Welcome to the postmodern era. Where everything is either a meme or a metaphor, and Shakespeare's Macbeth feels more like a commentary on our current digital chaos than the old-school tragedy everyone thought it was. Looking at it from a Postmodernist angle, the classic Renaissance text suddenly feels unsettlingly relevant. Macbeth becomes a fortune-telling of fractured truth, unstable identity, and existential chaos, mirroring our own digitally fragmented world.
Everything Is a Simulation
Let’s talk about “hyperreality”, a main component of postmodern literature. Jean Baudrillard, the French philosopher behind this idea, basically said we’re all just vibing in a world of copies. Nothing is original or creative and everything feels fake, saturated, or stolen. Sound familiar? In Macbeth, this starts right away with this quote “Nothing is but what is not.” (Act 1, Scene 3). Macbeth says this after hearing the witches’ prophecy, and it’s basically the 1600s version of “Is this real life?” His thoughts are more hallucination than logic, and truth becomes subjective, displaying that classic Postmodern instability. Shakespeare, writing in this Renaissance when humanism and order were all anyone had ever known, rebels and creates a new narrative: one that isn’t so straightforward. Baudrillard would love the witches. They predict the future, but also kind of create it, like newsfeeds that shape reality in the way they’d like it to be percieved rather than report it simply how it is. You don’t know what to trust anymore. Welcome to 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez362dgoODs
Macbeth vs. Modern Media Meltdown
Let’s bring this chaos into the present. Remember Jonathan Haidt’s essay, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”? . “He blames social media for the rise of post-modernist Relativism, making “‘truth subjective and dependent on one’s perspective’” so that nothing is straightforward anymore, leading to much more extreme opinions, making people unable to have respectful conversations without jumping to making death threats the second they don’t agree with someone”. Everyone’s arguing, no one’s really listening, and facts don’t seem to matter
anymore, because at this point, we can’t even tell the difference between fact and fiction, because we just keep getting fed a bunch of lies from Big Brother. That’s the same kind of vibe as this line from Macbeth: “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” (Act 1, Scene 5). Lady Macbeth is basically saying, “You need to look sweet and nonthreatening, but be sneaky.” It’s all about hiding your real intentions, kind of like using a filter to look perfect on social media, which is a classic Postmodern idea: what’s real vs. what we show. Just like in today’s world, Macbeth’s world is full of lies, secrets, and blurred lines between good and bad. And as the audience, we’re stuck wondering who’s being honest, because no one in the story is a very reliable informant. (Hint: probably not the guy following invisible daggers.)
Postmodern Strength in a Broken World
Now let’s bring in Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Making a Fist”. At first glance, it might seem like a simple memory of a sick kid on a road trip, but it actually says a lot about strength in uncertain times. When the child asks, “How do you know if you’re dying?” the mother replies, “You can’t die if you can make a fist.” At first, it sounds funny or odd because like… what does that even mean? But, “after being analyzed for a deeper, more psychological meaning, [the fist] becomes a symbol for asserting control over our destiny and emotions, even when the world around feels uncontrollable.” That one small gesture, a clenched fist, suddenly becomes a quiet act of power. This connects to
Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, “screw your courage to the sticking-place.”(Act 1, scene 7). Her telling him this is basically her saying “just hang in there and don’t give up”. Both are about finding something internal to hold onto, like who you are at your core (or at least who you believe yourself to be) when everything on the outside is falling apart. In a world full of chaos and unclear meaning, both works show that just making a fist and “still rising” is sometimes the strongest thing you can do. That kind of quiet, stubborn strength? It’s the perfect Postmodern response to a messy, confusing world.
1 Gorillaz vs 100 Postmodernists
Last but never least: “Humility” by Gorillaz. This chill, genre-blending track might seem like a summer bop, but look at it beyond just surface level and you’ve got pure Postmodernism:
-Blended genres? Check.
-Blurry line between real and fake (animated band, real artists)? Check.
-Lowkey identity crisis hiding behind a sunny vibe and roller skated? Check.
“The Gorillaz is THE DEFINITION of postmodern. They’re literally a virtual band, made up of animated characters with entire fictional backstories.” That fake, simulated reality, where fiction and truth are indistinguishable from each other, is the center of Postmodern thought. Just like Macbeth pretending everything’s fine while literally going slowly insane,
“Humility” disguises the inner chaos of the true meaning of the song with cool visuals and catchy beats. It tells us to let go of ego and accept that there will always be uncertainty. Macbeth could’ve used a chill playlist and some therapy. Instead, he goes full villain mode, and before you can say “red flag” everyone is dead.
In a Nutshell
Postmodernism doesn’t give us answers, it gives us mirrors. When we look at Macbeth through that mirror, we see our own messed-up world: obsessed with image, plagued by doubt and uncertainty, and desperate for control in a reality that keeps shifting. Through literature, music, essays, and poetry, we find a common theme: confusion, chaos, and the adaptability that helps us “make a fist” and keep going even when we have no idea what’s happening or where we’re going from here. Sometimes, a Renaissance tragedy and a quirky, animated band have more in common than you'd think. And maybe, that’s the most Postmodern thing of all.
Works Cited
Angelou, Maya. “Still I Rise.” Poetry Foundation, Random House, 12 Aug. 1978, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise.
“Gorillaz - Humility (Official Video).” YouTube, 31 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5yFcdPAGv0.
Haidt, Jonathan. “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” The Atlantic, 11 Apr. 2022, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/.
mohitbahi. “And Still I Rise.” YouTube, 5 Apr. 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0.Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Folger Shakespeare Library, 1623.
Naomi Shihab Nye. “Making a Fist by Naomi Shihab Nye | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, 2020, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54308/making-a-fist.
The Living Philosophy. “Do We Live in a Simulation? Baudrillard’s Simulation and Simulacra.” YouTube, 5 Dec. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez362dgoODs.
The Quant Artist. “Do We Live in George Orwell’s 1984?” YouTube, 7 Sept. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuuhXVtpuiU.
Your post is such an insightful and relatable take on Macbeth. I like how you tied in Baudrillard’s Hyperreality. “Nothing is but what is not” gives off a peak simulation vibes. Your breakdown of social media, identity filters, and even the whole “invisible dagger” moment was humerous but also insightful. Also, your Humility connection was very interesting. The Gorillaz being a metaphor for postmodernism is a very interesting take. The “make a fist” idea as a quiet power move in chaos was also great. Your post is a cool mashup or depth and humor.