Macbeth
Macbeth (/məkˈbɛθ/; full title The Tragedy of Macbeth) is a
tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in
1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of
political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Of all the plays
that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, who was patron of
Shakespeare's acting company, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's
relationship with his sovereign. It was first published in the Folio of 1623,
possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.
A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy
from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed
by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and
takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and
paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity
and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent
civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and
death.
Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth,
King of Scotland; Macduff; and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a
history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his
contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the
history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy are usually associated
with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of
1605.
In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play
is cursed, and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as
"The Scottish Play". Over the course of many centuries, the play has
attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and
other media.
A principal source comes from the Daemonologie of King James
published in 1597 which included a news pamphlet titled Newes from Scotland
that detailed the famous North Berwick Witch Trials of 1590. The publication of
Daemonologie came just a few years before the tragedy of Macbeth with the
themes and setting in a direct and comparative contrast with King James'
personal experiences with witchcraft. Not only had this trial taken place in
Scotland, the witches involved were recorded to have also conducted rituals
with the same mannerisms as the three witches. One of the evidenced passages is
referenced when the witches involved in the trial confessed to attempt the use
of witchcraft to raise a tempest and sabotage the very boat King James and his
queen were on board during their return trip from Denmark. This was significant
as one ship sailing with King James' fleet actually sank in the storm. The
following quote from Macbeth is one such reference:
"purposely to be cassin into the sea to raise winds for
destruction of ships." – Macbeth, I. iii. 15–25.
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 to achieve that throne. For Antony, the nemesis is Octavius; 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 and manipulative female
figures: Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.
Comments
Post a Comment