Abuse of Power + Kingship

Duncan’s qualities as a king -

• Just

• Benevolent

• Too trusting + dependent on others

• A poor judger of character

• Can produce heirs

• Duncan governing fairly/just

‘More is thy due than more than all can pay’

‘ Go pronounce his present death and with his former title greet Macbeth’

• Duncan being too trusting

‘There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust,’

• Shakespeare suggests that evil + treachery of others makes it impossible for a king to be wholly good.

‘valiant cousin, worthy gentleman’

• Duncan producing an heir

‘We will establish our estate upon our eldest, Malcolm;

• Duncan as a benevolent king

‘Signs of nobleness like stars shall shine on all deservers’

• Duncan as nurturing + having the best interest for his followers (Banquo here)

‘To make thee full of growing…the harvest is your own.’

• Duncan was seen as a such a successful monarch that those killing him were still able to admire the way he ruled

‘So clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued…’

• Macbeth’s callous (insensitive + cruel disregard for others) leadership

‘those he commands, move only in command, nothing in love’

• His country has no ‘love’ which is representative of his own callous nature.

• Macbeth’s shameless + outright murderous ways.

‘I could with my barefaced power sweep him from my sight…’

• Poor kingship due to his lack of lineage + heirs. He feels emasculated + it’s represented through his jealousy of Banquo + resentment of the Witches

‘a fruitless crown and a barren sceptre in my gripe’

• Semantic field of chaos + destruction reflects how Duncan’s murder has gone against nature.

• Also symbolic of God’s anger + wrath.

‘The night has been unruly…strange screams of death…of dire combustion and confused events’

• Old man to Ross

‘Tis unnatural…A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed’

• How is Macbeth’s death celebrated vs Duncan’s

• Duncan’s corpse is described with allusions to piety + royalty.

• Macbeth’s death is celebrated by his subjects + is a moment of liberation for Scotland.

• Macbeth’s death

‘hell-hound’

‘dead butcher and his fiend-like queen’ —→ connotes to the Devil.

• Macduff - expressing what it is to be a good king

‘Bleed, bleed, poor country’

• Personifies Scotland, portraying it as a wounded body.

• BODY POLITIC.

• Malcolm’s wisdom + shrewd perception are demonstrated when he checks that Macduff isn’t a spy sent by Macbeth.

‘offer up a weak, poor innocent lamb t’appease an angry god’