A common trope in cinema is that a person stares wide-eyed at their hands when they do something terrible and that always annoyed me until I realized that Shakespeare originated that when Lady Macbeth would constantly look at her hands and still see blood. Just something I epiphanied while watching your video ❤😊
I think Shakespeare’s way of portraying it moves us because he was observing a realistic phenomenon. The thousand yard stare is a well-documented reality of ptsd, and the sense of dissociation staring at the hands evokes is too. Good writers are students of human nature to the point they can describe things that only later are acknowledged by science as phenomena. Lady Macbeth is affected by her own acts in a way we only like to think victims are. Truth is, damnable acts victimize the person doing them as well as the person acted upon. That’s one of the reasons people have traditionally admitted one cannot profit by evil. You always sacrifice your self interest because you can’t opt out of how violence affects your psychological health.
a recommendation i have is the play 'a streetcar named desire' by tennessee williams! the main character, blanche, is constantly bathing throughout as a symbol of her trying to cleanse herself from her past of prostitution as she slowly descends into insanity. we studied it in english literature last year and its so so good
this Lady Macbeth effect made me think directly of bulimia, a desire for such intense control over the body that any mistake is ( psychologically ) fatal. The action of vomiting or doing anything to make our guilt of eating too much disappear. Of course eating disorders are much more complex than that and don't necessarily relate to body image but in my case the Lady Macbeth syndrome was exactly the reason why, and guilt is part of a lot of disorders and is super interesting to talk about and art really allows this. I'm going to stop here, I'm rambling too much.
Realizing that I had Macbeth syndrome throughout my childhood after enduring sexual abuse is eye opening. I remember sitting in the tub, scrubbing and scrubbing until I bled because I never felt clean enough, and no matter how hard I tried I still felt their hands on me. The relief I had when I cleaned that only lasted for a few seconds before I felt dirty again damn near drove me crazy.
In a similar way to this, physical cleanliness equates to moral impurity in my mind. When I feel physically unwell, when my hair is knotted or my acne is particularly bad, I tend to feel more depressed and appalled by the thought of myself. I dont know which is the cause of which but there is a correlation I have noticed and once again Lady Dakota has taken the words right out of my mouth.
Yes, I agree! It reminds of the phrase "mens sana in coropore sano", healthy mind in healthy body. Also, how mentally ill people carry themselves in a way that reflects their state of mind, despite not having any physical disabilities. I really think that there is a connection between our bodies and mind, so it makes sense that one would wash themselves clean of their guilt. How else can they cope?
Lady Macbeth syndrome often reminds me of SA and the feeling you've ultimately lost your purity, that you're worth nothing - so you compensate by scrubbing, showering, dressing and acting in a way society deems 'pure'.
as a person with OCD and a psychology grad, you cannot imagine how happy I am to consume this video. Last semester me and my group conducted a research on Macbeth Effect. We measured the desire to do physical cleaning with not with the words with blank letters but with products that people tend to buy. After we made participants read and write paragraphs with unethical scenarios as the main character being them. We asked them to score items that we showed them from 1 to 7 (7 being the most desirable score and 1 being the least desirable score). Items were either neutral products (like table, pen, notebook etc.) or cleaning products (like soap, shampoo, disinfectans etc.). Unfortunately we couldn't complete it successfully since we had some issues with our professor and we couldn't be able to reach enough participants. I guess i will be curious forever about what would be the results of this study if it was done successfully. Anyway, so thank you Lady Dakota for talking about this. (sorry if i made any language mistakes :( im not a native speaker)
@@atariischaotic i will try my best to give you some examples but firstly i want to declare that the paragraphs were in my native language (which is not english) so i might not be able to give you the exact sentences but the plots. And when i said "some issues" that caused our research to fail, one of them was about these paragraphs and i will explain it now bcs i don't want you to make the same mistakes. So the main issue about paragraphs was the pilot study that we tried to do before the actual research. We wanted to apply them to different sample than the actual research and we wanted them to vote if the paragraphs really effected them in the ethic way. In the pilot study we gave the participants 12 paragraphs in total and score each one's morality from 1 to 5 Likerd type scale (1 being the least ethic score and 5 being the most ethic score) . And we calculated the sample size with G-Power program (i recommend the same to you). However our supervisor made us stop collecting data from participants without we reached our ideal sample size and we had to move on to actual research before measuring out paragraphs reliability and validity. At the end of the study we (as expected) saw that out paragraphs had low reliability and validity in the SPSS (IBM 23) analysis. Anyway long story short; i will give you those 12 example in my next comment. A few sentences for each since the original text isn't in english but i recommend you to make them at least 15-20 sentences to apply.
@@atariischaotic 1- there is a case of robbery in your workplace (office) and you are the only witness. There is accusations about a colleague that you had a disagreement (argument) in the past and now you're not getting on well with them. You know that he didn't steal anything and you tell the truth. They are now acquitted and goes on with his work life normally. 2- you have a really close friend at school named X. X lives very far away from school (countryside/suburbs) and do not have internet access. X is very hardworking and succesful he always has the 1st place in exams. No matter how hard you study you always come after X. There is an exam coming up and the students in the 1st place will get a special school trip as an award. You really want to go to that trip but you know X will win the award no matter what. Somehow the date and the time of the exam changes but X couldn't get the news since there's no innternet access. Teacher gave you the responsibility to let X know. But you take the adventage from the situation and intentionally hide the news from X. Now X misses the exam and you have the 1st place winning the award. When asked you say "i forgot to let X know" and you go to that school trip. (this might not be suitable for every culture and country) 3- there's a professor in uni that you hate and who you think gives you low grades intentionally. There are rumours that this prof uses violence against students which led to a legal investigation against the prof. authorities ask you that if this prof ever used violence against you. You tell them the truth (which it didn't happen). and the Prof goes on with his job eventually. 4- there is a charity event about children with leukemia. Your friend really wants to attend but she has an important appoinment at the same time. She gives you a big amount of money and tells you to donate it in her name in the event. But you buy yourself a new mobile phone with that money and tell her that you donated all of it. Unfortunately i couldn't find the rest but i hope these gave you some inspiration/information about the paragraphs. You can also use the opposite of these scenarios (like not lying and actually donating the money as an ethical paragraph). If you really conduct a research please let me know and give me a link to your article or e-mail it to me somehow i really want to know the results. And again i want to clarify that these paragraphs didn't have high validity and reliability in the statistical analysis.
