"Is not the dominion of the night or the shame of the day / That darkness buries the face of the Earth / When the living light should kiss it?" (Macbeth 2.4.9-11).¹ The reversal of day and night in William Shakespeare's Macbeth represents a far more permanent and unnatural reversal: that of a nation's hierarchy. When the title character makes the tragic decision to commit regicide and begin a dishonest ascension to the throne, the destruction of Scotland's natural order begins, and this turn of events is reflected in the violent reaction of natural phenomena in the country. William Shakespeare, as the hired author of King James I, sought to preserve a conservative monarchical system, promote the philosophy of the divine right of kings, and please his patron through Macbeth: associating Macbeth's murder of King Duncan of Scotland with a series of unnatural events, Shakespeare illustrates to the audience the gravity of such a crime and the displeasure of nature and God towards its perpetrator. The use of violent natural imagery in Macbeth solidifies a monarch's position as a God-appointed leader of a nation, showing God's dismay with Macbeth, embodying the disruption of a nation's natural hierarchy, striking terror into the hearts of those who are disloyal to their monarch and representing witches as supernatural forces of evil on Earth. To understand the historical context of Macbeth, it is necessary to examine the political culture of the reign of King James I Stuart. James ruled Scotland from 1567 to 1625 and England from 1603 to 1625, and was the first of a wave of monarchs who claimed a divine right to rule (BBC). As the first ruler of an established Kingdom of Great Britain, James made public statements asserting his… mid-paper conservatism… and it makes for an interesting analysis. Just as an eclipse darkens the sun, regicide creates a series of events that reverse the natural order of a divine right monarchy, and William Shakespeare effectively illustrates this idea through the use of natural imagery in Macbeth. Works cited"BBC - History - Historical figures: James I and VI (1566 - 1625)." History of the BBC. BBC, 2011. Web. 08 April 2011. .Kreis, Steven. "James I, Speeches to Parliament (1609)." The history guide. 12 May 2004. Web. 08 April 2011. .McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: an introduction with documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.Shakespeare, William and Sylan Barnet. Macbeth. New York: Signet Classics, 1998. Print.