These are my personal notes from an informational lecture given by Dr Paul Budra (SFU) as part of the Bard Explored: Lecture Series.
-- As old as the play itself.
-- Two possible sources for it
a) a boy actor in the 17th century playing the role of Lady Macbeth, died at home
shortly after returning home from a performance.
shortly after returning home from a performance.
b) real witches saw the play and upset at having their ‘trade secrets’ shared
cursed the play
cursed the play
Historical Background and Context
married Anne of Denmark in 1589 and when returning with her to England by ship
the party were beset by such storms that, in James’s estimation, they could only
be of supernatural origin.
-- Witches in Denmark were subsequently found and executed, but they also had to
find one in England. Enter Agnes Sampson. Under torture she confessed she had
christened a cat, tied pieces of a dead man to it, set it afloat in a sieve and
started the storm. James VI was said to be Satan’s greatest enemy on earth and it
was only his great Christian faith that saved him. Agnes Sampson was executed by
garrotte and her body burned. This was documented in a pamphlet entitled
“Wonderful News from Scotland”, published in London.
find one in England. Enter Agnes Sampson. Under torture she confessed she had
christened a cat, tied pieces of a dead man to it, set it afloat in a sieve and
started the storm. James VI was said to be Satan’s greatest enemy on earth and it
was only his great Christian faith that saved him. Agnes Sampson was executed by
garrotte and her body burned. This was documented in a pamphlet entitled
“Wonderful News from Scotland”, published in London.
-- No British monarch published as much as James VI did.
-- In 1597 James VI published an encyclopaedia on Daemonology and was very
interested in witches and witchcraft
-- Elizabeth I of England died in 1603 and James is proclaimed her successor as
James I of England.
-- His coronation medal read: James I, Caesar Augustus of Britain, Caesar born of
Caesars.
-- All things Scottish suddenly became very fashionable at the royal court.
-- James had a morbid fear of violent death and believed in the sanctity of the
monarch as God’s Anointed on Earth (published the Basilikon Doron (royal gift) in
1597/98).
-- 1603 – James I took over the patronage of Shakespeare’s theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which then became the King’s Men.
-- 1605 – Gunpowder Plot (he’d only been on the throne 2 years at that point)
-- 1606 – Shakespeare wrote Macbeth featuring witches, the scenario of “what
happens when you overthrow a king”, and even included topical references to the
Gunpowder Plot.
-- In Holinshed’s Chronicles, there was a story of a Macbeth who had killed his king
and was punished for it. A nobleman by the name of Banquo helped Macbeth in the
murder. Shakespeare could not use that in his play as James I (who was also very
interested in genealogy) traced his lineage back to that same nobleman. In the Chronicles, Macbeth was a good ruler and was king for over 10 years. That bit of
information Shakespeare also needed to change.
-- In the story, the prophecy came from “goddesses of destiny”, but because of
James and his particular interest in the supernatural, they became evil witches.
-- Although James I enjoyed plays, they could not be ‘too long’. Macbeth is
Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy (N.B. The 2012 Bard on the Beach production runs
just over 2 and a half hours, including a 20-minute interval).
-- Christopher Marlowe, in his Dr Faustus, changed the function of a ‘stage devil’
from clownish and over-the-top to a serious and creepy character. Stories about
seeing ‘real’ devils on stage started to circulate.
-- Shakespeare plays up common conceptions of witches
-> They had familiars (Grey Malkin was a popular name for a cat, Paddock was
a name for a toad)
-- In 1597 James VI published an encyclopaedia on Daemonology and was very
interested in witches and witchcraft
-- Elizabeth I of England died in 1603 and James is proclaimed her successor as
James I of England.
-- His coronation medal read: James I, Caesar Augustus of Britain, Caesar born of
Caesars.
-- All things Scottish suddenly became very fashionable at the royal court.
-- James had a morbid fear of violent death and believed in the sanctity of the
monarch as God’s Anointed on Earth (published the Basilikon Doron (royal gift) in
1597/98).
-- 1603 – James I took over the patronage of Shakespeare’s theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which then became the King’s Men.
-- 1605 – Gunpowder Plot (he’d only been on the throne 2 years at that point)
-- 1606 – Shakespeare wrote Macbeth featuring witches, the scenario of “what
happens when you overthrow a king”, and even included topical references to the
Gunpowder Plot.
-- In Holinshed’s Chronicles, there was a story of a Macbeth who had killed his king
and was punished for it. A nobleman by the name of Banquo helped Macbeth in the
murder. Shakespeare could not use that in his play as James I (who was also very
interested in genealogy) traced his lineage back to that same nobleman. In the Chronicles, Macbeth was a good ruler and was king for over 10 years. That bit of
information Shakespeare also needed to change.
-- In the story, the prophecy came from “goddesses of destiny”, but because of
James and his particular interest in the supernatural, they became evil witches.
-- Although James I enjoyed plays, they could not be ‘too long’. Macbeth is
Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy (N.B. The 2012 Bard on the Beach production runs
just over 2 and a half hours, including a 20-minute interval).
