Context

• regicide


  the action of killing a king
• Daemonologie


  Influential text written by James I.

  He contended that witchcraft was a reality and that its practitioners must be punished.
• Dr Fian


  A Scottish schoolmaster accused of witchcraft.

  Most significantly associated with several marine disasters including an attempt on the ship of King James I
• Equivocation


  The deliberate use of ambiguous or vague language.

  "Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale..." (Act 2, Scene 3)
• The trial of Father Henry Garnet


  Involved in the Gunpowder plot and linked to equivocation.

  He was found guilty and sentenced to death- the trial happened as Shakespeare was writing Macbeth. It was seen as a Protestant attack of equivocation.

  Reference to equivocation in text would have been seen as a mockery of Catholics.
• The Gunpowder Plot (1605)


  Attempt of regicide on King James I. Motivated by religious strife between protestants and Catholics in general and James' severe measures against Roman Catholics in particular.
• Robert Catesby


  Young nobleman from a distinguished family. His role as a conspirator in the Gunpowder plot was a shock to James I who regarded him as one of his dearest subjects.

  Some scholars have speculated that Catesby was the model for Macbeth.
• The Cowrie Conspiracy


  August 5th 1600- an assassination attempt on King James I that was nearly successful.

  Ruthann deceived the King into meeting alone with a man supposedly charged with theft but actually armed to kill the monarch.
• Witchcraft and the Supernatural


  Medieval Scotland maintained a belief in witches, including their ability to make properties and affect the outcome of certain events. Shakespeare's depiction of Macbeth's encounters with the witches drew on both 11th Century Scottish beliefs and Renaissance English beliefs.
• The Norse Invasion


  9th Century- Scotland found itself under invasion by raisers commonly known as Vikings. This is the focus on the battle in Act 1.
• The Holinshed Chronicles


  Stories about Scotland including the historical story of Macbeth and Duncan.
• 1605-1603


  time period shortly after the ascension of King James of Scotland to the English throne. The new monarch brought Scotland into the public limelight. He is reign was further marked by political and religious conflict.
• Divine Rights of Kings

  The belief that the King was God's representative on Earth and held ultimate power. To commit regicide would be an act of sin.
• Patriarchal society


  Society ruled by men- they hold power and judgement.
• Jacobean Male


  Men assumed a dominant position in the society. It was the man of the house who worked and fetched for food to keep his family alive. Apart from being the sole bread earner of the family, the eldest male member was the head of the house. Everyone had to obey him and do as was being told. Marriages were normally decided by elders or parents of the bride or bridegroom.
• Jacobean Female


  Jacobean women continued to live a life that was sub-ordinate to men. They were supposed to obey what was told to them. The main responsibility of married women was to take care of the household matters and raise children
• Great Chain of Being


  People occupy fixed positions in the world which cannot be changed.
• Elizabethans believed that if the natural ranking was interfered with...


  the natural world would be thrown off balance.
• Royal Progress


  Monarchs travelled around the country. Could stay in any great house. Expectation a host will provide security and comfort for the monarch and all of their court/soldiers etc.
• Tanistry, rather than primogeniture


  Tanistry - where a monarch chose his successor from a parallel family line: for example, a nephew would succeed an uncle. This system was in place in 11th century Scotland'. The system of Primogeniture - the crown being passed to the eldest son of the King was not established until later in history.
• A grammar school education

  Shakespeare received an education in the Classics. At school, students translated from Latin into English and from English into Latin. Ordinary conversation was in Latin; any boy caught speaking English was flogged. And they mastered the tropes of rhetoric. He would have studied Ancient texts including, Aristotle's 'Rules for a Successful Tragedy' which included the following:

  Hamartia - the tragic flaw (or mistake) that leads a potentially 'good' hero to their doom. Audiences will feel no pity for an 'evil' tragic hero and won't enjoy watching a good man get punished despite flawless behaviour - only a good-but-flawed hero can elicit pity and fear.
• James I of England (and VI) of Scotland - From the House of Stuart and descendant of Banquo


  Shakespeare 'altered' history. Fleance was father to the first of the Stuart kings in Scotland. Banquo was involved in the murder of Duncan in the 11th century.