Macbeth - Kingship Quotes

"There if I grow the harvest is your own"

- Duncan is invested in his followers

- Semantic field of growth, which shows how a good king would develop the country with the needs of the people in mind, similar to how a farmer would tend to their plants

- Presents Duncan as considerate which conflicts with Macbeth entirely as Macbeth seems to be more focused upon gaining power for himself as opposed to tending to the people

- Writers purpose: Conveys to King James I that a good king would always put the people first. Also sets up as a contrast for Macbeth's actions later in the play which means that he can easily exemplify the evil Macbeth displays when he is king, engaging the audience more.

"Signs of nobleness like stars shall shine On all deservers"

- Duncan is willing to reward all those that do good, which is a sharp contrast to Macbeth as he displays arrogance later towards those that support him, one example being the witches. He states "Speak I charge you" which shows how his hubris has blinded him into believing that he was in charge even though his dark path has led him to devastation. Duncan being willing to reward those that are good shows that he has a love for Scotland.

- The simile "like stars shall shine" connotes divine power, which shows that the king was in power due to the divine right of kings. This reinforces how Duncan was suitable for the throne and was a contrast to Macbeth

- This quotation implies that virtue and goodness are traits that can be visibly distinguished on a person, which for Duncan is a form of dramatic irony as he later goes on to die because he had trusted Macbeth, calling him "Bellona's bridegroom" or "Brave Macbeth". He does not even learn from his mistake showing that his gullibility may have been what got him killed.

- Writers Purpose: Shakespeare comments on what it means to be king, as he suggests that a truly good king would have to have the support of divinity, whilst also putting in effort to recognise his peoples. In addition, posing the trait of gullibility in conjunction with death may have been to flatter King James, as his forces were smart enough to uncover the Gunpowder Plot. An alternative interpretation may have been that Shakespeare was reminding King James that a good king would exercise forgiveness, and thus pleas with him to not be a tyrant as Macbeth goes on to become.

"Those he command move only in command, nothing in love"

- Macbeth's leadership is lacking, as his army do not feel the need to follow his commands with earnestness, choosing to only follow as much as they need to in order to avoid trouble. This shows his contrast with Duncan's leadership as it is clear Macbeth has no feeling of warmth towards his army, feeling only that they are a symbol of his power and thus should take heed on his every word, treating them more like dogs than actual people. This shows how he is unfit for rule, putting his own needs for power above the people's.

- The lack of "love" in his people is representative of the lack of love in his own heart. This shows how a king is a reflection of his own people, without a king that is shown to care for his subjects, Scotland will fall into disgrace as they struggle to find the energy to carry on. This apathy is reflected later in the play in Macbeth ("life is a walking shadow...") which perhaps suggests how the state of the country and the relationships around him actually affect Macbeth more than the actual amount of power he has. This can be a commentary on masculinity as we now see how being a man requires not only strength (audiences may have approved of Macbeth through "unseamd from the nave to the chops") but also empathy in order to regulate emotionally charged decisions properly ("I must also do it as a man")

- Writers intent:

"The night has been unruly... Lamentings heard in the air, strange screams of death And prophesying with accents terrible Of dire combustion and confused events Now hatched to the woeful time The obscure bird Clamoured the livelong night Some say the earth was feverous and did shake"

- Lexis from semantic field of destruction through "clamoured", "shake" and "unruly" shows how there is chaos after Duncan's death indicating a disruption in natural order as well as God's wrath at this

- "feverous" connotes disease, indicating Macbeth has brought an illness upon the land which contrasts with "There if I grow the harvest is your own" which shows how he is a complete opposite from Duncan

- "Lamentings", "strange scream of death" and "prophesying" connote back to the witches, which show how Macbeth is a king that is bewitched.

"By the clock 'tis day And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp. Ist the night's predominance or the day's shame The darkness does the face of earth entomb When living light shall kiss it"

- "Dark night" shows how darkness has encompassed the world now that Duncan has died and there is a disruption in natural order

- "the clock", "day" and "night" shows how time itself has stopped due to the unnaturalness of the murder

- "strangles", "entomb" and "living" all create a semantic field of death showing how Duncan's death has tainted the whole world with decay

"falcon", "mousing owl hawked at and killed"

The "falcon" is Duncan. This is a metaphor showing how Duncan who was the rightful ruler was killed by someone less worthy (Macbeth) "the mousing owl. This is an omen for all the evil events to come.

"hell hound", "dead butcher"

- "hell hound" is zoomorphism and dehumanises Macbeth compared to Duncan's angelic connotations during his reign. "Hound" connotes to slavery and servitude, indicating that the people thought of him as a slave to the devil and his own impulses, as opposed to a free man governed by morality and the divine.

- "dead butcher" makes light of his violent tendencies. This shows how he was regarded not as a leader, but as a combatant. This would have been a good label had Macbeth died as a warrior for Duncan, showing how he should have stuck to his station using his god-given talents

"Bleed bleed poor country"

"Bleed bleed" contrasts with Duncan's semantic field of farming when he said "There if I grow the harvest is your own", showing how Macbeth has inversed all the good work Duncan had done to develop Scotland. This also personifies Scotland as a wounded soldier, showing how in his tyranny, Macbeth's hamartia of bloodlust leads to him to rule as if he were a soldier on the battlefield, thinking only of war and death.

"Fit to govern? No not to live Oh nation miserable"

- Macduff is dismayed as his country is "miserable" as they are being ruled by a usurper who is not in his rightful place, and so God is retaliating through the environment to show how Macbeth should not be king (e.g. horses eating each other)

- Rhetorical Q shows how Macbeth does not deserve to even live much less rule the country

"a weak, poor, innocent lamb. To appease an angry god"

- Malcolm is calling himself a "lamb" in the context that he thinks Macduff came to him to betray him and kill him for Macbeth. This shows how he is much more shewd and perceptive than his father, perhaps suggesting that he is a better king than his father was.

- The metaphor of ritual sacrifice shows how Macbeth has hubris and an inflated sense of importance, as the notion of the biblical allusion to Abraham's sacrifice of the lamb shows how he is fully overtaken by the supernatural

- Juxtaposition between "angry god" and "innocent lamb" shows how

"A good and virtuous nature may recoil in an imperial charge"

Malcolm recognises how the supernatural can corrupt even a good man, perhaps showing some pity for Macbeth which makes him seem as a good king

"It weeps, It bleeds and each new day a gash"

Personifies Scotland showing Malcolm's patriotism for the country, allowing Shakespeare to present him as a good king. Treating it as a loved one or person shows the divine connection the king has to the country, reinforcing the divine right of kings.