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Natural Order And Corruption In Macbeth

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Only a true king can sit upon the holy throne. Kingship: being a king, a king’s position or reign. Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s well-known tragedies. A tragedy is a type of entertainment that is serious and has a sad ending. In this play, a series of events take place: starting with Macbeth being prophesied as being king, his ambition to seize the throne, and his death as a corrupted ruler. The word “kingship” in this play implies both goodness and corruption that leads to the overall theme of disrupting the natural order and the expansion of distrust within the royal court. Macbeth’s ambition to be “Scotland’s King” starts when the weird sisters announce, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! /All hail, Macbeth! …show more content…

Banquo, who had trusted Macbeth and promised to serve him forever, becomes suspicious and is killed by Macbeth’s hired murderers. His best friend’s betrayal of him is not the only backstab in the story. Another disloyalty happens with the “kings” death. Malcolm, the previous king’s eldest son, knew that the trust has been broken, so he and his brother flee to England in order to survive. So when Macduff goes to Malcolm and asks him to take his rightful place, Malcolm answers, “Boundless temperance in nature is a tyranny; it hath been Th’untimely emptying of the happy throne and the fall of many kings” (4.3. 67-69). Basically what he is saying is that he has a corrupted soul. However, this was a test to assert Macduff’s sincerity, to see if he is trustworthy. And later, he proves himself to be more than trustworthy when he pledges his allegiance to Malcolm and serves Macbeth’s head on a stake. In the end, he reverses the disruption of the Great Chain of Beings, bringing order back to the great nation of Scotland. The transition of the word “kingship” changes throughout the story when different monarch come into power, and depending on the royal personage, the kingdom will either be one of goodness, or one of corruption. A good leader, such as Macbeth, is not a good king; however, a good king, that is Duncan, is a good leader. So crown or king means: being a king, a king’s

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This shows Macbeth’s desire to become king, even though he already has a high ranking position in the land. He is not content with he has and desires an even higher position. He desires it so much to the point of betraying the trust of people who are close to him just for his own greedy self gain. Macbeth betrays and backstabs many characters in the story, an example being King Duncan himself.

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In the play 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare, the theme of kingship is explored through the character of Macbeth who is driven by ambition to become king of Scotland. The theme of kingship holds significance in the play due to it being dedicated to King James I and it shows the downfall of going against the divine rights of kings to warn people against treason. In Act 1, Macbeth recognises that Duncan is a good king,'his virtues will plead like angels', perhaps it's Shakespeare's intent to present Duncan this way to support the view of the divine right of kings, which basically meant that God annointed each king which makes Duncan seem more virtuous and makes his murder more horrifying to the audience. in Act 2, the theme of kingship is further

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Macbeth is a well trained soldier who seems like he’d be a great leader and lots of people look up to him which makes him powerful. “All hail Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, be king hereafter”(Act 1, Scene 1). This quote is showing what Macbeth will become in the future and why people will respect him and his power. People are too scared to stand up to King Macbeth because they are afraid of what he’ll do and the confidence he has with his power is dangerous. “The power of man for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”(Act 4, Scene 1).

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He hallucinates Banquo in the chair he was going to sit on. Macbeth starts to act crazy and Lady Macbeth tries to tell the other men in the room how he is acting is normal. After the dinner Macbeth hears that Macduff went to England to reunite with Malcolm, Duncan 's son, to try for him to own the throne. Macbeth decides to take action and send some men to murder Macduff 's family. When Macduff comes back he finds out of his family 's death and joins Malcolm and his army to defeat Macbeth.

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He states, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls” (4.1.150-152). At this point Macbeth is out of control and is killing anybody he suspects, showing that he is clearly paranoid and delusional. Once Macduff finds out his family is killed he decides to finally kill

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Yet there was still hope that Macbeth would learn to turn back from these ways, as he had still felt guilt after Banquo’s murder, but he did not. He had only become worse as he became entirely corrupt. Spilling blood, and turning against those who had once praised him. It had gone to the point where his own army only followed him as it was their duty and not because they truly respected and honored

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However, since Macbeth is king of all the land opposing him would be treason. Yet Malcolm continues with his plan and forms an army that goes to attack Macbeth. Macduff ends up killing Macbeth himself. Moreover, Malcolm takes the throne for himself. Power and authority shifts once again.

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It is said that brave, honest, and noble people can be seduced by power and ambition and so turned into tyrants. The Tragedy of Macbeth is a poem that portrays three witches giving Macbeth and his friend Banquo a prophecy of royalty and success. Macbeth was given the prediction of being another thane and then a king; however, Banquo was only given that his family will be royalty, but he will not. Since the prophecies began coming true, Macbeth made it his goal to finish the prophecy and make sure it becomes reality, no matter what or who gets in his way.

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A king is to rule fairly over those he commands, this is proven as fact. However, Macbeth does quite the opposite once he obtains the throne of Scotland. He becomes a tyrant very quickly, his ambition rising to the point that he conspires with and helps two murderers hunt down and kill Banquo, his closest friend. He tells the men that he, “will advise you where to plant yourselves / Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’th’time /

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Because Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s decision to murder Duncan, Both face the guilt of the power they abused portrays on the shadows that reflect on them as well as the natural consequences they will face. During the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth expresses her unnatural feelings and this is demonstrated through the corruption of power when she want’s to hire people to kill Duncan because she thinks that Macbeth is too scared. At first, when Lady Macbeth hinted “Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death”(1.7.78). This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth is characterizing corruption of power due to the fact that she want's to kill Duncan, therefore she can be queen of cawdor while Macbeth is king.

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Once he acquired his seat as king banquo was a threat to him and needed to be gone. He mentions how his seat as king is worthless if not safe shortly before having him killed. Macbeth needed to kill Macduff's family so said “His wife, babies, and all unfortunate souls

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be so, for Banquo’s issue have i filled my mind: For them the gracious Duncan have i murder’d” (III.i.67-69). This is stating that Macbeth killed Duncan because he knew his kids would become kings after him, and Macbeth didn’t like this. Macbeth killed Duncan for his petty ways to get what he wants and to become king. Being angry and killing innocent Duncan are a way of being seen as the villain, which Macbeth had been proven to be. Macduff son thinks out loud to his mom “Young fry of treachery he has

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