AN INTRODUCTION TO MACBETH English 2 E MACBETH

AN INTRODUCTION TO MACBETH English 2 E

MACBETH QUICK FACTS • One of the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays • Known as “the Scottish play” or “Maccers” • Bad luck to say “Macbeth” or quote lines in theater • Four X-Men actors have played Macbeth: Michael Fassbender, Sir Ian Mc. Kellen, Patrick Stewart, and James Mc. Avoy. • Macbeth was based on a real person from the 11 th century.

MACBETH QUICK FACTS • Written and first performed in 1606 • First printed in 1623 as part of the First Folio

SYNOPSIS • Macbeth is an overly ambitious man who wants to be king in the worst way. • He murders King Duncan and attempts to pin the blame on the king’s guards. • He hears a prophecy from three witches that his friend’s son will become king, so he kills his friend and his friend’s son. • Macbeth sees ghosts and feels threatened by other friends and nobles, so he has them killed. • Macbeth has a final battle for the throne with Macduff, who kills him

HOLINSHED’S CHRONICLES • Published in 1577 • Includes story of 11 th century Scottish king named Macbeth • Differences from the play (aside from Shakespeare’s inventions) • Duncan was a young and feeble ruler • The real Macbeth had a fair claim to the throne • Historical Banquo was one of Macbeth’s accomplices • Macbeth was a good and successful king

KEY THEMES • Fate vs. free will • The nature of evil • Appearance vs. reality • The effect of guilt on the human mind • The nature of ambition • The nature of kingship • Others…

THE BARD AND HIS TIMES • Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 -April 23, 1616) lived 52 years • Married Ann Hathaway in 1582 • Globe Theatre built in 1599 • Queen Elizabeth I (1533 -1603) was on the throne from 1558 -1603. • James I succeeded Elizabeth – he was Scottish • James was a descendant of the historical Banquo; Shakespeare made him a hero/victim in the play

THE BARD AND HIS TIMES • James wrote a book about witchcraft—Daemonoligie. • Holinshed’s Chronicles discussed three “weird sisters, ” followers of Wyrd, the goddess of fate. • There were 247 witch trials in England during QE 1’s reign. • People of the day believed witches had familiars that took the shape of animals, could fly, concocted charms and potions, cast spells.

FROM THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY “Some have argued that a more noble writer was secretly behind the works attributed to Shakespeare; they doubt that someone without an aristocratic pedigree could have written the plays and poetry published under his name. Since the 19 th century, several candidates for "hidden author" have been proposed, among them Queen Elizabeth, Sir Francis Bacon, and Edward de Vere (earl of Oxford). Such debates testify to the lasting importance of Shakespeare's works and call attention to the astonishing achievement that they represent. In the century since these claims were first advanced, no decisive evidence has been unearthed proving that the plays were produced by anyone but the man from Stratford-upon-Avon, a man equipped with a very good "grammar-school" education and the experience gained working in a professional theater company in London. The Folger has been a major location for research into the authorship question, and welcomes scholars looking for new evidence that sheds light on the plays' origins. How this particular man— or anyone, for that matter—could have produced such an astounding body of work is one of the great mysteries. ”

RECENT DEVELOPMENT: HENRY IV • “Oxford University Press drew attention last year for deciding that, in the New Oxford Shakespeare, the plays Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3 would no longer be listed as having been written by Shakespeare alone. Instead the title pages will say: “By William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. ” • Advances in computer science have enabled scholars to find, with much greater certainty, the fingerprints that we think tell us definitively who wrote which plays and even who wrote which acts within the plays, throwing open the idea that Shakespeare was a solo genius in charge of it all. ”

MACBETH’S FAMOUS LINES • 1. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. (4. 1. 10), Weird Sisters • 2. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (1. 1. 13), Weird Sisters • 3. Out, damned spot! out, I say! (5. 1. 32), Lady Macbeth • 4. Something wicked this way comes. (4. 1. 46), Second Weird Sister

MACBETH’S FAMOUS LINES 5. The milk of human kindness. (1. 5. 80), Lady Macbeth 7. This is a sorry sight. (2. 2. 26), Macbeth 6. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (5. 5. 30), Macbeth 8. When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? (1. 1. 1), Weird Sisters

MACBETH’S FAMOUS LINES • 9. One fell swoop. (4. 3. 259), Macduff • 10. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. (1. 5. 46), Lady Macbeth