Master of Puppets

After having read through the first three acts of Hamlet and having to search for various recurring themes and motifs that Shakespeare inserts that help bring about a greater meaning of the work itself, I found that one of the key recurring ideas of the play is that of struggle of power and the manipulation of people in various circumstances to make them work to satisfy some sort of personal gain. With this thought in mind, I immediately thought of the lyrics to Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” as being of large relevance to this idea, since this song, along with every other song on the album, lyrically focus on the ideas of the loss of control and the abuse of power, both of which can be easily identified within the context of Hamlet as well. The song most explicitly explores manipulation and the struggle for control of one’s own fate in the context of drug abuse, making it very clear from the beginning what the real danger is behind letting substances like these become the driving force of one’s life. After a blistering iconic introduction, James Hetfield fiercely opens with the lines, “End of passions play, crumbling away, I’m your source of self-destruction”. From the beginning, it is made very clear just how real and terrifying drug addiction really is, and ultimately how scary the idea of becoming a slave to something against your will can really be. And while the lyrics may only seem to cover the pitfalls of substance abuse, they in fact can be applied to life itself, how it is that so many people find themselves pulled in various directions by fate and forces outside their control. The ‘strings’ of fate that pull people against there are directly identified in the chorus, “Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings, twisting your mind and smashing your dreams, blinded by me you can’t see a thing, just call my name because I’ll hear you scream”. With these lines, it is impossible not to think of the cover of the album, which shows a line of crosses in a cemetery, each with strings on them which are being held by two hands coming down from the sky. Every person in life likes to believe themselves to be their own ‘master of puppets’, believing in the idea that they can control their destiny or even manipulate others and pull on someone else’s strings. But in reality, we are all slaves to a master of some sort, destined to have our lives determined by a force that will consume our lives until the day we find ourselves resting below a cross in a cemetery. Each person has a different master, like the song describing how drugs ultimately consume a person’s life until death, forever destined to both hate their slavery to this materialistic master, yet loving the temporary pleasure it gives. This idea is represented musically in the song, as it is unabashed heavy riffs until the middle of the song, where it recedes into the melodic and somewhat classical bridge. Perhaps this is a representation of the drug addict having tried to free himself from the tumult that comes alongside being a slave to drugs, and stops using them for a while. But as the intensity and anger builds back up again in the song, it is apparent that there can be no true freedom while under the oppressive rule of the master, and it isn’t long until the song returns to full intensity and thus the power of the puppet master returns with full force. The victim screamed out in agony to the puppet master, “Fix me!” returning back to the drugs that keep him a slave to the master. As the puppet is under full control of the master, he is susceptible to whatever the master wants, seen through the lines, “I will occupy, I will help you die, I will run through you, now I rule you too”. These lines allow for the inference that the puppet reached a full point of being consumed by the master, so much that it was unable to retain a separate life of its own, and as a result died to become part of the master. Such is the fate of all people tied to their personal masters, destined to be consumed by forces that they cannot control which came about as a result of their own actions. Perhaps this is why the song ends with sinister laughter, as the dead puppet is mocked for having created the ties to the puppet master in the first place.