Notes

Intro - lay out the main points
Context of divine right of kings. James I
P1 - The differences in the way Duncan and Macbeth are presented as kings

Act II, uses plural “we” to show he is one with the crown. The king becomes kingship.
Macbeth descends into tyranny.
Act 5 Scene 2 “those he commands, move only in revolt”
when he slowly descends into madness, Shakespeare uses that kingship as a way of exploring it.
P2 - The stability of kingship
Macbeth is trying to take over the good kingship of Duncan for his own twisted ambitions. Twists what kingship is in the play.
Duncan is weaker than Macbeth - easy to trust etc - and Macbeth takes that over. Being a stronger king involves being harder. Eventually macbeth is also killed so kingship is presented at the end as neither good nor bad.
Transfer of the crown provides turbulence to the narrative. War for the crown, transfer of power, almost cyclical since it is given to Duncan’s son at the end.
Kingship never presented as stable. Reflected in instability of Macbeth
Macbeth sees through the true goodness of his kingship. Though he is mad when this point is made, it still destabilises the concept of kingship being good and paves the way for Macbeth’s own, bad kingship.
Macbeth’s reign starts with regicide, which is the same for Duncan’s son at the end. Cycle. Malcolm’s hands are clean of it but a new king has been ushered in twice by the murder of the previous.
P3 - Lady Macbeth
P4 -
P5 -


Write about the bias of the play, and how it is clearly written contextually to appeal to


Kingship present as superior - “he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour / to act in safety. There is none but he whose being I do fear; and, under him, My Genius is rebuked”.
Interesting

Vaguely answer the question ‘how is kingship presented’