2. Introduction to William
Shakespeare’s Macbeth
The Meanings of
Macbeth
Brief examination of the
historical context of
Macbeth
Witches and Witchcraft
in Macbeth
3. The Many Meanings of Macbeth
A historical thriller
– a fast-moving, action-packed
murder mystery demonstrating
that crime doesn’t pay
A psychological study of
a murderer’s mind
A play of political and
social realism
– how oppressive and
hierarchical society can
corrupt individuals
A play of illusions
– the effect of the mysterious or
supernatural on humans
A play of ideas or themes
– for example, “appearance
versus reality”
A play about gender
A tragedy
– the fall of a great person
brought about by a fatal flaw
in their character
4. Historical Context of Macbeth
Shakespeare was a
playwright, not an
historian. However,
he knew that history
provided great
material for plays:
war, conflict,
ambition, the downfall
of great rulers.
Eleventh-Century (1000s)
Scotland was a violent and
troubled country.
Feuding families and clans
fought to control trade and
territory.
The castle was the power
base of each rival war-lord
(thane).
Political murder and
revenge killings were
commonplace.
5. The Real Macbeth
The real Macbeth was
born in 1005, the son of a
ruling family.
Macbeth’s father was
murdered by his cousin.
Macbeth married the
granddaughter of the High
King of Scotland (Gruach)
Martin, Banquo and Macbeth on the Heath
6. The Real King Duncan and Macbeth
Duncan was the king of
Scotland at the time the
real Macbeth was born
Duncan was 38 at the time
of his murder - a murder
possibly committed by the
real Macbeth.
Macbeth was elected High
King of Scotland in 1040.
Macbeth ruled Scotland for 17
years, during which time
Scotland became comparatively
peaceful and stable.
Duncan’s son, Malcolm,
invaded Scotland in 1054,
supported by Edward the
Confessor.
Macbeth was killed on August
15, 1057 and buried at Iona, the
sacred burial place of the Kings
of Scotland.
7. What’s the take-away?
Shakespeare modeled his play after an
actual historical figure.
Some of the plot points are the same.
But…the real Macbeth was (almost)
universally loved and respected;
Shakespeare’s Macbeth wasn’t.
8. James I Comes to Power
Since there was no successor to the English
throne, Queen Elizabeth I selected James VI of
Scotland (a distant cousin) to succeed her—he
was already King of Scotland.
After Elizabeth’s death (1603), James VI of
Scotland also became James I of England,
unifying the two countries, though there was
still controversy between them.
Macbeth contains many echoes of King James’
interests . . .
9. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605
A failed assassination attempt against King James!
Disgruntled Catholics planned to blow up the House
of Lords.
Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding their horde of
explosives in the basement of the House of Lords on
November 5, 1605. (“Remember, remember the 5th
of November.”)
The traitors were sentenced to death, and this day is
still celebrated in England as Guy Fawkes Day.
Shakespeare weaves references to the Gunpowder
Plot into Macbeth. Was this rebellious?
10. Back to the play…
Before the Curtain Opens:
When the play begins, there are two
wars in progress:
1. Civil War in Scotland- King Duncan
vs. Macdonwald’s (a thane’s) rebels
2. National War - Scotland, led by King
Duncan, against invading Norway
11. *Brain Break!*
Stand up at your seat. Your task: organize
yourselves in line from youngest to oldest.
The trick: you must remain silent!
You have exactly 4 minutes to complete the
task. Go!
12. Quick Review
The “real” Macbeth:
– Killed king, became king, succeeded, was
murdered by King’s son
James I from Scotland
– Follows Elizabeth I
– Gunpowder Plot: assassination plot
– Was Macbeth written for him?
13. A Macbeth for King James?
Banquo (pictured at right)
– an elaborate family
tree of the Stuart
dynasty suggests that
King James is
descended from a real
Banquo (Holinshed).
Henry Fuseli, Macbeth, Banquo and the Witches on
the Heath
15. A Macbeth for King James?
King James’ interest
in witchcraft was well
known
King James visited
Oxford in 1605 and
was greeted by three
witches who hailed
him as the descendent
of Banquo . . .
interesting.
Alexandre-Marie Colin, The Three Witches from
Macbeth
16. Witches & Witchcraft
Witch-mania inthe
Elizabethan era.
Most people believed in
witches!
Circulating pamphlets
containing tales of witches
and witchcraft were the
equivalent of today’s
popular newspapers.
Henry Fuseli, The Three Witches
17. Witches and Witchcraft
Witches were said to have “diabolical” powers. They could:
– predict the future
– bring on night in the daytime
– cause fogs and tempests
– kill animals
– curse enemies with fatal, wasting diseases
– cause nightmares and sterility
– take demonic possession of any individual
– raise evil spirits by concocting a brew
It was believed that witches allowed the devil to suck their blood.
Accused witches were examined for the “Devil’s Mark” - a red
mark on their body from which the devil had sucked blood.
18. Witches and Witchcraft - Misogyny?
Between 1560 and 1603, hundreds
of people, nearly all of them
women, were convicted as witches
and executed
In 1604 an official Act of
Parliament decreed that anyone
found guilty of practicing
witchcraft should be executed
Those who confessed to being
witches did so under torture or
because they were in the grip of
delusions recognized today as
psychiatric disorders.
20. beginning Macbeth. . .
Trance
– “look how our partner’s rapt”
Changed Appearance
– “why do you make such faces”
Inability to Pray
– “ “Amen” stuck in my throat”
Visions
– “Is this a dagger I see before
me?”
Disturbed Behaviour
– “I have a strange infirmity”
Lack of Fear
– “I have almost forgot the taste
of fears”
Indifference to Life
– “She should have died
hereafter”
Invitations to evil spirits
– “Come, you spirits”
Editor's Notes
Today we're beginning our study of Shakespeare's "historic tragedy", Macbeth.
