Macbeth
A cursed play…….
Origins
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Those who believe in the curse claim that real spells are cast in the three
witches scene. Some believers claim that including the character Hecate,
frequently cut from productions of the play due to questions about her part's
authorship, intensifies the curse.
Origins
• Productions of Macbeth are said to have been plagued
with accidents, many ending in death. According to legend,
this dates back to the premiere of the play: an actor died
because a real dagger was mistakenly used instead of the
prop. The play does include more fight scenes and other
such opportunities for accidents than does the average play,
and the atmosphere in the backstage area of old-fashioned
theaters was a prime setting for disasters, especially when
dealing with potentially dangerous equipment. This would
explain the accidents without invoking magic.
Origins
• The popularity of the superstition might also be related to
its mild hazing aspect. Veteran actors might relate some
tale of woe that they witnessed personally due to
someone invoking the curse, lending credibility and
immediacy to the tale.
• One hypothesis for the origin of this superstition is that
Macbeth, being a popular play, was commonly put on by
theatres in danger of going out of business, or that the
high production costs of Macbeth put the theatre in
financial trouble. An association was made between the
production of Macbeth and theatres going out of
business.
Origins
• According to the superstition, Shakespeare got a few of the lines
from an actual coven of witches and when they saw the play they
were greatly offended and cursed the play. Another tradition tells
that the original propmaster could not find a suitable pot for a
cauldron and stole one from a coven, who then cursed the play in
revenge for the theft. It is believed that breaking the taboo calls the
ghosts of the three witches to the show and it is they who cause all
the mishaps. The last, and probably most spectacular view of the
curse is that Shakespeare used the curse in the play to actually
curse the play himself, guaranteeing that no one other than himself
would be able to direct the play. Another line of thought is that if your
play was a flop, the manager of the theatre would take the show off
and would always be able to get a theatre company to put on
Macbeth as it was always a hit.
Synopsis
• The first act of the play opens amidst thunder
and lightning, with the Three Witches deciding
that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. In
the following scene, a wounded captain reports
to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals
Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, and
Banquo have just defeated the allied forces of
Norway and Ireland, who were led by the rebel
Macdonwald. Macbeth, the King's kinsman, is
praised for his bravery and fighting prowess.
Synopsis
• The scene changes. Macbeth and Banquo enter, discussing the
weather and their victory ("So foul and fair a day I have not seen").
As they wander onto a heath, the three Witches enter, who have
been waiting to greet them with prophecies. Even though it is
Banquo who first challenges them, they address Macbeth. The first
Witch hails Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis", the second as "Thane of
Cawdor", and the third proclaims that he shall "be King hereafter".
Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence, so again Banquo
challenges them. The Witches inform Banquo he shall father a line
of kings, though he himself will not be one. While the two men
wonder at these pronouncements, the Witches vanish, and another
Thane, Ross, a messenger from the King, arrives and informs
Macbeth of his newly bestowed title—Thane of Cawdor. The first
prophecy is thus fulfilled. Immediately, Macbeth begins to harbour
ambitions of becoming king.
Synopsis
• Macbeth writes to his wife about the
Witches' prophecies. When Duncan
decides to stay at the Macbeths' castle at
Inverness, Lady Macbeth hatches a plan
to murder him and secure the throne for
her husband. Although Macbeth raises
concerns about the regicide, Lady
Macbeth eventually persuades him, by
challenging his manhood, to follow her
plan.
Synopsis
• On the night of the king's visit, Macbeth kills Duncan. The deed is
not seen by the audience, but it leaves Macbeth so shaken that
Lady Macbeth has to take charge. In accordance with her plan, she
frames Duncan's sleeping servants for the murder by planting
bloody daggers on them. Early the next morning, Lennox, a Scottish
nobleman, and Macduff, the loyal Thane of Fife, arrive.[1] A porter
opens the gate and Macbeth leads them to the king's chamber,
where Macduff discovers Duncan's corpse. In a feigned fit of anger,
Macbeth murders the guards before they can protest their
innocence. Macduff is immediately suspicious of Macbeth, but does
not reveal his suspicions publicly. Fearing for their lives, Duncan's
sons flee, Malcolm to England and his brother Donalbain to Ireland.
