Macbeth Intro Information Topics to be covered: Shakespeare’s Time Shakespeare’s Characters/ Theatre Some Historical Background Crazy Superstitions

Dominant Renaissance World Views Great Chain of Being Belief structure from middle ages Came from Ptolemaic system with earth at the center Hierarchical system with God and angels above, man in the middle, and animals, plants, minerals on the bottom. Within each species, same hierarchy, with King on the top, then nobles, moneyed middle-class, then peasants

Dominant Renaissance World Views Great Chain of Being (cont) System of Order, corresponding with belief in predestination, God has plan for world (FATE) Order can be thrown into chaos if hierarchy not adhered to, if subjects rebel against monarch, sons against fathers. ORDER MUST BE RESTORED Suggests everyone has purpose or role in life, should use reason to find and fulfill purpose (FATE)

Ladies, still not a good time for us (unless, of course, you happened to be Queen Elizabeth I) Highest position most women could attain was becoming the wife of a wealthy/ powerful man OR, better yet, his widow Education restricted to being literate and entertaining Ambition was masculine, NOT feminine Could attend theatre but not perform in it “Strong” women were not trusted and were feared (even Queen Liz had to depend on her “feminine charms” to enforce some of her power in England and abroad).

Characters often found in Shakespeare plays (As we read, try to fit the main characters into these categories) the Fair innocence and idealism belief and trust ideal character remembered past the Foul experience and cynicism suspicion and doubt malcontent, deceiver experienced present

Characters Primary dynamic, change complex, are revealed Protagonist Antagonist Secondary static, don’t change simpler, stereotyped Reflective, reveal something about main characters

Staging No set design -- actors must establish setting, time Few props -- actors must bring on throne, table, chair, then take them off stage again Stage has trap door, three entrances, balcony area

Staging If a character dies, Shakespeare must find a way to get the body off the stage Shakespeare must invent reason for characters to exit the stage The stage is a fixed place, so certain areas can be associated with a character No stage directions, dialogue dictates when characters enter/ exit Unlike the Greeks, Shakespeare’s all about murder/ death/ etc. taking place on stage in front of the audience

Was there really a Macbeth? And King Duncan? Yes! Like all of his “history plays,” Shakespeare based his play on true history. (The whole witch thing is up for debate). Shakespeare borrowed heavily from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577) (He did alter some facts/ details and combined stories for dramatic purposes) Shakespeare also altered the facts to meet the needs of his royal audience, King James I. King James I was heavily interested in witchcraft and demonology. He even wrote a book about it. King James I also was a strong supporter of the “divine right of kings” King James I was a descendant of Kin Duncan.

The Real Facts of Macbeth, Gruoch and “good” King Duncan Facts that Shakespeare altered for the sake of appeasing James I: The Scottish Play vs. Real History - Duncan is a beloved, elderly king - Duncan died at 36 and was king during a period of great unrest - Macbeth kills the sleeping Duncan - Macbeth killed Duncan on the battlefield - Macbeth ruled for a very short time - Macbeth ruled for 17 years - Macbeth was a tyrant, easily overthrown - Macbeth was widely considered a kind and strong king - Macbeth was younger than Duncan - Macbeth was a few years older - Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to kill - Grouch ( Lady MB) had nothing to do with the killing - Witches and ghosts abound and - No proof of supernatural greatly affected the plot influences

Fun Macbeth Superstition Facts (Around/in a theatre you should refer to this as “The Scottish Play”) * First performance, in 1606, Dear Will himself was forced to play Lady Macbeth when Hal Berridge, the boy designated to play the lady with a peculiar notion of hospitality, became inexplicably feverish and died. Moreover, the bloody play so displeased King James I that he banned it for five years. When performed in Amsterdam in 1672, the actor playing Macbeth substituted a real dagger for the blunted stage one and with it killed Duncan in full view of the entranced audience. As Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons was nearly ravaged by a disapproving audience in 1775; Sybil Thorndike was almost strangled by a burly actor in 1926; Diana Wynyard sleepwalked off the rostrum in 1948, falling down 15 feet. During its 1849 performance at New York's Astor Place, a riot broke out in which 31 people were trampled to death. In 1937, when Laurence Olivier took on the role of Macbeth, a 25 pound stage weight crashed within an inch of him, and his sword which broke onstage flew into the audience and hit a man who later suffered a heart attack. In 1934, British actor Malcolm Keen turned mute onstage, and his replacement, Alister Sim, like Hal Berridge before him, developed a high fever and had to be hospitalized. In the 1942 Macbeth production headed by John Gielgud, three actors -- Duncan and two witches -- died, and the costume and set designer committed suicide amidst his devilish Macbeth creations. The indestructible Charlton Heston, in an outdoor production in Bermuda in 1953, suffered severe burns in his groin and leg area from tights that were accidentally soaked in kerosene. An actor's strike felled Rip Torn's 1970 production in New York City; two fires and seven robberies plagued the 1971 version starring David Leary; in the 1981 production at Lincoln Center, J. Kenneth Campbell, who played Macduff, was mugged soon after the play's opening.

Some more practical facts about Macbeth Superstitions The play is very dark, both figuratively and literally. Accidents were bound to happen. Macbeth was often the last performance of traveling theatre companies in the 19th century because it was a popular, and usually profitable, play and could bring in big bucks. Unfortunately, many of these companies were already too far in debt to be saved by one good production. The fight scenes require broadswords, not the wimpy little epees used in most Shakespeare plays. Again, accidents are bound to happen. Shakespeare, in an effort to be authentic, may have accidentally included some real curses in those he created for the Weird Sisters. Ok, that fact is not super practical but it is fun.