Lady Macbeth as a Female Archetype of Negative Empathy: An Intermedial Exploration of the Alluring Power of Evil in the Aesthetic Domain

Abstract

Given that recently there has been a growing interdisciplinary approach to analyze the notion of empathy through, for instance, the lenses of neuroscience, psychology, aesthetics, and cognitive literary studies, the concept of empathic responding has been increasingly investigated by researchers. Although since Theodor Lipps’s conceptualization of empathy in the late nineteenth century considerable research has been devoted to positive empathy, less attention has been paid, instead, to the disturbing, yet perversely seductive, power of evil in aesthetic representations. In this light, the aim of the present dissertation is to explore how the depiction of an intrinsically negative content, whether it is an overall atmosphere, an object, a fictional character, or even a musical piece, tends to elicit an ambiguous feeling of both attraction and repulsion in the audience. Among the most notable instances of this aesthetic concept, this thesis will focus on Lady Macbeth as a literary prototype of negative empathy because, not only in Shakespeare’s original play, but also in the following adaptations of Macbeth she maintains her capacity to trigger a disturbing, ambivalent emotional response. Specifically, I will firstly provide a brief critical reflection on the meaning of empathy, from the seventeenth century to the present day, as well as an overview of the primary characteristics of negative empathy. Secondly, the Shakespearean archetype will be analyzed in order to shed some light on how the witchlike Lady Macbeth, in her repulsive cruelty and attractive human dimension, is likely to cause the audience to experience conflicting emotions. In line with this, the third section of the present study will explore the success of this archetype through a cross-cultural, intermedial perspective because it will provide a series of notable examples showing how in literary, operatic, musical, and cinematographic adaptations Lady Macbeth has continued to disclose, via different media and over time, the repulsive as well as alluring effect of the depiction of an intrinsically negative content in works of art and, therefore, to foster negative empathy in contemporary viewers. Within this framework, this dissertation suggests that Lady Macbeth, both in the original play and in its manifold adaptations, seems to encapsulate the defining traits of negative empathy and thus to vividly convey the allure of evil in the aesthetic domain.