Macbeth's political imagination : the struggle for kingship in Macbeth

Abstract EN

Ambition and regicide are two types of evil examined very closely in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

Hence, ambition is seen in the play as a sin, an attempt to jump the natural order and make a new one, a desire so intense it can lead a person into the hands of evil.

Regicide, according to medieval European conventions, is to kill God's anointed king, and so likewise to disrupt the natural and divine order.

Macbeth's illegal and immoral kingship brings death, destruction, and suffering to Scotland, whilst the good kingship of Duncan and Malcolm brings victory and happiness; the contrast is deliberate.

This study offers a critical analysis of the complicated issue of kingship in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

It tries to analyze the brutal nature of the struggle for monarchy as portrayed in this tragedy.

Macbeth's regicide is discussed from its different angles, taking into consideration the main critical views produced on this issue.

The method used throughout the work can be described mainly as textual and analytical relying on the text of the play as a primary source and other secondary sources casting additional light on the topic under discussion