Kingship in Macbeth Flashcards
Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat;
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well: if much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion:
Feed, and regard him not (3.4)
Lady Macbeth tries to restore calm and order to Macbeth’s kingship and post-coronation feast, after he hallucinates about a ghost which nobody else can see. She attempts to reassure their guests by telling them to take their seats and ignore her husband’s outburst. She wants to conceal the reality, that Macbeth became king by murdering Duncan and then killed Banquo and his “fit” is a manifestation of his guilty conscience.
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Thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter! (1.3)
Soon after the witches hail him as “Thane of Glamis,” “Thane of Cawdor,” “and king hereafter!”, Macbeth receives the news that he has been named Thane of Cawdor. This news throws him into a reverie, in which he says to himself, “Two truths are told, as happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme”. Macbeth’s metaphor is dramatic, or musical; he seems to be imagining himself as making a grand entrance as king, or maybe as an emperor, a king of kings.
too full o’ the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way (1.5)
When Lady Macbeth receives her husband’s letter about the witches’ prophecies, she is only worried that her husband is too kind but she’s sure she has no such problem, and she’s eager for the chance to make him see things her way. Holding the letter, and speaking to Macbeth (even though he hasn’t arrived yet) she says, “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear; and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round,”. We might say that she’s going to nag him, but she believes that she is going to enable him to reach his potential. She will “chastise” (make him ashamed of) everything in him that prevents him from being evil enough to be king.
Royalty of nature, under him, my Genius is rebuked (3.1)
Just before he sends the murderers to kill Banquo, Macbeth has a soliloquy in which he states his fear of Banquo. He says that Banquo has “royalty of nature”, and courage, and wisdom. Macbeth also says, “under him, / My Genius is rebuked”. A man’s “Genius” is his guardian spirit, but Macbeth isn’t being particularly mystic here. He feels that Banquo is naturally superior to him, and just being near Banquo makes Macbeth feel ashamed of himself. For example, he recalls, Banquo defied the witches and challenged them to speak to him. (In contrast, we should remember, the witches’ prophecy put Macbeth into a kind of trance, a reverie of ambition and murder.) In short, Macbeth feels that Banquo is more fit to be king than he is, and for that, he’s going to murder him.
What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? (5.1)
When she walks in her sleep, Lady Macbeth relives the moment just after the murder of King Duncan, when her husband could do nothing except stare at his bloody hands holding the bloody daggers. In her sleep she says to him, “What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?”. Her point is that Macbeth is king (or about to be) and therefore it doesn’t matter who knows that he murdered King Duncan. She thinks (or thought) that kingly power would solve all problems, but it doesn’t save her from madness.
