Brian Pennisi
Walker Pd. 3
English III
14 Oct 2010
Song and Story Blend
Throughout Macbeth he makes a transformation from a well-liked, ambitious
king, to a paranoid mess full of remorse. Not only does this affect him, but does it
everybody around him; negatively. Lady Macbeth also sees this change in many ways,
changing from an innocent wife of a kinsman to a haughty, power driven, 2-faced queen
of Scotland. As modern day endorsing tactics entail, music is a great way to summarize a
work of literature, movie, or any other program of the arts, since they both are, series’ of
the arts and therefore work side and side. 2 songs most applicable for the effects of
murdering King Duncan are “Crawling” by Linkin Park and “Give Me Novocain” by
Green Day. “Crawling” outlines through the rest of the book post mortem to their
assassination of Duncan and Banquo, that Macbeth is feeling severe regret along with
paranoia. While “Give Me Novocain” charts the thoughts Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
could be feeling as it would be the only reason way to cope with the guilty and remorse
yielded from their terrible deeds.
All through the story Macbeth is troubled by hallucinations, regret, and guilt, to
list a few and he is never quite able to get over it. In the song Crawling by Linkin Park
the song writer mentions the words “Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not
heal,” which clearly relates to Macbeths guilt. In the song the person is feeling guilt for
something that he or she has done wrong just as Macbeth instantly feels guilt for the
murdering of Duncan. This piece can also recount the fact that Macduff seeks revenge
from Macbeth because he killed his entire family due to guilt the Macbeth himself felt. It
highlights the fact that the problems stricken to the subject of the song require revenge.
Towards the end of the song he or she begins to completely lose their mind “confusing
what is real” with “fear inside my bones” possibly attributed to hallucinations just like
Macbeth had of a bloody dagger before killing Duncan and Banquo after he killed him
due to suspicion.
The theme of Give me Novocain gives off is sort of a post-terrible happening
emotion. The song is about how the person in a song has just experienced something
terrible that requires Novocain and he is going through a whirlwind of emotions because
of all that has happened and now needs to feel better. He goes on to talk about how he
needs “a kiss goodnight” because he is in so much pain and cannot sleep, much like
Macbeth is in a mental pain due to the burden of guilt that Macbeth feels for the murder
of Duncan along with Banquo. Macbeth realizes that what he did was wrong and he just
wants to somehow numb the pain that he has caused himself even though there is no way
of doing so and because of this he feels guilt. The writer states that “the sensation is
overwhelming” which is probably just what Lady Macbeth felt from sleep walking, to
probably going pale, and not wanting to know what Macbeth was about to do before he
killed Banquo. As a result of her overpowering guilt she ended up killing herself, and
Macbeth was overthrown by the revenge seeking Macduff.
William Shakespeare’s plays largely influenced modern day music. Much like
how a lot of his plays including this one focus around death, revenge, corruption, rotting
of character, and many negative things, it has become a very popular theme in modern
day music. These two pieces “Crawling” and “Give Me Novocain” together are about
paranoia, regret, not being able to cope with pain (and what they’ve done), and
hallucinations. It is not just irony that many works on modern day music reflect many of
Shakespeare’s plays. All of his plays highlight themes of interest throughout society and
given the proper tune can easily become popular because people can relate. Not only was
Shakespeare inadvertently paving a path for a popular theme (and genre) of music, but he
was writing great plays with many alliterations, rhyming schemes, and making up words
that we actually use today. Macbeth is a prime example of Shakespeare’s ability to do
this in that it was a very popular play and most importantly how many themes that it used
that can now be easily related to modern day culture.
Works Cited
"Crawling Lyrics." MetroLyrics. MetroLyrics, 24 Oct 2010. Web. 24 Oct 2010.
<http://www.metrolyrics.com/crawling-lyrics-linkin-park.html>.
"Give Me Novocain." Sing365. Sing365, 24 Oct 2010. Web. 24 Oct 2010.
<http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Give-Me-Novacaine-lyrics-GreenDay/4337A8F7B6E4F50F48256F0F00080DFD>.
"No Fear Shakespeare Macbeth." No Fear Shakespeare . SparkNotes, 24 Oct 2010. Web.
24 Oct 2010. <http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth>.