kingship

Question 1

1.4 “The service and the loyalty I owe”

Answer 1

-BQ emphasises that a true king serves the people + upholds justice
-contrasts with MB’s self-serving ambition
-shakespeare presents an ideal model of kingship based on duty + loyalty
-highlights difference between just ruler + one driven by ambition

Question 2

2.4 “And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp”

Answer 2

-R comments on unnatural darkness after D’s murder
-symbolises disruption of natural order caused by MB’s regicide
-“dark night” strangling “traveling lamp” creates chaotic environment reflecting MB’s illegitimate rule + disturbance of scotland’s rightful kingship
-“strangles” conveys image of suffocation suggesting natural order is being forcibly suppressed

Question 3

3.1 “Our fears in Banquo Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature”

Answer 3

-MB’s insecurity as king leads him to fear threats like BQ revealing his tyrannical mindset
-becoming king isn’t enough - he must eliminate threats to his rule
-contrast between MB’s rule + D’s just leadership

Question 4

3.4 “I am in blood Stepp’d in so far”

Answer 4

-metaphor of being “in blood” shows MB acknowledges he is too deeply involved in his crimes to turn back
-his corrupt rule + inability to retreat from violence illustrate the moral decay of his kingship
-underscores MB’s loss of morality
-freud’s theory of the unconscious explains MB’s violence. repressed desires, unchecked, lead to destructive behavior. MB’s conflict between ambition and guilt drives him to murder, as his primitive urges (id) clash with his moral conscience (superego), consuming him

Question 5

4.3 “But at his touch, such sanctity hath heaven given his hand”

Answer 5

-ML speaks about divine right of kings suggesting that true kingship has a healing, divine power
-contrast between ML’s rightful, divinely favoured kingship + MB’s corrupt reign emphasises moral order of leadership
-shakespeare presents ML as rightful heir emphasises kingship isn’t based on ambition but righteousness

Question 6

5.1 “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”

Answer 6

-LMB’s guilt over D’s murder manifests in her sleepwalking, showing psychological toll of MB’s usurpation of the throne
-inability to wash away the “damned spot” symbolises stain on MB’s kingship emphasises his rule is built on immoral actions + will never be legitimate