An introduction to…

“The Scottish Play”• It is believed to be bad luck to speak the

word ‘Macbeth’ in a theatre• Legend has it you will lose all your

friends involved in the production—horribly

• The legend says that an early actor to play Macbeth died when a real knife was used instead of a stage knife

• Other strange occurrences and mishaps surround the play

Elements of Tragedy:

• Protagonists die• Bloodbath• Who doesn’t gets killed off?• Catharsis (e.g. Hollywood movies vs.

independent films)• Anti-hero• Hamartia• Hubris (example of hamartia)

Ask yourself the following:

• Have you ever given in to temptation?• Do you believe in prophecies?• How do you personally decide what is good and

what is evil?• What is the difference between greed and

ambition?• Do you believe “you reap what you sow”? • Do you believe our lives are led by fate or our

actions alone?

Rate each statement on a scale of 1-10.1 =disagree completely to 10 = agree wholeheartedly

Be prepared to explain your reasoning.

1. People who are striving to get ahead often step on other people.

2. Being powerful usually is the same thing as being happy.

3. One mistake can often lead to another.

4. Everyone is capable of murder under the right circumstances.

5. People who are involved in criminal activities can still feel love, fear, and concern for other people.

William Shakespeare

• What do you know about him?

Shakespeare - bio:1564-1616

• Why the postcard??? • Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, April c.23• His father: an alderman, butcher? • Never went to college :/• Married Anne Hathaway

Bio-cont.

• Had 3 children, all died w/o offspring• Joined the most successful company of actors

in London: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, became a shareholder in the co and its main playwright, made enough $$$ to buy property in Stratford

• Left a will mentioning his wife in a half sentence (???)

Anne Hathaway’s CottageThis was the early home of Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, who came from a family of prosperous farmers. The 'cottage' is actually a twelve-roomed Elizabethan farmhouse, built on a slope. Parts of the house pre-date the fifteenth century and demonstrate the earliest English house-building techniques. Little has changed on the outside since Anne Hathaway lived there and the low thatched roof, half-timbered walls and latticed windows are an enticing sight for anybody wishing to gain an insight into Shakespeare's world

Shakespeare: work• Wrote 37 plays• Mostly heavily inspired by Greek and Roman writers (he had to

write fast! - writing was his bread and butter)

• Romantic comedies: Twelfth Night, As You Like It• Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Died on April 23,

1616 (the day he was born???) His friends and fellow-actors collected and published an edition of 36 plays in one large volume - the famous First Folio (1623) (btw, depending on which edition you have, your versions of Hamlet may be different)

The Globe

History of Elizabethan London Theaters - including the Globe Theatre

The first proper theater as we know it was called the Theatre, built in London in 1576. Before this time plays were performed in the courtyard of inns or inn-yards, or sometimes, in the houses of noblemen The most famous Elizabethan playhouse ( theater ) was the Globe Theatre (1599) built by the company in which Shakespeare had a stake - now often referred to as the Shakespearean Globe. The Globe Theater - the PlaysPlays were big!! There was money to be made!! (NO COMPUTERS, TV...)There was a constant demand for new material!! Rivalry between the Theaters Playhouses was enormous!! As soon as a play had been written, it was immediately produced - printing followed productions! Rival theater companies would produce unauthorized copies of plays - notes were made and copied as quickly as possible (no COPYRIGHT, NO MLA, folks!). In Shakespeare’s time copyright did not exist. Alternative versions of Shakespearean plays were produced! These unauthorized and inferior text copies of Shakespeare's plays are called Quarto Texts.

The Globe Theater - the EventDays out at the Globe Theater would have been an exciting event. The grounds surrounding the Globe Theater  would have been bustling with people. There would be stalls selling merchandise and refreshments creating a market day atmosphere. The Globe would have particularly attracted young people and the were many complaints of apprentices avoiding work in order to go to the theater. A trumpet was sounded to announce to people that the play was about to begin at the Globe Theater in order for people to take their final places.

Elizabethan Advertising!Towering above the Globe was a small tower with a flag pole. Flags were used as a form of Elizabethan Advertising! Flags were erected on the day of the performance which sometimes displayed a picture advertising the next play to be performed. Color coding was also used - a black flag meant a tragedy , white a comedy and red a history. 

The Globe Theater - the ProductionsThe purpose built Globe theatre allowed stage productions to become quite sophisticated with the use of massive props such as fully working canons. Special effects at the Globe were also a spectacular addition at the theater allowing for smoke effects, the firing of a real canon, fireworks (for dramatic battle scenes) and spectacular 'flying' entrances from the rigging in the 'heavens'. The stage floor had trap-doors allowing for additional surprising incidents. Music was another addition to the Globe productions. It was no wonder that the Globe Theater and this form of Elizabethan entertainment was so popular. The sight of Shakespearean actors apparently flying must have been quite amazing to the discerning Elizabethan Theater audiences.

But when there were no props... “enter the corpse of Richard III” or the repetition of what the sky was like, elaborate descriptions of a setting b/c there was no backdrop.

The Globe Theater - the ActorsThe Globe Theater audience never had time to get bored. In just two weeks Elizabethan theaters could often present “eleven performances of ten different plays”. The Shakespearean Actors generally only got their lines as the play was in progress. Parts were often allocated on the  day of the performance. Many times the actors didn't even get their own lines. They did "cue acting ", which meant that there was a person backstage who whispered the lines to the actor just before he was going to say them.

This technique allowed for zero rehearsal time.

