Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

And his gasht stabs lookt like a breach in nature

For ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,

Steept in the colours of their trade, their daggers

Unmannerly breecht with gore:

 

-Macbeth

 Macbeth                                              Act II, Scene iii, Line 116

 This is a portion of what Macbeth is saying when asked why he was so quick in killing the murderers of Duncan. Of course, the real answer is that Macbeth is the murderer of Duncan and he wanted to make sure that these alleged murderers had no way of telling anyone anything. But he’s certainly not going to tell everyone that. Here’s the entirety of his answer when Mcduff asked why did he kill Duncan’s murderers.

 

Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,

Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:

The expedition of my violent love

Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,

His silver skin laced with his golden blood;

And his gasht stabs lookt like a breach in nature

For ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,

Steept in the colours of their trade, their daggers

Unmannerly breecht with gore: who could refrain,

That had a heart to love, and in that heart

Courage to make’s love known?

I find the imagery of Duncan beyond interesting. His silver skin laced with his golden blood;/And his gasht stabs lookt like a breach in nature/For ruin’s wasteful entrance: Wow. What do you make of that? Read those three lines again. That’s um, that’s pure Will. I love that use of language. I guess some might say it’s over the top, but I don’t think so. I think it’s absolutely extraordinary.

Mr. Strongbow here is, I believe, a dead king. I found him in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. So he's not a Scottish king like Duncan, he's an Irish king. That's the best I could do.