-- Christopher Marlowe, in his Dr Faustus, changed the function of a ‘stage devil’
from clownish and over-the-top to a serious and creepy character. Stories about
seeing ‘real’ devils on stage started to circulate.
-- Shakespeare plays up common conceptions of witches
-> They had familiars (Grey Malkin was a popular name for a cat, Paddock was
a name for a toad)
-> They could fly
-> They reverse things (foul is fair and fair is foul)
-- BUT, the name of Satan is never invoked, the witches are never referred to as
such; Macbeth and Banquo always call them the “Weird Sisters” (or Wyrd, the
Anglo-Saxon word) and they seem to be elemental natural forces and ambiguous in
their sex.
-- Critics ask if the witches are actually important. If they are, why do they
disappear after Act IV and if they’re not, would Macbeth have done what he did if
they hadn’t been. Lady Mac calls her husband ambitious but for the milk of human
kindness he is filled with.
-- Parallel set-up: “Great Glamis (pronounced Gloms)! Worthy Cawdor!”
-- BUT, the name of Satan is never invoked, the witches are never referred to as
such; Macbeth and Banquo always call them the “Weird Sisters” (or Wyrd, the
Anglo-Saxon word) and they seem to be elemental natural forces and ambiguous in
their sex.
-- Critics ask if the witches are actually important. If they are, why do they
disappear after Act IV and if they’re not, would Macbeth have done what he did if
they hadn’t been. Lady Mac calls her husband ambitious but for the milk of human
kindness he is filled with.
-- The theory goes that Satan wants to invert the natural order of things and
therefore empowers women over men.
-- Shakespeare shows this inversion by language and rhythm in the spells of the
sisters:
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
-- Instead of using the usual iambic pentameter (10 syllables of unstressed/stressed
pairs (iambs), he starts a shorter pattern with a stressed syllable followed by
unstressed, and so on.
therefore empowers women over men.
-- Shakespeare shows this inversion by language and rhythm in the spells of the
sisters:
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
-- Instead of using the usual iambic pentameter (10 syllables of unstressed/stressed
pairs (iambs), he starts a shorter pattern with a stressed syllable followed by
unstressed, and so on.
Mac and Lady Mac
-- Lady Macbeth greets Macbeth in virtually the same way the Weird Sisters did
-- She is humanised only when she says she couldn’t kill Duncan because he resembled
her father. (Act II, scene ii). He calls her “dearest love” (Act I, Scene v), “love”
and “dearest chuck” (Act III, Scene ii) she has no terms of endearment for him
(my note: unless there is affection in her calling him “My husband”).
her father. (Act II, scene ii). He calls her “dearest love” (Act I, Scene v), “love”
and “dearest chuck” (Act III, Scene ii) she has no terms of endearment for him
(my note: unless there is affection in her calling him “My husband”).
-- She is very tightly wound, but when her subconscious takes over (i.e. when she
sleepwalks), she can no longer hold down her emotions. When the cracks in her
composure become too great, she kills herself.
-- Macbeth – is a soldier. As a soldier, he is a killing machine. As a soldier, he believes
in hierarchy. Act I, Scene ii refers to “another Golgotha”, Golgotha, the ‘hill of
skulls’ on which Christ is believed to have been crucified.
-- In Macbeth’s Act II, Scene i soliloquy, he doesn’t worry about an afterlife, he
worries about ‘this’ life and that is what he struggles with. Not sure if he sees a
dagger or not is a manifestation of the struggle he has about breaking rank. All his
training percolates when he breaks hierarchy. It takes a little while until he gets it
back together.
-- Macbeth counts as the only protagonist in the Shakespeare canon who knowingly
does evil. Even Richard III has henchmen, but doesn’t bloody his own hands.
-- Macbeth later comes to the realisation of what he has lost
sleepwalks), she can no longer hold down her emotions. When the cracks in her
composure become too great, she kills herself.
-- Macbeth – is a soldier. As a soldier, he is a killing machine. As a soldier, he believes
in hierarchy. Act I, Scene ii refers to “another Golgotha”, Golgotha, the ‘hill of
skulls’ on which Christ is believed to have been crucified.
-- In Macbeth’s Act II, Scene i soliloquy, he doesn’t worry about an afterlife, he
worries about ‘this’ life and that is what he struggles with. Not sure if he sees a
dagger or not is a manifestation of the struggle he has about breaking rank. All his
training percolates when he breaks hierarchy. It takes a little while until he gets it
back together.
-- Macbeth counts as the only protagonist in the Shakespeare canon who knowingly
does evil. Even Richard III has henchmen, but doesn’t bloody his own hands.
-- Macbeth later comes to the realisation of what he has lost
o He does not have what other people of his rank and age ‘should’ have
o He has no real friends, only fear and blood.
o Orders the killing of children
o He is humanised by his own bravery and that he remains courteous throughout
(in my words: a kind of gentle murderer)
(in my words: a kind of gentle murderer)
resurrected, three days pass. The tradition holds that he descended into hell
where he cleans house, the so-called “harrowing of hell”. But he has to get by hell’s
doorman first.
