Zayn Hussain
Divine Right of Kings:
Sitting in court will be nobles who don't want King James as king as Queen Elizabeth died
without heir. Also as some of them are pretending to be protestant as Catholicism is banned.
hIs natural enemies. Shakespeare wants to promote the Divine Right of KIngs and whatever
mortals thought about it was irrelevant they couldn't go against word of God. He then creates
this character Duncan to be someone who is virtuous. Again a reminder to James about
what kind of king he should be to make it easier for people to accept him as the divine
choice. Shakespeare is warning potential rebels in court not to proceed further, Macbeth has
a chance to not proceed further he says “We but teach bloody instructions, which, being
taught, return to plague the inventor”. When he starts killing people like the nobles it teaches
the surviving nobles this is something they can get away with, they can get away with killing
Macbeth. The message here is about the gunpowder plot, if it had succeeded in killing james
it wouldn't have led into a better world. It would have led to a world in which the next
conspirators could come along and get rid of the next king and get their preferred one
installed to the monarchy, “bloody instructions”. Shakespeare presents himself as a lover of
peace, a pacifist, and he wants to keep the status quo. He then constructs Malcom to fake
the idea of what a terrible king he’d be, he is testing Macduff here. This has no relevance to
a modern audience, but to Shakespeare here the crucial thing about this is that he is now
exploring again the consequences of being the wrong kind of king. So he is telling King
James you could “cut off the nobles for their lands”, you could “forge quarrels” that were
“unjust against the good and loyal”, “destroy them and then take their wealth and lands”
shakespeare portrays to james that this could backfire on him in the end so he is saying
don’t be that kind of king. It is lao portraying to plotters the new king maybe like that.
Shakespeare makes sure Banquo appears noble despite his ambition. He does that by
describing Banquo as having a royalty of nature.This was important as it was thought at the
time banquo was an ancient ancestor of james. James believed he descended from Banquo
so it was important to have Banquo as the origin of King James being presented a good light
hence the royalty of nature. “He hath a wisdom that doth doth guide his valour to act in
safety”. On the one hand he is describing Banquo cunning here having wisdom and he
bravery of acting safely rather than rashly. This is also another coded message for King
James, doing nothing not going after vengeance against the catholics isn’t stupidity it’s
actually wisdom and bravery, acting in safety taking time is a sign of good king ship. This is
again another way Shakespeare is trying to influence King James not to take any rash
actions in revenge. Shakespeare appeal to King James ambitions. When Macbeth revisits
witches, they show him vision of Banquo’s descendants that will “stretch out to the crack of
doom”, “doom” here is alluding to Doomsday where the world is destroyed: Judgement day.
Shakespeare is suggesting here King James could become such a good king that his
descendants will stay on the throne forever. This was a blatant form of flattery, certainly in
Shakespeare’s era during the history of the monarchy in England there would’ve been one
royal dynasty destroyed by another going back centuries, dynasties didn’t last beyond the
few generations but that’s the potential prize Shakespeare is offering to King James. That he
could be different to every other dynasty, his could survive forever if only he was the kind of
king he should be. Shakespeare is using this prize as bait to lure him into the play to find out
what kind of man he should be and the consequences of being a tyrant such as Macbeth.
Divine Right of Kings:
Sitting in court will be nobles who don't want King James as king as Queen Elizabeth died
without heir. Also as some of them are pretending to be protestant as Catholicism is banned.
hIs natural enemies. Shakespeare wants to promote the Divine Right of KIngs and whatever
mortals thought about it was irrelevant they couldn't go against word of God. He then creates
this character Duncan to be someone who is virtuous. Again a reminder to James about
what kind of king he should be to make it easier for people to accept him as the divine
choice. Shakespeare is warning potential rebels in court not to proceed further, Macbeth has
a chance to not proceed further he says “We but teach bloody instructions, which, being
taught, return to plague the inventor”. When he starts killing people like the nobles it teaches
the surviving nobles this is something they can get away with, they can get away with killing
Macbeth. The message here is about the gunpowder plot, if it had succeeded in killing james
it wouldn't have led into a better world. It would have led to a world in which the next
conspirators could come along and get rid of the next king and get their preferred one
installed to the monarchy, “bloody instructions”. Shakespeare presents himself as a lover of
peace, a pacifist, and he wants to keep the status quo. He then constructs Malcom to fake
the idea of what a terrible king he’d be, he is testing Macduff here. This has no relevance to
a modern audience, but to Shakespeare here the crucial thing about this is that he is now
exploring again the consequences of being the wrong kind of king. So he is telling King
James you could “cut off the nobles for their lands”, you could “forge quarrels” that were
“unjust against the good and loyal”, “destroy them and then take their wealth and lands”
shakespeare portrays to james that this could backfire on him in the end so he is saying
don’t be that kind of king. It is lao portraying to plotters the new king maybe like that.
Shakespeare makes sure Banquo appears noble despite his ambition. He does that by
describing Banquo as having a royalty of nature.This was important as it was thought at the
time banquo was an ancient ancestor of james. James believed he descended from Banquo
so it was important to have Banquo as the origin of King James being presented a good light
hence the royalty of nature. “He hath a wisdom that doth doth guide his valour to act in
safety”. On the one hand he is describing Banquo cunning here having wisdom and he
bravery of acting safely rather than rashly. This is also another coded message for King
James, doing nothing not going after vengeance against the catholics isn’t stupidity it’s
actually wisdom and bravery, acting in safety taking time is a sign of good king ship. This is
again another way Shakespeare is trying to influence King James not to take any rash
actions in revenge. Shakespeare appeal to King James ambitions. When Macbeth revisits
witches, they show him vision of Banquo’s descendants that will “stretch out to the crack of
doom”, “doom” here is alluding to Doomsday where the world is destroyed: Judgement day.
Shakespeare is suggesting here King James could become such a good king that his
descendants will stay on the throne forever. This was a blatant form of flattery, certainly in
Shakespeare’s era during the history of the monarchy in England there would’ve been one
royal dynasty destroyed by another going back centuries, dynasties didn’t last beyond the
few generations but that’s the potential prize Shakespeare is offering to King James. That he
could be different to every other dynasty, his could survive forever if only he was the kind of
king he should be. Shakespeare is using this prize as bait to lure him into the play to find out
what kind of man he should be and the consequences of being a tyrant such as Macbeth.
