Renaissance Theatre

Let’s have fun!

Medieval and Renaissance

Medieval Drama• Evolved from Church

ceremonies• Miracle Plays

– Saints

• Mystery Plays– Bible History

• Morality Plays– Taught people how to live and

die

Renaissance Drama• Moved beyond the Church• Influences from many

sources

Shakespeare

• Read pages 289-296 • 2 Monarchs during Shakespeare’s career

• Three types of plays

MacbethThe cursed play

Written specifically to be performed for, and to please, King James I.

James Stuart was already King James VI of Scotland when Queen Elizabeth's death (1603) made him James I of England as well.

King James liked witches

• In the late 1500's, Scotland had a witch craze. – Many people convicted

of wicked secret practices without physical evidence.

• James I believed the witch hysteria.– Wrote a book about the

supposed hidden world of wicked witches, entitled Demonology.

OR, ….

• Maybe James really believed that there was a secretive sect devoted to malicious evil?

• Or, maybe he was just another leader trying to unite people against a common, imagined enemy with different cultural practices?

One More King James I Link

• Macbeth deals with the fictional ancestors of the Stuart line (Banquo, Fleance) – presents Banquo

more favorably than did the play's sources.

• Procession of kings scene ends with a mirror (fun fact)

• James could see himself, thus becoming part of the action.

3rd King James Link

• Macbeth assassinates the King of Scotland

• Gunpowder Plot – 1605– Catholics try to

assassinate King James– Blow up King James and

Protestant Parliament– Guy Fawkes

• Now a fun-filled holiday in England

One more thing you should consider…

• Producing Macbeth is supposed to be unlucky.

• Fires, falls, and weapon injuries have plagued past productions.

• Superstition requires those involved in productions not to say the play's title.– The Scottish Play– Mackers– MacB

Bad Luck – is it true?

• Legends about the boy actor who first played Lady Macbeth getting sick and Shakespeare having to fill in.

• Theaters closed early 1700’s after people thought the deviltry of the play had caused a bad storm.

• Some people think that the play's vision of evil, with witches, demonic familiars, and so forth explains the bad luck

Literary Terms / Vocabulary

• Ambiguity, Equivocation• Atmosphere• Blank verse• Catharsis• Contraction• Deus Ex Machina• Foot / meter / Iambic

pentameter / blank verse

• Hamartia• Dramatic irony• Motif• Paradox• Soliloquy• Synecdoche• Tragedy / tragic flaw• Weird (Old English Def.)

Antimetabole

• Repetition in reverse order

• "You like it; it likes you."

• Fair is foul; foul is fair

Notes:

• Motifs: – Fair is Foul– Blood– Hands– Clothing– Sight, blindness– Sleep– Gender

• Themes:– Equivocation– Appearances– Ambition– Guilt– Gender

Macbeth – Tragic Hero

Macbeth and Banquo

Act I

• Review questions p. 318 • Blank Verse (p. 318)– Iamb / pentameter– Witches?

Meter and Foot

• Meter – regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

• Foot – Meter’s basic unit

• Consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed

Foot Types

2 syllables:• Iamb = unstressed, followed

by a stressed– “relief” / “respect”

• Trochee – stressed, followed by an unstressed – “bummer” / “Passler”

3 syllables:• Dactyl = stressed, followed

by 2 unstressed – “ecstacy”

• Anapest = 2 unstressed, followed by a stressed– “contradict”

Metrical Length

• Number of the feet each line contains– Monometer: one foot– Dimeter: two feet– Trimeter: three feet– Tetrameter: four feet– Pentameter: five feet– Hexameter: six feet– Heptameter: seven feet

Put them all together

• Iambic Pentameter = 5 iambs– Unstressed/stressed

pattern used five times in each line

– “I dare do all that may become a man”

• Blank Verse: Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter

Homework

• Scan your name• Are you naturally musical (fits a pattern)?– Jennifer = Dactyl – Passler = Trochee– If I wanted my name to fit a pattern• Jennifer Passaler = Dactyl Dimeter

Order and Chaos – Elizabethan Style

• When this order is out of order = Chaos

• Duncan’s killing/murder causes disturbances in nature– A horrible act (lying,

stealing, killing) = storms, earthquakes, physical harm

Knocking at the Gate

• Read the essay on pages 330-331.

• What is De Quincy’s main point?

• How does Macbeth’s transfiguration confirm his role as the tragic hero?

• Continual Knocking– Why?

• What is gained• What is lost?

• Porter– Why?

• What is gained• What is lost?

Act II

• Review questions p. 333

Act III

• Review questions p. 351

Murder of Lady Macduff

• Macbeth’s actions become less grand– Duncan’s murder – tragically grand– Banquo’s murder – melodramtic– Lady Macduff – creepy, ghoulish

Act IV, Scene 3, p. 359-364

• Malcolm and Macduff meet• Macduff was a friend of Macbeth• Malcolm is suspicious• Macduff says, “hey Malcolm, you should be king.”• Read Malcolm’s response, lines 50-66• Macduff says, “Oh no – yuck!”• Malcolm says, “Surprise – I was testing you!”• Let’s go get Macbeth! (10,000 Englishman)

ACT IV, Sc. 3 – Royal’s Touch

In Macbeth• King Edward (England,

1003-1066)• Heals people with his touch• Real King = placed by God –

could do that

King James (England/Scotland – early 1600’s)

• Performed the Royal’s Touch

• Read page 367

Act IV

• Review questions p. 369

Act V

• Review questions page 388-89