10/18/ About the Man & Context for the Play. English

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1 About the Man & Context for the Play English Generously Liberated from Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 10/18/ From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 10/18/ 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. 3 From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 4 1

2 Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. Don t let that fact give you any ideas about quitting though 10/18/ 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. 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. 8 2

3 Public and critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and partowner of the Globe Theater. 9 10/18/ His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I ( ) and James I ( ), 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. Wealthy and worldfamous, 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

4 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 18 th Century (1700s), his reputation as the greatest Englishlanguage poet was well established. 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 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. 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

5 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. 10/18/ 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. 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

6 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 Why July? 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 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. 23 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? 10/18/

7 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. 25 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. 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. 28 7

8 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. 29 From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes A Who s Who in Macbeth 10/18/ Glamis Cawdor Inverness Dunsinane Birnam Wood Scone Macbeth Scottish general. Thane of Glamis Thane of Cawdor Lady Macbeth Deeply ambitious Ruthless Controls Macbeth 10/18/

9 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. 33 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. 34 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. 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

10 Lennox and Ross Scottish noblemen The Murderers Hired by Macbeth to murder Banquo and Fleance; also Macduff s wife 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