The Importance of Duncan’s Murder in Macbeth Essay -- Macbeth essays

The Importance of Duncans Murder in Macbeth In Shakespeares Macbeth, the repercussions of Macbeth murdering his King are very numerous. Through themes that include, imagery, soliloquies, atmosphere, and supernatural macrocosms, Shakespeare enforces the magnitude of Macbeths crime. Most of these factors are linked together. One of the main ways in which the horror of the murder is underlined is through the Great Chain of Being. At the season this play was written, it was believed that there was a hierarchy in the universe, with immortal being at the top, then angels, then the King, then man, and finally animals. This meant that the King was Gods representative on earth, and so if a rebel were to bam the King, he would be seen to be attacking and rebelling against God. This is seen in Act One, characterization Two, when the Thane of Cawdor rebels against King Duncan, where the Sergeant says Ship wracking storms and direful thunders break (L.26). This thunderous digest symboli zes Gods anger at his representative of Scotland being attacked. The lousiness during the play (all but two of the scenes are set in darkness) shows how the darkness is strangling the earth, representing the anger of God at the events in Scotland. The Dark shadow strangles (Act Two, Scene Four, Line Seven) the earth, showing Gods, overall deal on the world. The King at this time had an absolute monarchy (power of life and dying over everyone in his kingdom). The belief was that God had passed special powers to all Kings, such as that for healing, which Malcolm identifies in Edward the Confessor (the King of England) in Act Four, Scene terzetto He curesthe healing benedictionhe hath a heavenly leave of prophecy (L.152-157). Shakespeare later uses Edwa... ...elm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A cable of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London AMS Press, Inc., 1965. Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. mod York Wa shington Press, 1992. Steevens, George. Shakespeare, The Critical Heritage. Vol. 6. London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. T.W. Shakespeare, the Critical Heritage. Vol. 5. London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. Wills, Gary. Witches & Jesuits. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1995. Epstein, Norrie, The Friendly Shakepeare, smart York, Viking Publishing, 1993. Harbage, Alfred, Macbeth, Middlesex England, Penguin Publishing, 1956. Magill, Masterplots- Volume 6, New Jersey, Salem Press, 1949. Staunten, Howard, The Complet Illustrated Shakespeare, New York, Park Lane Publishing, 1979.