@@atariischaotic We also had 3 groups in the actual study. 1- group that has been exposed to the unethical variables (unethical scenarios/paragraphs), 2- group that has been exposed to the ethical variables (ethic paragraphs) , 3- group that has been exposed to neutral variable (like a paragraph which doesnt include any ethic dilemma, the plot might be about nature etc). We expected that the feeling of "Guilt" that unethical paragraphs create will increase the tendency of physical cleaning perception/behaviour. We measured guilt with Kugler and Jones's Guilt Scale, you can find it in the "on conceptualizing and assessing guilt" article in Journal of personality and social psychology (1992). I hope this helps, let me know what happened after the research, thank me later hahaha
An anecdote on the obsession with lady Macbeth syndrome - when I was 16 in school (India) we had a Shakespeare assignment to do on our choice of play and act. We had to essentially put up a play in groups. sort of like the Gilmore girls play episode. I obviously forced my group to pick Macbeth and the final act where she kills herself and forced everyone to let me be Lady Macbeth. I was also the only one who was in costume on the day of the performance (it was not mandatory to come in costume I was just a pretentious little shit). Looking back on it now, I was probably cooler at 16 than I am now at 24.
Omg the minute I heard of what lady mcbeth syndrome was I immediately thought of Cassie from s2 of Euphoria, specifically the scene where she goes though her extensive skin care/ wash routine to get the attention of her best friend’s ex. I wonder if you could read the scene as her not just vying for male attention but also trying to rid of the guilt of betraying her best friend through over-pampering
trigger warning for my experience with this: as a victim of csa I used to take hours in the shower/bathtub both as a child and in my reen years before therapy eventually showed me that there was no guilt on me. It was a mixture of washing away the guilt, and washing away his touch.
16:25 as someone who is studying euripides' medea, she actually is a very complex character in his play, with some of the language used about her (and sometimes by her) being reminiscent of the language used for greek heroes. i also think that the way her identity as a woman and foreigner is explored in a quite simpathetic light!! but i'm super excited to check out the version you recommended :D
there’s this german novel called medea: stimmen. it’s through the lense of various characters who are close medea, as they tell their part of the story. it’s a more feminist retelling. if you don’t know it already, maybe it interests you!!!
@@juleti yess, her novel was mentioned in one of the books i read and it seemed very interesting, although i havent read it myself yet, i have to check it out someday!
Something that came to mind when thinking about the relationship between cleanliness and moral purity was how society views homeless people. Some are on the street because of a myriad of reasons-by choice, financial struggles, addiction, etc-and they are always without daily access to a bathroom. “Something must be wrong with them to be living on the street” is the view society has on homeless people (cue the term moral purity-they are unclean so something must be wrong with them). They are also a reminder of what we look like without our money, our nice things, our access to clean water, and that frightens people. I’m rambling but there seems to be a connection there.
I have a similar experience, but it's not body cleanliness, rather it is cleanliness of environments. Whenever I feel like I'm doing poorly on my work or studies, and I'm unfocused and unproductive, I feel this compulsive need to clean my surroundings, like my desk and my bedroom or even the kitchen, as though scrubbing and ordering everything could somehow order the mess inside my head.
OMG I just realized Elijah Mickelson from the series "The Originals" perfectly fits the description of Lady Macbeth effect. Eventhough, in reality he is a cold-blooded murderous vampire, as long as he manages to keep his hands and suit clean of blood, he is able to develop a superficial image of his own purity. They touch upon this by making other characters explicitly mention this. I think it's intentional. This is my second time watching this video, I had to comeback here and comment this lol.
The pursuit of purity and how disgust can create pervasive metaphors is fascinating! I read the book ‘Disgust’ by Richard Beck and he talks about the Macbeth Effect and blends psychological science and religion. It has religious charges, just as a warning, but helped me process religious trauma and think critically about about my obsession with being pure. I read it 2 years ago when I was stepping away from evangelical Christianity.
The painting "Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth" by John Singer Sargent is so good. We see Lady Macbeth about to place the crown on her head showing her will for power and obsession to get anything she wants. The colours are great: red hair in long tresses, rich blue and green dress, golds and really represent the richness of her character. Although not showing the acts of cleaning in attempts to remove her guilt, it shows a different aspect of her (grand, powerful) before her rapid downfall into madness. Thank you for this lovely video essay
I just had the extreme pleasure of playing Lady Macbeth in a recent production, and the process was very taxing, yet very rewarding. Everyone I told had some idea of how to portray her and her journey, and I researched relentlessly. The most compelling aspect, to me, is her child loss. It's a very quick mention, but reveals so much about her characterization. It was such an honour to bring one of my favourite characters to life on the stage, and I'm more than willing to share any info about it with anyone :)
just a thought... perhaps people who seek comfort turn to washing because it often involves water. Maybe as a subconscious attempt to trigger the Mammalian Dive Response (physiological reaction to immersion found in all air-breathing vertebrates, optimising oxygen distribution to the heart and brain, lengthening dive time, but also reducing anxiety). As a kid in school if ever I got emotional, i was told to 'wash my face with cold water and calm down'. It would be interesting to conduct a study and see if there is any correlation.
I’m so happy you mentioned both Cersei Lannister and Medea in one video. I’ve always found them both so complex and therefore more interesting than other characters 🫶🏻
for sure,, i think cleaning is psychological in most ways,, i have a shower when i feel stuck in a cycle of self-pity and it rejuvenates me and i really enjoy the process of scrubbing my body clean. also teeth brushing helps me have some kind of control over one of my biggest fears which is all my teeth falling out (i have recurring dreams about it frequently) and hand washing i find just as satisfying because it kind of gives me a moment alone with myself and my hands which is kind of weird but spirituality cleaning for me and my own mind
Fellow ocd haver here lol heavily religiously traumatised but still faithful somewhat magic wise anyway but yes very fascinated with lady Macbeth from a young age, I wonder how much overlap and influence religion has on ocd I know not everyone with ocd has religious ocd but with the ominous spectre of hell or what we do not understand I think even atheists with ocd who don’t claim religious trauma can be impacted by religious dogma
Loved this. Knowledge bombs and deep info delves are super great. Thank you for this. What seems to separate Lady Macbeth from characters like Medea, Morgan La Fay, and Cersei Lanister is her eventual remorse. The remorse that leads to characteristics that the syndrome is based. She's such a wonderful and intriguing character.
