Yuan Sun

Yuan Sun

31 October 2023

Macbeth, Narrative pattern, Dramatic mood, Identification, Fusion of horizon.

The paper explains from the perspective of narratology why Macbeth as an anti-protagonist could arouse its readers’ and audience’s deep sympathy and compassion. The reason lies in that Shakespeare uses two tactics in his fabrication of the drama, the passive presentation of the events and the shifted narrative focalization. By these two tactics, Shakespeare managed a strong identification between the lookers and the looked. And this identification prompts an unavoidable sense of immersion or engagement in readers’ reading experience, which makes them  view the tragedy in the eye of the anti-protagonist, a fusion of horizons.

© 2023, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license