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Mac Beth-King Arthur Theme Analysis
One of the most important roles of literature in society other than entertainment is education. As an education tool literature can be effective in informing the audience or sensitizing it about the various issues in society. Authors’ employ their literary artistry conveying a message or lesson that is of social significance. These social issues are developed and presented in the plot through the characters and various literary devices such as symbolism. This paper explores Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Thomas’s Le Morte d’ Arthur in an attempt to illustrate how the theme of leadership and tyranny has been developed through the characters.
Macbeth can be described as a tragedy written by Shakespeare and first performed in 1601. The plot of the play revolves around a bold general in Scotland called Macbeth who after receiving a prophecy from a group of witches that he will be King of Scotland murders the reigning King Duncan to take over as the king. The theme of tyranny versus leadership in this play is developed through the main characters in the plot: Macbeth and Duncan. While Duncan is referred to in the playa king, Macbeth is labelled a tyrant. The contrast between the leadership and tyranny is that the former is that a leader rules in a fashion that best suits his subjects while a tyrant rules with a model that best suits their personal interests. Under Duncan’s leadership, for example, the subjects are rewarded: Macbeth was rewarded by being made the thane of Cawdor after defeating the invaders. According to Malcolm, “The king-becoming graces / [are] justice, verity, temperance, stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, [and] lowliness” ( Macbeth 4.3.92–93). On the contrary, Macbeth is a reflection of tyranny brings chaos in the kingdom murdering every person he perceived to be a threat.
Le Morte d’ Arthur can be described as an epic by Sir Thomas Malory and first published in 1485. In the book, Malory provides a tale of King Arthur and his Knights developing in it various themes that characterized the political environment at the time. While centring the epic on the theme of Chivalry, the author also indirectly suggests the tyranny possessed by the Knights on the round table that played a major role in the King’s decision making. In the Medieval England society, right is not determined by its implications on a victim but rather by what the high and mighty, Knights, do. On Launcelot’s return to the court amidst his continued affection and romance with Guinevere, Arthur is prompted by Mordred and Aggravain to res[pond by taking action (Thomas 212). Due to the tyranny possessed by the King, Arthur heeds to the advice and responds by sentencing Guinevere to be torched at the stake. The power possessed by Mordred and his status in the society empowers him to not only become the King of England but also claim Guinevere as his life.
In conclusion, the message behind both literary works as developed through the theme of leadership versus tyranny that every individual in a powerful position in society, while having the capacity to do as they please is vested in them the responsibility of being just. Leaders are encouraged in both works to rule in a fashion that best suits their subjects and not in their selfish interests. The tragedy faced by what can be described as figures in both books, Mac Beth and Mordred, for example, can be ascribed to their failure to abandons elfish interest and rule with just.
Works Cited
Malory, Thomas. Le Morte D’Arthur, Vol. 2. Dent, 1967.
Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Macbeth. Vol. 2. Classic Books Company, 2001.