I believe there is also some kind of correlation between expiation and impulses, for example the character Rebeca from “A hundred years of solitude” where she eats dirt as a way of escapism from coping with her traumas, in here she gets dirty instead of cleaning her body due to her dire impulse of moving on
Something very strange; I was feeling very anxious and off today. A few minutes into this video I got off my computer to clean. As is my anxiety cure, I frantically deep cleaned my bedroom for an hour and then took a long shower. I see cleaning as a way to organize my mind and respect my spirit but sometimes it does feel insane
I love your channel so much! Your energy and your information is so overwhelming! I love it! Your voice is lovely as well! You're just a super beautiful human being and this channel is a gem! ❤😭 Sorry, I felt vulnerable to write this for some reason! 🙃 I hope you have a wonderful day!! Greetings from the US 🇺🇸
An example I can think of is Cate Blanchett's character in the movie Hanna. She is a CIA agent involved in some very dark things, and she brushes her teeth aggressively until her gums are bleeding.
Its weird for me! Cleanliness is something I associate with my own worth. Not my morals. If I am not clean I feel like no one should look at me. I feel being “dirty” or “unhygienic” turns me into a burden. I suddenly have no drive to put one foot in front of another. (also Dakota please read Alls Well by Mona Awad if you haven’t. It is HEAVILY influenced by Medea and Macbeth)
i feel like this too! i wonder if this is a truly, biologically innate sort of thing, or if its because society pressures people, specifically women, to be pure to be worth anything
the theme of a complex character with a mysterious past that uses cleanliness (that is, obsessively taking baths) to escape reality is Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire - Williams, in my opinion! We hear about her past regrets or past choices that are criticised by those in her life and yes the ending is tragic! Not in the same way as Shakespeare’s but still tragic!
I studied science most of my life until this school year (basically ~6 years both high school and on my own), focusing on psychology. But now I am making a degree on English Studies (take into account, I'm not native English, I'm from Spain). It makes me really happy to find something that crosses these two fields!!!
I saw someone else comment discussing Blanche DuBois from the play 'A Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennesse Williams as fittinf the effect and I feel like going a bit deeper about it. Spoilers for the play ofc Blanche doesn't have a set age but is the older sister out of herself and her sister Stella who lives with her husband Stanley. Blanche is known to not fit in with her environment and be obsessive over being percieved as a lady/southern belle/attractive. Her introductory outfit is white, matching her name and juxtaposing her envionment filled with bright primary colours and even her sister notes that Stnaley should complement her appearance as she values it so much. Throughout the play a lot is learnt about Blanche incuding her promiscuous past where she had to prostitute herself to survive and her failed marriage that left her traumatised. As more and more of these tainting facts baout Balnche are learnt she spents more time bathing and does so more frequently as her outfits slowly become shells of what they once were, her neat white clothes become wrinkled and stained and her classy southern belle aura gets replaced by cheap costume jewerlery she wears as she has no real jewels left. Blanche's mental unsoundness [not really insanity until past scene 10 when she is dubbed hysterical] is an allegory for the Old South and how in upholding these standard she has lost herslf and ultimatley Blanche is sent to a psychiatric ward as she has become so unwell that her sister can't help her. Even in her final moments with her sister she's in the bath cleaning herself and hearing the sounds of a piano that isn't even there sorry that this is really wordsy i'm in y12 and doing a streetcar named desire in alevel english literature so the thoughts are rlly fresh and i had a lot to say. the play is really good ans there are movie adaptations too it isnt too long and rlly does fir the effect well
On Cleanliness & Morality: We call bad stenches "offensive smells" because poor odor is an indication of bad hygiene. When you can smell something it's because particles of that substance are in the air. Smelling something really bad sets off some instinctual alarm bells for survival because you wouldn't want to be exposing yourself to any sort of potential sickness floating around in the air. Smelling bad causes offense because it exposes others to potentially harmful bacteria. We're social creatures and communicate a lot through touch and that's something to consider with cleanliness. Pandemics can teach us just how dangerous unclean hands can be. Having clean hands means you're safe to interact with and safe to be close to. When Lady Macbeth has this delusion of unclean hands it's a fear that she can't be close to anyone without making that person impure. She becomes a pestilence in her relationships. Hamlet's exposure to Lady Macbeth's touch corrupts him/his spiritual immune system is weak to her influence and of course Hamlet just rolls around in the filth like a pig lol.
imma be honest i clicked because i thought you were florence pugh but stayed because of the aesthetic and cos u remind me of my sister and her rambling 🥰
I find it interesting these character studies often Shakespeare is a wealth of case studies and I find the study of literature is very psychological and almost a reflection of the person who writes it, who they write for, and why are topics not taken seriously by the sciences in ways they truly ought to be. Creative Psychology is a great example of an area where the creatives and creations are examined in a scientific way, which is truly informative to the power of storytelling itself. Through it we learn about ourselves. Or others around us.
wow im so glad that i found your channel!!!! also this Lady Machbet syndrome made me think of a hungarian poem that i adored in high school. the title of the poem in english is The Ballad of Agnes by Arany János maybe check it out if you want a good read. Its about Agnes who killed her husband with the help of her lover, and washes the bloody sheets in the river however it never gets clean and she spirals into madness. sorry if there are any spelling mistakes english is not my first language xoxo
What an unusual and interesting video 😄 well done. I love how your passion and enthusiasm are so obvious. Also, you really know your audience - Black Swan is one of my favourites movies and I've watched it at least three times
Please make more of these videos explaining the researches you made for your books that you found to be exiting or interesting enough for you and you wish to share. I just believe every single person who watches you is thirty for new information on literary topics...
