Macbeth

Scotland in the 11th century

• Scotland in the 11th century had not long been a united country.

• The major ethnic groups were the Scots and the Picts, both Celtic tribes.

• They had united forces due to the threat of Viking invasion.

Who was the historical Macbeth?

• Macbeth ruled Scotland in peace for seventeen years, from 1040 – 1057.

• He took the crown after defeating the sitting king, Duncan I, in battle.

– Don’t feel bad for Duncan! He was a young, immature man chosen to be king by his grandfather, a ruthless despot by the name of Malcolm II. Malcolm’s choice infuriated the Scots, and the people’s anger spread as Duncan proved to also be incompetent as a military leader.

– Duncan invaded the north of England in 1039 and was defeated at Durham. He then tried to invade the north of Scotland, but met Macbeth near Elgin in August 1040, and was killed in battle.

Who was the historical Macbeth?

• Macbeth was then chosen as King of Scotland by election, as was the custom. He ruled for seventeen years, ensuring peace by driving Duncan’s two sons out of Scotland.

• By 1050 Malcolm Canmore, the eldest son of Duncan, was cultivating English support to claim the throne of Scotland. King Edward the Confessor of England backed Malcolm and helped him to invade Scotland with a mixed army of English and Northumbrian (Lowland) Scots.

• For nearly seven years Macbeth used guerilla warfare successfully against this invading force, but was killed in battle in 1057. The location of the battle is unknown.

• Still the Scots did not want Malcolm. They elected Macbeth’s stepson, Lulach as King.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth

• Shakespeare’s story of Macbeth is riddled with historical inaccuracies. The reason for the negative portrayal is politics, and the nature of the source material that Shakespeare uses. In both cases, the source material is intentionally biased in favor of a sitting monarch.

(Macbeth is not the only able and respected King of England or Scotland to be portrayed in a negative way by Shakespeare. Richard III has suffered in the same way.)

What are Shakespeare’s sources for Macbeth?

Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, (pub. 1577) were a majorsource for several of Shakespeare’s plays.

Click the link to see a page from the Chronicles http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/furness/holinshed/239.html

Holinshed's Chronicles, Volume V: Scotland, page 265 (2nd edition)

A comparison of Duncan and Macbeth . . .

• “worthie the gouernment of the realme. On the other part, Duncane was so soft and gentle of nature, that the people wished the inclinations and maners of these two cousins to haue been so tempered and interchangeablie bestowed betwixt them, that where the one had too much of clemencie, and the other of crueltie, the meane vertue betwixt these two extremities might haue reigned by indifferent partition in them both, so should Duncane haue proued a worthy king, and Makbeth an excellent capteine.”

• By the time of Shakespeare’s death in 1616, Holinshed's Chronicles had been superseded by other historical writings; these later chronicles rejected many of the fantastic stories that were still considered true in Holinshed's work. The Chronicles that Shakespeare used were soon after his death seen as outdated and simply inaccurate.

Consider how 17th century politics can

affect the view of 11th century politics…• In 1534 Henry VIII of England renounced Papal authority and established

the Church of England, referred to as the Reformation. Over the next century, political tension between Protestants and Catholics grew, and English nobility had to deal with the tensions caused by the split.

• Some rulers like Mary I, the Catholic daughter of Henry VIII, persecuted Protestants. Elizabeth I, a Protestant, had followed a more moderate course and did not prosecute Catholics. After Elizabeth’s death in 1603, her successor, the Protestant James I took a more conservative view.

• Shakespeare was at the height of his powers in 1603, secure both as a playwright and in his owner’s share of the Chamberlain’s Men, London’s finest acting company. Macbeth was first performed in 1606, a time when James I had taken sponsorship of the acting troupe and renamed it the King’s Men.

• James I also commissioned a new translation (Protestant) of the Bible, and wrote a famous treatise on demonology. King James’ background and views made him more severe in his treatment of Catholics, causing serious political tension.

Transition to a New Monarch

• James VI of Scotland came to the throne as an infant when his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, was forced into exile and then executed by Elizabeth I for plotting treason. She was a Catholic; her son James was raised a Protestant in Scotland. The closest Protestant in line to the throne, he became James I of England on Elizabeth’s death.

• James I was scholarly and progressive. He encouraged the establishment of the first colonies in America. He established a large Protestant settlement in Ireland. He was initially popular in England, but became more autocratic, as he believed in the divine right of kings.

