Macbeth Quote Analysis

Caithness describes Macbeth's current state as the Scottish nobles march to join Malcolm's advancing army. He explains why some call Macbeth mad while others call him furious.

The clothing metaphor collapses two ideas into one image: Macbeth's 'cause' (his justification for ruling) is 'distemper'd'—diseased, disordered—and he cannot force it to fit 'within the belt of rule,' as if trying to cinch a garment that's too large or misshapen. The verb 'buckle' suggests both fastening and collapsing under pressure, so the line captures how Macbeth's illegitimate reign is coming apart at the seams. This makes his tyranny feel not just morally wrong but structurally impossible to sustain.

Use this to argue that Shakespeare presents Macbeth's downfall as inevitable from the moment he seizes power illegitimately—the metaphor of ill-fitting clothing suggests that tyranny cannot be 'worn' successfully because it has no legitimate structure to support it.