Hamlet #1 honorable son trying to reclaim his rightful kingdom vs whipped usurper Macbeth good vid btw, appreciate the effort that went into setting the vibe
going to have to get your book now. beautiful video with amazing presentation. i hope to see more of these video essays in the future! love to see your view on things and learn.
I didn't expect to relate to this video, since I had never heard of Lady Macbeth Syndrome until now, but after my first experience with someone of the same gender I was dealing with a lot of internalized homophobia and I felt downright filthy. That whole week I took the most thorough showers as if the act was stuck to my skin and I was trying to scrub it off. Great video! :)
This is a wild comparison but I see elements of the lady Macbeth effect through Bree Van De Kamp’s character in desperate housewives at least from the earlier seasons
This was fascinating to learn about, I've always been intrigued by Lady Macbeth as a character and feel there is alot to unpack. Also, yes I loved Black Swan ♡
I have to say, that lighting was pristine. ✨️ I enjoyed listening to this, as I had never heard of it! Makes me want to read the play, as it wasn't covered in my school. One small thing though, the music you use between cuts is the equivalent of a jump scare for anyone wearing headphones. Your voice is relaxed and soft spoken, so the volume change between you speaking and the music cuts is actually kind of painful to the ears. ^^;
Excuse me Lady, I don't mean to be off topic, but is your Fable book club still going? It's been more than a month since you picked the last book and I just wanted to know bc i really enjoy the club and reading classics with others. Thank you. ❤
I spilled oranges and cleaned it up with Lemon cleaner during this video and normally I just use water 🤷♀️ but it was gonna be sticky if I didn’t use a cleaner. Also my mom washes her hands a lot but I think it’s because she’s hyper-concious of germs
If you want related actual research on this phenomenon, psychologists appear to be using the term mental contamination, or emotional contamination. also you might like Circe by Madeline Miller
Reminds me of an experience I once had. It was one night stand with a woman I didn't really like but had some history with ages ago, all in all it was a very odd and weird dynamic. Either way, we didn't go all the way that day and quit earlier and when she left I had this intense desire to just shower myself to psychologically clean myself from the uncomfortable situation, which I also did. It felt very relieving but was also very gross at the same time, as if I had to wash my fingers completely clean. Showered for 2 or 3 hours that day. It has so far been the only instance of something like this I ever experienced.
Amazing video, another book recommendation that offers a male perspective of Macbeths guilt is Heart So White, by Javier Marias. A beautiful narrative voice eavesdrops on the life's of others as he explores themes of obsession, guilt, the absurdity of translation, and memory through generational trauma. Haunted by the tragedy of his family, he keeps coming back to the gravity of Macbeth's deed
WONDERFUL video and I'm blaming you for the irresponsible financial decisions I am about to make (buying every book you mentioned.) Also, what was the song played during the title screens?? It sounds amazing, reminds me of CAN a little bit.
Another book (play) and movie which I think touches on this well is A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche repeatedly takes a lot of hot baths despite the hot weather to ‘calm her nerves’, and **(spoilers)** this can be seen as related to her guilt over her husband’s suicide and a need to purify her conscience after ruining her reputation after sleeping with lots of men back in Laurel once she lost her husband and her house. It’s a way for her to revert back to the past before she was ‘impure’.
I love Tennessee Williams writing style, especially his play The Glass Menagerie. I think I am gonna read The Streetcar Named Desire after reading this comment. Haha.
I recently went to see A Streetcar Named Desire on the West End and i cried the whole way through :') It's so beautiful and tragic, Blanche is such a sympathetic protagonist.
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A common trope in cinema is that a person stares wide-eyed at their hands when they do something terrible and that always annoyed me until I realized that Shakespeare originated that when Lady Macbeth would constantly look at her hands and still see blood. Just something I epiphanied while watching your video ❤😊
I think Shakespeare’s way of portraying it moves us because he was observing a realistic phenomenon. The thousand yard stare is a well-documented reality of ptsd, and the sense of dissociation staring at the hands evokes is too. Good writers are students of human nature to the point they can describe things that only later are acknowledged by science as phenomena. Lady Macbeth is affected by her own acts in a way we only like to think victims are. Truth is, damnable acts victimize the person doing them as well as the person acted upon. That’s one of the reasons people have traditionally admitted one cannot profit by evil. You always sacrifice your self interest because you can’t opt out of how violence affects your psychological health.
a recommendation i have is the play 'a streetcar named desire' by tennessee williams! the main character, blanche, is constantly bathing throughout as a symbol of her trying to cleanse herself from her past of prostitution as she slowly descends into insanity. we studied it in english literature last year and its so so good
Was just about to comment about Blanche since we just finished studying it. She feels very reminiscent of this trope
I did this for my a levels, loved this play
Was just about to comment about blanche! Her character is one of my favourites she is so interesting
@@tcrijwanachoudhury omg me too
I’m going to be starting that in August im now quite excited!
this Lady Macbeth effect made me think directly of bulimia, a desire for such intense control over the body that any mistake is ( psychologically ) fatal. The action of vomiting or doing anything to make our guilt of eating too much disappear. Of course eating disorders are much more complex than that and don't necessarily relate to body image but in my case the Lady Macbeth syndrome was exactly the reason why, and guilt is part of a lot of disorders and is super interesting to talk about and art really allows this.
I'm going to stop here, I'm rambling too much.
i felt this but with orthorexia (overexercising in particular)
I was this way with my bulimia! I felt like the food in me was dirty and purging cleaned me and my guilt
It’s obsessive compulsive disorder; OCD.
Realizing that I had Macbeth syndrome throughout my childhood after enduring sexual abuse is eye opening. I remember sitting in the tub, scrubbing and scrubbing until I bled because I never felt clean enough, and no matter how hard I tried I still felt their hands on me. The relief I had when I cleaned that only lasted for a few seconds before I felt dirty again damn near drove me crazy.