There were no actresses. Female characters had to be played by young boys. The acting profession was not a credible one and it was unthinkable that any woman would appear in a play.

The Globe Theater audiencesThe Elizabethan general public (the Commoners) referred to as “groundlings” would pay 1 penny to stand in the 'Pit' of the Globe Theater. The gentry would pay to sit in the galleries often using cushions for comfort! Rich nobles could watch the play from a chair set on the side of the Globe stage itself.

Theatre performances were held in the afternoon, because, of course, there was no artificial lighting. Men and women attended plays, but often the prosperous women would wear a mask to disguise their identity. The audiences only dropped during outbreaks of the bubonic plague, which was unfortunately an all too common occurrence during the Elizabethan era. This happened in 1593, 1603 and 1608 when all theaters were closed due to the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death). The Shakespearean actors were therefore temporary out of work and left London to stay in other parts of England. William Shakespeare no doubt used these periods of closure to write more plays and go home to Stratford.

The Many Meanings of Macbeth• A historical thriller

– a fast-moving, action-packed murder mystery demonstrating that crime doesn’t pay

• A psychological study of a murderer’s mind

• A play of political and social realism– how oppressive and hierarchical

society can corrupt individuals

• A play of illusions– the effect of the mysterious or

supernatural on humans

• A play of ideas or themes– for example, “appearance versus

reality”

• A tragedy– the fall of a great person brought

about by a fatal flaw in their character

The Tragedy of Macbeth• Set in Scotland• Written for King James I

(formerly of Scotland, now England)

• Shakespeare researched The Chronicles by Raphael Holinshed. Many of the characters are real ancestors of King James I

Will the real Macbeth please stand up?

• Macbeth was a real king of Scotland• He did kill King Duncan• Reigned from 1040-1057• Unlike the Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play

– The real Macbeth had a legitimate claim to the throne– The real Macbeth was a strong leader – The real Macbeth’s reign was successful– The real Macbeth was killed at Lumphanan as opposed

to Dunsinane

• Themes:–Ambition and the pursuit of power

causes downfall–Cruelty vs. Manhood (Do you need to be

a man to be cruel?)–King vs. Tyrant (What’s the difference?)

• Symbols–The supernatural (ghosts, witches)–BLOOD–Weather (Hurly-burly)

Motifs (recurring objects, ideas)

• Blood –• Hands –• Sight, Light, Darkness, and Blindness• Manhood• Babies and children• Sleep• Birds• Kingship• Heaven and Hell

Macbeth Introduction• Written by William

Shakespeare in 1605• Macbeth is a man who

overthrows the rightful King of Scotland

• Shakespeare wrote Macbeth at the beginning of King James I reign– Before James succeeded

Elizabeth I he was king of Scotland

Connections for British Society“Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.I see no reason why gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot...”•In November 1605 the Gunpowder Plot was discovered

– Guy Fawkes and his followers (Roman Catholics) planned to blow up Parliament

– They wanted to bring down the British government and put a Catholic rulers on the throne

– The plot was discovered and the men involved were tried and killed as traitors

•Shakespeare sided with the king and seemed to think that a play about treason and death would find an audience at this time

So this is a comedy… right?• Macbeth is one of Shakespear

e’s most famous tragedies (it is also his shortest)

• Aside from the violent nature of the plot Shakespeare uses several literary devices to enhance the feeling of evil– He creates a serious and sinister

mood by having most of the play take place at night

– There is a heavy emphasis on the supernatural (witches, dreams, spells, and ghosts)

Witches & Witchcraft

• A witch-mania characterized the Elizabethan era.

• Most people believed in witches and circulating pamphlets containing tales of witches and witchcraft were the equivalent of today’s popular newspapers.

Henry Fuseli, The Three Witches

Witches and Witchcraft

• Witches were said to have “diabolical” powers. They could:– predict the future– bring on night in the daytime– cause fogs and tempests– kill animals– curse enemies with fatal, wasting diseases– cause nightmares and sterility– take demonic possession of any individual– raise evil spirits by concocting a brew

• It was believed that witches allowed the devil to suck their blood. Accused witches were examined for the “Devil’s Mark” - a red mark on their body from which the devil had sucked blood.

Witches and Witchcraft - Misogyny?

• Between 1560 and 1603, hundreds of people, nearly all of them women, were convicted as witches and executed

• In 1604 an official Act of Parliament decreed that anyone found guilty of practicing witchcraft should be executed

• Those who confessed to being witches did so under torture or because they were in the grip of delusions recognized today as psychiatric disorders.

Tragic Hero• “Man of high standard who

falls from that high because of a flaw that has affected many” - Aristotle

• Macbeth is one of the most famous examples of the tragic hero.

• Just as other tragic heroes, Macbeth has a “fatal flaw” or hamartia

• In Macbeth’s case, it is ambition and obsession

Shakespearean English

Early Modern English (NOT Old English:-‘a= he-an=if, an(apple)-thou = you-thee= (for, about..) you-thy = your

has = hathlest =in order not to, so as not toye =you plural, formal addressRoyal “we” = kings and queens don’t say “I” but “we” ; not “my”

but “our” ‘tis=it isdouble comparative and double superlative: “the most unkindest

cut of all”aught=anythingnaught=nothingay=yesnay = no, moreover

More Vocabanon=soonMarry, sir, how about… - wellmorn=morning, dawnmeet=appropriate “I think meet to talk about itwant=need, lack, be withoutwont = used to, be in the habit of e.g. she’s

wont to wake early