How did the doctor attending Lady Macbeth provide a contrast to the King of England in Act 5?

Answer 1

The contrast was between the Doctor's inaction and the King's action. In Act 5 Scene 1, the Doctor let the Gentlewoman attendant persuade him to witness the odd behavior of Lady Macbeth [b. c. 1015]. He traced the cause of the Lady's hand rubbing, sleepwalking, and talking to herself to emotional and mental problems within herself. Then in Scene 3, he discussed these problems with her husband, Macbeth [c. 1014-August 15, 1057]. In both scenes, his conclusions were his inability to solve the problems and the patient's need to cure herself. This reaction directly contrasted with the reactions of King Edward the Confessor [c. 1003-January 5, 1066] of England. In Act 2 Scene 2, the future King Malcolm III [d. November 13, 1093] fled Scotland for the English court. In Act 4 Scene 3, he was joined by Macduff near one of the English King's palaces. At first, Malcolm and Macduff talked about the suffering of Scotland under Macbeth's rule. Then they switched to the English people's suffering from scrofula. As with Macbeth's Lady, the English sufferers were blamed for inner causes of outward suffering. But unlike the Lady's Doctor, King Edward was proactive and made healing interventions. Likewise was the English King proactive in regard to the suffering of Scotland. In fact, Malcolm told Macduff that his Uncle Siward, Earl of Northumberland and General of the English Army, was being allowed to get together a 10,000 soldier strong force against Macbeth. In Act 5 Scene 2, the combined forces of invading Englishmen and discontented Scotsmen already were near Macbeth's royal castle of Dunsinane and even nearer to Birnam Wood. The scene showed the English King's proactiveness in seeing a problem and stepping in to solve it. The proactiveness provided especially effective contrast by being sandwiched between Scenes 1 and 3, in which the Doctor saw his royal patient's problem and did nothing.