Notes on Macbeth

Site 1

• Both the literal & symbolic tone of the play is sinister and its central characters are evil
• When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1606, James I had been King of England for 3 years
• Symbolized the union of the Scottish & England crowns
• Fascinated by witchcraft
• The real Macbeth reigned in Scotland from 1040 to 1057.
• Ruled for 17 years
• The north & south of Scotland were united for the first time during his reign

Site 2

• Macbeth shows life at its most brutal & cynical, in order to ask life's toughest question.
• When we first hear of Macbeth, he has just cut an enemy open from belly button to throat.
• Lady Macbeth convinces him to commit murder.
• The Macbeth's murder a sleeping man, their benefactor & guest, in cold blood.
• Everybody knows Macbeth murdered Duncan, but they make him king anyway.
• Macbeth goes to a with to see his future, and his head ends up on a stick.

Site 3

• Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most intense plays & one of his most complex psychological studies.
• The story of this psychotic killer & his fiendlike wife was actually written as a tribute to Shakespeare's royal patron, King James I of England.
• Shakespeare changed history to simplify complexities & to kiss up to King James.
• The historical Macbeth had become king in the year 1040 when he killed the previous king, Duncan, in battle.
• This violent record was largely the result of how Scottish kings came to power.
• For most audiences the witches are the most spectacular element of the play.
• Over the years a very powerful superstition arose about Macbeth in the theater: strange things happened whenever you performed the play, so that in the English theater in particular you were forbidden to use the name of the play in the theater.

Site 4

• One of Shakespeare's favorite sources was Holinshed's Chronicles of the History of England & Scotland.  He drew on this document for information to use in the writing of his histories, but also used party of the document as a source of some tragedies for Macbeth.

Site 5

• Minor sources that contributed to Macbeth include  Reginald Scot's "Discovery of Witchcraft" and King James' "Daemonolgie."
• Changes to these serve 3 main purposed:
• The dramatic purpose of producing a more exciting story than is found in the sources.
• The thematic purpose of creating a more complex characterization of Macbeth.
• The political purpose of catering to the beliefs of the reigning monarch, King James I.
• In Holinshed's "Chronicles," Macbeth is introduced as a valiant gentleman, and as in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth is sent by King Duncan to crush the rebellion led by Mackdonwald.
• Our first impression of Macbeth is one of grandeur.
• Shakespeare deviates from Buchanan's depiction of Macbeth as a cruel, barbarous man, a notion also put forth by Holinshed.
• His inclusion of Macbeth's guilty conscience was a way in which he could both intrigue & compliment King James.