English literature Macbeth context

• Plays were an incredibly popular and central medium of entertainment during the Elizabethan and Jacobean era
• 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
• 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 a time of uncertainty and tension due to the way that King James I came to power
• King James I had a great interest in the supernatural and witchcraft, and wrote a book called 'Daemonologie' (1597) which may have been a source for Shakespeare's Macbeth
• The 3 parts of King James I's book 'Daemonologie'


  • Magic and necromancy
  • Witchcraft and sorcery
  • Spirits and spectres
• Divine right of kings


  The belief that the king is chosen by God and has a supernatural duty to complete witch-hunts
• King James I was deeply misogynistic and believed that only women could be witches because they were the 'weaker sex'
• The witches in Macbeth

  They set the pace for the play and serve 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 her power and ambition
• Hecate


  In Greek mythology, the goddess of witchcraft; in Macbeth, the witches' mistress
• 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
• 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 Aristotle and Plato, 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
• The Gunpowder Plot was a failed conspiracy by some Catholics to assassinate the king and parliament on November 5th 1605
• The tragic consequences of Lord and Lady Macbeth


  Were possibly because they sinned not just carnally but also against God, for which the punishment is eternal damnation
• Macbeth can be seen as a warning against regicide and a representation of what could happen if the audience attempted it
• 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 and resulted in thousands of deaths marked a dark time in English and Scottish history
• Through Macbeth, the viewer is able to see the terrible consequences of what happens when power is given to these forces of darkness
• 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
• 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
• The theological debate between predestination and free will plays out in Macbeth
• It can be argued that Macbeth is just a victim of predestination through the prophecies of the witches, or that he is only a victim unto himself
• Pathetic fallacy


  The use of weather and setting to reflect the mood of Macbeth and create a more in-depth experience for the audience
• The witches say that 'fair is foul and foul is fair', foreshadowing how the unsettling of the Great Chain of Being through regicide has turned morality upside down
• The Curse


  A common belief that the play is cursed, originating from a story about a coven of witches who cursed the play because Shakespeare used real spells and incantations