 Go
over Anticipation Guide
 Macbeth PPT
 Macbeth Act 1 vocab
 Attributes of a play
 Assign reading parts for Act 1
 Begin reading! 
The Renaissance Theater
 Some
scholars believe medieval drama
evolved from church ceremonies
 13001300-1400s:
guild plays >cycles of plays
which dramatized whole history of human
race (the Creation, fall from grace, etc.)
 Change…
Change…Eventually,
comedy is incorporated
into religion and plays start to demonstrate
the English ability to mix the comic and the
serious.
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The Renaissance Theater
Types of PrePre-Renaissance Plays:
 Miracle and mystery:
mystery: taught people
stories from the Bible and saints’
saints’ legends.
 Moralities:
Moralities: taught people how to live and
die.
 Interludes:
Interludes: early 1500s—
1500s—playwrights
stop being anonymous.
The Renaissance Theater
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More change…
change…Mid 1500s, permanent buildings for the
theater come. First public theater, called The Theater, was
built by James Burbage.
The Globe (a.k.a. “This wooden O”
O”):
- Made from timber salvaged from The Theater, which
was demolished in 1599.
- Wooden—
Wooden—three stories with an inner yard that
opened to the sky
- 16 sided polygon; held 3000 people
- Flag flew on days when there was a play
- General admission = one penny (for groundlings who
stood in the yard)
- Patrons paid more, and sat higher in the gallery
- Most expensive seats were along the side of the
stage
- Stage jutted out into audience, lots of audience
interaction
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The Globe
Theater
The Renaissance Theater
 Imagination:
Imagination:
the audience knew the
theater couldn’
couldn’t show reality. There were
sparse props and action took place off
stage; but, there were elaborate
costumes, ornate theaters, and dialogue
that described the characters’
characters’
surroundings. Eloquent music was played
between acts and at other appropriate
times during the performance.
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William Shakespeare
1564-1616
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Wrote 36 plays, and 154 sonnets
His works show detailed knowledge of many
different trades
He wrote to satisfy patrons, not as a means of
personal expression
1599: his company, Lord Chamberlains’
Chamberlains’ Men,
finances The Globe
16001600-1607: period of his greatest productivity
1610: retires to Stratford
William
Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare
1564-1616

“Shakespeare’
Shakespeare’s characters represent such a vast
range of human behavior and attitudes that they
must be products of his careful observation and
fertile imagination rather than extensions of
himself. A critic named Desmond McCarthy once
said that trying to identify Shakespeare the man
in his plays is like looking at a very dim portrait
under glass: The more you peer at it, the more
you see only yourself”
yourself” (294). In other words,
Shakespeare does not reveal himself in his
plays; rather, he reveals universal truths about
human nature.
An Introduction
to Macbeth
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The Cast of Characters
 Macbeth
The Cast of
Characters
 Lady
Macbeth
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The Cast of Characters
 The
Witches
The Cast of Characters
 Duncan
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The Cast of Characters
 Macduff
The Cast of
Characters
 Banquo
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Macbeth
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Tragedy - Drama about real people, whose deeds
are recorded in history.
The Real Macbeth – Shakespeare took the main
events of the real Macbeth’
Macbeth’s life from the book
Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland
(1577).
The historical Macbeth had a more legitimate claim
to the throne than Shakespeare’
Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He
gained the throne, and ruled successfully with the
help of nobles who were dissatisfied with Duncan.
Macbeth
 So,
why did he change it?
- Shakespeare wanted to explore
events and attitudes of his own time
(The Gunpowder Plot of 1605).
- Altered to pay homage to his king
and his country.
- Shakespeare was more interested in
psychological truth than historical fact
the struggles of “real”
real” people
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Act 1 Vocabulary
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Plight – a condition, state, or situation that is
typically unfavorable.
HurlyHurly-burly – noisy disorder and confusion
Minion – follower of someone in power; servant
Lavish – using or giving in great amounts
Corporal – of the human body; physical
Prophetic – foretelling events as if by divine
inspiration
Surmise – to guess; to think without much
evidence
Harbinger – anything that foreshadows a future
event
Vocabulary continued…
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Rapt – deeply engrossed or absorbed
Missives – a written message; a letter
Metaphysical – based on abstract or speculative
thinking
Remorse – deep or painful regret for
Beguile – to take away from by cheating or
deceiving
Sovereign – a king, queen, or other supreme ruler
Purveyor – a person who provides provisions,
especially food
Trammel – something that restricts activity,
expression, or progress
Chamberlains – an officer who manages the
household of a sovereign.
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