Kingship WTF

marco murphy

Fellow students,

Can someone provide me with some Kingship material.
We never once focused on it.
Thanks!

Emu McEmuerson

Kingship

The play ‘Macbeth’ is set in medieval Scotland at the fictional time of King Duncan. Scotland is currently at war with the Norwegians when news of their victory comes through, with thanks to the two leaders of the army Macbeth and Banquo. On their travel home Macbeth and Banquo stumble upon some old hags, and they predict Macbeth’s future to him. This startles Macbeth and his hunger for power grows so much that he and his wife plot to murder the well-respected King Duncan.

One of Shakespeare’s more interesting themes is the theory of kingship, which is developed in Macbeth through the presentation of three men. He shows that a king should be chosen by divine right and shows the attributes of what a good king should be.
The theme is based on three men, being Duncan, Malcolm and Macbeth. Each of these three characters demonstrates three different and fascinating types of kingship, which evidently adds to the play Macbeth. In short, Duncan is a good man but an incompetent king, Macbeth rules according to the Machiavellian concept and Malcolm’s character emerges as a good man and a good king.

Duncan is Shakespeare’s idea of a perfect, impartial king. Shakespeare shows Duncan to be an example to all other kings and people, he shows love for his country when he asks the captain news from the war. He speaks to people with respect and dignity when the bleeding captain brings news of the war act1 sc2 L24 ‘o valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!’ People talk to him with the utmost respect. Even before the second Forrest scene (act 1, scene 4), the point of Duncan’s downfall, we see that Duncan is a good man but an incompetent king. However, he is a poor leader and hence king because in the first Forrest scene (act 1, scene 2) Duncan did not fight along with his soldiers. Some might say that this is justified because Duncan is an old man; others may see this as a reason why Duncan should not reign. When a king doesn’t fight along side of his troops, it decreases their morale and opens opportunity for a coup. Another reason Duncan should not rule Scotland is that he is too trusting in his nobles. Duncan’s “absolute trust” for the Thane of Cawdor nearly cost Duncan his life and country. As depicted in the second Forrest scene, Duncan makes this same mistake again in the Thane of Cawdor who is this time Macbeth.

During the second Forrest scene, Duncan makes possibly the most reckless speech he could have made. This speech in turn costs him his life. Three terrible mistakes emerge in his speech and actions: he rewards unfairly; shows his emotions too freely; and again, he trusts too eagerly. Duncan rewards Macbeth with the title and land of the Thane of Cawdor, in addition he says that he will have greater rewards later in time, indicated by the words “I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing.” While Macbeth gets many tangible gifts, Banquo simply receives a token of Duncan’s admiration, an embrace. A good ruler should never reward unfairly, for the receivers may become jealous or conceded, and may even wish to over through the king. Secondly, Duncan cries half way through his speech. A good king should always control his emotions. This is because crying shows there is a weak king in power. These first two mistakes as a king seem fairly trivial, but telling who will be the next king, in turn trusting his noblemen too much, is a risk a good king should never take. We see the terrible consequences from Duncan’s fault in these words spoken by Macbeth:

The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o’er-leap,
For in my way it lies.

This simply means Macbeth realizes from Duncan’s speech that he must kill to become king. From this quotation we can extrapolate another fault in Duncan’s character; he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. This conclusion comes from the fact that there are now two Thanes’ of Caudor that have betrayed him.

He seems decisive as a king, and clearly inspires loyalty in his Thanes. If he has a weakness it is a consequence of his goodness – his trust. He comments himself that it is impossible to see ‘the minds construction in the face’ (act1 sc4 L12-14), but this recognition does not cause him to behave, perhaps, with a little more discretion. Trusting Macbeth, he too readily steps into his house without appropriate safeguards, which ends up being fatal for him. It is awful to reflect that our final view of Duncan is him kissing Lady Macbeth (his hostess) (act1 sc6) to whom we subsequently learn he has sent a diamond to her by means of a present. After his death, Macbeth still talks highly of King Duncan.

In contrast to Duncan, Macbeth doesn’t trust any one. He decides to use the concept of Machiavelli to help him keep the crown. Perhaps Macbeth’s most cunning speech illustrating the concept of Machiavelli is the speech with Banquo just before Banquo’s death. It is brilliant because Macbeth finds out all the information he needs to kill Banquo: how far he’s going; if he will be at the feast for sure; and if Banquo’s son, Fleance, will be coming. Again using the Machiavellian concept, Macbeth plans to kill Fleance so no one will be left to seek revenge. Macbeth finds all this information in a friendly and unnoticeable fashion.

The concept of Machiavelli, that Macbeth is using, seems to be a good way to rule, but there are three problems with his way of ruling: Macbeth has too many enemies to keep track of; he draws more attention to himself with every murder; and he can’t live with his conscious. His conscious almost kills him and the other two problems kill him. Malcolm, Macduff and others escape Macbeth’s grasp after becoming suspicious of him and kill him in the end.

