Dev :
“Unseasy lies the head that wears the crown” says Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Macbeth has been king since the beginning of Act III, and he is certainly uneasy. Yet, he gives no impression of facing responsabilities of kingship, of governing and protecting his state. His first worry seem to be simply how to maintain the power he has won. Macbeth had some legitimate claims to the succession : by blood, as a cousin of the king, and by merit, as a general who saved his country, instead he chose to obtain it in an unatural way, therefore he declares “to be is nothing, but to be safely thus”. His power as king wasn’t really as great as he though it would be, and his power is really for nothing because he feels so threatened. Even though he is king now, Macbeth keeps on doubting and being fearful with the repetition of the word « fear » "our fears/ would be fear'd / I do fear" (L2 to 7). More than just with fears, the throne is associated to lexical field of sterility if not death itself " fruitless/barren sceptre". Once again, Macbeth cannot help comparing himself to Banquo, more than just a mere menace to him and the throne he also embodies royal valours than Macbeth lacks "royalty of nature" (L3). Banquo is associated to the lexical field of noble valours and courage "royalty of nature/ daunless temper/ wisdom" when Macbeth himself knows that he has lost these valours when he killed Duncan "the gracious Duncan have I murdered, put rancours in the vessel of my peace", this last image of the vase full of peace being contaminated by "rancours" shows how worried Macbeth is. Ironically enough , even though Macbeth is the king, it is Banquo who is associated with the worlds"royal" and "reign". This shows how unatural the situation is, and how conscious Macbeth is of him having usurped the crown. Hence, if Macbeth's claims on legitimacy is founded on a lie, Banquo is a menace because he can publicly expose the lie "tis much he dares...safety"(L4 to 7). But perhaps revelation is not all that Macbeth fears. On L8/9 Macbeth expresses how his "Genius" that is his guiding spirit is "rebuked" or inhibited, in others words Macbeth feels inferior to Banquo, he fears a future defeat like Caesar by Mark Anthony in the civil wars, and more than this it is Banquo's very existence that Macbeth cannot even stand "there is none but he whose being I do fear" as if Banquo, just by his different attitude towards the Sisters and loyalty to the King, were a living reproach to him, a living testimony of Macbeth's weakness.
Macbeth makes clear the contrast between Banquo's valors and serenity and his fears, dishonor and unnaturalness that there is little doubt that Macbeth envies Banquo. Yet, in a subtle transition (L10 to 13), examining Banquo's character leads Macbeth to a new reason for hating his former friend: Banquo's children will inherit the crown and not his own children. The repetition pattern of negative terms expressed in a crescendo "a fruitless crown/a barren sceptre / for Banquo's issue / for them.../ only for them / to make them kings, the seed of Banquo's kings" shows how Macbeth turns the idea of Banquo's profit his loss round and round in his head with increasing bitterness to the point of challenging fate "come, fate into the list, and champion me to the utterance" and commit another crime. The crescendo is reflected by a secries of alliterations in "s" L20 and 23 to the point of a climax with the direct evocation , in an emphatic way to Fate. The issue of whose descendants to will rule Scotland raises an obvious question : does Macbeth have children or not ? According to Holinshed, Lady Macbeth had a child from a previous wedding, and this could explain the reason why she knows "how tender tis to love the babe that milks me" yet, Shakespeare does not mention a previous wedding, so it is probable, that to the Elisabethan audience, her baby, if she had one, died, which was so commonly the case in the middle ages. Therefore it is clear that Macbeth has no heir, yet Banquo has a son Fleance. It is thus Fleance that stands in his way, and Macbeth's hatred towards Banquo acquires a new dimension: jealousy.The very idea of having "no son of mine succeeding" is too much for Macbeth to support, indeed this would render Duncan's murdering even more monstuous to the eyes of Macbeth, for it would be purposeless, meaningless. No only has Macbeth lost his peace and sleep « for them...peace », « macbeth shall sleep no more » (act 2, scene 2) but he is also damned, cursed now « and mine eternal jewel given to the common Enemy of man » that is Satan. Therefore only Banquo’s and Fleance’s murder could now justify Duncan's death and Macbeth’s loss of his soul.
Conclusion :
To conclude we can say that this passage shows the reader how unnatural and complicated things have become now. Macbeth is king yet he is unhappy and lives in constant fear. He has a position everyone should envy, yet it is him who keeps on envying others, in this case Banquo's valors and lineage. The problem is that Macbeth is totally incapable of controling the consequences of Duncan's murdrer, he accepts the consequences of it and he displays them with a dramatic logic. This soliloquy, which is the first Macbeth pronounces as a king, shows therefore a trapped Macbeth, a character emprisonned in his new, so desired and yet so uncomfortable situation as a king, a throne that he will have to fight for by committing more unatural deeds.From this soliloquy onwards, Macbeth's crown will become heavier and heavier to wear as he progresses towards his final doom.
