"The Unforgiven:" Society’s Murder of Freedom
By: Katherine McLean
"The Unforgiven:" Society’s Murder of Freedom
By: Katherine McLean
Full of heavy guitar and loud vocals, the painful, well-thought lyrics of "The Unforgiven," by Metallica are often ignored. However, in "The Unforgiven," the author criticizes the conformity that society forces on its individuals through depicting one man’s battle between his will and the ideas society forces into his mind. The sound devices, tone, diction, imagery, rhyme, repetition, allusions, structure and metaphors all play a role in presenting a shocking opinion of today’s society.
The song may be paraphrased as follows. As soon as a boy is born, he becomes conformed to society. Society smothers him with its standards in order to teach him the ideals of conformity. As he grows up, he feels more secluded. He takes the burden of others. Society does not allow him to think on his own. He struggles to continue living and is known for declaring that he will never let society take away his will. No one understands when I try to express my feelings and beliefs. I’ll never be my own person or see what it would be like to be my own person. I’ll never be free or be myself, so I will never forgive this world that conforms me. Society spends all of its time controlling his life. Although he is upset with society, he tries to please it because of his inner turmoil between his own will and society’s will. He realizes he can never be free, and when he is old and tired, he stops caring about his own wishes. He yields and decides to die a conformed man. This hypothetical man I’ve been talking about is me. I’m alone and my will is gone. You conformed me and determined what I should be, so I will never forgive you.
As the paraphrase reveals, the subject of the lyrics is the individual’s loss of free will to the world’s control. The speaker is the author, a man who has been conformed into society’s standards and who speaks for all individuals. The author’s reason for writing the song is to express his realization of the conformity that society forces on the individual. The song addresses the world that controls the author’s life, as revealed in the lines, "So I dub thee unforgiven" (23).
The tone expressed in the lyrics is very bitter and sarcastic. Through description of a young boy who is immediately controlled by society, the author shows his anger and resentfulness towards modern society. In the lines, "Avow unto his own / That never from this day / His will they’ll take away" (9-11), there is sarcasm in the statement that society will never take away the boy’s will because they already have. The fact that the boy does not realize that his will is gone and lives in illusion shows the author’s deep-rooted anger towards a society that, from his perspective, keeps many of its members under an illusion of happiness when actually they have no freedom. When the character in the song finally realizes the conformity he has been forced into, he is old and "A tired man they see no longer cares" (31). This contributes to the sarcasm because when the man understands his constraints, he is too old to do something about it. The author further personalizes the anger mixed with sadness by saying "That old man here is me" (34). The tone becomes melancholy, no longer showing the vigorous rage of youth, but the depressing hopelessness of old age.
Diction and imagery connect the lyrics to a brutal, dark battle occurring metaphorically between the author’s will and society’s pressure. The title, "The Unforgiven" defines the audience of the song and the need for reform in society. The author uses the word "unforgiven" to show the anger he feels towards a world that "…dedicates their lives / To running all of his" (24-25). The diction and imagery of the song supports the title’s bitterness towards society and can be categorized into age, battle, weakness and darkness. As the song progresses, the age of the character progresses from a "young boy" to an "old man." This aging to a man who "no longer cares" shows that society has conquered this battle with words like "new blood," "pain," "battled" and "fight he cannot win." The boy’s weakness is shown in the words "subdued," "learns their rules," "whipping boy" and "die regretfully." Society overthrows this boy’s freedoms because he is too weak throughout his life. When he is old, society finally wins the battle by taking away his will which he vowed never to let go of. Ultimately, the man in the song lives in the darkness that society has forced upon him, as shown in "What I’ve felt / What I’ve known / Never shined through in what I’ve shown" (12-14). The author shows that his true self did not come out into the light, unrestrained by society, but was kept in the darkness of himself. He lives inside himself, "draw[n] in," because he is too weak to lash out against the world that holds him back. The diction and imagery of the song contribute to the theme of society’s control on the individual by accentuating with age, battle, weakness and darkness words.