We'll be looking at some of the meanings that people assign to this play in "The Meanings of Macbeth". I encourage you to keep these multiple meanings in mind as we begin to study the play. Toward the end of this study you will be creating a project that will demonstrate your understanding of the play, and playing one meaning off another and/or finding and justifying your own meaning for the play is quite an interesting topic. . .
We'll look - very briefly - at the historical context of the play and at the "witches" (the weird sisters) that open the play and are very important throughout . . .
And here's a little warning of what we'll be up to next class. . .
Everyone brings something unique to their reading of a play or a novel . . .
How people interpret something is largely due to their own prior experiences . . .
These are just a few of the interpretations of Macbeth that people have dreamed up over the years. More than anything else, I want to impress you with the fact that Macbeth is a really gutsy, interesting play.
BEFORE INSERTING THE BULLETS . . .
Can anyone tell me when the action of the play takes place? Where the action takes place?
**Lay out the main characters and the basic plot line without giving too much away**
Bring in the bullets
Lots of politics, intrigue and dirty dealings going on in Scotland at the beginning of the Eleventh Century . . .
BEFORE BRINGING IN THE BULLETS . . .
Anyone remember who "Duncan" is?
Remember, this play is loosely based on factual information. Where would this factual information be found?
How much to you trust the factual information?
That might be a good project for you - determine the extent to which the play is based on fact or deviates from established fact . . .
Just a little more historical background. . .
Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in the early 1600s. The time during which the play appeared is called the Renaissance.
Characteristics of the Renaissance from students.
Although he was writing plays and performing them in front of a Renaissance audience, Shakespeare and his contemporaries were most heavily influenced by the mores of the Elizabethan Era.
A little reinforcement of the Elizabethan World Picture (on blackboard)
Remember our discussion of the Globe Theatre? Well, it was likely that at any one performance, Shakespeare's audience would have consisted of the lowest of the low ("the unwashed masses") and the higest of the high (nobility, courtiers, perhaps even the King/Queen). How was Shakespeare paid? You must remember how important patronage would have been to a playwright at this time . . . it's very likely that Macbeth was written with the preoccupations of the new King in mind . . . sucking up would have been one way to 'get in good' with the new monarch . . .
Shakespeare wasn't the first playwright to interpret the story of Macbeth, King of Scotland. Earlier, a playwright named Holingshed created a similar play. Holingshed's play described a really elaborate family tree that showed King James as a direct descendent of Banquo. In Holinshed's play, Banquo was an accomplice to the murder of Macbeth. Shakespeare lays full responsibility for Macbeth's murder on the Macbeth clan . . . Why would Shakespeare make this change?
Banquo is a fictional character - unlike many others in the play, he never existed (or, at least, his existence cannot be proven!). The appearance of Banquo in Shakespeare's version of the Macbeth story shows you the extent to which Shakespeare's play is modelled on those that came before it.
. . . another good project - compare/contrast the Shakespeare version of Macbeth with others . . .
There are the weird sisters . . .
The weird sisters - the witches - open the play, Macbeth. They're a pretty gruesome threesome, and when we view one of the film versions of the play, you'll see just how awful one director thought they should look . . . (Kenneth Branagh version)
Remember that a person is very much a product of their times.
Elizabethan and Renaissance audiences were morbidly fascinated with witches and witchcraft. Persecution of people for the "crime" of witchcraft reached terrifying proportions - between 1560 and 1603, hundreds of people (nearly all of them women) were convicted as witches and executed.
The most popular method of execution?
King James was as fascinated by witchcraft as were his subjects. There is a story that in 1590, a group of witches tried to kill James (before he was king). Their plot was discovered, and they were brought to trial. One of the "witches", Agnes Sampson, claimed that she had collected toad venom to poison the king, christened a cat, tied parts of a dead man's body to it (we don't know which parts), sailed out to sea in a "sieve" and had thrown cat and body-bits overboard in order to raise a storm that would sink James' ship. A bit elaborate . . .
King James personally interrogated one of the three accused witches, "Doctor Fian" - a male. The doctor was tortured during the interrogation: "his nails upon all his fingers were riven and pulled off . . . his legs were crushed and beaten together as small as might be, and the bones and flesh so bruised that the blood and marrow spouted forth in great abundance". Yuck.
So. . . all fired up by his witchy experience, King James personally investigated other cases, and in 1597 he wrote and published "Demonology", a book on witchcraft. When he became king of England in 1603, he ordered its immediate printing in London.
So here's some of the stuff Elizabethans and Renaissance people thought about witches . . .
You would think that these "witches" would be pretty powerful people . . .
. . . but it was mostly single, old women who kept cats that were in danger of being accused of witchcraft. Remember, in 1604 an Act of Parliament decreed that if you were convicted, you were to be executed - and with the methods of "information extraction" used by the interrogators, people were likely to "spill their guts" (literally - know where that term comes from?)..
CHECK - does the group want to get into women's rights in the Seventeenth Century?
. . . here's another idea for your project: maybe you could examine Shakespeare's portrayal of women in Macbeth - very interesting topic . . .
OK - pull out your texts and we're going to begin to look at some quotations in context. Let's find these quotations, then discuss what they mean, bearing in mind the discussion we've just had and the information you've just been presented.
REMEMBER - if you're working with a different version of Macbeth, the line numbers may vary slightly . . . different quarto editions . . .
I, iii, l. 141
III, iv, l. 67
II, ii, ll. 35-36
II, i, l. 33
III, iv, l. 86
V, v, l. 9
V, v, l. 16
I, v, l. 38