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Macbeth - Themes Profile (Kingship (Duncan (Good king - treated with…
Macbeth - Themes Profile
Kingship
4 Kings in the play: Duncan, Macbeth, Edward and Malcolm
Duncan
Good king - treated with dignity & respect
Described as: "
gracious king"
"
most sainted king"
"my leige"
"
God save the king"
"Great king"
Associated with generosity:
"More is thy due that more than all can pay"
and growth "
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour / to make the full of growing"
Contrast with Macbeth's later destruction
Macbeth even acknowledges his goodness "
Duncan / Hath none his faculties so meek, hath been / so clear in his great office, that his virtues / will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against / The deep damnation of his taking-off"
Flawed - too trusting
'Black' Macbeth
Bad king - Priority is himself, not his country
Consequences - Scotland suffers under his bloody-thirsty reign "
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gas / Is added to her wounds"
- Malcolm
No loyal supporters - only serve him out of fear and dread: "*None serve with him but../ Whose hearts are absent too.." - Malcolm
False & treacherous as he claims he has no ambition or need for reward or promotion
Lies to Duncan "
The service and the loyalty i owe, / In doing it, pays itself"
Commits to evil deeds
Kills his army general king Duncan, former comrade Banquo and slaughters Macduffs innocent family
Described as: "
tryant" "devil" "hell-hound" "accursed hand" 'dead butcher"
Edward
Ideal king - kind, caring, loyal, fair, prioritises his subjects welfares
"Described as having Godly powers to hell his subjects:
The most pious Edward"
"
The Holy King"
Heals Scotland with the army he sends
Malcolm
Good Kind - rightful heir & has devine right to the throne of Scotland
Shows selfless, honest nature during honesty test in Act 4 Scene III
Lists virtues a king needs: "*justice, verity, temperance, stableness, bounty perseverance, mercy, lowliness, devotion, patience, courage, fortitude"
Proves he does not share his dead fathers flaw of trusting too easy
Describes his own qualities: "
Whta I am truly / Is thine and my poor country's to command"
Clear contrast between cruel tyranny of Macbeth and Malcolm, Edward and Edward
Good Versus Evil
The Witches
Supernatural embodiments of evil
Wicked deeds include: Torturing a sailor, keep a wracked thumb of pilot trophy, enjoy killing swine, delight in misleading Macbeth & watching his downfall, serve evil Hecate, aim to wreak havoc
Banquo:
"Instruments of darkness" who
"win us to ham"
only to "
betray's later"*
Lady Macbeth
Epitome of evil at first
Vicious cruelty - says she would murder her own baby, invoke evil spirits to take her femininity, despises mercy or pity or remorse as weakness
Bullies Macbeth into commiting atrocities - urging him to ascend to evil with her
Macbeth
Commits to evil deeds
Duncan's murder
Banquo's Murder
slaughter of Macduffs family
hangs any fearful followers
generally toments people of Scotland
No remorse- cold killer decides to continue on in evil ways and to act on vicious impulse
"Things had begun make strong themselves by ill"
All characters have the potential for evil within themselves - even a good man amy turn evil
Forces of good
Rally against the "
Tyrant"
Macbeth
Malcolm & Macduff- Noble, virtuos, honourable characters
Priority is to restore order of their poor suffering country
Supernatural
The witches
Knowledges of events - prophecise the future for Banquo & Macbeth
Control over nature & the elements
They cause a storm to wreck a sailor's ship: "*Through his barque cannot be lost, / yet it shall be tempest-tossed"
Always accompanied by storms - Sets supernatural mood for the play
"When shall we three meet again? / In thunder, lighting or in rain/"
Conjure 4 apparitions which lead Macbeth to ultimate evil and his downfall - tell him part truth
"...for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth"
Although Macduff was "*From his mother's womb / Ultimely ripped"
Evdience of witchcraft - spells over bubblin cauldron, digusting otherworldly ingredients "
rancid guts, toad's venom, snake's forked tongue, dragon's scale.."
Banquo
Knows not t trust the supernatural powers *"oftentimes to wi us to our harm / the instruments of darkness tell us truths../ to betray's / In deepest consequence"
Macbeth
Foolishly believes predictions:
"I bear a charmed life, which I must not yield / to one of woman born"
Devotes himself to evil
acknowledges the supernatural world has played in his fate "be these juggling fiends no more believed, / That pater with is in a double "*
Lady Macbeth
dedicates herself to supernatural forces - invoaction of spirits: "
Come, you spirits / That tend on mortak thoughts, unsex me here"
Hallucinations
Ghosts, Daggers damning voices, blood-stained hands
Guilt
Macbeth & Lady Macbeth
Haunted by guilt at what they done - punishment
Their guilt is reaction to the regicide
Macbeth is tormented by hallucinations of voices damning him to eternal sleeplessness "
Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more', / Macbeth does murder sleep.. / Macbeth shall sleep no more"
Macbeth wishes he'd died before now: "
Had i but died an hour before this chance / I had lived a blessed time"
Lady Macbeth: Duncan reminded her of her father "
Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done't"
Blood and water
Recurring image to portray guilt
Macbeth despairs that even a whole ocean could not wash away his guilt : *"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / the multitudinous seas incaradine, / Making the green one red."
Lady Macbeth is confident water will wash away their remorse
"A little water clears us of this deed"
Ghost of Banquo
Macbeth's guilt - Banquo's ghost haunts him at the banquet. He dresses it
"Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake / Thy gory locks at me"
Sleep walking
Lady Macbeth denied humane forces for so long they have subconsciously resurfaced "
Out, damned spot; out, I say.. / why, tehn 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky"
Lady Macbeth's guilt is represented by inescapable bloodstains which only she can see "
What, Will these hands ne'er be clean?"
Contrast to what she told Macbeth before
So overwhelmed she opts for suicide