Macbeth Context

A lot of Macbeth has to do with kingship and divine right. Macbeth murders his way to the throne, and is therefore a bad leader to Scotland.

When he was king, since he'd disrupted the natural order, strange things started happening, like prey becoming preditior "A falcon, towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed".

The rightful king, Malcolm is shown to really care about Scotland in Act 4 Scene 3, and it seems he will make a good leader. His father, Duncan, was a good and compassionate leader to Scotland, also. Kings and Queens were seen as God's representatives on Earth.

Shakespeare probabbly made 'The great chain of being' an important part of Macbeth because the play was written for James I, and it would of made Shakespeare seem very loyal to the monach and James feel more secure as king, especially since it was written just one year after the gunpowder plot of 1605. It could be seen as Shakespeares way of 'sucking up' to James.

It was thought that Banquo was a distant relative of James I, so Macbeth presented him in a verpy positive light.

The weird sisters also say Banquo's hiers will "strech out to the crack of doom", showing he will never have a "fruitless crown" like Macbeth does. This reassures James I that his family tree will go on forever.

In a tragedy, their is a tragic hero is someone who has a tragic flaw/error of judgement that inevitably leads to their distruction.

In Macbeth, Macbeth himself is the tragic hero, and his flaw could either be seen as his ambition or his need to please Lady Macbeth and prove himself to her.