Kingship in Macbeth

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Kingship in Macbeth

Throughout the play we see many of Shakespeare’s ideas on the topic and theme of kingship but also what he thought the qualities a man should have to rule his country

 Macbeth is a play about power and about how the characters in the play handle it and use it. These characters are judged as leaders by their personalities, relationships with their subjects and their attitude towards the country. The characters Duncan, Macbeth, Malcolm and Edward all represent their own brand of kingship and as the play progresses we see the faults in each of these. The first to represent kingship in the play is Duncan. He is loved by his subjects and this love is well deserved and Duncan may be considered the most generous and loved king but that does not mean he is infallible. He is a good king has two sons and cares for Scotland. He is described as a sainted king by Macduff in Act 4 scene 3.  Duncan places a lot of trust upon his soldiers and they are very loyal as we see in the bleeding captain fighting against mercenaries and Macbeth says himself his loyalty and service to Duncan is sufficient for his reward and also says ‘’he hath honoured him of late’’ and the essence of Duncan’s good nature creates doubts in Macbeth with regards to the murder and Lady Macbeth has also experienced this kindness, a large diamond received for been a good hostess. We see Duncan is decisive when it comes to the matter of traitors as the thane of Cawdor is executed swiftly following his deception from Duncan’s ranks. We also see a definite flaw in his nature as he is naïve and overly trusting, this is evident when he says ‘’ there is no art to find the minds construction in the face ‘’ and his ability to sense the deception and treason of the thane of Cawdor and Macbeth shows a lot about his short comings in dealing with certain aspects of his rule which at the time the play was set it was a very important ability to have as a king and his misplaced trust is seen in his haste to reward Macbeth with his new title of Cawdor. In act 4 scene 3 Malcolm lists of the traits of a good king including justice, verity, temperance, stableness, bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, devotion, patience, courage and fortitude and Macduff in response says a king without any of the following does not deserve to live. Also in this scene we see Malcolm testing MacDuff’s loyalty saying he is worse than Macbeth, even though it’s not very ensuring that his believable lying and a quickness to flee following his father’s murder shows fear but it does show he is learning from the mistakes of his father which is a subtlety in the play as to what kind of king he would be. On a more evident note we do see he does know the characteristics of a king and already has loyalty from his subjects which shows a much more stable rule but is questionable if his accession to the throne was smooth and he will remain reliant on his nobles as I father once was.

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The main issue of the play regarding kingship regards the rule of Macbeth which gives a scenario of the latent potential for evil in kingship. It is clear Macbeths only interest is in his own agenda and plans which seriously contrasts with the list read out by Malcolm in the scene previously mentioned. Macbeth’s unstable rule is only maintained by resorting only to murder and terror against his subject and Macbeths use of these tools is mainly caused by hi deep rooted insecurity. This shows kingship has the potential for good and for evil .In the time of Shakespeare the ...

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This essay includes many valid points which need to be addressed individually and fully supported with appropriate references from the text. The essay would be improved by consideration of the structure of the answer; taking more time over each point and fully developing each claim. A more specific question would have enabled the study of each character in relation to the question which would have given the essay more direction and ultimately allowed for a more detailed level of analysis.