The rightful heirs' flight makes them suspects and Macbeth assumes
the throne as the new King of Scotland as a kinsman of the dead
king.
Synopsis
• Despite his success, Macbeth remains uneasy about the
prophecy about Banquo. So Macbeth invites him to a
royal banquet and discovers that Banquo and his young
son, Fleance, will be riding out that night. He hires two
men to kill them. A third murderer appears mysteriously
in the park before the murder. While the assassins kill
Banquo, Fleance escapes. At the banquet, Banquo's
ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Only Macbeth
can see the spectre; the rest panic at the sight of
Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady
Macbeth orders them to leave.
Synopsis
• Macbeth, disturbed, goes to the Witches once more.
They conjure up three spirits with three further warnings
and prophecies, which tell him to "beware Macduff", but
also that "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth" and
he will "never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam Wood to
high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him". Since
Macduff is in exile in England, Macbeth assumes that he
is safe; so he puts to death everyone in Macduff's castle,
including Macduff's wife and their young children.
• Lady Macbeth becomes wracked with guilt from the
crimes she and her husband have committed. In a
famous scene, she sleepwalks and tries to wash
imaginary bloodstains from her hands, all the while
speaking of the terrible things she knows.
Synopsis
• In England, Malcolm and Macduff are informed by Ross that "your
castle is surprised, your wives and babes savagely slaughtered."
Macbeth, now viewed as a tyrant, sees many of his thanes
defecting. Malcolm leads an army, along with Macduff and
Englishmen Siward (the Elder), the Earl of Northumberland, against
Dunsinane Castle. While encamped in Birnam Wood, the soldiers
are ordered to cut down and carry tree limbs to camouflage their
numbers, thus fulfilling the Witches' third prophecy. Meanwhile,
Macbeth delivers a famous soliloquy ("Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and
tomorrow") upon his learning of Lady Macbeth's death (the cause is
undisclosed, and it is assumed by some that she committed suicide,
as Malcolm's final reference to her reveals "'tis thought, by self and
violent hands / took off her life").
Synopsis
• A battle culminates in the slaying of the young Siward and Macduff's
confrontation with Macbeth. Macbeth boasts that he has no reason
to fear Macduff, for he cannot be killed by any man born of woman.
Macduff declares that he was "from his mother's womb untimely
ripp'd" (i.e., born by Caesarean section) and was therefore not "of
woman born". Macbeth realizes, too late, the Witches have misled
him. Macduff beheads Macbeth off stage and thereby fulfills the last
of the prophecies.
• Although Malcolm is placed on the throne and not Fleance, the
witches' prophecy concerning Banquo, "Thou shalt [be]get kings",
was known to the audience of Shakespeare's time to be true, for
James I of England (also James VI of Scotland) was supposedly a
descendant of Banquo.
Synopsis
• Macbeth has been compared to Shakespeare's
Antony and Cleopatra. Both Antony and
Macbeth as characters seek a new world, even
at the cost of the old one. Both are fighting for a
throne and have a 'nemesis' to face in order to
achieve that throne. For Antony the nemesis is
Octavius, whereas for Macbeth it is Banquo. At
one point Macbeth even compares himself to
Antony, saying "under Banquo / My Genius is
rebuk'd, as it is said / Mark Antony's was by
Caesar." Lastly, both plays contain powerful
female figures: Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.
Synopsis
• Shakespeare borrowed the story from several tales in Holinshed's
Chronicles, a popular history of the British Isles known to
Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In Chronicles, a man named
Donwald finds several of his family put to death by his king, King
Duff, for dealing with witches. After being pressured by his wife, he
and four of his servants kill the King in his own house. In the
"Chronicles", Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to maintain the
kingdom in the face of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo
meet the three witches, who make exactly the same prophecies as
in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot
the murder of Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a
long, ten-year reign before eventually being overthrown by Macduff
and Malcolm. The parallels between the two versions are clear.
However, some scholars think that George Buchanan's Rerum
Scoticarum Historia matches Shakespeare's version more closely.
Buchanan's work was available in Latin in Shakespeare's day.