-- The character of the Porter calls upon that tradition and plays with it.
-- Act II, Scene iii the Porter talks about opening the door to three sinners, the first
a farmer, the second an equivocator, the third a tailor. Equivocator is a reference
to one of the men convicted (executed) for his part in the Gunpowder Plot. Father
Henry Garnet was a Jesuit priest. The Jesuits were founded in 1540 by Ignatius of
Loyola in the Counter-Reformation. Their purpose was to win people back to
Catholicism (their presence was forbidden in England for that reason) and they
were a kind of Papal “SWAT” team.
-- The term ‘equivocator’ was used in reference to Garnet because he would not
impeach himself. He answered questions put to him in riddles, seen as lies.
-- The use of riddles by the Weird Sisters echoes through the play.
-- Hierarchy and order for the soldier descend into chaos --> witches, Satan’s attempts to invert the natural order of things. Taking off ‘the head’ does not mean Macbeth can easily slip into its place.
-- Hospitality --> murder
-- Sterile --> found dynasties
-- Friends --> betrayal
-- Act II, Scene iv
--> reference to an unnatural storm (lines 6-12)
ROSS: Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act,
Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock, 'tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp:
Is't night's predominance, or the day's shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it?
Old Man: 'Tis unnatural,
--> reversal of hierarchy of birds (lines 13-15)
Old Man: ... On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
--> horses become cannibals (lines 16-23)
ROSS: Duncan's horses--a thing most strange and certain --
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
Old Man: 'Tis said they eat each other.
ROSS: They did so, to the amazement of mine eyes That look'd
upon't.
upon't.
Image Patterns
Include:
-- Night (never any sunshine)
-- Time (Where things come together in Macbeth’s mind is in Act V, Scene v, lines
19-28) – all we’re doing is marking time, it’s all meaningless – absolutely nihilistic.
MACBETH: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
-- The play is saved by its ending: With Malcolm, the good guys win (Act V, Scene
viii) time will mean something again, now the days of the “dead butcher and his fiend-like queen” (line 69) are behind them; Scotland is redeemed.
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
-- The play is saved by its ending: With Malcolm, the good guys win (Act V, Scene
viii) time will mean something again, now the days of the “dead butcher and his fiend-like queen” (line 69) are behind them; Scotland is redeemed.
Q & A
How is Macbeth like/unlike Richard III
-- Richard III – gleeful and theatrical in his evil doing, he doesn’t care about human
life
-- Macbeth – solemn, thinks things through, understands the value of a human life,
that what he’s doing is bad, and then goes ahead regardless.
life
-- Macbeth – solemn, thinks things through, understands the value of a human life,
that what he’s doing is bad, and then goes ahead regardless.
Difficult to dislike
-- Precisely because he does consider the consequences of his actions, that his
murders have a purpose (mind, to further ambition and to get rid of the
competition), a lecture participant expressed that because Macbeth shows again
and again that he has a conscience, that he’s difficult to dislike.
-- Not so much a question, but a comment. Dr Budra did not disagree.
murders have a purpose (mind, to further ambition and to get rid of the
competition), a lecture participant expressed that because Macbeth shows again
and again that he has a conscience, that he’s difficult to dislike.
-- Not so much a question, but a comment. Dr Budra did not disagree.
The view to English Bay is obscured
-- Rightly so, Dr Budra observed. It makes sense: it’s dark, foggy, night (never day)
in the play. By covering the view it sets the mood. Seeing party boats in the
distance and kites flying off Kits Point only distract. At the Globe Theatre,
performances would happen in the daytime, so the repeated mentions of night and
darkness serve to remind the audience that it’s supposed to be nighttime.
in the play. By covering the view it sets the mood. Seeing party boats in the
distance and kites flying off Kits Point only distract. At the Globe Theatre,
performances would happen in the daytime, so the repeated mentions of night and
darkness serve to remind the audience that it’s supposed to be nighttime.
Significance of sleep / dream
-- People in the 16th century were very interested in dream states: changes in
traits, behaviour, people can act strangely in their dreams.
-- Sleep was viewed as important to rest.
-- Idea/Horror of sleeplessness
-- Guilt bubbled up in sleep – Lady Macbeth is so in control when she’s awake, but
asleep, she loses control of her emotions.
traits, behaviour, people can act strangely in their dreams.
-- Sleep was viewed as important to rest.
-- Idea/Horror of sleeplessness
-- Guilt bubbled up in sleep – Lady Macbeth is so in control when she’s awake, but
asleep, she loses control of her emotions.
How was it received?
-- The earliest published record was in 1610 by a Dr Simon Forman and he did not
review it as much as he gave a fairly accurate plot summary.
review it as much as he gave a fairly accurate plot summary.
Destiny vs Free Will
-- Ask me something easier.
Banquo’s Ghost: is it real
-- It’s only real to the person seeing it and that’s what counts. So, it is real to
Macbeth and the audience.
Macbeth and the audience.
The End.
