Essay Ally

Lady Macbeth Suggests an Alternative Morality to the Dichotomy of Morals of Post-Revolutionary America in the Novel Wieland 

That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’ -Lady Macbeth (Shakespeare V.I)

Lady Macbeth makes a most unusual request against divine intervention. In order for her to partake in murder most foul, she must to remove any chance of conscience interrupting her schemes. The ironic symbolism in Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland: or The Transformation, is well illustrated by Carwin’s exclamation of one of Shakespeare’s famous lines. The choice of the words “hold, hold” as Carwin’s attempt at divine intervention, weaves in the false moralities of the times (168, 232). The arguable dichotomous nature of science and religion is entirely diffused by the end of the novel, and this single line enforces Brown’s stance on the moral destitution of new America. In the conflicted post-revolutionary times of Wieland, true morality is not dictated firmly by Deus ex Machina or rationality, but by a more flexible internal sensibility; sometimes susceptible to corruption by natural instinct.

There are several parallel themes in Macbeth and Wieland, they are both filled with darkness and moral contradiction. It is not surprising that Brown chose this imperative to be uttered by Carwin at crucial moments. The significance of having to make decisions dictated by belief, rationality, or instinct is a point Brown touches upon throughout the novel. After the American Revolution, the divine “Voice of the King” no longer commands the morals of the people. The Americans break into two schools of thought. The devout believe that the “Voice of God” should mold their lives, while the more intellectual people find themselves listening to the “Voice of Reason”. Brown builds up the two sects and defines them very individually, in order to break down the barriers later and show that in truth, all people are subject to another voice entirely. This internal voice is at times incredibly rational, but at other times is classified as a disease (204).

Some characters in the novel clearly follow the “Voice of God”. The elder Wieland immigrates to America with the divine purpose of converting natives. He finds great pleasure in supplication and immersing himself in the teachings of the bible. Although he considers himself to be devout, he lacks the fortitude to stand up to people he considers to be savages, and settles instead at Mettingen, to raise a family. When the elder Wieland feels that the end is nigh he is plagued by feelings of guilt for disobeying god’s ordination. His son Theodore also follows the teachings of god (28), and murders his wife and children because of celestial calling from god (196). He seldom questions what he considers to be of religious nature, and feels no remorse for the brutal culling of his family.

Other characters are shown from the beginning to be rational. Henry Pleyel, the brother-in-law of Theodore Wieland, is admittedly logical and analytical (28). When strange voices command Wieland, Pleyel looks for human devices to be responsible (38).

Theodore Wieland’s uncle Thomas Cambridge is perhaps the most reasonable person in the novel. He stays aloof and discerning throughout his niece Clara Wieland’s illness, and always responds with scientific explanations for seemingly supernatural events (204).

Clara and Carwin are ruled by internal voices with which Brown attempts to supplant the notion of false voices. Clara follows both religion and science as they suit her. Her attraction to the rational Henry Pleyel plays her as a reasonable woman. Her initial encounters with Carwin’s ventriloquism show her susceptible to the irrational. Ultimately, when forced into situations of great apprehension, Clara’s own conscience controls her actions. She ignores the overpowering “Voice of Reason” and the seeming “Voice of God” and enters a situation of extreme danger against all better judgment (168). Carwin is the ambiguity between the two voices. He follows his fancy, and listens to instinct. He enjoys the perversion of morals and takes pleasure in corrupting the lives of others (226).

The interaction between Clara and Carwin initiates her transformation to a higher state of being. She becomes free to make her own decisions and internalize her own truisms based on an entirely unique set of principles. Carwin’s “hold, hold” is not truly a command of god, but rather an initiation into a new light. Where Lady Macbeth is free to commit murder without consequence, Clara becomes finally aware that truth does not always lie in God or science.

Clara’s realization is the notion that Brown wishes to convey to the American people. Wieland is a transitional novel for a revolutionary time in American history. Neither faction of people can succeed in building a nation on its own. Theodore Wieland fails as a human; he is irrational in his belief and intense fundamentalism until he realizes the folly in such rigid acceptance of a singular philosophy. Clara accepts Lady Macbeth’s rejection of conscience and disobeys what could be construed as divine intervention. The metamorphoses of character occur near the end of the novel when the mistakes are irreversible. While it is too late for redemption in Wieland, Brown hopes that it is not too late for the American people. Lady Macbeth knows the stains of blood can not easily be removed, and Brown intends instead to prevent any new ones.

Morality in Brown’s world is not clearly black and white. While both religious ethics and scientific rationalities have merits, neither is complete enough to cover for every aspect of human nature. Brown proposes instead that people must govern themselves through a careful internal balance of reason, belief, and instinct. Virtue must never be dependent on a serendipitous “Hold, hold!”

Harvard Classics, Vol. 46, Part 4. The Tragedy of Macbeth; William Shakespeare. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company, 1909-14 New York: http://www.bartleby.com, 2001