Macbeth

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor

player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the

stage,

And is heard of no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing. (5.5.24-28)

William Shakespeare

1599-1613

James I 1603-1625

• James VI of Scotland• Witchcraft Act 1563• Wrote Daemonologie• Fell asleep at performances

Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland & Ireland

OrHistory & Chronicles of Scotland

• Historical Mac Bethad & Banquo killed King Duncan

Henry Fuseli. Macbeth consulting the vision of the armed head, 1793.

Macbeth Overview

• Motifs to look for and discuss:• hallucinations• knives• blood• animals (particularly birds)• Light/dark; day/night• hands/washing• dreams• nature/weather

Themes:– Crisis of masculinity/femininity (false

dichotomy?)– Ambition– Fate vs. Free Will– Guilt– Seeing/Not seeing– Appearance vs. Reality– Infanticide/Regicide– Order /Chaos

The Great Chain of Being

1579 drawing from Didacus Valades, Rhetorica Christiana

Aristotle defines tragedy in The Poetics (circa 330 BCE)

Tragedy: The imitation of serious action, also having magnitude, complete in itself, which incorporates incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions.

What Defines Tragedy?

Tragedy“A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall”

(Aristotle).

1. Character: the protagonist or tragic hero• noble birth: better than we• moral balance: neither wholly good nor wholly bad• tragic flaw or error in judgment (hamartia); (e.g. hubris, excessive

pride, which leads to protagonist’s disregard of divine warning or law

2. Three Unities• Unity of action: one plot• Unity of time: brief period of time (24 hours)• Unity of place: single geographical place

…Aristotelian Tragedy 3. Melody: khoros

4. Diction: expression of meaning with words (metaphor theme)

5. Catharsis: purification or cleaning – Pity (aroused through sympathy) – Fear (aroused through empathy)

6. Spectacle: costume & masks, scenery, deus ex machina

Additionally, an Aristotelian tragic hero must undergo the following:

– Perepeteia, or “reversal of fortune”

– Anagnorisis, or “discovery” : the awareness that the tragic events (catastrophe) are a direct result of his own actions

Exposition

Inciting Moment

Climax

Ris

ing

Actio

n

Denouement

Reversal, peripeteia

Recognition, anagnorisis

Falling Action or Unraveling

Catastrophe

Shakespearean Five-Act Sequence