ONCE upon a time I found myself in the Scottish city of Inverness, which was one of the places of interest on the 1980 Harry Brittan Memorial Fellowship programme of study arranged by the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) in conjunction with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
At the end of my attachment to The South Wales Echo newspaper in Cardiff, the Welsh capital, I left by train for Birmingham where CPU fellows who had been sent to various media houses across the United Kingdom (UK) for internship were all required to assemble before embarking on a group tour of Scotland.
From Birmingham we left by road for Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, where we arrived just in time for the start of the famous Annual Edinburgh Festival.
After touring various places of historical importance, including the University of Edinburgh where former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere and former Malawian president Hastings ‘Kamuzu’ Banda obtained their university degrees, we were ready for the second phase on the itinerary.
It turned out to be no other than Glasgow – the home city of former Times of Zambia Deputy Chief Sub-Editor John Macffee’s favourite Scottish Premier League side – the Glasgow Celtic Football Club.
Although we did not visit the Celtic FC clubhouse nor anything associated with the famous Scottish club, for me, it was an extraordinary and memorable experience to find myself in a city whose team my former colleague and editorial mentor John boasted so much about during his stay in Zambia and Ndola in particular.
A keen footballer himself, John was one of the expatriate employees who used to regularly feature in the Times of Zambia side that played weekend social football matches against Ndola Rural teams like Lumano Wolves and thus helped inspire many youngsters in the villages along the Ndola-Kabwe road in the early 1970s.
However, what fascinated me most, as a theatre enthusiast who had not only read but also acted in the play Macbeth, was the ‘discovery’ that I was physically in Inverness (located in northern Scotland) a place that I had only heard and read about. More significantly it is the place where Macbeth committed regicide, as depicted in one of the most gripping plays ever.
So much has happened since then but I believe every dramatist or scholar who did his or her English Literature still remembers The Tragedy of Macbeth – a play written by William Shakespeare in the 17th Century about a previously law-abiding citizen who is driven to killing another person so as to become king and then commit further murders to maintain his grip on power.
Scholars will no doubt recall that Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest tragedy, which tells the story of the brave and loyal Scottish general (Macbeth) who receives a prophecy from Three Witches that one day he (Macbeth) will become King of Scotland.
Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Lady Macbeth, Gen Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. His reign is, however, racked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion.
Because of space limitation, I will quote only two scenes from the play to illustrate the point that am trying to put across.
SCENE ONE: Macbeth, or the Scottish Play as it is also referred to, opens in a lonely place in ancient medieval Scotland. The Three Witches enter and speak of what they know will happen this day: The civil war will end, and they will meet with Macbeth, one of the generals. Their meeting ends when their demon companion, in form of a toad (frog) and a cat, call them away.
First Witch says: When shall we three meet again in the thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.

Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun.

First Witch Where the place?

Second Witch: Upon the heath.

Third Witch: There to meet with Macbeth.

First Witch: I come, Graymalkin!

Second Witch: Paddock calls.

Third Witch: Anon!

All three (chorus): Fair is foul, and foul is fair (this means, the witches’ delight in the confusion of good and bad, beauty and ugliness).
SCENE TWO opens with Duncan, the King of Scotland, as he waits in his camp for news of the battle. He learns that one of his generals, Macbeth, has been victorious in several battles. Not only has he defeated the rebellious Macdonwald, but he has also conquered the armies of the king of Norway (the Huns) and the Scottish traitor, the thane of Cawdor.
Duncan then orders the thane of Cawdor’s execution and announces that the valiant Macbeth will henceforth take over the title
Upon his elevation, Macbeth sends a message to his wife in advance, ‘breaking’ to her the good news which also coincides with witches’ prophecies (that he would himself become a king some day).
Suffering none of her husband’s usual indecision and uncertainties, Lady Macbeth decides nothing would stand in the way and resolves to convince him to murder Duncan in order to obtain kingship at the expense of Malcolm, the prince, whom the king had declared was his chosen heir.
So immediately Macbeth arrives home at Inverness Castle, Lady Macbeth confronts him with her plot. Overriding all of her husband’s objections and challenging his manhood (like the biblical Jezebel) she successfully persuades him into killing the hapless king, who was spending the night at the couple’s residence that very night.
But how would they explain the king’s death in the castle? To escape blame Macbeth and his wife devise a scheme: to get Duncan’s two chamberlains (who had accompanied him to the Inverness Castle) drunk so that they will black out; the next morning they will frame the chamberlains for the murder. They will be defenceless, as they will remember nothing.
While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a hallucination of a bloody dagger. He is so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take charge. In accordance with her plan, she frames Duncan’s sleeping servants for the murder by placing bloody daggers on them.
Early the next morning, Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, and Macduff, the loyal Thane of Fife, arrive at the gate to the castle. A porter opens the gate and Macbeth leads them to the king’s chamber, where Macduff discovers Duncan’s body.
In a supposed fit of anger, Macbeth murders the guards (in truth, he kills them to prevent them from claiming their innocence). Macduff is immediately suspicious of Macbeth, but does not reveal his suspicions publicly. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well.
The rightful heirs’ flight thus makes them suspects and Macbeth assumes the throne as the new King of Scotland as a kinsman of the dead king.
This story was roaring in my mind as we left Inverness on our way back to Edinburg and finally to London by train. The tragedy of Macbeth took be back to events in African where some men who are consumed by ambition, such as former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, would stop at nothing to grab power.
Reflecting on the tragedy of Macbeth in terms of our circumstances I can only say we are blessed – not lucky as a nation – because Zambia has been conducting free and fair democratic elections since the country won its independence from Britain in October 1964; and many will agree that next month’s general election will proceed peacefully as always.
Sources: Wikipedia, and McDougal Littell, The Language of Literature. Comments:alfredmulenga777@gmail.com