Malcolm Macbeth King Malcolm’s Language Duncan Macbeth’s Words

Language, form and structure: How does Shakespeare present Malcolm in this scene?

In this last scene, Malcolm assumes the role of king with ceremonious ritual. He is dignified and stately, but he may seem stiff and rigid after Macbeth’s destructive energy.

The words ‘Hail, King’, ‘Hail, King of Scotland’ (5.9.19;25) resound through the scene with a mounting sense of triumph, as more voices join in the cry and confirm Malcolm’s sovereignty. In response, Malcolm takes on the formal language of kingship, exchanging the personal pronoun ‘I’ for the royal ‘we’ (5.9.1; 26). As king, he must be more than himself, representing the ‘body politic’ of Scotland, as well as his individual interests as a man.

Malcolm also echoes the language used by his father, repairing the bloodline that was cut when Macbeth seized the throne. Both use natural metaphors to convey the close bond between the king and his nobles, presenting the feudal order as harmonious and fruitful. Malcolm says his royal duties will be ‘planted newly with the time’ (5.9.31); while Duncan had ‘begun to plant’ his thanes and would ‘labor / To make [them] full of growing’ (1.4.28‒29). Malcolm also reminds us that he reigns by the ‘grace’ of God’s ‘Grace’ (5.1.38). He is sanctioned by the 

This contrasts dramatically with the ‘breach in nature’ (2.3.113) after Macbeth murdered Duncan, when the ‘Earth / Was feverous’ (2.3.60‒61) and ‘chimneys were blown down’ (2.3.55). The king, the state, the weather and God are all bound up together. Violence against the king’s body disrupts Scotland’s order, causing the ‘unnatural’ events we witness in the play (2.4.10).

Malcolm’s words seem deliberately measured and precise after Macbeth’s excesses. He uses financial language, promising not to ‘spend a large expense of time’ (5.9.26) before he reckons up the love of his thanes, and repays what he owes. Similarly Duncan expresses his gratitude in terms of debt and ‘payment’ (1.4.19). When Malcolm says he will do what’s needed in ‘measure, time, and place’, the commas force the actor to pause, slow down and fully savour the moment, letting the audience breathe a collective sigh of relief. As so often in Shakespeare, the last lines are rhyming couplets, reinforcing the sense of balance: ‘So thanks to all at once, and to each one / Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone’ (5.9.40‒41).

Yet despite his composed manner, Malcolm’s description of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is unflinchingly brutal. He bluntly redefines them as a ‘dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen’ (5.9.35), reminding us of how far they’ve sunk from the ‘noble’ couple they seemed (1.2.66). His language seems to deprive them of their complex humanity. It compares Lady Macbeth to the witches or ‘juggling fiends’ (5.8.19) and reduces Macbeth to a bloody, emotionless killer. In doing so, Malcolm makes us confront the full horror of their actions, but he also increases the pathos of their tragic fall from greatness