The word "dub" signifies a confirmation of knighthood, a symbol of respect. The repeated line, "So I dub thee unforgiven" (23), is an allusion that accentuates the sarcastic tone of the song because the author "shows respect" to society by not forgiving it. Actually, the author shows a bitter resentfulness towards the society that leaves him in chains. "Dub" also alludes to knighthood, which contributes to the battle imagery.
Metaphors add to the effectiveness of the lyrics. The opening, "New blood joins this earth" (1), creates an initial picture of a weak animal about to be hunted and killed. This metaphor suggests the birth of an innocent baby into a world that is ready to pounce upon him the moment he exits the womb. Weakness attacked by the overpowering figure of society is also exhibited in the metaphorical battle that occurs throughout the song. This weak man has "…battled constantly / [in] This fight he cannot win" (29-30) which hints at a psychological battle, not a physical one, in which the man tries to stand against forced conformity and to gain free will. The final metaphor happens in the last lines: "You labeled me / I’ll label you" (47-48). The author shows that society has taken possession of him by "labeling" him. However, in an attempt to return society’s transgressions against him, the author threatens, "I’ll label you." The action of labeling is a metaphor that claims higher stature than the one who is labeled. In this case, the author shows his ability to transcend society’s control by expressing his anger. These metaphors contribute to showing society’s oppression against the individual.
The lyrics create a sound that contributes to the flow and effectiveness of the song. Assonance is used in such phrases as, "he’s subdued / Through constant pain disgrace" (2-3). The repetition of the "ü" sound in "subdued" and "through" and the "a" sound in "pain" and "disgrace" contributes to the progression of the entire work. Although alliteration is not used and no consonant sounds are predominant, the song is euphonious because the words flow without pauses on short, non-continuous sounds. For example, in the lines, "A tired man they see no longer cares / The old man then prepares…" (31-32), the words flow evenly without stopping on sounds like "ck" or "d." The sound of the lyrics shows carefully construed lines that express the meaning.
Rhyme expresses emphasis on words that are important to the meaning as well as contribute to the overall flow of the song. The last four lines of the verses show rhyme in couplets such as:
Avow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they’ll take away (8-11).
The structure and meter allow the words to become music as well as show areas of importance. Each verse consists of eleven lines, except for the break in the first verse, which signifies time past. The verses use iambic trimeter to make the lines fit together in song. The fourth to last line of each verse is longer that the rest to create a feeling that drones on, similar to a line that does not want to end. In the line, "The young man struggles on and on he’s known" (8), the rhythm lasts longer to represent the struggle the boy must endure. In "A tired man they see no longer cares" (31), there are more syllables that the rest of the lines that show the author’s loss of will and his tiredness that drags on. In the chorus, parallelism is used in order to stress the concept of loneliness and resentfulness due to loss of freedom. The parallelism in
What I’ve know
Never shined through in what I’ve shown
Never free
Never me (11-16)
The effectiveness of the lyrics are reinforced by the musical aspect of the song. Beginning quietly and mysterious, the song shifts when the lyrics start. The change from peacefulness to loud, angry words mirrors the author’s bitter tone. The chorus shows another shift to a softer, melancholy voice that reveals the sorrow felt by the author, despite his anger for society’s pressure. Overall, the music shows pain and hostility that supports the theme of the lyrics.
The song effectively in portrays a startling view of reality in which society has taken control of its members through conforming them. The imagery, sound, tone, diction, rhyme, allusions, structure and metaphors come together into a complex song full of rich, insightful meaning. The last word in the song is "unforgiven," which ends in unsettlement and stirs the reader with anger.
Online album review
Green Hell. Metallica. Online song review
Metallifukinca. The Unforgiven. 15 May 1998 Online Official Metallica website
Metallica. The Metallica Club. James Hetfield Biography. 1999 Online song review
Herwig, Christian. Encyclopedia Metallica. 13 Mar. 2000
