Eliot’s Objective Correlative and Shakespeare’s Macb
On the basis of Eliot’s poetic theory, this paper attempts to analyze some of Shakespeare’s dramatic techniques as exemplified in Macbeth, one of his four tragedies. Macbeth is the shortest, but its structure is tight with its precise and dense language. Eliot sees Shakespeare as one of the best examples, who fits into his theory of poetry, “objective correlative”; A good poet is merely a medium, not revealing his own personal feelings. Shakespeare is such a good poet. Shakespeare, using symbols and images of organic things and cosmetic order, realizes the objective correlative; he presents things that represent his feelings, such as owls, hawks, eagles, doves, and a banquetes’ scene that symbolizes harmony, fellowship, and union. In the meantime, Eliot uses persona, alter ego, shadow images in his works; there appear Madame Sosostris, typist, clerk, Thames’ daughters in The Waste Land, which is the manifestation of his theory, the objective correlative.