This Unit Will Be Focused Around the Following Title

Assessment focus: A01, A02, A04 / Suggested number of lessons: 3-5
Resources:
Resource Sheet 39: Divine kingship
Resource Sheet 40: Macbeth’s kingship
Resource Sheet 41: Kingship questions
Resource Sheet 42: Essay plan – key theme
Resource Sheet 43: Aim high – key theme
Resource Sheet 44: Macbeth redeemed? / Outcomes:

To produce a coursework assignment on the theme of kingship

►Preparation

This unit will be focused around the following title:

Explore the importance of the theme of kingship within the play, and its dramatic effect

As for all essays or assignments, a first task will be to ask students to draw out the key words from the title, and what this means for them:

Explore=discuss a range of ideas and thoughts, not just one

Importance=the scene’s place within the play as a whole

Kingship=how rulers are shown within the play, and the view
of them given

Dramatic effect=the effect on the audience & how this is achieved

As with many other assignments, this one crosses over into other areas, so it is important students do not merely talk about Macbeth as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ king. They need to ensure they return to the word ‘kingship’ regularly, and comment on what is revealed by the behaviour of the different kings we see in the play.

▲Activity 1: Ask students, in pairs, to note down the different kings we encounter in the play, either directly, or through others’ words. Their list should include:

Sweno, the Norwegian king, briefly mentioned in Act 1 Scene 2
Duncan, King of Scotland at the start of the play
Macbeth, the usurping, ‘self-made’ king
Edward, the English king, reported to us through Malcolm’s words in Act 4 Scene 3
Malcolm, the king at the end of the play
(and possibly) Banquo – as a king who might have been

▲Activity 2: Remind students that monarchs in Shakespeare’s day were still generally considered to be divinely chosen, notwithstanding the rift between the English Church and Rome that had occurred in Henry VIII’s reign. The link between kings and the Church was well established – James himself is generally regarded as having written The True Law of Free Monarchies, published 1603,which established the divine right of kings and ran counter to the beliefs of puritans and parliamentarians.

Display (or distribute) Resource Sheet 39: Divine kingshipand ask students to look at the quotations. In each case, find the reference and read the scene from which it comes. Note down which king is being referred to.

Then, as a class, highlight those words in the quotations that have a religious or spiritual connotation of some kind, and ask students to suggest what that might say about the kings in each case.

▲Activity 3: Now compare that with similar statements about Macbeth. Display or distribute Resource Sheet 40: Macbeth’s kingshipand ask students to discuss in groups what each quotation means (they’ll need to find the quotation in its context) and then explore what each suggests about Macbeth’s rule. Then share answers as a class, focusing on the obvious lack of religious allusion, but also on the way in which Macbeth is described as having every sin (not just ones to do with power). In addition, we are told that he has paid spies, and that as his castle is under attack none of his soldiers remain with him out of love, but simply because they are under orders. His own ruthlessness is shown by the statement ‘Hang those that talk of fear’. This table does not include all the connections and references to Macbeth as an agent of evil or of dark forces, as this is already established.

▲Activity 4: Before students start drafting their essays, there are a small number of other points worth considering. Give out Resource Sheet 41: Kingship questionsand ask students to discuss the questions in groups and make notes on the answers. The point of this task is so that they understand that whilst it would be convenient to see Macbeth as the polar opposite to Duncan/Malcolm, there are, in fact, significant differences between the these two ‘good’ characters.

Drafts & developments

The following is an optional plan for the essay:

Essay Section One: Begin by summarising, briefly, Jacobean views about the role of the monarch in society, and James’s own beliefs; you may wish to comment on his own path to the throne and how Shakespeare may have been alluding to this in the play, and discuss the notion of a ‘rightful’ king.
Essay Section Two: Discuss how the contrasting ideas of what a king should be are juxtaposed in the play, pointing out how Duncan is described and the dramatic effect that this has – the murder can be seen as a sin against heaven and God. Students might like to refer to descriptions of Macbeth as an agent of evil and as a murderer.
Essay Section Three: Move on to a discussion of how notions of kingship in the play aren’t as straightforward as they appear. Discuss the differences between the clever and cautious Malcolm, who is present at the final battle, and the trusting, distant Duncan for whom Macbeth fights.
Essay Section Four: Conclude by summing up the different views of kingship within the play and how these create impact.

All the above is summed up on the simplified Resource Sheet 42: Essay plan – key themewith key headings only. It has been left like this in case students wish to write ideas, quotations etc. around the structure.

