Armour, Kingship & the Natural Order

Test yourself

Armour

In Act 5, Macbeth repeatedly calls for his armour and shield. This could symbolise his attempts to take back control.

Illustrative background for <b>‘Give me my armour’</b> (5,3) ?? "content

‘Give me my armour’ (5,3)

Macbeth calls for his armour repeatedly.
- This could symbolise his attempts to take back control.
- The armour represents his masculine power.
When he was a fighter, he had control. He was honoured and people looked up to him.
Since the murder of Duncan, he has hidden away from violence. He has sent other men to do his killing for him. But he is also not afraid at this point because he believes nobody can harm him.

‘...May you see the tyrant...

‘We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, / Painted upon a pole and underwrit, / ’Here may you see the tyrant’
This is how Macduff convinces Macbeth to fight at the end of the play.
This gives the audience a hint of his old bravery in battle: ‘Before my body, / I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, / And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’' (5,8)
He calls for his shield, possibly hoping that his old bravery and honour can reappear.

The Natural Order

The natural order is the set of rules that govern nature, given by God. For example, the sun rises at dawn, sets at dusk and the moon comes out at night.

‘Thunder and lightning’

‘The battlefield: thunder and lightning’
This quote is an example of pathetic fallacy (when the weather reflects the mood): the environment starts to predict the unnatural changes that are about to happen as the witches enter the stage.
Storms have connotations of (are associated with) chaos.

‘Fair is foul... foul is fair’

‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ (1,1).
This is what the witches chant.
Perhaps they are casting a spell that will begin the chaos in nature by reversing everything. Good things will seem bad and bad good.

Witches chant (cont.)

This also acts as a warning that people are often not what they appear. In the play, Lady Macbeth plays the role of the supportive wife but is actually manipulative and controlling. Macbeth plays the role of loyal subject and friend of the king but actually plots to murder him.
This could also be a warning to the audience that supernatural beings are not to be trusted – perhaps Shakespeare was warning people that witches could be hiding anywhere.

‘So foul and fair a day...'

‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’ (1,3)
These are Macbeth’s first words in the play. They echo those of the witches in the first scene.
This oxymoron (opposite ideas) shows the confusion in nature. Things are both good and bad all at once. He has never seen anything like it before. This shows how unusual it all is.
This sets the scene for discord (disagreement) – immediately after this statement, Macbeth meets the witches.

‘We will speak further –’

‘We will speak further –’ (1,5)
The dash in this quote represents that Macbeth was interrupted when he finally speaks.
Lady Macbeth seems to go against the natural order as she doesn’t behave like a wife should. She dominates (has power over) her husband when he first returns home. He hardly speaks, and she seems to lead the plan to murder King Duncan.

Kingship

The Divine Right of Kings says that the person on the throne has been chosen by God. For this reason, the king is part of the natural order of things.

‘The earth / Was feverous...'

‘Some say, the earth / Was feverous and did shake’.
This personification shows that Earth itself is sick with the events happening in the world of men. The murder hasn’t even been talked about at this point.

Illustrative background for <b>‘Unruly’</b> night

Illustrative background for <b>‘Unruly’</b> night ?? "content

‘Unruly’ night

Lennox tells Macbeth that the previous night – the night of King Duncan’s murder – was ‘unruly’ (2,3). People are predicting that bad things will happen.
This could be a message to the audience that people who take part in supernatural events cause huge problems for everyone in the world. The witches in Macbeth have caused nature itself to turn on its head.

‘Beauteous and swift’

‘Beauteous and swift’ and ‘make war with mankind’ (2,4)
An old man and Ross talk about the strange happenings in nature on the night that Macbeth murdered King Duncan.
They talk about how Duncan’s horses, which were usually ‘beauteous and swift’, also went wild, as though they would ‘make war with mankind’.

1Literary & Cultural Context

1.1Context

1.1.1Tragedy

1.1.2The Supernatural & Gender

1.1.3Politics & Monarchy

1.1.4End of Topic Test - Context

2Plot Summary

2.1Act 1

2.1.1Scenes 1 & 2

2.1.2Scene 3

2.1.3Scenes 4-5

2.1.4Scenes 6-7

2.1.5End of Topic Test - Act 1

2.2Acts 2-4

2.2.1Act 2

2.2.2Act 3

2.2.3Act 4

2.3Act 5

2.3.1Scenes 1-3

2.3.2Scenes 4-9

2.3.3End of Topic Test - Acts 2-5

2.3.4Diagnostic Misconceptions - Ambiguous Ending

2.3.5Diagnostic Misconceptions - Jacobean

3Characters

4Themes

4.1Themes

4.1.1Power & Ambition

4.1.2Power & Ambition HyperLearning

4.1.3Violence

4.1.4The Supernatural

4.1.5Masculinity

4.1.6Armour, Kingship & The Natural Order

4.1.7Appearances & Deception

4.1.8Madness & Blood

4.1.9Women, Children & Sleep

4.1.10End of Topic Test - Themes

4.1.11End of Topic Test - Themes 2

4.2Grade 9 - Themes

4.2.1Grade 9 - Themes

4.2.2Extract Analysis

5Writer's Techniques

5.1Structure, Meter & Other Literary Techniques

5.1.1Structure, Meter & Dramatic Irony

5.1.2Pathetic Fallacy & Symbolism

5.1.3End of Topic Test - Writer's Techniques

6Recap: Main Quotes

6.1Characters Quotes

6.1.1Macbeth

6.1.2Macbeth 2

6.1.3Macbeth 3

6.1.4Macbeth 4

6.1.5Lady Macbeth

6.1.6Lady Macbeth 2

6.1.7Banquo

6.1.8Banquo 2

6.1.9The Witches

6.1.10King Duncan

6.1.11Macduff

6.2Text Structure - Quotes

6.2.1Violence

6.2.2The Supernatural

6.2.3Ambition

6.2.4Armour, Kingship & the Natural Order

6.2.5Appearances & Deception

6.2.6Lady Macbeth's Masculinity

6.2.7Madness & Blood

6.2.8Men, Children & Sleep

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