1. The Scottish Play

2. Important Characters Duncan: King of Scotland
Macbeth: a general—thane (noblemen)—king
Banquo: a general later killed by Macbeth
Macduff: a nobleman-out to get Macbeth later in the play
Malcolm: Duncan’s eldest son
Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s wife
3 Witches: The “weird sisters”

3. Macbeth Written between 1603 and 1607 Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy
Often referred to as “The Scottish Play”

4. Tragedy with some history…
Macbeth was a Scottish King in 1040
Ruled for 17 years
Killed King Duncan to become King
Macbeth’s son took the throne but was killed in 1058
Killing royalty back then…

5. Written for King James?
James renamed Shakespeare's group to The King’s Men
James was from Scotland
Someone tried to kill King James
King James wrote a book about witchcraft

6. The Curse of Macbeth
It has been said never to utter the word, “Macbeth” in a theater. The following disasters have occurred, thus rendering the play cursed:
In the first performance of Macbeth, Shakespeare himself had to play Lady Macbeth as the young actor with her part became sick and died.
In 1672, the actor playing Macbeth substituted a blunt dagger with a real one, thus killing Duncan live on stage
In 1721, hecklers annoyed the actors so much that a brawl broke out and the army had to break up the fight
In 1849, 31 people were trampled to death in a riot that broke out in the theater

7. The Curse of Macbeth cont.
The worst tragedy was in 1937,when the following mishaps occurred:
A 25 lb. stage weight nearly crashed on Laurence Olivier
Olivier’s sword broke and flew into the stage, hitting an audience member and causing him to have a heart attack
the director and Lady Macduff were involved in a car accident on the way to the theater
The theater owner also died of a heart attack during dress rehearsal

8. Themes/Symbols

9. Power = Corruption
When we first meet Macbeth, he does not appear to be a villain
As titles and land are heaped on him, his lust for power grows
With the help of his wife, they commit evil deeds to get and secure the crown

10. Masculinity = Cruelty
Lady Macbeth, one of literature’s most evil females, asks for her feminine features to be replaced with masculine ones
She talks about willingly killing infants in order to become queen

11. Blood This is one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest plays, huge body count!
As the play progresses, blood represents guilt in Lady Macbeth and Macbeth