Synopsis
• No other version of the story has Macbeth kill
the king in Macbeth's own castle. Scholars have
seen this change of Shakespeare's as adding to
the darkness of Macbeth's crime as the worst
violation of hospitality. Versions of the story that
were common at the time had Duncan being
killed in an ambush at Inverness, not in a castle.
Shakespeare conflated the story of Donwald and
King Duff in what was a significant change to the
story.
Synopsis
• Shakespeare made another revealing change. In the Chronicles,
Banquo is an accomplice in Macbeth's murder of King Duncan. He
also plays an important part in ensuring that Macbeth, not Malcolm,
takes the throne in the coup that follows.In Shakespeare's day,
Banquo was thought to be a direct ancestor of the Stuart King
James I.The Banquo portrayed in historical sources is significantly
different from the Banquo created by Shakespeare. Critics have
proposed several reasons for this change. First, to portray the king's
ancestor as a murderer would have been risky. Second,
Shakespeare may have altered Banquo's character simply because
there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to the murder;
there was, however, a need to provide a dramatic contrast to
Macbeth—a role which many scholars argue is filled by
Banquo.Other authors of the time who wrote about Banquo, such as
Jean de Schelandre in his , also changed history by portraying
Banquo as a noble man rather than a murderer, probably for the
same reasons.
Synopsis
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Macbeth cannot be dated precisely owing to significant evidence of later
revisions. Many scholars conjecture the likely date of composition to be
between 1603 and 1606. As the play seems to be aimed at celebrating King
James's ancestors and the Stuart accession to the throne in 1603 (James
believed himself to be descended from Banquo), they argue that the play is
unlikely to have been composed earlier than 1603; and suggest that the
parade of eight kings—which the witches show Macbeth in a vision in Act
IV—is a compliment to King James. Other editors conjecture a more
specific date of 1605–6, the principal reasons being possible allusions to the
Gunpowder Plot and its ensuing trials. The Porter's speech (Act II, scene III,
lines1-21), in particular, may contain allusions to the trial of the Jesuit Henry
Garnet in spring, 1606; "equivocator" (line 8) may refer to Garnet's defence
of "equivocation" [see: Doctrine of mental reservation], and "farmer" (4) to
one of Garnet's aliases. However, "farmer" is a common word, and the
concept of "equivocation" was also the subject of a 1583 tract by Queen
Elizabeth's chief councillor Lord Burghley, and of the 1584 Doctrine of
Equivocation by the Spanish prelate Martin Azpilcueta, which was
disseminated across Europe and into England in the 1590s.
Synopsis
• Scholars also cite an entertainment seen by King James
at Oxford in the summer of 1605 that featured three
"sibyls" like the weird sisters; Kermode surmises that
Shakespeare could have heard about this and alluded to
it with the weird sisters. However, A. R. Braunmuller in
the New Cambridge edition finds the 1605-6 arguments
inconclusive, and argues only for an earliest date of
1603. The play is not considered to have been written
any later than 1607, since, as Kermode notes, there are
"fairly clear allusions to the play in 1607." The earliest
account of a performance of the play is April 1611, when
Simon Forman recorded seeing it at the Globe Theatre.
Synopsis
• Macbeth was first printed in the First Folio of 1623 and the Folio is
the only source for the text. The text that survives had been plainly
altered by later hands. Most notable is the inclusion of two songs
from Thomas Middleton's play The Witch (1615); Middleton is
conjectured to have inserted an extra scene involving the witches
and Hecate, for these scenes had proven highly popular with
audiences. These revisions, which since the Clarendon edition of
1869 have been assumed to include all of Act III, scene v, and a
portion of Act IV, scene I, are often indicated in modern texts. On this
basis, many scholars reject all three of the interludes with the
goddess Hecate as inauthentic. Even with the Hecate material, the
play is conspicuously short, and so the Folio text may derive from a
prompt book that had been substantially cut for performance, or an
adapter cut the text himself.
Playwright
• Introduction - The play and the image displayed in
the picture
This section is dedicated to Macbeth, the play by
William Shakespeare. The picture is 18th century and
image displayed represents the essence of the play
which, we hope, will bring to life a famous scene or
character from the play. The information provided in
this section of william-shakespeare.info includes
famous quotes / quotations, summary of the plot or
story, facts about the play, a list of the cast and
characters and access to the full text - script of the
play Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Playwright
• Summary of the plot or story
A thunderstorm and three witches conclude a meeting. They decide
to confront the great Scottish general Macbeth on his victorious
return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The Scottish king,
Duncan, decides that he will confer the title of the traitorous Cawdor
on the heroic Macbeth.
