Context: Machiavellian Politics & Principles The Divine Right of Kings BANQUO In reality, Banquo was Niccolò Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was ‘The state of monarchy is the supremest thing Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, upon earth, for kings are not only God's As the weird women promised, and I fear involved in the an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's Thou played’st most foully for ’t. Yet it was said killing of King writer, playwright and poet of throne, but even by God himself they are called It should not stand in thy posterity, Duncan; the Renaissance period. gods’ however, as But that myself should be the root and father While a political advisor and theorist, Machiavelli is This is the belief that kings are God's deputies on Of many kings. If there come truth from them— James is a Earth. By going against a king, from a verbal As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine— descendent of most widely known for his work of The Prince, a point to a plot to assassinate a king, you are Why, by the verities on thee made good, Banquo, it mirror for princes work which dictates to the reader actually going against God. This is not only would not be a how a leader should lead, from attaining power to treason, but it is sacrilegious (going against a May they not be my oracles as well, sacred belief) (A3, S1) good idea to holding their office against the threat of usurpation. To summarise, Machiavelli believes that to seek the . suggest that James’s rule is love of the people is not to lead, nor should it be the Always remember, ‘Macbeth’ is a tragedy, written in 1605 following the Gunpowder Plot. The play is, therefore, a connected with principle point of the ruler. Instead, the ruler should LENNOX regicide, even be revered as strict. The night has been unruly. Where we lay, moral tale which focuses upon the dangers one must face Our chimneys were blown down, and (as they if they commit the greatest sin of all: regicide. if it is SIX say) HUNDRED If necessary, they should be feared by the people as Lamentings heard i’ th’ air; strange screams of YEARS LATER his enemies should. A good prince, in essence, must death, prioritise the governance of the kingdom, and not And prophesying, with accents terrible, the adoration of their subjects. To be loved is not a Of dire combustion and confus’d events New hatch’d to th’ woeful time. The obscure negative attribute, but it is one often too difficult to bird fully achieve. Instead, strategy and bravery are far Clamor’d the livelong night. Some say, the earth more useful for a king; if necessary, violence should Was feverous, and did shake. be used.
Where else is God’s judgement seen within the play? Context: He Faced the Slave
Macbeth’s mutilation of Macdonwald’s body is graphic and disturbing, and is performed as an act of humiliation. Not only is he disembowelled,
Context: The Witch-Hunter King Is Macbeth Insane? Macdonaldwald is then decapitated, with his head placed atop a pike. What happens here is very similar, but not identical, to a brutal deterrent known This is view is too simplistic. He understands that what he sees is Of all of European countries at the time, Scotland questionable and unnatural. At the beginning of the soliloquy, the use as being ‘Hanged, Drawn and Quartered’ (HDQ). Originating in the mid- burnt over 4,000 suspected witches. of succinct rhetorical questions presents Macbeth as a figure troubled 1300, the punishment was unforgiving: performed with the prisoner alive, a
by the uncertainty that now plagues his thoughts. So, when he sees person would be disembowelled, before then being hanged, decapitated and then cut in to four segments, or quartered. The year 1590 witnessed the largest and most the daggers remember that he could be being controlled. high-profile witch trials in Scottish history. No To suffer such a sentence would highlight the severity of the prisoner’s fewer than 70 suspects were rounded up in North Berwick, on suspicion of raising a storm to destroy MACBETH crime. Macbeth’s treatment of Macdonwald does just that: it conveys Macdonaldwald’s high-treason against King Duncan. Further to this, the King James’s fleet as he conveyed his new bride, Is this a dagger which I see before me, Anne of Denmark, across the North Sea. The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. punishment of being HDQ, was a public affair, performed to humiliate. It Convinced the tempest that had almost cost his I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. was also used as a deterrent, as a warning to those who may wish to plot life had been summoned by witchcraft, James was Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible against the King. The audience in attendance at the play would be aware of intent upon bringing the perpetrators to justice. To feeling as to sight? or art thou but this punishment, and would, therefore, see Macdonaldwald’s crime as one A dagger of the mind, a false creation, treason.
