A Juxtaposition of King Duncan and Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare Essay Example
The play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare, is a Scottish tale of a brave and noble warrior who is driven by ambition from the prophecy of three supernatural forces and his wife to seek the throne. Good and evil are the main themes in the play and they are revealed by the characters of the play. Lady Macbeth is the wife of the great warrior and is depicted as an inhuman character in the play (III, II, 36). She is driven by an ambition which makes her manipulate her husband into murdering the king and it eventually causes her great suffering (II, II, 14-15). Duncan is the king of Scotland and he rules by divine right. He is religious and is depicted as a good representation of God on earth. However, his trust in people leads to his death and it causes suffering to his descendants. Lad
...y Macbeth and King Duncan have contrasting characters, they come from different ethical backgrounds and have different age, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs, and nevertheless, they both pass through sufferings as a result of their different features.
Lady Macbeth has a burning ambition to be the queen of Scotland; hence, she is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her desires. She is an opportunist and grabs the chance when she hears of the king's visit at her place. She manipulates her husband, Macbeth to killing the king after three superstitious witches' prophecy that he will become the king of the land (I, III, 67). She is hard and ruthless and does not have humanity which leads to her uncaring character (Russell and Jeffrey, p.75). However, she suffers after hearin
the news about the death of the king to the point of fainting. She suffers from mental derangement as a result of being unable to handle the pace of events. She is very commanding and courageous but it does not prevent her from suffering. The fact that she is a woman does not prevent her from being subjected to emotional sufferings and in the end; she kills herself (I, V, 36-52).
On the other hand, the king, Duncan is a God-fearing man and he rules in an orderly manner, however, he still passes through suffering as a result of his trusting nature. He is appreciative and he honors Macbeth due to his bravery on the battlefield. He is humble and he greets his with honor and even admits to his failure in spotting a treachery (Hort, Leela, and Shakespeare p. 19). He is ordained by God and divined and Macbeth even refers to him as a silver skin with golden blood (II, III, 112). The royal blood is portrayed as having the inheritance to rule but they too pass through suffering. Despite his royal blood and humility, he is killed by his servant. The suffering is extended to his descendants and even results to their departure from Scotland. The fact that he is the king and is very religious does not prevent Macbeth from killing him.
Macbeth is a young woman who becomes the queen of Scotland at some point in the novel but she still pays for her evil actions. When Malcolm's battle comes back to Scotland, Lady Macbeth is the queen of the land and she rules with command and brutality. However, she becomes mentally
disabled after realizing that he power as the queen was not going to last for long (Bloom, p. 45). By the time her husband's killings are too much for her to handle, she is disabled but it does not inhibit her and it eventually leads to her death (V, I, 5-12). She tortures her husband for lack of courage but she confesses the part she played in the murder of the king as a result of the emotional suffering inflicted to her through her husband's monstrous actions. She is still a young queen but her age is not a consideration in making her pay for her actions.
King Duncan is an old and gracious man and his heirs are all grown-up although it does not prevent him from being killed. He belongs to the royal family and the male orientation illustrates strength. However, he gets killed despite the age and the strength. Lady Macbeth is the inventor of his death and she is able to lure the king into her chambers and even gets him drunk. His masculinity does not help him to discover the motives of the events or what could result from the event (Shakespeare, and Nicholas p. 249). The king is formal and educated and is illustrated as having a lot of wisdom. Nevertheless, the wife of a warrior is able to cunningly deceive him into her chambers and gets him drunk with peculiar motives. His wisdom, background and ethnicity do not bar him from sufferings.
In conclusion, it is evident that suffering afflicts all persons regardless of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age or disabilities .Both King Duncan and Lady Macbeth sit on
the throne at some time in the play but they also die while in the throne. Lady Macbeth is ambitious, ruthless, and inhuman and an opportunist who stops at nothing achieves her desires. She sits on the throne after manipulating her husband into killing the king but she realizes at the end that she created a monster which leads into her mental suffering and eventually she ends up committing suicide. On the other hand, King Duncan is humble, God-fearing, trusting and has the royal blood. He is impressed by the success of Macbeth on the battlefield and he honors him by visiting him at his house. The ambitions of his hosts lead to his death and suffering.
Work Cited
- Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare's Macbeth. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. Internet resource.
- Russell, Jeffrey B. Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990. Print.
- Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. Macbeth: Modern Version Side-by-Side with Full Original Text. Cheltenham, England: Stanley Thornes (Publishers, 1990. Print.
- Shakespeare, William, and Nicholas Brooke. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.
