‘Catch[ing] the nearest way’: Macbeth and cognitive metaphor

In this chapter, Donald C. Freeman applies the theory of cognitive metaphor to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Cognitive metaphor theorists argue that many of our basic metaphors are formed on the basis of a set of very basic experiential cognitive factors, and can be grouped together in relation to these factors. So, for example, good is often portrayed metaphorically as up, and bad as down (e.g. we go up to heaven and down to hell), and the future is usually portrayed as being in front of us metaphorically, whereas the past is behind. Freeman argues that different Shakespeare plays are based on different sets of cognitive metaphors. He suggests that Macbeth is based on the PATH and CONTAINER schemata. So, for Macbeth, life is a journey, and success is reaching the end of the path. The play also contains a profusion of CONTAINER metaphors (Macbeth’s castle is a container and Duncan’s body is a container which Macbeth has breached by stabbing him). Besides showing that the PATH and CONTAINER metaphors are dominant in Macbeth, Freeman goes on to show how the two schemas interact in the play to create a four-dimensional image of Macbeth’s downfall.