Exploration of Shakespeare's Views on Kingship Through Macbeth

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Exploration of Shakespeare's Views on Kingship Through Macbeth

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Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare in around 1606 and is

Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. He wrote Macbeth whilst James I was on

the throne. James believed strongly in divine right. This may have

helped Shakespeare's views on kingship. In Macbeth there are four

kings: Edward of England; Duncan; Malcolm and Macbeth. Of these four

only Macbeth did not rule by divine right as he murdered the previous

king so as to gain the throne. Also of these four only Macbeth can be

described as a truly bad king.

Duncan epitomizes just about everything a king should be. Shakespeare

presents Duncan to the reader as a dignified gentle and conscientious

ruler. Duncan also has the virtue of being gracious, open, honest and

sincere. Duncan shows us that he is a firm and decisive king with good

leadership qualities when he deals promptly with the traitor Cawdor.

He is also a very generous man. For example in Act 2 Scene 1 Duncan

gives Lady Macbeth a diamond as a present. Duncan shows that he can

also be fair, loyal and appreciative. We see this in particular when

he bestows a title on Macbeth (the Thane of Cawdor) after Macbeth's

heroic actions against Norway. Duncan also fulfils another important

duty to Scotland by raising a good heir.

However, he might be considered a less than perfect king in other

respects. Duncan is not a very good judge of character. For example

Duncan believes that Macbeth is a good and loyal person, yet it is

...

... middle of paper ...

... bounty,

perseverance, mercy, lowliness, devotion, patience, courage and

fortitude". A good king should not come to the throne by murder, but

by divine right.

In Macbeth Shakespeare presents his views on what virtues a king

should and should not possess. Shakespeare also underlines what can

happen if a king doesn't possess the necessary virtues to rule - it

can bring war and destruction to the country. Shakespeare uses Macbeth

to show this. Shakespeare also alleges that kings that gain the throne

through divine right have god's blessing to rule and hence will rule

well. This is in contrast to Macbeth's rule, which brings havoc to

Scotland. In summary I conclude that Shakespeare upholds the accepted

idealised vision of kingship. He outlines the catastrophes that can

happen if the throne falls into the wrong hands.

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