SHAKESPEAREAn Introduction to Macbeth
SHAKESPEARE'S WORDS
Uses words no longer used todayAroint thee (begone), coign (corner), anon
(right away)
Uses words localized in ScotlandThe Western Isles, thanes, Cawdor, Glamis,
Sinel,etc.
Uses words now used with a different meaning
Composition (terms of peace), present (immediately),
addition (title)
SHAKESPEARE'S SENTENCES
Inverted Syntax“Goes He” (Subject/ Verb Order)
“My noble partner / You greet with present grace and great prediction”
(Object / Subject +Verb Order)
Separated Sentence Patterns“Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought”(separates subject and verb)
SHAKESPEARE’S SENTENCES
Holds back parts of the sentence “For those of old / And the late dignities heaped up to them, / We rest your hermits”
(Bold should be at the front of sentence.)
Often omits words “Thou wouldst be great / [Thou] Art not without ambition,
but [thou art] without/ The illness [that] should attend it.”
(Words in brackets left out.)
WORDPLAYPuns: words that sound similar, with differing meanings
Metaphors: object or idea is expressed if it were something else that shares common features
MACBETH’S LANGUAGE
Invented Words: Words Shakespeare Coined-Folger Shakespeare Library
Deliberate Imprecision:“If it were done when tis’ done, then twere’ well/It were done quickly” (1.7:1-2)
IMPLIED STAGE ACTION
Dialogue used to indicate stage directions
Vague effect descriptions leftup to director
Imagination/ Visualization
SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE
Stratford-upon-Avon
Little known about his education
Married Anne Hathaway in 1582
Attacked by Robert Greene for sudden prominence in 1590’s
1564-1616
Greek and Roman Literature
Christianity
World expanding and Science
London growing into a Metropolis
SHAKESPEARE’S INFLUENCES
SHAKESPEARE’S THEATERActors presented their plays in almost any place available, because theaters were not popular.
The first theaters were built in the 1590s outside of London.
Built in areas of entertainment.
The Globe was on the Bankside.
SHAKESPEARE’S THEATER
No elaborate scenes, so the audience had to imagine the changes in scenes.
Creative changes of scenes by having the people walk off the stage, use of rhyming couplets, signage
Men played roles for both genders.
PUBLICATION O F SH A KE S P E A R E ’ S P L AY S
18 of 38 plays printed during Shakespeare’s lifetime
printed in cheaply made books called “quartos”
Posthumously, Heminge &Condell compiled plays in “folios”, books printed onvery large pages.