That fucking broke my heart...I hope you're okay now and I genuinely hope that your abuser burns for eternity
In a similar way to this, physical cleanliness equates to moral impurity in my mind. When I feel physically unwell, when my hair is knotted or my acne is particularly bad, I tend to feel more depressed and appalled by the thought of myself. I dont know which is the cause of which but there is a correlation I have noticed and once again Lady Dakota has taken the words right out of my mouth.
Yes, I agree! It reminds of the phrase "mens sana in coropore sano", healthy mind in healthy body. Also, how mentally ill people carry themselves in a way that reflects their state of mind, despite not having any physical disabilities. I really think that there is a connection between our bodies and mind, so it makes sense that one would wash themselves clean of their guilt. How else can they cope?
I love the setup but that candle right under that paper is adding an air of suspense
That candle being so close to paper RIGHT ABOVE IT is making me so nervous,,
Idk the flame looks very still, I think it might be a fake candle but i'm not sure
Lady Macbeth syndrome often reminds me of SA and the feeling you've ultimately lost your purity, that you're worth nothing - so you compensate by scrubbing, showering, dressing and acting in a way society deems 'pure'.
as a person with OCD and a psychology grad, you cannot imagine how happy I am to consume this video. Last semester me and my group conducted a research on Macbeth Effect. We measured the desire to do physical cleaning with not with the words with blank letters but with products that people tend to buy. After we made participants read and write paragraphs with unethical scenarios as the main character being them. We asked them to score items that we showed them from 1 to 7 (7 being the most desirable score and 1 being the least desirable score). Items were either neutral products (like table, pen, notebook etc.) or cleaning products (like soap, shampoo, disinfectans etc.). Unfortunately we couldn't complete it successfully since we had some issues with our professor and we couldn't be able to reach enough participants. I guess i will be curious forever about what would be the results of this study if it was done successfully. Anyway, so thank you Lady Dakota for talking about this. (sorry if i made any language mistakes :( im not a native speaker)
What is an example of the paragraphs? I’m interested in this study and want to see if I can recreate it and I will give you the results if it works
@@atariischaotic i will try my best to give you some examples but firstly i want to declare that the paragraphs were in my native language (which is not english) so i might not be able to give you the exact sentences but the plots. And when i said "some issues" that caused our research to fail, one of them was about these paragraphs and i will explain it now bcs i don't want you to make the same mistakes. So the main issue about paragraphs was the pilot study that we tried to do before the actual research. We wanted to apply them to different sample than the actual research and we wanted them to vote if the paragraphs really effected them in the ethic way. In the pilot study we gave the participants 12 paragraphs in total and score each one's morality from 1 to 5 Likerd type scale (1 being the least ethic score and 5 being the most ethic score) . And we calculated the sample size with G-Power program (i recommend the same to you). However our supervisor made us stop collecting data from participants without we reached our ideal sample size and we had to move on to actual research before measuring out paragraphs reliability and validity. At the end of the study we (as expected) saw that out paragraphs had low reliability and validity in the SPSS (IBM 23) analysis. Anyway long story short; i will give you those 12 example in my next comment. A few sentences for each since the original text isn't in english but i recommend you to make them at least 15-20 sentences to apply.
@@atariischaotic
1- there is a case of robbery in your workplace (office) and you are the only witness. There is accusations about a colleague that you had a disagreement (argument) in the past and now you're not getting on well with them. You know that he didn't steal anything and you tell the truth. They are now acquitted and goes on with his work life normally.
2- you have a really close friend at school named X. X lives very far away from school (countryside/suburbs) and do not have internet access. X is very hardworking and succesful he always has the 1st place in exams. No matter how hard you study you always come after X. There is an exam coming up and the students in the 1st place will get a special school trip as an award. You really want to go to that trip but you know X will win the award no matter what. Somehow the date and the time of the exam changes but X couldn't get the news since there's no innternet access. Teacher gave you the responsibility to let X know. But you take the adventage from the situation and intentionally hide the news from X. Now X misses the exam and you have the 1st place winning the award. When asked you say "i forgot to let X know" and you go to that school trip. (this might not be suitable for every culture and country)
3- there's a professor in uni that you hate and who you think gives you low grades intentionally. There are rumours that this prof uses violence against students which led to a legal investigation against the prof. authorities ask you that if this prof ever used violence against you. You tell them the truth (which it didn't happen). and the Prof goes on with his job eventually.
4- there is a charity event about children with leukemia. Your friend really wants to attend but she has an important appoinment at the same time. She gives you a big amount of money and tells you to donate it in her name in the event. But you buy yourself a new mobile phone with that money and tell her that you donated all of it.
Unfortunately i couldn't find the rest but i hope these gave you some inspiration/information about the paragraphs. You can also use the opposite of these scenarios (like not lying and actually donating the money as an ethical paragraph). If you really conduct a research please let me know and give me a link to your article or e-mail it to me somehow i really want to know the results.
And again i want to clarify that these paragraphs didn't have high validity and reliability in the statistical analysis.
@@atariischaotic We also had 3 groups in the actual study. 1- group that has been exposed to the unethical variables (unethical scenarios/paragraphs), 2- group that has been exposed to the ethical variables (ethic paragraphs) , 3- group that has been exposed to neutral variable (like a paragraph which doesnt include any ethic dilemma, the plot might be about nature etc). We expected that the feeling of "Guilt" that unethical paragraphs create will increase the tendency of physical cleaning perception/behaviour. We measured guilt with Kugler and Jones's Guilt Scale, you can find it in the "on conceptualizing and assessing guilt" article in Journal of personality and social psychology (1992).
I hope this helps, let me know what happened after the research, thank me later hahaha
An anecdote on the obsession with lady Macbeth syndrome - when I was 16 in school (India) we had a Shakespeare assignment to do on our choice of play and act. We had to essentially put up a play in groups. sort of like the Gilmore girls play episode. I obviously forced my group to pick Macbeth and the final act where she kills herself and forced everyone to let me be Lady Macbeth. I was also the only one who was in costume on the day of the performance (it was not mandatory to come in costume I was just a pretentious little shit). Looking back on it now, I was probably cooler at 16 than I am now at 24.