Witches, therefore, are not to be Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? trusted. I see thee yet, in form as palpable In which scenes do we see a similar punishment As this which now I draw. inflicted upon another character? (A2, S1)
Themes for MACBETH MACBETH When Macbeth enters, he is bloodied and fouled by the King’s blood. One Macbeth If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! of the reasons why Lady Macbeth assumes control is because her It were done quickly: if the assassination Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep, husband is incapable of thinking logically. Here, you see a man struggling Leadership Could trammel up the consequence, and catch Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care, to comprehend what he has done to his King. It is important to note that With his surcease success; that but this blow The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, Macbeth’s worry centres upon his inability to say ‘Amen’. The word is Betrayal Might be the be-all and the end-all here, Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second ‘stuck in his throat’. The verb ‘stuck’ is also in reference to the act of But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, course, stabbing. Already, he is haunted by his act. Loyalty We'ld jump the life to come. Chief nourisher in life's feast,-- Context: Between the Scenes (A1, S7) LADY MACBETH Bravery
What do you mean? The murder of King Duncan is committed off-stage for several reasons. By Form Madness MACBETH omitting the actual act of assassination from the play, Shakespeare allows This is a soliloquy and it divulges Macbeth’s inner
Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: the audience to picture the murder. And, by doing so, permits your thoughts about the plot to assassinate his King. Notice imagination freedom to design the event yourself. Typically, with the state Power how he is already speaking as though he shouldn’t 'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor of Macbeth’s hands when he meets with Lady Macbeth, it is fair to say commit the crime: ‘If’ is used here to explain that he that he savagely stabbed the King multiple times. Fear would consider killing the King ‘if’ his death brought an Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.' (A2, S2) end to the consequence.
Macbeth’s Leadership
While shown to be an adept and capable warrior, the thane of Cawdor is too wrought with guilt and doubt to be an effective king.
By Act IV, an army, led by the rightful heir, Malcolm, and the vengeful Macduff, have mustered to usurp the ‘fiend of Scotland’ (A4, S3).
As you read the play, consider how Macbeth, often blinded by immediate objectives, does not think ahead. Is this the principle reason for his poor leadership? Context: Succession
Macbeth becomes King, ironically, because of his name. He is the King’s most worthy servant, and has MACDUFF LADY MACBETH been gifted ‘golden opinions’ (A1, S7, l. 33) by the late Macduff was from his mother's womb How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, King. Naturally, succession entitles the King’s sons to Untimely ripp'd. Of sorriest fancies your companions making, the throne, but they, following Duncan’s murder, are Using those thoughts which should indeed have died the principle suspects of regicide. Due to this, the The Witches MACBETH With them they think on? Things without all remedy thane’s elect Macbeth: Scotland is, therefore, an Never forget about the importance of the ‘Weird Accursed be that tongue that tells Should be without regard: what's done is done. elective monarchy. Sisters’. Despite only meeting Macbeth twice me so,
throughout his tragic journey, their influence For it hath cow'd my better part of Context: Deterrent However, in Act III, Macbeth realises a harsh truth: over the young thane is powerful and man! Banquo’s sons will be kings. Macbeth, blinkered to the manipulative. Within Act IV, Scene I, their And be these juggling fiends no more Remember, Macbeth centres upon the consequences of grave task of assassinating King Duncan, did not think prophecies lead to a headstrong Macbeth believed, regicide. Macbeth’s torment is a direct result of his ahead beyond the murder, save for his thought that inadvertently dooming himself and his kingdom That palter with us in a double sense; crime. Below, in Act III, Scene II, Lady Macbeth attempts he himself may be killed by an assassin. The Macbeths when he battles the English and Scottish forces That keep the word of promise to our to cheer Macbeth up; however, he is unable to forget have no heirs. No matter that they rule, they will not of Malcolm: in this extract from Act V, Scene VIII, ear, the atrocity he has committed. Later, it is also shown bequeath the crown to their children. Macbeth realises he has been tricked too late. And break it to our hope. that Lady Macbeth is haunted by her involvement.
