Macbeth Group

Question:

joels-cutie
joels-cutie
Student
High School - 11th Grade

How does Duncan's use of 'star' imagery contrast with Macbeth's? (see 1.4.39-53)

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Posted by joels-cutie on Monday March 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM and tagged with act 1, dark, duncan, heavens, light, macbeth, scene 4, shakespeare, star, star imagery.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    Well spotted! Duncan, having given out his rewards and prizes, annouces that he will official make Malcolm the heir to his throne:

    We will establish our estate upon
    Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
    The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must
    Not unaccompanied invest him only,
    But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
    On all deservers.

    The nobility and the desert of the awarded nobleman shall "shine" out like stars. Good qualities send light out into the heavens: visible to all.

    Macbeth, in his aside at the end of the scene, has an entirely different thought about the stars:

    Stars, hide your fires;
    Let not light see my black and deep desires.

    Just as Duncan wants the nobility of his kinsmen to shine like stars, Macbeth wants the stars to hide their light, to make things less visible. Macbeth wants his black and deep desire to be unseen - to remain in the dark.

    Hope it helps!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth-text/act-i-scene-iv

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Tuesday March 10, 2009 at 3:44 AM