and what will be done. When Dick and Perry are picked up by Mr. Bell and they are to again strike and kill him. Of course when I say they I mean Dick has the plans and Perry is to follow through with the murdering while Dick goes to clean up after him. The plans as described by Perry are “…waited for Dick to pronounce the agreed-upon signal: Hey, Perry, pass me a match. Whereupon Dick was supposed to seize the steering wheel, while Perry, wielding his handkerchief-wrapped rock, belabored the salesman’s head—opened it up”(173). So while Dick gives the signal Perry does the kill, just as Lady Macbeth poisons the guards so Macbeth can do the kill. Even before Perry is to kill Mr. Bell he starts to feel bad and upset about the whole thing. Two things, Dick still gives the signal and Perry still starts to follow through, and Dick still wants to kill the guy, even though the guy seems like a good guy, Dick before this section like with the incident with the dog killing, Dick likes to kill but doesn’t do it. After the killing of Duncan Macbeth says “this is a sorry sight”, he feels bad for killing and is feeling guilty like Perry feels guilty after killing the Clutters and before he was intending to kill Mr. Bell. Lady Macbeth on the other hand, evil as she is, says in respond to this “a foolish thought to say a sorry sight”(53), just as Dick didn’t kill the Clutters and doesn’t care too much about the killings so does Lady Macbeth about killing Duncan. It took me a while to see this but I just find it funny on a fair and foul note of things, Perry who is portrayed as a more feminen figure then Dick, the lady at the hotel said “uh-huh. And you oughta hear him talk. Big, long words coming at you in this kind of lispy, whispery voice” (176), would be the fair one in an Elizabethan time (women are supposed to be fair), yet Perry is the killer. Lady Macbeth is supposed to be fair based on gender but really she acts more masculine then Macbeth, like when Macbeth didn’t bring the daggers to the drunken guards, Macbeth was crying about it like a baby while Lady Macbeth was totally like “give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead/ are but as pictures: ‘tis the eye of childhood” (55), basically you are a big baby to Macbeth. Kids in Elizabethan times I thought were to be fair as well so the reference to Macbeth as a baby should make him a fair one but once more he is doing the killings, (he also kills the guards without the consent of Lady Macbeth). So I’m a bit dazed on what is fair and what is foul in Elizabethan times because things don’t always seem to be what they ought to be.