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About the Man

&

Context for the Play

English 621

Generously Liberated from Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 12/7/2015 1 12/7/2015 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…

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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 12/7/2015 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.

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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

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Where did he get all his great ideas? As was common,

Shakespeare borrowed ideas for his plays from earlier literary works.Why did he have

to do that?

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12/7/2015From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 17

In Shakespeare’s time, an acting company could not

expect a playwright to write

in a vacuum.

Alone without help.

The nature of the schedule, in which a new play could be

demanded weekly, required

playwrights to get together

and share their ideas.

English playwrights at this time freely borrowed material from one another and shared criticisms/edits. Christopher Marlowe was

Shakespeare’s closest rival.

Each play definitely presents Shakespeare’s work, but also the contributions of actors, managers, and so forth, who all knew what parts of a play to leave in or take out.

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Shakespeare likely

wouldn’t be impressed to

learn that his work is

being studied. He wrote for entertainment

value; for the same

audiences who loved

watching executions.

This crowd loved ‘staged

mayhem’.

The English crowd loved

gore (blood and guts). Stage crews would do their

best to show blood, illness,

love scenes, etc. look real.

His plays appealed to

everyone, even if they

didn’t understand many of the words.

Sound familiar?

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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.

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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.

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.

From Cliffsnotes and Sparknotes 12/7/2015 28

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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.

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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 30

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.

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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 Macbeth

Deeply 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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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.