Duncan, Malcolm, and the Restoration of Order
Listen to the night. It's the night King Duncan is murdered. But it's not just a bad storm. Listen to how the young lord Lennox describes it the morning after. "The night has been unruly... lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death... Some say, the earth was feverous and did shake." The earth itself is sick. The wind is screaming. Why? Because a man has been killed in his sleep? No. Because this man wasn't just a man. He was the King. And in Shakespeare's world, to kill a rightful King is to rip the very fabric of the universe in two. I'm Elara, your Director of Studies, and today we're looking at the light in the darkness of Macbeth. We spend so much time talking about the witches, the blood, and the psychological collapse of the Macbeths, that we often forget what it is they actually destroyed. Which is order. The natural order of things. Spot on, Leo. Today, we're focusing on the two men who represent that order, grace, and divine appointment: King Duncan, and his son, Malcolm. If Macbeth is the disease, these two are the cure. Let's start with the father.
To understand Duncan, you have to understand a concept that is absolute gold for your GCSE and A-level essays: The Great Chain of Being. Right, the Elizabethan and Jacobean idea that everything in the universe has a strict, God-given hierarchy. God at the top, then angels, then humans, animals, plants, and finally rocks and minerals. Exactly. And who sits at the very top of the human hierarchy? The King. The King. Appointed by God. This is the Divine Right of Kings. King Duncan isn't just a politician who won an election. He is God's anointed deputy on earth. When Macbeth talks about Duncan, even he admits that Duncan has "borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking-off." So Duncan is the perfect King? He's pure goodness? He is the idealised medieval monarch. And Shakespeare shows this through the language Duncan uses. Listen to how Duncan speaks when he's happy. It's never about wealth or military might. It's about nature. "I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing." Yes! He uses semantic fields of agriculture and fertility. He sees himself as a gardener, nurturing his kingdom, making it grow and thrive. Macbeth brings drought and famine; Duncan brings harvest. He is quite literally the lifeblood of Scotland. But... if he's so perfect, why does he die so easily? Isn't there a flaw in his goodness? Ah, that is the A-level question right there. Duncan's greatest virtue is also his fatal flaw. He is entirely too trusting. Think about the former Thane of Cawdor, the traitor who rebelled against Duncan before the play even starts. What does Duncan say about him? "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust." And seconds later, in walks the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth. And Duncan trusts him absolutely, too. Duncan represents grace and divine order, but he lacks the political shrewdness required to survive in a fallen, violent world. He believes everyone is as good as he is. It is a beautiful, fatal innocence.
When Duncan's blood spills, the Great Chain of Being shatters. Grace is expelled from Scotland. And what rushes in to fill the void? Chaos. Complete and utter chaos. We're not just talking about civil war. We're talking about the natural world rebelling against the unnatural act of regicide. We get a sudden, terrifying eclipse - "dark night strangles the travelling lamp." And the animals go mad! A mighty falcon is hunted and killed by a tiny mousing owl. A perfect metaphor for Macbeth, the lesser lord, striking down his King. And most horrific of all? Duncan's royal horses... They turn wild in nature, break their stalls, and eat each other. They. Eat. Each. Other. This is Shakespeare hammering home his point to King James the First, his patron. When you mess with the Divine Right, you don't just get a new boss. You get an apocalypse. You turn the world upside down. Good becomes evil. Fair becomes foul. But Scotland isn't left entirely in the dark. Because Duncan left behind a son.
Okay, but let's talk about Malcolm. Because his first instinct when his dad is murdered isn't exactly heroic. He and his brother Donalbain immediately pack their bags and run away. Malcolm literally says, "To show an unfelt sorrow is an office which the false man does easy." True. He flees to England. But let me ask you this, Leo: is running away cowardice, or is it the exact thing his father lacked? You mean... suspicion? Exactly! Duncan trusted the "false man" too easily. Malcolm looks around a room full of grieving lords and thinks, one of you is lying, and I'm not sticking around to find out who. He learns from his father's fatal flaw. He has Duncan's royal blood, but he isn't naive. This brings us to Act 4, Scene 3. It's the longest scene in the play, and students hate it because there's no witchcraft and no murder. It's just Malcolm and Macduff talking in England. But it is crucial. Right, Macduff goes to England to beg Malcolm to come back and save Scotland. But Malcolm doesn't just say yes. He tests Macduff. He pretends to be an absolute monster. He says he's greedy, lustful, and has no kingly graces at all. And why does he do that? To see if Macduff is secretly working for Macbeth. He wants to see if Macduff actually cares about Scotland, or if he's just a yes-man. When Macduff finally breaks down and cries out in despair for his bleeding country, Malcolm knows he can trust him. It's a masterstroke. Malcolm proves he is fit to be King. He combines the divine right and grace of his father with the political intelligence needed to survive. He is the complete package. And there's that bit in the same scene where they talk about the King of England, Edward the Confessor. Yes! The English King is described as having a "heavenly gift of prophecy" and the power to heal the sick with "holy prayers." Why does Shakespeare put that in? To show what a real King looks like. It's the total opposite of Macbeth. Macbeth is a butcher who infects his country. Edward is a healer. And Malcolm is aligning himself with that divine, healing energy. He's bringing the English King's grace back to a diseased Scotland.
At the end of the play, the tyrant's head is on a pole. The blood is washed away. And Malcolm steps forward. He is the rightful heir, the Great Chain of Being is re-linked, and the universe breathes a sigh of relief. "This, and what needful else that calls upon us, by the grace of Grace, we will perform in measure, time and place." "By the grace of Grace." Not by his own ambition. Not by the prophecies of witches. But by the grace of God. And notice the words he ends on: "measure, time and place." Structure. Order. Everything back where it belongs. Exactly. Macbeth is a play about the terrifying thrill of chaos, but it is ultimately a conservative play. It tells us that breaking the rules of the universe leads to madness and death. Duncan is the pure, innocent ideal of that divine order, tragically destroyed by his own trust. But Malcolm is the evolution of that order - goodness armed with wisdom, ready to heal the world. When you're writing your essays, don't just treat Duncan as a victim, or Malcolm as an afterthought. They are the structural pillars of the play. They are the light that proves how dark Macbeth's shadows really are. Thanks for listening. If you want more deep dives into your A-level and GCSE texts, make sure to check out our other episodes. I've been Elara, your Director of Studies. Now go get some revision done. See you next time.