Macbeth: An Introduction

     

      William Shakespeare

                 •Baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616

                 •Playwright, poet, actor

                 •Wrote in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James 1

                 •“Bard of Avon” i.e. the Poet of Avon - Born in Stratford-upon-Avon

                 •38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long and several shorter poems

                 •Early plays – comedies or histories

                 •Middle plays – tragedies

                 •Later plays – tragicomedy romances

                                     

The Elizabethan era was the Golden age of England

Height of the English Renaissance

Romance, low taxes, plots against the ruler, feasts, banquets, fairs, plays, miracle plays, festivals, jousts, tournaments, card games, sports, animal sports, hunting and hawking were common during this time

The queen favoured the arts and enjoyed being mentioned in poems and plays

She also enjoyed watching the aristocrats play lead roles or the roles fashioned on them

                

Queen Elizabeth was succeeded by King James 1 of Scotland who too was a patron of the arts

James 1 succeeded Queen Elizabeth on the throne. His reign was called the Jacobean era.

Although he endeavoured to promote the literature of his native land, he was equally supportive of English literature, art, music, theatre and so on

He believed in witches and enjoyed an element of the supernatural and the mysterious in what he saw or read

PRE – READING FOR MACBETH:

         Macbeth was written sometime between 1603 and 1607

         First official theatrical production – 1606

         Shakespeare's principal source, Holinshed's Chronicles of Scottish History. The historical Macbeth had become king in the year 1040 when he killed the previous king, Duncan, in battle.
 

         Holinshed talks about the murder of King Duff by Donwald in the century before Macbeth. According to Holinshed, Donwald was nagged by his wife until he did the evil deed, and drugged the guards. Shakespeare adapted this for Macbeth.

        William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Queen Elizabeth left the thorne in 1603 and James 1 took over. Like any other playwright of the era, Shakespeare had to please the ones who sat on the throne, the ones who supported their art financially and also the crowd that came to watch the plays. So the aristocrats became the principal characters of his plays (as Elizabeth 1 would have enjoyed watching). The witches became central to the plot of Macbeth (as King James 1 enjoyed). Crude language, blood and gore were added to embellish the play for the audience in the pit of the theatre.

         Playwrights of the era were helped financially by the lords, dukes, major officials of the court and so on. The playwrights and their crew (actors, stage hands etc.) were called by the name of the person supporting them. For instance, Shakespeare and his crew were known as the Lord Chamberlain's men. Later, when King James began to support them, they became the King's men. In 1599, Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's men, built a theatre, called The Globe. It was destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614 and eventually, closed in 1642.
        

         The construction was semi-circular and actors performed on the stage right in front of an area called the 'pit'. This was where the commoners stood and watched the play. The richer men and the king/queen when they visited, sat in the balconies. It was quite common for the audience to shout out instructions or comments to the performers. The king or queen could even command a playwright to rewrite the scene as they wanted it. This is one of the reasons why the original manuscripts of the plays are missing having been edited and re-edited multiple times.