Omg the minute I heard of what lady mcbeth syndrome was I immediately thought of Cassie from s2 of Euphoria, specifically the scene where she goes though her extensive skin care/ wash routine to get the attention of her best friend’s ex. I wonder if you could read the scene as her not just vying for male attention but also trying to rid of the guilt of betraying her best friend through over-pampering
trigger warning for my experience with this:
as a victim of csa I used to take hours in the shower/bathtub both as a child and in my reen years before therapy eventually showed me that there was no guilt on me. It was a mixture of washing away the guilt, and washing away his touch.
16:25 as someone who is studying euripides' medea, she actually is a very complex character in his play, with some of the language used about her (and sometimes by her) being reminiscent of the language used for greek heroes. i also think that the way her identity as a woman and foreigner is explored in a quite simpathetic light!! but i'm super excited to check out the version you recommended :D
there’s this german novel called medea: stimmen. it’s through the lense of various characters who are close medea, as they tell their part of the story. it’s a more feminist retelling. if you don’t know it already, maybe it interests you!!!
@@juleti yess, her novel was mentioned in one of the books i read and it seemed very interesting, although i havent read it myself yet, i have to check it out someday!
Something that came to mind when thinking about the relationship between cleanliness and moral purity was how society views homeless people. Some are on the street because of a myriad of reasons-by choice, financial struggles, addiction, etc-and they are always without daily access to a bathroom. “Something must be wrong with them to be living on the street” is the view society has on homeless people (cue the term moral purity-they are unclean so something must be wrong with them). They are also a reminder of what we look like without our money, our nice things, our access to clean water, and that frightens people. I’m rambling but there seems to be a connection there.
I have a similar experience, but it's not body cleanliness, rather it is cleanliness of environments. Whenever I feel like I'm doing poorly on my work or studies, and I'm unfocused and unproductive, I feel this compulsive need to clean my surroundings, like my desk and my bedroom or even the kitchen, as though scrubbing and ordering everything could somehow order the mess inside my head.
Please, feel free to make hour long videos of you talking about things like this all of the time. This was lovely.
OMG I just realized Elijah Mickelson from the series "The Originals" perfectly fits the description of Lady Macbeth effect. Eventhough, in reality he is a cold-blooded murderous vampire, as long as he manages to keep his hands and suit clean of blood, he is able to develop a superficial image of his own purity. They touch upon this by making other characters explicitly mention this. I think it's intentional. This is my second time watching this video, I had to comeback here and comment this lol.
Girl the lighting and ambiance in this video is on point
Brb about to go into an obssesive rabbit hole upon Dakota's vídeo topic
The pursuit of purity and how disgust can create pervasive metaphors is fascinating! I read the book ‘Disgust’ by Richard Beck and he talks about the Macbeth Effect and blends psychological science and religion. It has religious charges, just as a warning, but helped me process religious trauma and think critically about about my obsession with being pure. I read it 2 years ago when I was stepping away from evangelical Christianity.
The painting "Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth" by John Singer Sargent is so good. We see Lady Macbeth about to place the crown on her head showing her will for power and obsession to get anything she wants. The colours are great: red hair in long tresses, rich blue and green dress, golds and really represent the richness of her character. Although not showing the acts of cleaning in attempts to remove her guilt, it shows a different aspect of her (grand, powerful) before her rapid downfall into madness. Thank you for this lovely video essay
I just had the extreme pleasure of playing Lady Macbeth in a recent production, and the process was very taxing, yet very rewarding. Everyone I told had some idea of how to portray her and her journey, and I researched relentlessly. The most compelling aspect, to me, is her child loss. It's a very quick mention, but reveals so much about her characterization. It was such an honour to bring one of my favourite characters to life on the stage, and I'm more than willing to share any info about it with anyone :)
Just discovered this channel and I am ever so slightly obsessed with the vibe
just a thought... perhaps people who seek comfort turn to washing because it often involves water. Maybe as a subconscious attempt to trigger the Mammalian Dive Response (physiological reaction to immersion found in all air-breathing vertebrates, optimising oxygen distribution to the heart and brain, lengthening dive time, but also reducing anxiety). As a kid in school if ever I got emotional, i was told to 'wash my face with cold water and calm down'. It would be interesting to conduct a study and see if there is any correlation.
as someone with ocd i feel so connected to this topic. often times i’ll wash my hands when i feel guilt or panic, as some sort of relief.
I’m so happy you mentioned both Cersei Lannister and Medea in one video. I’ve always found them both so complex and therefore more interesting than other characters 🫶🏻
for sure,, i think cleaning is psychological in most ways,, i have a shower when i feel stuck in a cycle of self-pity and it rejuvenates me and i really enjoy the process of scrubbing my body clean. also teeth brushing helps me have some kind of control over one of my biggest fears which is all my teeth falling out (i have recurring dreams about it frequently) and hand washing i find just as satisfying because it kind of gives me a moment alone with myself and my hands which is kind of weird but spirituality cleaning for me and my own mind
sweeney todd is always interesting to me in that it seems reminiscent of macbeth in some ways, especially lady macbeth/lovett
I can’t stop looking at that fire hazard!!!! The yellow candle near that paper!
Idk the flame looks very still, I think it might be a fake candle but i'm not sure.
her smiles are so contagious
Fellow ocd haver here lol heavily religiously traumatised but still faithful somewhat magic wise anyway but yes very fascinated with lady Macbeth from a young age, I wonder how much overlap and influence religion has on ocd I know not everyone with ocd has religious ocd but with the ominous spectre of hell or what we do not understand I think even atheists with ocd who don’t claim religious trauma can be impacted by religious dogma
Loved this. Knowledge bombs and deep info delves are super great. Thank you for this. What seems to separate Lady Macbeth from characters like Medea, Morgan La Fay, and Cersei Lanister is her eventual remorse. The remorse that leads to characteristics that the syndrome is based. She's such a wonderful and intriguing character.
