"They hail'd upon him father to a line of kings: Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown." whats it mean?

Question

macbeth quote!

Answer 1

Since William Shakespeare wrote the Scottish play to please James I, the newly crowned King of England as of 1603, who was also James VI, the King of Scotland since 1567, the witches hail Banquo as the founder of the Stuart dynasty, which would eventually include James himself--at least according to Holinshed 's Chronicles, which was Shakespeare's source for the play.  

Holinshed, however, originally noted that Macbeth (a. k. a. Mac Bethad mac Findlaich) and Banquo acted as accomplishes in Duncan's murder, but Shakespeare wisely left out this detail.  Of course, the Stuart kings manufactured Banquo as the founder of their dynasty, but he never really existed.

Macbeth, however, was a real medieval king of Scotland and quite a stable one with a comparatively long reign. Incidentally, historians credit him as  one of the founders of Scottish law, even if he wore a "fruitless crown", meaning he didn't father any children, although Lady Macbeth (a. k. a. Gruoch) bore one son, Lulach the Simple, by her first husband, Gillacomgain.  The historical Macbeth overthrew Gillacomgain, gained the support of his fellow Scots (a type of succession called tanistry), and married Gruoch, which strengthened his claim to the Throne.

Answer 2

The witches prophesied that MacBeth's companion (for some reason I can't remember his name now) would not be a king himself, but his offspring would be kings for several generations.  They told Macbeth he would be king, but he would have no children of his own to inherit it.

He was thinking about what the witches had said, and getting jealous of his friend, which is why he had him killed--and tried to have his son killed with him, only the son  escaped.  

Macbeth's ambition couldn't abide the thought that he would be king, and had murdered for the crown, and yet his family line would not endure past himself.  His friend had done no wrong, and would get the gains of Macbeth's dirty work, in other words.  And that didn't sit wll with Macbeth.

Maggie

Answer 3

The person referred to as "him" had children who later became kings. The speaker though had none.  Actually the real Macbeth did little of the things that appear in the play and had a stepson.  The play was written by Shakespeare for political reasons.