Macbeth, and another General called Banquo, happen upon the
three witches. The witches predict that he will one day become king.
They also predict that Banquo will beget a line of kings, although will
not ascend the throne himself. King Duncan arranges to visit him at
his castle. Macbeth cannot stop thinking about the witches'
prediction that he will become king and decides that he will murder
Duncan. Macbeth's wife agrees to his plan.
Playwright
• Duncan arrives at the castle with his entourage but he has second
thoughts about the murder plot. The forceful Lady Macbeth holds
him to his vow to kill Duncan and further encourages him. She then
summons evil spirits to "unsex" her and fortify her with cruelty. He
then murders Duncan assisted by his wife who smears the blood of
Duncan on the daggers of the sleeping guards.
A nobleman called Macduff discovers the body. Before investigation
can take place Macbeth kills the guards insisting that their daggers
smeared with Duncan's blood are proof that they committed the
murderous crime. Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, do not
believe their father, however, fearing for their lives, they flee
Scotland. This makes them appear guilty so the crown passes to
Macbeth.
Playwright
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He remembers the prophecy of the witches that Banquo will beget a line of kings So he sends
hired assassins to murder Banquo and his sons Donalbain and Fleance. Fleance, is the only one
to escape with his life.
At a feast the bloodied ghost of Banquo appears to Macbeth but to no one else causing Macbeth
to act and speak strangely. His wife sends the guests away.
Macbeth plagued by the fear of being discovered begins to suspect that Macduff, a nobleman who
refused to attend the feast suspects him. He meets with the witches again and they confirm that
he has good reason to fear Macduff but they soothe his fears by telling him that no born of woman
can harm him.
After meeting with the witches he learns that Macduff is urging Duncan's son, Malcolm, to reclaim
the throne. In revenge, he has Macduff's wife and son murdered. Macduff organizes an army to
bring down Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth's conscience now begins to torture her and she imagines that she can see her
hands covered with blood. She commits suicide.
Macbeth meets Macduff in hand-to-hand combat confident that he will win the day because ''none
born of woman'' can harm him. Macduff then reveals that he was not ''of woman born'' but was
''untimely ripp'd'' from his mother's womb. Macduff kills Macbeth and the witches prediction proves
true. Malcolm becomes king. The themes discussed are ambition, fate, deception and treachery.
Information provided about the play
Playwright
• Information provided about the play
William Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore
none of the original manuscripts have survived. Eighteen
unauthorised versions of his plays were, however, published during
his lifetime in quarto editions by unscrupulous publishers (there
were no copyright laws protecting Shakespeare and his works
during the Elizabethan era). A collection of his works did not appear
until 1623 (a full seven years after Shakespeare's death on April 23,
1616) when two of his fellow actors, John Hemminges and Henry
Condell, posthumously recorded his work and published 36 of
William’s plays in the First Folio. Some dates are therefore
approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events,
records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print.
Costumes
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Macbeth Costume Basics
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over a long tunic.
Sleeves are wide on clothing for both men and women, and there is a lot more fabric used in
costumes than had been in the past. The bottom of tunics also tended to be wide or circular
shaped. The influence of Celtic peoples was also prominent in the clothing of the time.
Of course, costumes are not always historically accurate, and plays are not always set in the time
in which the action took place or when the original play was written. Your Macbeth costumes might
include modern outfits, Elizabethan costumes, or come from any other time period of your
choosing.
Inspiration for Macbeth Costumes
If you're looking for a better idea of how other people have dressed to perform Macbeth, the
Internet is a wonderful source of inspiration. Many theater companies large and small post
pictures of their costumes and sets on their websites, which can give you a good idea of how you
might like your Macbeth costumes to turn out.
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With its tunic, this Robin Hood costume is appropriate for Macbeth.
Macbeth is based on the story of Macbeth (also known as Mac Bethad mac Findlaich), a Scottish
king who lived from 1005 to 1057. This time period is often categorized as "early Gothic."
