Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
• Born in 1564
• Married Anne Hathaway 1582,
had 3 children
• 1590, left his family behind to
travel to London to be an actor
and playwright
• Part of The Kings’ Men:
company of actors patronized
by King James I of England
(VI of Scotland)
• Died in 1616 “on” his birthday
• His plays reflect the concerns
of Elizabethan England and
themes of the English
Renaissance
William Shakespeare
• Originally, plays were
performed in taverns and
inn yards that eventually
developed into outdoor
stages and finally into
theaters
• The theater was for
everyone – rich and poor
alike – as it allowed for
escapism
• Shakespeare was part
owner of The Globe, and
several of his plays were
performed there.
Theater Conventions
• Actors often consider the play
Macbeth to be unlucky and
refer to it as “the Scottish
play.” To say the name of the
play inside a theater is
considered bad luck.
• It is based loosely on the
history of Scotland as it was
understood in Shakespeare’s
day
• Written & performed in 1606
• Historical source was
Holinshed’s Chronicles of
England, Scotland and Ireland
(1577)
The Scottish Play
• The play is set in 11th
century Scotland – a violent
and troubled time
• One High King of Scotland
and many rival thanes of
sections of the country
• Political murders and
revenge were common
• Vikings & Norsemen
attacked Scotland constantly
Historical Setting
• Born in 1005 to a family that
ruled Moray and Ross
• Married the granddaughter to
the High King of Scotland – no
children
• Elected High King of Scotland
in 1040, & ruled over 17 years
of peace and prosperity
• Strong supporter of the church
– no evidence of involvement
in witchcraft
• Killed on Aug 15, 1057
• Buried at Iona – sacred burial
place of Kings of Scotland
The “real” Macbeth
• The play pays tribute to the
interests of Shakespeare’s
patron: King James I
• James was already King of
Scotland prior to becoming
King of England
• Compliments James by
making Banquo, said to be
James’ ancestor, a hero in
the play. (Historically,
Banquo never existed)
Importance of Patronage
• The Right to Rule - Power
• One became monarch upon the
death of the previous monarch
• Succession was originally via
election in Scotland, but was
changed to inheritance
• By King James’ time, monarchs
believed they had been chosen by
God to rule – through the process
of inheritance
• King James succeeded Queen
Elizabeth in 1603 following
England’s succession obsession
Themes
• Kinship and loyalty
• King James had survived an
assassination attempt as a child
and the recent Gunpowder Plot
of 1605
• His father had been murdered
by opposition to the Scottish
throne
• His mother, Mary Queen of
Scots, was executed by her
cousin, Elizabeth I, for plotting
treason
• Witches and King James
• James traveled to Denmark in
1589 and returned with
continental beliefs about
witches
• Began a Scottish witch hunt in
1590
• Published his own treatise
about witches in 1597 called
Daemonology
• Witchcraft became a crime
against the state and monarch
as James believed they
“assault the body of the king.”
Themes
• Witches and misogyny
• Nearly 9 out of every 10
witches prosecuted were
women
• Society and the Church
believed women were
morally weak, susceptible to
the Devil, and more carnal
than men – all by-products
of a patriarchal society
• Fate and Free Will
• The role of prophecy
• Ambition and fallibility
• The danger of “flying too
close to the sun”
• Perception and reality
• “fair is evil, and foul is
good”
• Femininity
• Stereotypes of women
Other themes
•
•
•
•
Blood
Clothing
Natural order (nature)
Sleep and lack of
sleep
Motifs
• Aside
• words spoken by an actor to
the people watching a play,
that the other characters in
the play do not hear
• Dramatic irony
• the irony occurring when
the implications of a
situation, speech, etc, are
understood by the audience
but not by the characters in
the play
Dramatic elements
• Prose
• ordinary speech with no regular
meter or rhyme. Lines of text do
not all have the same number of
syllables nor is there any
discernible pattern of stresses
• is used whenever verse would
seem bizarre, for cynical
commentary, in serious letters,
when the rational is contrasted
with the emotional, for scenes of
everyday life, and for bantering,
relaxed conversation
Dramatic elements
• Verse
• resembles prose in that the final
words of the lines do not rhyme in
any regular pattern (although an
occasional rhyming couplet may be
found). Unlike prose, there is a
recognizable meter (usually iambic
pentameter or a meter with iambic
stress pattern)
• is used mainly for passionate, lofty or
momentous occasions and for
introspection; it may suggest a
refinement of character. Many of
Shakespeare's most famous speeches
are written in blank verse (unrhymed
iambic pentameter)
Dramatic elements
• Aristotle defined tragedy as
a form of drama that elicits
pity and fear. It focuses on
the reversal of fortune and
downfall (peripeteia)of a
tragic hero.
• Audience experiences
heightened emotions as
they watch the hero suffer,
and in the end, audience
has a catharsis.
A Tragedy
• A tragic hero is a person
of noble birth with heroic
or potentially heroic
qualities.
• fated by the gods or by
some supernatural force
to doom or great suffering
• struggles mightily against
this fate, winning our
admiration
Tragic Hero
• When the play begins,
there are two wars in
progress:
• Civil War in Scotland:
King Duncan (High
King) vs. Macdonwald’s
(a thane) rebels
• National War: Scotland,
led by King Duncan,
against invading Norway
Before the Curtain Opens…