Everytime i have a lack of motivation Lady Dakota always makes new content. I feel so blessed ❤️
I believe there is also some kind of correlation between expiation and impulses, for example the character Rebeca from “A hundred years of solitude” where she eats dirt as a way of escapism from coping with her traumas, in here she gets dirty instead of cleaning her body due to her dire impulse of moving on
Something very strange; I was feeling very anxious and off today. A few minutes into this video I got off my computer to clean. As is my anxiety cure, I frantically deep cleaned my bedroom for an hour and then took a long shower. I see cleaning as a way to organize my mind and respect my spirit but sometimes it does feel insane
I love your channel so much! Your energy and your information is so overwhelming! I love it! Your voice is lovely as well! You're just a super beautiful human being and this channel is a gem! ❤😭 Sorry, I felt vulnerable to write this for some reason! 🙃 I hope you have a wonderful day!! Greetings from the US 🇺🇸
An example I can think of is Cate Blanchett's character in the movie Hanna. She is a CIA agent involved in some very dark things, and she brushes her teeth aggressively until her gums are bleeding.
Once again, Dakota bringing knowledge to us, in a beautiful way
You are one of the greatest writers of our generation and i can not wait to see what else you will do
Its weird for me! Cleanliness is something I associate with my own worth. Not my morals. If I am not clean I feel like no one should look at me. I feel being “dirty” or “unhygienic” turns me into a burden. I suddenly have no drive to put one foot in front of another. (also Dakota please read Alls Well by Mona Awad if you haven’t. It is HEAVILY influenced by Medea and Macbeth)
i feel like this too! i wonder if this is a truly, biologically innate sort of thing, or if its because society pressures people, specifically women, to be pure to be worth anything
the theme of a complex character with a mysterious past that uses cleanliness (that is, obsessively taking baths) to escape reality is Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire - Williams, in my opinion! We hear about her past regrets or past choices that are criticised by those in her life and yes the ending is tragic! Not in the same way as Shakespeare’s but still tragic!
I studied science most of my life until this school year (basically ~6 years both high school and on my own), focusing on psychology. But now I am making a degree on English Studies (take into account, I'm not native English, I'm from Spain). It makes me really happy to find something that crosses these two fields!!!
im counting this as macbeth revision for my English literature GCSE x
Hey Dakota! Love your channel
I saw someone else comment discussing Blanche DuBois from the play 'A Streetcar Named Desire' by Tennesse Williams as fittinf the effect and I feel like going a bit deeper about it. Spoilers for the play ofc
Blanche doesn't have a set age but is the older sister out of herself and her sister Stella who lives with her husband Stanley. Blanche is known to not fit in with her environment and be obsessive over being percieved as a lady/southern belle/attractive. Her introductory outfit is white, matching her name and juxtaposing her envionment filled with bright primary colours and even her sister notes that Stnaley should complement her appearance as she values it so much. Throughout the play a lot is learnt about Blanche incuding her promiscuous past where she had to prostitute herself to survive and her failed marriage that left her traumatised. As more and more of these tainting facts baout Balnche are learnt she spents more time bathing and does so more frequently as her outfits slowly become shells of what they once were, her neat white clothes become wrinkled and stained and her classy southern belle aura gets replaced by cheap costume jewerlery she wears as she has no real jewels left. Blanche's mental unsoundness [not really insanity until past scene 10 when she is dubbed hysterical] is an allegory for the Old South and how in upholding these standard she has lost herslf and ultimatley Blanche is sent to a psychiatric ward as she has become so unwell that her sister can't help her. Even in her final moments with her sister she's in the bath cleaning herself and hearing the sounds of a piano that isn't even there
sorry that this is really wordsy i'm in y12 and doing a streetcar named desire in alevel english literature so the thoughts are rlly fresh and i had a lot to say. the play is really good ans there are movie adaptations too it isnt too long and rlly does fir the effect well
On Cleanliness & Morality: We call bad stenches "offensive smells" because poor odor is an indication of bad hygiene. When you can smell something it's because particles of that substance are in the air. Smelling something really bad sets off some instinctual alarm bells for survival because you wouldn't want to be exposing yourself to any sort of potential sickness floating around in the air. Smelling bad causes offense because it exposes others to potentially harmful bacteria. We're social creatures and communicate a lot through touch and that's something to consider with cleanliness. Pandemics can teach us just how dangerous unclean hands can be. Having clean hands means you're safe to interact with and safe to be close to. When Lady Macbeth has this delusion of unclean hands it's a fear that she can't be close to anyone without making that person impure. She becomes a pestilence in her relationships. Hamlet's exposure to Lady Macbeth's touch corrupts him/his spiritual immune system is weak to her influence and of course Hamlet just rolls around in the filth like a pig lol.
imma be honest i clicked because i thought you were florence pugh but stayed because of the aesthetic and cos u remind me of my sister and her rambling 🥰
I find it interesting these character studies often Shakespeare is a wealth of case studies and I find the study of literature is very psychological and almost a reflection of the person who writes it, who they write for, and why are topics not taken seriously by the sciences in ways they truly ought to be. Creative Psychology is a great example of an area where the creatives and creations are examined in a scientific way, which is truly informative to the power of storytelling itself. Through it we learn about ourselves. Or others around us.
This is interesting and I never heard about it and thanks so much for introducing us to this ❤
absolutely love this because for one its super interesting, and for two I can pass it off as english literature revision
Yesss
Did you do your exams this year too? How was the paper! Im on AQA and I do Macbeth, The Sign Of Four and Blood Brothers :)
wow im so glad that i found your channel!!!! also this Lady Machbet syndrome made me think of a hungarian poem that i adored in high school. the title of the poem in english is The Ballad of Agnes by Arany János maybe check it out if you want a good read. Its about Agnes who killed her husband with the help of her lover, and washes the bloody sheets in the river however it never gets clean and she spirals into madness.
sorry if there are any spelling mistakes english is not my first language xoxo
you should make more videos like this one
What an unusual and interesting video 😄 well done. I love how your passion and enthusiasm are so obvious. Also, you really know your audience - Black Swan is one of my favourites movies and I've watched it at least three times
This is my first video of yours and the vibes are immaculate, the subject interesting and well explored. You’ve earned a subscriber 😇
Adored this video to death. Thank you for introducing me to something new today, and I hope to learn more fascinating things in the future
I always wondered why I was so messy... not enough guilt. Love your videos.
