1. Shakespeare’s World and Macbeth

2. Facts about Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Written
First performed: 1611
First published: in Folio, 1623
The last of Shakespeare’s four tragedies
The darkest and shortest of his tragedies

3. Shakespeare’s Source: Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587)

4. How much of Shakespeare’s play is taken from Holinshed?
A LOT--including...
Banquo & Macbeth defeat Macdonwald; Macbeth treats Macdonwald cruelly (head on a spike, etc.)
The witches’ crucial role and their prophecies
Macbeth has Banquo killed because of the witches’ prophecies; Fleance escapes
After Macbeth kills Banquo, his kingdom falls apart
Malcolm’s test of Macduff (Shakespeare “borrows” whole lines of dialogue)
Macduff’s final showdown with Macbeth, in which he tells Macbeth he was “neuer borne of my mother, but ripped out of her wombe”

5. The Real Macbeth (According to Holinshed)
Reigned for 17 years ( )
A just king: “Macbeth punished and tamed in such sort, that manie years after all theft and reiffings [robberies] were little heard of, the people inioieng the blissefull benefit of good peace and tranquillitie”
Brought peace to Scotland: “such were the woorthie dooings and princelie acts of this Mackbeth in the administration of the realme, that if he had atteined therevnto by rightfull means, and continued in vprightnesse of iustice as he began, till the end of his reigne, he might well haue béene numbred amongest the most noble princes that anie where had reigned. He made manie holesome laws and statutes for the publike weale of his subiects.”

6. Holinshed’s Witches

7. Other Depictions of Witches

8. Macbeth Meets The Witches (Act 1, Scene 2)

9. The BIG Differences: Holinshed’s version
In Holinshed, Macbeth rules fairly and well for many years after killing Duncan
Duncan was younger than Macbeth and a weak ruler
Macbeth AND Banquo kill Duncan (James I related to Banquo; Bard changes this to please him)
Details of Duncan’s murder taken from story of murder of King Duffe (80 years earlier)
Macbeth’s wife named "Gruoch" or "Grauch”; she had legitimate claim to throne through her family

10. The James I Connection Became king in 1603 upon Elizabeth I’s death
James saw the play (maybe saw its premier)
James I was a Stuart—Banquo was legendary ancestor of Stuarts
James I (was also James VI of Scotland) firmly established the doctrine of the divine right of kings
Bard refers to the English king’s supposed ability to cure “the evil” (scrofula)
Gunpowder Plot (November 1605):
Roman Catholics plot to kill king, wife, and son and blow up Parliament; want greater rights for Catholics (oppressed by James I)
One plotter was Guy Fawkes (Guy Fawkes Day Nov bonfires, fireworks, and effigies of “Guys”)
Shakespeare reflects fear of disorder and regicide

11. The James I-Witchcraft Link
Witches mentioned in Bible (Books of Leviticus and Samuel)
King James highly religious (King James Bible)
Lifelong interest in witch hunting (considered a moral pursuit)
Participated in trials of witches
Wrote a treatise on witches: The Daemonologie (1597)
His book described various types of witches and how to recognize them
Shakespeare likely read Daemonologie, but evidently also read Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), which argued against existence of witches

12. The Curse of the “Scottish Play”
Legend: opening night, boy playing Lady Macbeth became ill (later died); Shakespeare had to take his place!
1672 in Amsterdam: Actor playing MB used real dagger (by accident?) and stabbed Duncan to death on stage during performance
1937: Laurence Olivier’s sword snapped during performance; tip flew into audience, hit man who died of heart attack
1948: Diana Wynward as Lady Macbeth fell 20 feet off stage during sleepwalking scene

13. More spooky stage events…
1953: Charlton Heston playing Macbeth suffered burns when tights (soaked in kerosene!) caught fire
“Voodoo Macbeth” (directed by Orson Welles): Haitians in cast supposedly put curse on critic who panned show; he died of pneumonia
1800s: Henry Irving (famous actor of time) giving dagger speech; dog ran on stage. “Is this a puppy I see before me?”

14. The Death of Lady Macbeth