Context

• Shakespeare is England's most famous playwright. He lived from 1564 – 1616. His plays can be divided into Histories (e.g. Henry VI), Comedies (e.g. Midsummer's Nights Dream), and Tragedies (e.g. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet)
• For the majority of his career, Shakespeare wrote for the acting group the Lord Chamberlain's Men (who became known as the King's Men in 1603 when James I ascended the throne)
• Shakespeare was writing during the Renaissance, a period between the 14th and 17th centuries where there was an expansion of artistic expression
• Plays were an incredibly popular and central medium of entertainment during the Elizabethan and Jacobean era
• Macbeth is a history play (like Richard II and Henry IV) and was written in 1606 - a few years after the ascension to the throne of James VI of Scotland who succeeded as the monarch of England in 1603 known as James I
• Macbeth


  A dramatic tragedy that follows the classic five-act structure, surrounding the protagonist Macbeth and the witches who act as catalysts for the play's events
• Hamartia


  An ancient Greek term first used by Aristotle in his Poetics, meaning 'fatal flaw'. A character's fatal flaw is the thing that leads to their ultimate downfall - in Macbeth's case it is his ambition and lust for power
• Catharsis


  An ancient Greek term that means the 'purging' or 'cleansing' of emotions, particularly through pity and fear, that the audience experiences at the end of a tragedy. It results in renewal and restoration
• The original source of the story of Macbeth comes from Holinshed's Chronicles (1577), a large work describing the collaborative histories of England, Scotland and Ireland
• While Holinshed's Chronicles was the main source for many of the history plays of Shakespeare, most now believe that the narrative is more legend than truth
• There is also some evidence to suggest that the play Macbeth in part may have been written by someone else, such as Thomas Middleton
• 3 main changes Shakespeare made from Holinshed's 'Historie of Scotlande'

  • Characterised Macbeth as cruel and tyrannical, rather than a good king for 10 years
  • Changed the 'goddesses of destine' to three simple Elizabethan witches
  • Banquo is not an accomplice to the murder and is an honourable man, rather than a partner with Macbeth to kill King Duncan
• The Jacobean era was one of uncertainty and tension due to the way that King James I came to power
• King James I

  His life can be referred to as a Scottish tragedy - his parents were imprisoned and forced to abdicate the throne, and he never saw his mother again after she was executed by Queen Elizabeth I
• King James I had a great interest in the supernatural and witchcraft, and wrote a book called 'Daemonologie' (1597) which extensively explained his beliefs on witchcraft
• After James became the king of England he increased the severity of the law regarding witchcraft, making it a felony punishable by death and removing interference from the clergy
• Divine right of kings


  James I believed he was chosen by God to be the king of England and the righteous judge, and that it was his supernatural duty to complete witch-hunts
• King James I was deeply misogynistic, believing that only women could be witches because they were the 'weaker sex' and so could be easily entrapped by the 'snares' of the devil
• Witchcraft plays a large part in Macbeth and provides a basis for the events of the play, with the witches serving as a warning against witchcraft, evil and bloodshed
• Some have argued that Lady Macbeth is the fourth witch in the play, due to her passion and power and ambition
• Fates

  In Greek mythology, the deities in charge of the destinies of mortals who spun the weave of human lives
• Hecate


  In Greek mythology, the goddess of witchcraft; in Macbeth, the witches' mistress
• The Scottish tragedy Macbeth starts with the words of the witches and ends in blood and carnage
• Discord and confusion in the line of succession

  Only evil and bloodshed came to be
• Macbeth is a warning to the English people about witchcraft and evil - it is both a sin against God as well as against the state
• Witchcraft


  In the words of King James I, "high treason against God"
• Some have argued that Lady Macbeth is the fourth witch in the play, due to her passion, power and ambition
• Sometimes women in power were attacked and accused of witchcraft
• Great Chain of Being


  An ideological belief circulating at the time, originating from ancient Greek philosophers, in which everything had a fixed place according to its importance and spiritual nature, with God at the top and rocks at the bottom
• When Lord and Lady Macbeth conspired and killed King Duncan

  They committed a carnal sin, a sin against the state, and a sin against the order of the universe according to the Great Chain of Being
• Macbeth's actions

  Distorted the natural order of the universe, setting off chaos and bloodshed
• Divine Right of Kings

  A belief that God had specifically chosen monarchs to rule the country, so an attempt to kill the one God had chosen was not just a worldly sin but a sin against God
• The gunpowder plot was a failed conspiracy by some Catholics to assassinate the king and parliament on November 5th 1605
• James I believed the gunpowder plot was an act of witchcraft, and allusions to this can be seen in Macbeth
• The witch trials and hunts that took place during James' reign marked a dark time in English and Scottish history, and this dark mood pervades Macbeth
• During this period in England, there was a lot of religious conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism
• When James I became king, many Catholics believed he would treat them better, since his mother Queen Mary of Scots was Catholic, but he did not
• Macbeth is set in the 11th century, when Protestantism did not exist, but Shakespeare considers religious debates such as predestination vs free will and forgiveness vs suffering, reflecting key differences between Protestantism and Catholicism
• Predestination


  The belief that before we are born, God has already decided whether we are going to Heaven or Hell, and there is nothing in life that can change this
• Free will


  The belief that we have choices in everything we do, and these choices determine where we end up after we die