Macbeth’s and Malcolm’s different approaches to ruling are similar in the fact that they are very planed out, but as we will see, Malcolm has the better way of ruling—a just and noble way. Malcolm possesses close to all the characteristics of a good ruler. One of the best characteristics he possesses, in direct contrast to his father, is the fact that he does not trust easily; the scene in England illustrates exactly this. When Macduff first comes to see Malcolm, Malcolm lists five intelligent reasons why Macduff could be a traitor stated in this passage: Macbeth was once thought to be a good man just as once was Macduff, and Macbeth betrayed him; Macduff used to be very good friends with Macbeth; Macbeth was not harmed Macduff in any way; Macduff may gain titles through the death of Malcolm; and finally, Malcolm’s most genius theory is why would Macduff flee Scotland without his family if he thought Macbeth was after him? Malcolm’s final speech illustrates a final good characteristic—he rewards fairly. By making all his Thanes and kinsmen earls, they are all rewarded and they will all act as their own guard dogs. If one earl wants to gain power, the others will shut him down.

Throughout Macbeth, Duncan has shown that he is a good man and Macbeth has shown some key points a king should have, but in the glimpse of restored peace Malcolm demonstrates the kindness and nobility his father had and the power that Macbeth had as a king.

Emu McEmuerson

...you pretty much the role of the king and how is develops and changes throughout the play

so first there's Duncan - discuss him as a king. is he good? is he crap? what does he do for the country? does he have good morals? does he have a good judge of charachter?

then same with Macbeth, and then Malcome..




..any better?

Corruptedmorals

Ahh I wrote this in a different thread...

3 kings, Duncan, Macbeth and Malcolm. Macbeth not the rightful King..Massive Wheel theory...Scotland in state of unrest..nature behaving strangely..needs to be restored under the rightful King..Macbeth never really wanted to be King, fell in love with idea of crown, same with lady Macbeth "Nought's had, All's spent, Where our desire is got without content"..then obviously how he's an evil tyrant and abuses his power, and how in the end, the rightful King- Malcolm, is restored.

Try sparknotes.com, maybe? Also there's a thread on modern relevance, not the one below, it's probably on the 2nd page, where I had the stuff above written better...

marco murphy

Thanks a lot emu again!

Emu McEmuerson

:d :d

Emu McEmuerson

DAMMIT.. dont know why the faces didnt come up.. i had it as too (capital)


GAW! DAMN COMPUTORS!

Ardscoil Ris

Our school was told to discuss the 4 kinds. They included the English king Edward

Spank

We didn't do anything on Edward. The syllabus requires us to study a text, not the history and circumstance surrounding a text.

SamHamilton

Edward is integral to the theme of kingship. He "cures...strangely visted people" and "sudry blessings hang about his throne that speak him full of praise". He is obviously a gracious king. He can be put in the same group as Malcolm and Duncan and contrasted with Macbeth. Also, while Edward cures, Macbeth causes disease. An interesting point that might makes its way into some essays.

Spank

But he's not IN the play? It's like writing about King Lear and comparing him to Macbeth or something??

Lucas10101

any other information on Edward....there seems to be a considerable amount in the play people dont make references too?

Haven't a Clue

Spank wrote:

But he's not IN the play? It's like writing about King Lear and comparing him to Macbeth or something??

Haha. I don't know what sort of Macbeth book you bought, but it obviously skipped the whole scene with Malcolm and Macduff discussing Edward and his "heavenly gift of prophecy". "Sundry blessings hang about his throne" too. Horse of a man.

EDIT: Here's what I'm doing if a kingship question comes up:

- Kingship's importance in the 16th Century
- Duncan as a King
- Ambition of the Macbeths
- Reliance on evil from the Macbeths
- The Impact on Scotland of Macbeth
- Contrast of Edward
- Malcolm as a potential king
- A nice wee final paragraph

Oh, and try and learn this quote from Malcolm off by heart (it's all the 'king-becoming graces'):

"justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
bounty, perserverance, mercy, lowliness,
devotion, patience, courage and fortitude"

ninebeanrows

If Kingship and Plath come up i will shed a tear of happiness!!

Spank

Haven't a Clue wrote:

Haha. I don't know what sort of Macbeth book you bought, but it obviously skipped the whole scene with Malcolm and Macduff discussing Edward and his "heavenly gift of prophecy". "Sundry blessings hang about his throne" too. Horse of a man.

EDIT: Here's what I'm doing if a kingship question comes up:

- Kingship's importance in the 16th Century
- Duncan as a King
- Ambition of the Macbeths
- Reliance on evil from the Macbeths
- The Impact on Scotland of Macbeth
- Contrast of Edward
- Malcolm as a potential king
- A nice wee final paragraph

Oh, and try and learn this quote from Malcolm off by heart (it's all the 'king-becoming graces'):

"justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
bounty, perserverance, mercy, lowliness,
devotion, patience, courage and fortitude"

Oh my God, WHAT?!

I must have slept through this. Would someone be nice enough to give me a nice little paragraph/points on his relevance?