• Knowing that James I would be severe with Catholics, Jesuit-backed Catholics plotted assassination and revolution in the famous Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Elizabeth I

Reign: 1558 - 1603

James I

Reign: 1603 - 1625

Witchcraft• The "Demonologie" (1599) of James

VI was an important text in the history of Scottish and English Witch trials. James developed something of an obsession with witches and of hunting them, following a plot by the Berwick Witches to shipwreck him when on his way home from Denmark.

• Following this attempt James wrote the Demonologie and gave his support to the attempt to try and execute witches within Scotland. After he became King of England in 1603 James’s book was reprinted in England. Henry Fuseli, The Three Witches,

1783

“Remember, Remember, the 5th of November”

The Gunpowder Plot • The Gunpowder Plot (or Powder Treason) of 1605 was a failed attempt by a

group of Catholics from the countryside to kill King James I, his family, and major members of the Protestant nobility all at once by blowing up the English Houses of Parliament during the state opening on November 5, 1605. The conspirators also planned a revolt in the England midlands.

• The leader of the Gunpowder conspiracy was Robert Catesby and the chief executor of the plot was Guido (Guy) Fawkes. Fawkes laid gunpowder in a vacated cellar under the House of Lords. Acting on a tip, Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Fawkes on the evening of November 5th guarding a pile of firestarter not far from 20 barrels of gunpowder. He also had a watch, slow matches, and touchpaper. Fawkes admitted his intentions and was taken to the Tower. He was tortured and revealed his co-conspirators, many of whom were executed.

Equivocation • Henry Garnet's A Treatise on Equivocation was found in the possession of

one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. This treatise, which was intended to address the question of how Catholics should answer authority if questioned upon their religion, lent itself to the usual claim that Jesuits were trying to "to lie like truth". The ideas of double-dealing, deception, and equivocation itself figures prominently in Macbeth.

PORTERKnock, knock! Who's there, in the other devil's name?Faith, here's an equivocator, that couldswear in both the scales against either scale;who committed treason enough for God's sake,yet could not equivocate to heaven:O, come in, equivocator. (II,iii)

So what?• The English and Scots forces that unite against Macbeth predicts

the union of England and Scotland that occurred with the accession of James I. The list of future kings descended from Banquo would suggest James.

• The theme of regicide is very real for the audience, given the nearly successful and very recent Gunpowder Plot.

• Shakespeare uses the supernatural, a topic that resonated with James I, the author of Demonologie (1599)

• The themes of emotional disorder and evil as a perversion of human values are major ones in Macbeth. The audience awareness of Jesuit equivocation and plots heightens this aspect of the play.

• The contemporary politics of 1603 – 1606 is under the surface of this play, and the inaccuracies of historical legend allow Shakespeare to exploit their power to evoke the evil usurper of a legitimate king.

The Theatrical History of Macbeth

• Richard Burbage of the King’s Men is assumed to have been the first Macbeth.

• English theaters were closed for 18 years while the Puritan government was in power, and when they reopened, William Davenant produced an adaptation of Macbeth (1663) that was very altered. This version was popular and it was not until David Garrick’s version in 1744 that the text was partially restored.

• Famous pairings as Macbeth/Lady Macbeth have included: Henry Irving & Ellen Terry; Maurice Evans & Judith Anderson; Ian McKellen & Judi Dench.

• Macbeth has been made into film 17 times; the earliest was in 1908.

The Globe Theater• Built in 1599 Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men

• Destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613

• A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642

• A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre

The Globe Theater

Why is Macbeth called “The Scottish Play”?

• It has long been rumored that since Shakespeare wrote the play to ingratiate himself with King James I who was interested in demonology and witchcraft, he wrote the three witches into the story and offended those who held their incantations and spells “sacred.” In retaliation they cursed the play.

• The very first performance in 1606 had a key cast member suddenly become ill with fever and die. Ever since, misfortune has often occurred when the play is performed. Many accidents are recorded.

• In the 1937 production at the Old Vic in London in which Laurence Olivier played Macbeth several incidents happened. Olivier was nearly killed when a 25 pound weight crashed down from the flies and just missed him. The director and the actress playing Lady Macduff were involved in an automobile accident on the way to the theater and the proprietor of the theater died of a heart attack during the dress rehearsal.

• There is such a long list of deaths and accidents associated with productions of the play that actors have a tradition of never mentioning the name of the play itself inside the theater. The call it by a nickname such as “The Scottish Play” or “The Scottish tragedy” or “The Unmentionable” or even just “That Play.”

• If an actor mistakenly says the name of the play there is a ritual for dispelling the curse. The actor or actress leaves the room, turns around three times to the right, spits on the ground or over each shoulder, then knocks on the door of the room and asks for permission to re-enter.