Please make more of these videos explaining the researches you made for your books that you found to be exiting or interesting enough for you and you wish to share. I just believe every single person who watches you is thirty for new information on literary topics...
your editing is SO GOOD omg im in love
the vibes are immaculate >>
right when my gcses are here. absolute life saviour
recently finished if we were villains so a Shakespeare- themed video is just want i need ❤️
omg thats one of my fav books !!! thinking of rereading it soon
@@bossbaby3497 aaaa enjoy!!! i love it, might reread it again too honestly!!
This is so interesting, I’ve never been told of anything on this subject before. It’s so interesting to me. I love this video
Your videos are my safe place everyday
Hamlet #1 honorable son trying to reclaim his rightful kingdom vs whipped usurper Macbeth
good vid btw, appreciate the effort that went into setting the vibe
going to have to get your book now. beautiful video with amazing presentation. i hope to see more of these video essays in the future! love to see your view on things and learn.
I didn't expect to relate to this video, since I had never heard of Lady Macbeth Syndrome until now, but after my first experience with someone of the same gender I was dealing with a lot of internalized homophobia and I felt downright filthy. That whole week I took the most thorough showers as if the act was stuck to my skin and I was trying to scrub it off. Great video! :)
This is a wild comparison but I see elements of the lady Macbeth effect through Bree Van De Kamp’s character in desperate housewives at least from the earlier seasons
god i love ur channel so much,, i cant get enough
This was fascinating to learn about, I've always been intrigued by Lady Macbeth as a character and feel there is alot to unpack.
Also, yes I loved Black Swan ♡
I came here to understand better the monologue in the gun song lol
Nah what??? I literally just come to check if u’ve posted something and you suddenly post!??
Great video as always! That edition you have of Shakespeare's work looks incredible! Also, I must ask; what song is that you use in the interludes?
Looking at the candle near the papers gives me anxiety
I have to say, that lighting was pristine. ✨️ I enjoyed listening to this, as I had never heard of it! Makes me want to read the play, as it wasn't covered in my school. One small thing though, the music you use between cuts is the equivalent of a jump scare for anyone wearing headphones. Your voice is relaxed and soft spoken, so the volume change between you speaking and the music cuts is actually kind of painful to the ears. ^^;
this video is absolutely phenomenal! i need the name of the music used for the title cards...
Does anyone know the name of the music playing during her intro card!!! I loved this video and the lighting!!! ❤❤❤
I love this channel so much!! It's so cozy and safe
I need to write a book now thank you
Excuse me Lady, I don't mean to be off topic, but is your Fable book club still going? It's been more than a month since you picked the last book and I just wanted to know bc i really enjoy the club and reading classics with others. Thank you. ❤
I spilled oranges and cleaned it up with Lemon cleaner during this video and normally I just use water 🤷♀️ but it was gonna be sticky if I didn’t use a cleaner.
Also my mom washes her hands a lot but I think it’s because she’s hyper-concious of germs
If you want related actual research on this phenomenon, psychologists appear to be using the term mental contamination, or emotional contamination.
also you might like Circe by Madeline Miller
LETS GO,(thank u I needed this)
Hope you write more books and you are so talented gifted and I LOVEE ur first book it was so unique outstanding ❤
Where was this video yesterday 😢, I just took my Renassiance Drama final about MacBeth
OKAY WHERE IS THE MYSIC FROM ITS SO GOOD I CANT FIGURR IT OUT WHY DIDNT U LINK IT
one book that (i at least think) embodies the lady macbeth syndrome is “anna karenina” by tolstoy.
I like the rambling, certainly, the music, will take some getting used to
Reminds me of an experience I once had. It was one night stand with a woman I didn't really like but had some history with ages ago, all in all it was a very odd and weird dynamic. Either way, we didn't go all the way that day and quit earlier and when she left I had this intense desire to just shower myself to psychologically clean myself from the uncomfortable situation, which I also did. It felt very relieving but was also very gross at the same time, as if I had to wash my fingers completely clean. Showered for 2 or 3 hours that day.
It has so far been the only instance of something like this I ever experienced.
if you're interested in medea related stuff i highly recommend the film saint omer! releases last year i think. it's SO good and SO fascinating
Amazing video, another book recommendation that offers a male perspective of Macbeths guilt is Heart So White, by Javier Marias. A beautiful narrative voice eavesdrops on the life's of others as he explores themes of obsession, guilt, the absurdity of translation, and memory through generational trauma. Haunted by the tragedy of his family, he keeps coming back to the gravity of Macbeth's deed
This video has such good vibes
Lady Dakota!!! A book I think you’ll love is Nothing by Janne Teller!!
4 days till my macbeth gcse so i love you for this xx
Love you so much and appreciate you so much Dakota ❤
WONDERFUL video and I'm blaming you for the irresponsible financial decisions I am about to make (buying every book you mentioned.) Also, what was the song played during the title screens?? It sounds amazing, reminds me of CAN a little bit.
i love this video!! what's the song that has been used in between chapters? it's amazing!
I also think that Tennesse William's Blanche is a very good fit for this! She bathes like it's a baptism from her Southern Gothic and troubled past.
Another book (play) and movie which I think touches on this well is A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche repeatedly takes a lot of hot baths despite the hot weather to ‘calm her nerves’, and
**(spoilers)** this can be seen as related to her guilt over her husband’s suicide and a need to purify her conscience after ruining her reputation after sleeping with lots of men back in Laurel once she lost her husband and her house. It’s a way for her to revert back to the past before she was ‘impure’.
that is one of my favourite books I'm so glad you mentioned it ! great example I absolutely agree
I love streetcar!
I love Tennessee Williams writing style, especially his play The Glass Menagerie. I think I am gonna read The Streetcar Named Desire after reading this comment. Haha.
@@kasunkavishka2976 You should! It’s so good and his characters are so well written
I recently went to see A Streetcar Named Desire on the West End and i cried the whole way through :') It's so beautiful and tragic, Blanche is such a sympathetic protagonist.
Could you make a video on your favorite films? I feel like were so alike plus we have the same sun moon and rising and id like them
What is this music! Obsessed!