Aim High

Two extracts are provided on Resource Sheet 43: Aim high – key theme.They focus on two fragments from model assignments, one at Grade C and one at Grade A. In this case, the issue is one of insight into the language – how assignments can looking deeper into issues. Cover up the lower half of the OHT and ask students to suggest what could be improved about the extract. Then display the lower half, and explore the differences.

Another text is provided on Resource Sheet 44: Macbeth redeemed?It comes from a BBC website reporting news on the historical Macbeth’s reputation. Students might like to consider how this could be woven into an assignment on kingship.

Which king is speaking, or being spoken about, in the quotations below?

Act & scene /

Quotation

/ Which king?
Act 1 Scene 7 / [he]….
Hath born his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels…
Act 2 Scene 3 / Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
The life o’th’building..
Act 4 Scene 3 / With this strange virtue,
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,
And sundry blessings hang about his throne
That speak him full of grace.
Act 5 Scene 9 / …this and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace
We will perform in measure, time, and place…

Read the quotations related to Macbeth as a king and ruler, and then decide what each suggests about him.

Act & scene / Quotation
Act 3
Scene 4 / Macbeth (speaking of other lords) There’s not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant feed…
Act 3
Scene 6 / Lord (describing what Scotland would be like if Macbeth were overthrown)
…..we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,
Do faithful homage and receive free honours.
Act 4
Scene 3 / I grant him bloody,
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name…
Act 4
Scene 3 / …. an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptred…
Act 5
Scene 2 / Those he commands, move only in command,
Nothing in love.
Act 5
Scene 3 / …that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of old friends,
I must not look to have
Act 5
Scene 3 / Send out more horses; skirr the country round.
Hang those that talk of fear

In groups, discuss the following questions. Make notes in the boxes supplied, if you wish.

What evidence, if any, is there that Macbeth had the makings of a successful king?

In what ways are Malcolm and Duncan different in their approach to power and relationships? Think about:

what we see of Duncan at the start of the play
Duncan’s view of Macbeth & Lady Macbeth
how Malcolm deals with Macduff
Malcolm’s involvement in the battle against Macbeth

Following on from this, what is there to suggest that Malcolm will be a successful king? Think about:

how he has acted and the decisions he has made
the orders he gives in his final speech

Meeting A04 – linking the theme of kingship to Shakespeare’s times

Grade C

Grade A

Macbeth gets politicians' backing

Shakespeare unfairly portrayed Macbeth as an unsuccessful king in the play of the same name, according to an MSP.

Scottish Tory list MSP Alex Johnstone has tabled a motion on the 1,000th anniversary of Macbeth's birth, who was king of Scotland from 1040 to 1057. The motion ‘regrets that Macbeth is misportrayed when he was a successful Scottish king’. Mr Johnstone said he was contacted by an American professor who felt Macbeth's reign was misrepresented. His attempt to overturn Macbeth's image as a murderous villain is being supported by 19 other MSPs from the SNP, Green and Socialist parties.

The motion states: ‘Marking this 1,000th anniversary would both boost understanding of this historic period and increase awareness, especially among tourists, of locations such as Lumphanan that have ties with Macbeth.’

Mr Johnstone said Shakespeare was less than charitable with his depiction of the king who died in battle in 1057.

Macbeth was so successful that, unusually for that period, he was able to up sticks and visit Rome and not have the country fall to bits in his absence

Alex Johnstone
Tory MSP

The MSP said: "I was contacted by an American professor who has visited north east Scotland and some of the sites associated with Macbeth. "He took the view that Macbeth was a good king, that he served Scotland well, and brought the country together. "Macbeth was so successful that, unusually for that period, he was able to up sticks and visit Rome and not have the country fall to bits in his absence."

The regional MSP for North East Scotland said he hoped to debate the issue in the Scottish Parliament.

Tourism hope

"It might be fitting if we used this to build up interest in tourism in that part of Scotland and counter some of the difficulties Scottish tourism has had," he said. "The Conservative Party has been the victim of revisionists in the past and we will try and revise the Macbeth story."

Shakespeare's play is often referred to as "the Scottish play" and is thought to have been first performed in 1606 for King James 1 (James V1 of Scotland).

The writer's portrait of a great tragic hero, whose fate was linked to black magic and fuelled by the fire of greed and ambition, bears little resemblance to the historical figure.

BBC News, 3 February 2005.