Although Duncan made a good king he also had his faults. He did not reward Banquo for his noble deeds, he only rewarded Macbeth. He is also too quick to trust people e.g like he trusted Macbeth. Apart from these two faults Duncan had all the qualities that made a good king.
Malcolm, Duncan’s son is the last king we come across. He possesses the qualities of a king and has not inherited his fathers faults. He does not trust people to quickly as we see when he is testing Mac Duff’s loyalty, he also rewards fairly e.g at the end of the play he makes all his thanes earls instead of honouring just one man. Malcolm is very like his father and his language is very similar. For instance Duncan says “ I have begun to plant thee and will labour to make thee full of growin”
And Malcolm says “ Which would be planted newly with the time”.
Macbeth who is the main King in the play did not want to rule to take care of Scotland, he only wanted to rule for power e.g “I have no spur… only vaulting ambition”. This made Macbeth a hated tyrant who kept spies in every household and he ruled only by fear. Macbeth does not possess any of the Kingly qualities that I stated and this causes his downfall. e.g He does not reward Banquo but instead he is fearful, jealous of him that he hires assassins to murder Banquo and his son Fleance. He also planned to have Mac Duff’s family killed and Mac Duff also which shows hoe paranoid and greedy he has become. At this point in the book we see Macbeth acting on impulse to retain his throne disregarding all rationality completely. Macbeth is also too quick to trust the three witches and his greediness for power allows him to be easily corrupted, tricked and manipulated.
In Murdering Duncan he is like the owl that has killed the falcon or the night strangling the sun. After Macbeth commits this crime he knows himself that he is on a murdering path that he can’t turn back on. “I am steeped in blood so far”.
Another king that is mentioned in the play is King Edward (The Healer). We know that Edward must be very kingly and wise not only from his nickname but when Mac Duff and Malcolm seek his advice and help on how to conquer Macbeth.
Although Banquo was not a king and was only said to father kings (James 1st) I still think he possessed a lot of the kingly qualities and this is why Macbeth was so fearful and jealous of him and Macbeth thought that Banquo would even look to take the throne from Macbeth. Banquo shows his qualities throughout the play until he dies. For instance he is not too quick to trust the weird sisters and suspects them to be up to mischief. Macbeth of course recognises these qualities and sends to have Banquo and Fleance murdered.
In the play Shakespeare uses a lot of symbolism and imagry to give the viewer a good picture of what is going on and to make the play a lot more effective e.g “A falcon, towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked at, and killed”. This quote represents Duncan as the royal Falcon being killed by Macbeth the mousing owl. The falcon symbolises the King in his high power on the throne. Another example of imagry that Shakespeare uses in the play would be “now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giants robe upon a dwarfish thief”. This is depicting Macbeth’s title/throne was not made for him but that he stole it from a greater power.
I have now come to the conclusion that the play Macbeth was written to flatter King James. I know this because he gives Banquo a good roll in the play because James is a descendant of him and he also uses Edward in the play which emphasises the Divine right of Kings a very strong belief of King James. My findings tell me that Malcolm and Duncan are very much alike and that both of them have kingly qualities and both play very big rolls. Although Banquo did not rule I believe that he is the most Kingly and possesses the most kingly qualities out of all the characters in the play. I think also that it is very smart and clever the way that Shakespeare brings the mention of Banquo fathering kings in the sense that king James is a descendant of him. Macbeth the most interesting and main character in the book is above all the evil person in the play. It says that he was a hated tyrant and that the throne he sits on was stolen. Macbeth is Greedy, gullable, manipulative and too trustworthy.
That concludes My Macbeth Coursework
By John Crudden
