Thread by @GCSE_Macbeth

This thread started life as a joke -- that Macbeth's murder of Duncan was a good example of working from home.

But then I got to wondering -- how does Shakespeare portray ideas about HOME in Macbeth?

1/

The characters' home is Scotland.

Macbeth does not utter the word SCOTLAND once. Macduff uses it 8 times out of its 12 appearances.

Macbeth's never seems motivated by politics or a vision for what type of monarch to be. His ambition is more compulsive, less specific.

2/

Power passes to Macbeth but, as a usurper, "Scotland" does not. He is not identified with his country in the play.

Macduff, in contrast, represents the good of the nation. The very idea of Scotland as a place worth saving rests with him.

3/

It is significant in this context that the very last word of the play is "Scone" -- the historical capital of Scotland, where Malcolm will be formally crowned king.

An ending that represents a return to justice, proper succession and order.

4/

To leave one's home is to be vulnerable -- Duncan dies away from home, at the hand of his "kinsman and his host". Macbeth's murder of a guest is a violation of honourable conduct.

Banquo, too, dies in between places. "Men must not walk too late", in Lennox's words.

5/

Bird imagery is important in the play, and NESTS are significant:
- Banquo describing the "martlet" who nests around Macbeth's castle in 1.6
- Lady Macduff's criticism of Macduff for leaving his family in 4.2 ("in [their] nest")

And of course the family die while he's away.

6/

Having violated his own home with murder, Macbeth invades the sanctity and security of others:

"There's not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant fee'd." (3.4)

7/

I'm also put in mind of the sailor in 1.3, "wrecked as homeward he did come."

Lots to say about how physical space is portrayed in the play, but the division between HOME and unsafe spaces seems really key.

Thanks for reading!

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