Themes for Lady LADY MACBETH MACBETH Throughout the opening acts, Lady Macbeth is brilliantly shrewd and Macbeth Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be I'll go no more: calculating. When she takes the daggers from a traumatized Macbeth she What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; I am afraid to think what I have done; lables him ‘infirm’, useless from his cowardice, and then chastises him for Determination It is too full o' the milk of human kindness Look on't again I dare not. wearing a ‘heart so white’. Here, we see Lady Macbeth in full control of To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; the pair’s murderous scheme. In truth, it is only after Act V do we see the LADY MACBETH true effect of Lady Macbeth’s guilt. Before this, she is composed and Resolve Art not without ambition, but without Infirm of purpose! level-headed. The illness should attend it. Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead The Supernatural Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood Context: Eve & the Serpent
(A1, S5) Lady Macbeth is one of the few female figures of Shakespeare who takes Ambition That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, the command of her destiny and her husband’s. Instead of being tricked, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; From the moment Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s she is the trickster. Throughout, Lady Macbeth is more the serpent of the Control For it must seem their guilt. report of the Witches, she begins her scheme. While Garden than the Eve, a notion which evidently challenges the domestic
the news places Macbeth at the highest point of (A2, S2) role of women within Jacobean England. The idea that women are weaker Guilt power, Lady Macbeth believes that her husband is too than men, note Macduff’s comments to her within Act II, Scene III, is
well-natured and kind — ‘It is too full o' the milk of skillfully played upon by Lady Macbeth herself, fainting to distract the Madness human kindness’ (l.17) — to strive for his future title. investigators of the King’s murder: no one suspects her because she is a
Therefore, Lady Macbeth must act. woman and this makes her all the more dangerous!
Context: Look Like the Innocent Flower LADY MACBETH What's the business, ‘To commemorate the discovery of the heinous scheme, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley King James had a medal created picturing a serpent The sleepers of the house? speak, speak! hiding amongst flowers. Every person watching Shakespeare's drama in Jacobean England would have MACDUFF O gentle lady, understood immediately the context and weight of such an allusion.’ 'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: The repetition, in a woman's ear,
So, this line, while being quite a striking simile, is also a Would murder as it fell. clear contextual reference to the Gunpowder Plot! (A2, S3)
Here, above, Macduff voices the typical Jacobean attitude towards women, but how does Shakespeare subvert this perspective? LADY MACBETH Critical Assessment Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so LADY MACBETH pale.--I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he She is a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, cannot come out on's grave. resolute and utterly unscrupulous. Her love for Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus, (A5, S1) Macbeth, upon which so much stress has been laid, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seems, when considered in reference to her worldly The Hostess seat; position and interests, worthy of little, if any, As she directs her guests during the The fit is momentary; upon a thought Theme & Motif commendation. She knows her fortunes are now banquet scene, Lady Macbeth speaks He will again be well: if much you note him, In preparation for the assassination, Lady Macbeth asks, linked with his, and that with his increasing power her to her husband privately: again, she You shall offend him and extend his passion: ‘come, thick night,/And pall thee in the dunnest smoke own will rise proportionately, owing to her influence questions his masculinity, belittling Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man? of hell’ so the murder is hidden in darkness. Then, over him. Shakespeare's noble language alone gives him for his stirrings. following the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth an apparent dignity to a base, shameless character, MACBETH instructs her husband to wash his hands with a ‘little whose ambition is selfish and worldly. However, while a commanding water’ to remove the ‘witness’ of their regicide. presence at the dinner table, we do Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that However, by the end of the play these motifs come to Do you believe Canning’s assessment of Lady not see her reach these heights of Which might appal the devil. symbolize her guilt: read Act V, Scene I and note any Macbeth? If not, why? power again. She is finally seen again (A3, S4) references to blood, water and light. sleepwalking.
