Order - Macbeth

What constitutes order in the play Macbeth?

In the play Macbeth, by Shakespeare, the social hierarchy that is naturalised in the play through the use of a King who leads by divine right constitutes order. Order is also constituted by gender due to Lady Macbeth wanting to remove her feminine traits.

At the start of the play, what is Macbeth rewarded for?

• Being brave
• Being brave to his country and his people
•  What he used that bravery for – using it in support to King and country and thereby defeating the enemy
• Used his courage and physical strength in a good way
• If killing is out of loyalty then it is awarded

What is the first Thane of Cawdor punished for?

•  Punished for being disloyal
•  Going against king and country

When Macbeth kills Duncan, what is his immediate response? What does his intense feeling of guilt tell us?

•  Intense guilt
• He will never get over it
•  He is on edge after it to
• Scared
• Macbeth shall sleep no more – sleep is being actuated with having a conscience that is not guilty
•  Killing isn’t the problem, its who he has killed
• He has destroyed the natural order – not loyal to the King
• Act 1 – Scene 4 (good quotes there) 

Chaos ensues for Scotland. What does this tell us about what Macbeth has done?

• It tells us that he has destroyed the natural order

What occurs in the natural world when Duncan is murdered? Why? What does this tell us?

•  The natural world has gone crazy to
• Act 2 – Scene 4 (affects in the natural world)
•  Day time but its dark
• A falcon should not be able to be killed by an owl, but yet it did
• Pointing out that what Macbeth has done has destroyed the natural order

When Macbeth is killed and Malcolm regains the throne that happens to Scotland?

•  The natural order is restored

What does Lady Macbeth contribute to the order?

• She asks to unsex herself, so that she can do what she did without feeling feminine emotions

Naturalised Hierarchy

Write a paragraph in which you analyse the way in which the reader is positioned to understand the naturalized hierarchy in the play through references to the natural world. Use quotations and reference correctly.

In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the reader is positioned to view the naturalised hierarchy as the natural order in the play through the use of references to the natural world.  The play positions the reader to see that this hierarchy is the most fitting and the only one that there is in the natural world. The audience is able to understand that this is the case through the character of Macbeth and his actions that effect the natural world. Before Macbeth kills Duncan he is awarded for being brave and a resilient soldier who defends his King and country. However, once he kills the King and destroys the natural hierarchy the natural world is disturbed. The play presents to the reader that the natural world is changing by saying,  “by the clock, ‘tis day, and yet dark night stangles the travelling lamp (2.4.7-8). The play also presents that due to the naturalized hierarchy changing that wildlife in the natural world is also changing, “A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d (2.4.14-15).  However, once Malcolm becomes King after Macbeths demise, the audience can see that the natural hierarchy is restored as the natural order is restored resulting in the world returning to normal.