Macbeth context

• When was Macbeth written?

  1606 in the Jacobean era.
• When did Queen Elizabeth I die?

  1603.
• Who became king of England after Elizabeth's death?

  James I - who was a distant relative - and he became the first king of both England and Scotland.
• What was the famous assassination attempt against king James I?

  The Gunpowder plot - Guy Fawkes tried to blow up parliament on the 5th of November 1605.
• What did the controversial passage of power between Elizabeth and James influence in Macbeth?

  The theme of usurpation - stealing the throne from the rightful ruler.
• What is it called when you murder the king/queen?

  Regicide.
• Who is Banquo in relation to kind James I?

  A distant relative - he is portrayed as honourable and good-hearted to represent trustworthy bloodline.
• What was The Great Chain of Being?

  Hierarchical system ranking all forms starting with God at the top and ending with peasants.
• What does Macbeth killing the king do to the GCOB?

  It disrupts it because King Duncan was above Macbeth in the GCOB.
• What does Macbeth's act of regicide do to society, the heavens and himself?

  It causes chaos.
• What is a paradigm?

  A society's beliefs and ways of thinking at a point in time.
• What were the two paradigms within in the Jacobean era?


  Christianity and the Renaissance (inspired philosophies like humanism).
• Why did Shakespeare include witches?

  James I was obsessed with witches.
• What book did James I write?

  A book on witches called Daemonologie.
• How were men described in the Jacobean era?

  Courageous, physically powerful and sexually potent.
• How were women described in the Jacobean era?

  Passive, virtuous and inferior - they were the source of sin.
• What type of play is Macbeth?

  A dramatic tragedy.
• Which type of theatre influenced Shakespeare's writing?

  Classical Greek theatre - his plays often mimic the conventions of Aristotelian tragedy.
• What is the peripeteia?

  The reversal of fortune in a narrative.
• What is the hamartia?


  A characters fatal flaw - Macbeth's is ambition.
• What is pathos?


  Pity.
• What is anagnorisis?


  Realisation.
• What is catharsis?

  Emotional release, closure.
• What are the five Aristotelian conventions?

  Peripeteia, hamartia, pathos, anagnorisis and catharis.