Context: I Spy … Hamartia is a personal error in a protagonist’s MACBETH LADY MACBETH [Aside] Two truths are told, Come on; personality that brings about his tragic downfall One thing that may go unnoticed is how the Macbeths in a tragedy. This defect in a hero’s personality is As happy prologues to the swelling act Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks; Of the imperial theme […} Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night. monitor their thanes: within Act III, Scene IV, also known as a “tragic flaw”. One of the classic following the disastrous banquet, Macbeth references hamartia examples is where a hero wants to Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill, (A3, S2) Why hath it given me earnest of Despite her best efforts, Lady Macbeth cannot help her his suspicions surrounding the Macduffs. Macbeth achieve something but, while doing so, he reveals that he keeps Macduff’s servants fed, meaning success, husband break from his guilty thoughts. commits an intentional or accidental error. Such they are his spies within the Macduffs’ castle. Not a downfall is often marked by a reversal of Commencing in a truth? I am thane of A Broken Unity: only are there paid-spies within Macduff’s home, fortune. Within the play, you may find that Cawdor: While the tragedy charts the fall of the Macbeths, it Macbeth has a network of informants within the Macbeth is especially ambitious and, in a bit to If good, why do I yield to that also presents the disintegration of their marriage. castles of all of his thanes. Here, Macbeth’s achieve his ambitions, brings havoc and tragic suggestion Following the banquet, the pair are never seen again. precautionary nature is evident: he was once thane of consequences to Scotland. Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair Their intense relationship dissipates as each becomes Cawdor and betrayed his King. He will not fall victim And make my seated heart knock at my increasingly inward. Lady Macbeth, for instance, is to another murderous thane, even if he was the killer What other characteristics of Macbeth ribs, told to be ‘innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck’ within the first instance. contribute to his ‘hamartia’? (A1, S4) (AIII, SII) when she questions Macbeth over Banquo.
Macbeth gradually takes their crimes upon himself. This use of spy networks was typical of Queen Elizabeth and her successor, King James I. The former LADY MACBETH had two advisors: Sir William Cecil and Sir Francis ‘Your face, my thane, is as a book Walsingham who monitored the court of their Queen. where men/ May read strange matters’ Walsingham himself even tortured conspirators (A1, S5) against Queen Elizabeth and was integral within the downfall of three notable Catholic conspiracies: The How does this metaphor foreshadow Rodolfi Plot, 1571; the Throckmorton Plot, 1583; and the pair’s downfall? What other The Babington Plot, 1886. examples of deception can you find throughout the play?
The Macbeths are MACBETH Despite the atrocities Macbeth has committed in his pursuit for power, LADY MACBETH a powerful She should have died hereafter. Shakespeare now establishes a sympathetic tone with the doomed King. Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why, partnership: There would have been a time for such a word. After everything he has done, Macbeth is now preparing himself for a then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my Macbeth’s Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, siege against a far-greater force. Upon hearing a scream from the castle, lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we bravery coupled Creeps in this petty pace from day to day Macbeth even acknowledges that once such a cry would terrify him, fear who knows it, when none can call our power to with Lady To the last syllable of recorded time, however, with his constitution numbed, he is unaffected by the horrid cry, account?--Yet who would have thought the old man Macbeth’s And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the ‘night-shriek’ (l.11). Once he hears that the cry came from his wife as to have had so much blood in him. intelligence leads The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! she committed suicide, Macbeth falls into a dark depression. to their reign. Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player Therefore, the That struts and frets his hour upon the stage Context: Consequences, Consequences, Consequences … pair are often Form And then is heard no more. It is a tale compared to Shakespeare often presented insane characters Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, The fate of the Macbeths is deliberately tragic and horrifying. predatory through their use of prose. Here, Lady Macbeth does Signifying nothing. Shakespeare, writing for his patron, the King of England, wanted to animals. not speak in Blank Verse (Unrhymed Iambic (A5, S5) present a cautionary tale: the act of regicide leads to nothing but doom Pentameter), but rather in sentences. Her language is and despair. Everything the Macbeth’s attempt to achieve fails: both a fractured, uncontrolled, and confessional. While the driven towards madness by guilt and are eventually doomed. Lady Doctor and the Gentlewoman know not what she Macbeth commits suicide while Macbeth stands against a superior army. speaks, we see it to be an account of her crime.