According to Costumes.org, the period in Western Europe was characterized by wearing a
shorter tunic
Food
Info About Macbeth
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Origins and family
Main article: Mormaer of Moray
Macbeth was the son of Findláech mac Ruaidrí, Mormaer of Moray. His
mother, who is not mentioned in contemporary sources, is sometimes
supposed to have been a daughter of the Scottish king Malcolm II (Máel
Coluim mac Cináeda). This may be derived from Andrew of Wyntoun's
Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland which makes Macbeth's mother a
granddaughter, rather than a daughter, of Malcolm.[3]
Findláech was killed in 1020. According to the Annals of Ulster he was killed
by his own people while the Annals of Tigernach say that the sons of his
brother Máel Brigte were responsible. One of these sons, Máel Coluim son
of Máel Brigte, died in 1029. A second son, Gille Coemgáin, was killed in
1032, burned in a house with fifty of his men. Gille Coemgáin had been
married to Gruoch with whom he had a son, the future king Lulach. It has
been proposed that Gille Coemgáin's death was the doing of Mac Bethad, in
revenge for his father's death, or of Máel Coluim son of Cináed, to rid
himself of a rival.
Info About Macbeth
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Final years
In 1052, Macbeth was involved indirectly in the strife in the Kingdom of England
between Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Edward the Confessor when he received a
number of Norman exiles from England in his court, perhaps becoming the first king
of Scots to introduce feudalism to Scotland. In 1054, Edward's Earl of Northumbria,
Siward, led a very large invasion of Scotland. The campaign led to a bloody battle in
which the Annals of Ulster report 3,000 Scots and 1,500 English dead, which can be
taken as meaning very many on both sides, and one of Siward's sons and a son-inlaw were among the dead. The result of the invasion was that one Máel Coluim, "son
of the king of the Cumbrians" (not to be confused with Máel Coluim mac Donnchada,
the future Malcolm III of Scotland) was restored to his throne, i.e., as ruler of the
kingdom of Strathclyde. It may be that the events of 1054 are responsible for the
idea, which appears in Shakespeare's play, that Malcolm III was put in power by the
English.
Macbeth certainly survived the English invasion, for he was defeated and mortally
wounded or killed by the future Malcolm III on the north side of the Mounth in 1057,
after retreating with his men over the Cairnamounth Pass to take his last stand at the
battle at Lumphanan.[23] The Prophecy of Berchán has it that he was wounded and
died at Scone, sixty miles to the south, some days later.Macbeth's stepson Lulach
mac Gille Coemgáin was installed as king soon after.
Info About Macbeth
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Life to legend
Main articles: Macbeth and Macbeth (character)
Macbeth and the witches by Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich Füssli) (1741-1825)
Macbeth's life, like that of King Duncan I, had progressed far towards legend by the end of the 14th century, when
John of Fordun and Andrew of Wyntoun wrote their histories. Hector Boece, Walter Bower, and George Buchanan
all contributed to the legend.
The influence of William Shakespeare's Macbeth towers over mere histories, and has made the name of Macbeth
famous. In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth is portrayed as a good-hearted general to King Duncan, but who is
corrupted by ambition and persuades himself that to kill his King is the right thing to do. He is cruelly deceived by
three witches, ensuring his wicked scheme is doomed to failure. Even his wife (Lady Macbeth) has gained some
fame along the way, lending her Shakespeare-given title to a short story by Nikolai Leskov and the opera by Dmitri
Shostakovich entitled Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The historical content of Shakespeare's play is drawn from
Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which in turn borrows from Boece's 1527
Scotorum Historiae, which flattered the antecedents of Boece's patron, King James V of Scotland.
In modern times, Dorothy Dunnett's novel King Hereafter aims to portray a historical Macbeth, but proposes that
Macbeth and his rival and sometime ally Thorfinn of Orkney are one and the same (Thorfinn is his birth name and
Macbeth is his baptismal name). 's play Macbeth Speaks 1997, a reworking of his earlier Macbeth Speaks, is a
monologue delivered by the historical Macbeth, aware of what Shakespeare and posterity have done to him.
Scottish author Nigel Tranter based one of his historical novels on the historical figure, MacBeth the King.
[edit] Notes