Starting with this speech explore how Shakespeare presents kingship in
Macbeth Act 4 scene3 p77 lines 139-161
Intro: In Jacobean times, people were very religious hence they believed that
the King was chosen directly by God and ideas of what made a good King
were important because James I, who was catholic, had come from being the
King of Scotland to become King of England which was predominantly
protestant. Shakespeare uses the play Macbeth to explore the archetypal
attributes of a moral king by presenting kingship as an intrinsic element of
Jacobean society.
1. Shakespeare in the extract presents moral kings as possessing
supernatural curing powers.
“Stay his cure” concrete noun ‘cure’ he possesses this godlike power to
cure.
“Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand”
Caithness says that Malcolm is the - “medicine of the sickly weal and with
him we pour in our country’s purge each drop of us”
The divinely rightful king has special powers to cure by God.
2. Shakespeare presents Usurping kings as causing disease and
destruction - “
“Each new morn, new widows howl, new orphans cry….”
Anadiplosis - ‘new’
“Dead butcher”
3. Furthermore, later in the extract, Shakespeare presents kings as being
divinely appointed by God.
“He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy”
Duncan “I have begun to plant thee and make thee full of growing”
natural imagery of a gardener tending his garden.
“The harvest is your own”
4. Shakespeare presents evil kings as empowered by the devil and the
witches.
“Devilish Macbeth” “hell-hound”
“Not without ambition but without the illness should attend it”
Macbeth Act 4 scene3 p77 lines 139-161
Intro: In Jacobean times, people were very religious hence they believed that
the King was chosen directly by God and ideas of what made a good King
were important because James I, who was catholic, had come from being the
King of Scotland to become King of England which was predominantly
protestant. Shakespeare uses the play Macbeth to explore the archetypal
attributes of a moral king by presenting kingship as an intrinsic element of
Jacobean society.
1. Shakespeare in the extract presents moral kings as possessing
supernatural curing powers.
“Stay his cure” concrete noun ‘cure’ he possesses this godlike power to
cure.
“Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand”
Caithness says that Malcolm is the - “medicine of the sickly weal and with
him we pour in our country’s purge each drop of us”
The divinely rightful king has special powers to cure by God.
2. Shakespeare presents Usurping kings as causing disease and
destruction - “
“Each new morn, new widows howl, new orphans cry….”
Anadiplosis - ‘new’
“Dead butcher”
3. Furthermore, later in the extract, Shakespeare presents kings as being
divinely appointed by God.
“He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy”
Duncan “I have begun to plant thee and make thee full of growing”
natural imagery of a gardener tending his garden.
“The harvest is your own”
4. Shakespeare presents evil kings as empowered by the devil and the
witches.
“Devilish Macbeth” “hell-hound”
“Not without ambition but without the illness should attend it”
