MACDUFF      What’s the disease he means?

MALCOLM      ’Tis called the Evil.

A most miraculous work in this good king,

Which often since my here-remain in England

I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven

Himself best knows; but strangely visited people,

All swoll’n and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,

The mere despair of surgery, he cures,

Hanging a golden stamp about their necks

Put on with holy prayers; and ’tis spoken

To the succeeding royalty he leaves

The healing benediction. With this strange virtue,

He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,

And sundry blessings hang about his throne

That speak him full of grace.                        (4.3.147-160)

The disease was indeed known as the Evil, but it’s a useful word to introduce in this play, and at this point. Edward the Confessor cures evil; Macbeth—as is about to become all too apparent, again—solicits it, commands it, performs it. This good king, never seen, is a miracle-worker, and Malcolm has witnessed it with his own eyes; he describes a vision, in effect, of good magic, a ritual the outcome of which is wholly positive—it’s a contrast to the witches as well as to Macbeth. How he solicits heaven, himself best knows, but God is certainly listening to him and answering his prayers. Strangely visited people, all swollen and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, the mere despair of surgery, he cures: they’re visited with diseases, but the suggestion is also, perhaps, that it’s a kind of possession, a spiritual malaise too. They’re sick and deformed in body and mind, and they’re also, implicitly, a body politic, which is being healed and made whole again through the touch of a righteous, holy king, even when the medics have given up. A gold coin is hung around their necks (an aspect of the ritual which James also performed) put on with holy prayers—and, what’s more, ’tis spoken to the succeeding royalty he leaves the healing benediction. This magic touch is hereditary; King Edward’s successor kings will have it too (hence affirming James’s legitimacy and inheritance as monarch, because he too performs this ritual). And even more, with this blessed virtue of healing, the English king has a heavenly gift of prophecy, another contrast with the dark, twisted and misleading prophecies of the witches. Sundry blessings hang about his throne that speak him full of grace, not witches, wicked spirits, strange apparitions, murderers. Blessings. A good king, and implicitly the model to which Malcolm himself aspires, as well as a contrast with Macbeth.