Macbeth and Shakespeare

• Shakespeare's play Macbeth is the focus.

About Shakespeare

• Shakespeare's works are still relevant today.
• He supposedly studied Latin, Greek, & the Classics at school.
• He married Anne Hathaway at 18 and had 3 children. She was 7 years older.
• Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon around April 23, 1564.
• He was the son of a merchant & landed heiress.
• Shakespeare established himself in London as an actor, playwright, & entrepreneur. He was part-owner of the Globe Theatre.
• He was part of Lord Chamberlain's Men, the most popular London troupe patronized by aristocracy, and the King's Men under King James I.
• After his death, two former companions compiled & published his works in First Folio.
• His four great tragedies include Hamlet (1600,), Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), and Macbeth (1606).
• Hamlet is the longest, and Hamlet is 18 or 20 years old.
• Othello follows a 28 year old man..
• King Lear follows a 50+ aged man.
• Macbeth is the shortest, Macbeth is late 30s/early 40s.

English Renaissance

• The Renaissance went from the Middle Ages to moral lessons/Bible stories.
• It focused on ancient Greek & Roman dramas and tragedies & comedies.
• The Renaissance Queen Elizabeth I & England's Golden Age, King James I of England/James VI of Scotland, focused on man's potential.
• In this period, Shakespeare wrote for the masses and focused on supernatural & superstitions.

Great Chain of Being

• Structure of all matter & life, said to be decreed by God in medieval Christianity.
• Starts with God and progresses downward to angels, humans, animals, plants, & minerals.
• Chaos is introduced by order interruption.

Important Elements of Drama

• Dramatis personae refers to the cast of characters, including protagonist, antagonist, supporting/minor characters, and narrator.
• Direct/indirect characterization.
• Stage directions are instructions given by the playwright. Blocking: tells the actor where to go & how to move.
• Dialogue is a conversation between characters and considered primary development in drama.
• Monologue refers to a long speech by one character to another character or to the audience.
• Soliloquy: characters speaking their thoughts aloud to themselves.

Macbeth Dramatis Personae

• Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis, a renowned general, prone to suggestion.
• Lady Macbeth is Macbeth's wife, impatient & ambitious, doesn't like spots.
• Duncan is the King of Scotland, rather avuncular, totally doomed.
• Malcolm is Duncan's eldest son, natural politician.
• Donalbain is Duncan's second son, doesn't say much.
• Banquo is Macbeth's friend and fellow general, somewhat skeptical.
• Fleance is Banquo's son, good at running away.
• Macduff is the Thane of Fife, a dedicated family man.
• Lady Macduff is Macduff's wife, worries a lot.
• Macduff's Son is smart-mouthed but not good at running away.
• Ross is the Thane of Ross, Macduff's cousin, delivers the news.
• Lennox is a Scottish nobleman, delivers news, a bit suspicious.
• Seyton is Macbeth's servant with a great line.
• Porter is Macbeth's gate-keeper, a drunken philosopher.
• Captain is in Duncan's army, is badly wounded, but quite talkative
• Siward & Young Siward are English backup for Malcolm
• Doctor is not a psychiatrist.
• Gentlewoman can not be trusted with the care of unstable patients.
• Murderers are hired by Macbeth, identity of Third Murderer is a hotbed of speculation.
• Hecate is the Queen of the witches.
• Witches are scheming evil secret, black and midnight hags that like making prophesies.

Plot and Structure

• Freytag's pyramid includes Exposition (Act I), Rising action (Act II), Climax (Act III), Falling action (Act IV), and Resolution (Act V).
• Acts are major plot divisions and scenes smaller parts of acts.
• Theme refers to the author's comments and ideas on life.

Types of Drama

• Tragedy tells the story of the downfall of a great hero.
• Comedy follows the hero's rise rather than their fall; has a happy ending but isn't necessarily funny.
• Farce represents outlandish and exaggerated comedy.
• Shakespearean dramas are divided into tragedies such as Hamlet, comedies such as Twelfth Night, historical plays, and tragicomedies.
• A tragicomedy could be a serious drama with funny moments that lighten the mood.

Important Elements of Drama

• Conflict between hero and person/force (antagonist) contributes to the hero's downfall.
• Conflict is resolved when the tragic hero meets their doom with courage and dignity, showing grandeur.
• Hamartia (tragic/fatal flaw) refers to the principal defect that leads to the tragic hero's destruction.
• The 7 deadly sins are an example.
• Frequently Hubris (Hamlet).
• Macbeth's Hamartia = ambition.
• Catharsis is releasing & receiving relief from strong or repressed emotions.
• The audience gets a chance to experience and let go of their negative emotions when tragedy comes to fruition.
• Blood.
• Tragedies don't necessarily end in catharsis.

The Scottish Play

• A tragic pattern: the rise and fall of a powerful but flawed man.
• Based on 11th-century Scottish history in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
• Macbeth found his way to the throne of Scotland in 1040, killing his cousin King Duncan in battle.
• Duncan's eldest son, Malcolm, ended Macbeth's reign in 1057, later assuming the throne as Malcolm III.
• At the time, Scotland was violent, and troubled, each rival aristocrat's/thane's power.
• Political murder was common to gain power. Plundering Vikings & Norsemen attacked Scotland.
• The supernatural, King James I thought himself an expert on witchcraft and wrote Daemonologie, so it was common belief that others believed in witches.

Macbeth's curse

• A Coven of witches objected to Shakespeare using real incantations so they put a curse on it and productions have been plagued with accidents.
• The setting takes place over a few months, with action taking place quickly.
• Uses Blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter. The line of verse consists of 5 metrical feet in an unstressed/stressed pattern
• Facilitates memorization and mimics human speech, as well as sounds like a heartbeat.

Reading Tips

• Look for imagery, thematic development, literary devices, and dramatic irony.
• Soliloquies are long speeches where characters express their thoughts and feelings.
• Asides are short comments made in an undertone to the audience or to another character.

Motifs

• Repeated symbols, ideas, words, or phrases helps you identify a theme.
• "Fair is foul, and foul is fair".
• "Sleep shall neither night nor day / Hang upon his penthouse lid".
• "The bell invites me. / Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to Heaven, or to Hell".
• Other motifs include Light v. darkness, blood, manhood, and pathetic fallacy.

Guiding Questions

• Can you have ambition without wickedness?
• What are the negative effects of unchecked power?
• What can guilt do to a person?
• Do people have free will, or are their lives determined by fate?
• Is deception ever justified? Is betrayal?