Notes on the background of Shakespeare's Macbeth

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·      Macbeth shows life at its most brutal and cynical. It’s very violent and gory.

·      It involves witches who manipulate things (weather among other things), to get them the way they want. (Double, Double, toil and trouble…)

·      A lot of irony amongst the characters and the words said.

·      Lady Macbeth is crazy and evil

·      Her and Macbeth plan a murder and it is revealed that Lady Macbeth has strong sedatives, possibly hinting at Macbeth’s violence. They end up murdering a man in his sleep and kill his guards. (Was it Duncan that they killed?)

·      A young boy jokes around with his mother about how there are more bad people than good people in the world. Then, bad men break into his home and stab him to death.

·      Macbeth’s head ends up on a stick.

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·      The play was written from 1605-1606.

·      It was written as a tribute to Shakespeare’s royal patron, King James I of England, who was also king of Scotland.

·      His principle source was Holinshed’s Chronicles of Scottish History, a loose collection of gossip, tales, and fantasies. Macbeth is flawed form a historical perspective.

·      Macbeth became king in 1040when he killed the previous King Duncan in battle. Macbeth ruled for 17 years and was overthrown by Duncan’s son.

·      Shakespeare makes Duncan seem “saintly”, Banquo seem innocent of any conspiracy against King Duncan, and Malcolm seems like a great friend of England. Shakespeare made the predictions of Scotland’s future come from witches.

·      Shakespeare uses the details of the murder of King Duff by MacDonwald as the details of Duncan’s murder by Macbeth.

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·      Holinshed’s Chronicles (Macbeth)- Scotorum Historiae was written in 1527 by Hector Boece.

·      Minor sources- Reginald Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft, Daemonologie written in 1599 by King JamesI, and Colloquia, the memoirs of Erasmus (edition circa 1500).

·      Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a gentle, thoughtful man who can love wholeheartedly, despite the murders he commits. Shakespeare pays particular attention to Macbeth’s conscience.

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