Macbeth by William Shakespeare focuses on the exchange of power and the lengths people are willing to go on behalf of their ambition. The lead character, Macbeth, faces internal conflict over the immoral actions he commits in order to achieve the witches prophecy and become King. Throughout the play the reader sees the ramifications of the murders he commits on the kingdom as a whole, and on a slew of other characters. Prince Malcolm falls victim to Macbeth's dastardly plans, and flees to England after the death of his father. At first he is presented as a very passive character with little initiative to gain the throne, however, after he sees the negative impact Macbeth has on Scotland he works towards regaining his claim to the crown. We
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This makes his other lies more believable since he is willing to exxegerate even further than them. In lines 74-76 Malcolm discusses his extreme lust unbefitting of a ruler, “But there’s no bottom, none, / In my voluptuousness. Your wives, your daughters, / Your matrons, and your maids could not fill up / The cistern of my lust, and my desire”. In reality it would be impossible for him to have relations with all of these women, however, he extends past what is believable to paint himself in an even worse light which is necessary since he needs to make himself look even worse than the tyrant …show more content…
Since Malcolm wants to truly see if MacDuff is a moral person he is willing to insult his character in order to see how he will respond. Malcolm states in lines 33-38, “Why in that rawness left you wife and child,/ Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,/ Without leave-taking?/ I pray you,/ Let not my jealousies be your dishonors,/ But mine own safeties./You may be rightly just,/ Whatever I shall think.” Here he states that he does not know if he can trust MacDuff along with bringing up the emotional topic of family going as far as to insult MacDuff's abilities a father and a husband. This personal attack along with Malcolm’s other rhetorical strategies are what finally forces MacDuff to state that Malcolm would be even worse than Macbeth as a ruler. This proves to Malcolm that MacDuff is a trustworthy ally, and really has Scotland's best interests at
This makes his other lies more believable since he is willing to exxegerate even further than them. In lines 74-76 Malcolm discusses his extreme lust unbefitting of a ruler, “But there’s no bottom, none, / In my voluptuousness. Your wives, your daughters, / Your matrons, and your maids could not fill up / The cistern of my lust, and my desire”. In reality it would be impossible for him to have relations with all of these women, however, he extends past what is believable to paint himself in an even worse light which is necessary since he needs to make himself look even worse than the tyrant …show more content…
Since Malcolm wants to truly see if MacDuff is a moral person he is willing to insult his character in order to see how he will respond. Malcolm states in lines 33-38, “Why in that rawness left you wife and child,/ Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,/ Without leave-taking?/ I pray you,/ Let not my jealousies be your dishonors,/ But mine own safeties./You may be rightly just,/ Whatever I shall think.” Here he states that he does not know if he can trust MacDuff along with bringing up the emotional topic of family going as far as to insult MacDuff's abilities a father and a husband. This personal attack along with Malcolm’s other rhetorical strategies are what finally forces MacDuff to state that Malcolm would be even worse than Macbeth as a ruler. This proves to Malcolm that MacDuff is a trustworthy ally, and really has Scotland's best interests at