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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2836  Thursday, 13 December 2001

From:           David Bishop <dvbishop@mindspring.com>
Date:           Wednesday, 12 Dec 2001 15:48:35 -0500
Subject: 12.2829 Absolute Scotland
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2829 Absolute Scotland

Graham Bradshaw’s tyrannical Duncan, usurping the rights of that heroic
rebel Macbeth, is these days a familiar style of critical construct. So
then, if in some technical sense this seems true, why would we feel
differently about Duncan?

You may be tanistically ignorant and still see that Macbeth, having
saved Scotland, might expect a large reward, especially with some
supernatural prompting. Then Duncan himself says that Macbeth deserves
“more than more than all can pay.” That he chooses this moment to name
Malcolm his heir, in this medieval kingdom where evidently the identity
of the heir is up to now in question, seems significant--and a definite
shock to Macbeth.

With Malcolm out of the running, the election later lights on Macbeth,
who has no children but does his damnedest to keep Banquo’s children
from becoming kings. The line of kings later shown to Macbeth seems, in
context, a welcome prospect.

Writing in a context of succession uncertainties, Shakespeare seems to
have liked inherited succession better than election because it
(theoretically) eliminated controversy and was more likely to insure a
peaceful passing on of power. So in moving to change the system from one
in which the logical successor would be the greatest warrior, Duncan was
making a courageous move in the direction of establishing a stabler and
more peaceful world.  Claudius, playing the role of a good king, makes a
similar move by naming Hamlet his heir. In both cases, the fact that the
succession reverts to election seems a lost chance for a more peaceful
dispensation, which will in the long run be established forever, we
might hope, under a king like James.

Best wishes,
David Bishop

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