Kingship Flashcards
‘His virtues will plead like angels… against his taking off’
L: simile. D is a morally good king, heaven will react with horror to his murder and make sure the muderer is discovered
C: DRK - Jacobeans believed king was appointed by God. To kill a king = act against God. He has damned himself to hell
‘The Earth was feverous and did shake’
L: personnification. Murder of D negatively affects the whole country.
D: MB’s act of murder has brought moral sickness to the land
C: Gunpowder plot tries to kill James 1, warns of consequences
‘Barren sceptre’
L: adjective. MB is obsessed with his own descendants becoming kings not B’s children as the witches have predicted. Fears he’s damned himself for the benefit of B’s children
C: flatters James 1 - he was one of B’s descendants
‘Justice, verity’ ‘bloody, false’
L: Malcom and Macduff’s conversations describes the virtues a king should have - honesty and fairness. Contrasted with adjectives that are used to describe MB as a king - murderous and a lair, not fit to be a king
‘It weeps it bleeds. And each day a gash is add3d to her wounds’
L: personification. MB’s bloody kingship has destroyed the country in contrast to King Edward who heals his subjects. Scotland is like a whipped slave or beast of burden suffering under his rule
C: Jacobeans believed that a king should be like a father to his subjects but MB is the opposite
‘By the grace of grace’
C: Malcom says that as King he will do whatever God calls for him to do. He is the rightful King and a morally good man
R: audience is restored that the natural order is restored
