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About the Man
&
Context for the Play
English 621
2010
Generously Liberated from Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 1 1/30/2010 2From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes
The most influential
writer in all of English
literature, William
Shakespeare was born in
1564 to a successful
middle-class glove-maker
in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England.
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Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. Don’t let that fact
give you any ideas about quitting though…
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 6
In 1582 he married an
older woman, Anne
Hathaway, and had three
children with her.
After he left for London,
she embarked on a
moderately successful film
career in Hollywood.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 7
Around 1590 he left his
family behind and
traveled to London to
work as an actor and
playwright.
History also suggests
that William took small
roles in other
productions to help
finance his writing.
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Public and critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theater.
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His career bridged the
reigns of Elizabeth I
(1558–1603) and
James I (1603–1625),
and he was a favorite of
both monarchs.
James granted
Shakespeare’s company
the greatest possible
compliment by bestowing
the title of King’s Men.
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Wealthy and world-
famous, Shakespeare
retired to Stratford and
died in 1616 at the age of
fifty-two.
His will never mentioned
any of his plays since, at
that time, they were the
property of the King’s
Men and not his.
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Shakespeare’s works were
collected and printed in
many editions in the
century following his
death.
The First Folio was
published seven years after
his death by his actor
friends to preserve his
legacy.
By the early 18th Century
(1700s), his reputation as
the greatest English-
language poet was well
established.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 13
The fascination with his works led to a fierce curiosity about Shakespeare’s life.
However, the absence of biographical information has left many details of Shakespeare’s personal history shrouded in mystery.
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Some people have concluded
that Shakespeare’s plays were
really written by someone else
(Francis Bacon and the Earl of
Oxford are the popular
candidates).
Support for this claim is
circumstantial and the theory is
not taken seriously by many
scholars, including one bald one
in this room.From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 15 1/30/2010From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 16
Without credible evidence to prove otherwise, Shakespeare must be viewed as the author of the 37 plays and 154 sonnets that bear his name.
The legacy of this body of work is immense.
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Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest tragedy.
Macbeth tells the story of a brave Scottish general (Macbeth) who receives a prophecy from a trio of sinister witches that one day he will become king of Scotland.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 18
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Consumed with
ambitious thoughts and
spurred to action by his
wife, Macbeth murders
King Duncan and seizes
the throne for himself.
He begins his reign
wracked with guilt and
fear and soon becomes a
tyrannical ruler, as he is
forced to commit more
and more murders to
protect himself from
enmity and suspicion.
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The bloodbath swiftly
propels Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth to
arrogance, madness, and
death. As in all of Shakespeare’s
tragedies, very few of the
main characters live to
see the end of the play.
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Macbeth was most likely
written in 1606, early in
the reign of James I, who
was from Scotland.
It was probably first
performed in July 1611.
Why July?
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James was the main patron of Shakespeare’s acting company (The King’s Men).
Of all the plays Shakespeare wrote under James’s reign, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright’s close relationship with the king.
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In focusing on Macbeth, a figure from Scottish history, Shakespeare paid homage to his king’s Scottish lineage.
Macbeth is not Shakespeare’s most complex play, but it is certainly one of his most powerful and emotionally intense.
As was common, Shakespeare borrowed ideas for his plays from stories from earlier literary works. In this case, he borrowed a
tale from Scottish history as written in the official historical record of the day: The Chronicles of Holinshed.
If he was so great, why did he have to borrow ideas?
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In Shakespeare’s time, an
acting company could not
expect a playwright to write
in a vacuum .
Life wasn’t that comfortable
for playwrights.
Because new plays were
commissioned weekly,
required playwrights to get
together and share ideas.
English playwrights at this time freely borrowed material from one another and shared criticisms and edits.
Macbeth definitely presents Shakespeare’s work, but also the contributions by actors, managers, prompters, and so forth, who all knew what parts of a play to leave in or take out.
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As most people in Shakespeare’s time knew, Macbeth was a real king of eleventh-century Scotland, whose history Shakespeare had read in the Chronicles of Holinshed. He referred to the
Chronicles of Holinshed for many of his other historical dramas.
In Holinshed’s account,
Macbeth’s buddy Banquo
and Macbeth combine to
kill King Duncan after
winning his favor in a
battle against the Danes.
Banquo isn’t aware of
Macbeth’s murderous
manners in Shakespeare’s
version.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 26
The original story in
Holinshed’s is full of
impressive details that show
the cunning of the Scots
and Macbeth, who
slaughtered an entire
Danish army not by brute
force, but by cunning:
first he mixed a sleeping
potion and sent it, like the
Trojan horse, as a gift to the
enemy army.From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 27
Once they were asleep, Macbeth was able to kill them easily.
Presumably from this incident, Shakespeare derived his idea of having Lady Macbeth administer a sleeping potion to the guards of King Duncan’s chamber. She is definitely the power
behind the throne, which is a great departure from Holinshed’s account.
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In Holinshed’s account, although we learn that Macbeth’s wife is ambitious to become queen, Lady Macbeth does not feature as an accomplice. That is certainly not the case in
Shakespeare’s play, as Lady Macbeth constantly challenges and provokes her husband, driven by her own ambition for herself and her husband.
It eventually consumes and ruins her life.
In Holinshed’s Chronicles, Banquo joins forces with Macbeth in killing Duncan. As we shall see later, this
particular confederacy of murderers presented Shakespeare with a problem. They cannot all be king, so
someone has to be ‘removed’.
It was probably much easier for Shakespeare to focus on one murderer’s descent into madness and murder, so he focused on Macbeth.
From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 1/30/2010 29
A Who’s Who in Macbeth
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Glamis
Cawdor
Inverness
Dunsinane
Birnam Wood
Scone
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Macbeth Scottish general.
Thane of Glamis
Thane of Cawdor
Lady MacbethDeeply ambitious
Ruthless
Controls Macbeth
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‘Midnight Hags’ Predict Macbeth’s
fate.
Appear to Macbeth a few times in the play. Take perverse delight
in using their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings.
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Noble general and friend
of Macbeth. Witches predict that his
sons will inherit the
Scottish throne.
Is ambitious (like
Macbeth), but doesn’t
translate his thoughts
into action.
Good King of Scotland
Murdered by Macbeth
Virtuous and benevolent.
His death represents the
destruction of order in
Scotland that won’t be
restored until his heirs
take the throne again.
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Scottish nobleman.
Not a friend to Macbeth.
Becomes a leader in the
crusade to unseat
Macbeth as king.
Macbeth has Macduff’s
wife and young son
murdered early in the
play.
Duncan’s son.
With Macduff’s help
(and the support of
England), he becomes a
serious challenge to
Macbeth.
Early in the play, he and
his brother, Donalbain,
flee to England after
their father’s murder.
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The goddess of
witchcraft who helps the
three witches work their
mischief on Macbeth.
Banquo’s son, who
survives Macbeth’s
attempts to murder him
(unlike his dad).
He is predicted to rule
Scotland by the witches,
but his whereabouts at
the play’s end are
unknown.
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1/30/2010From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 37
Lennox and Ross Scottish noblemen
The Murderers Hired by Macbeth to
murder Banquo and Fleance; also Macduff’swife and children.
Donalbain Duncan’s other son.
Porter Drunken doorman at
Macbeth’s castle and comic relief in the play
Lady Macduff She and her home serve as a
contrast to the hellish world of Lady Macbeth’s Inverness.
