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CONTEXT (POLITICAL PROPAGANDA (Macbeth was first performed at Hampton…
CONTEXT
POLITICAL PROPAGANDA
Macbeth was first performed at Hampton Court Palace before James I and his guests in 1606 which provides evidence that this play was directly written for the King. The story line, like that of most Shakespeare's plays, was not original, and in this case was based on fact. (Holinshed's Chronicles)
This story was familiar to James; he had inherited the throne of Scotland through his ancestors Banquo and Fleance, and the story of Duncan's murder was well known
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Factions that want to get rid of James I, lots of disappointment following the death of the successful monarch Elizabeth I
Shakespeare has to avoid inferring that King James is a part of this barbaric feudal state - murderers who are stealing their kingship
Many were suspicious of King James - after the murder on Elizabeth's orders of Mary Queen of Scots who was his mother. Elizabeth died without an heir to the throne. People might have been extremely suspicious as Mary Queen of Scots was a Catholic which juxtaposes Elizabeth who was Protestant
Shakespeare's Macbeth, who commits the greatest of all crimes by murdering the king, finds he cannot live with himself and the consequences of his actions. He has rebelled against God and the order of creation; he becomes inhumane and his crime is rightly punished by his death
Macbeth ruled wisely and well for seventeen years. During his reign, the north and south of Scotland were united for the first time. He was defeated in battle near Aberdeen by Malcolm, the son of Duncan I who had invaded Scotland with the help from Edward the Confessor, King of England
This play acts as a warning to anyone who is considering killing the king, this is very significant as the Gunpowder Plot was only the year before (1605). This did not try to kill the king, but the whole of punishment
Malcolm slaughtered Macbeth's family so that his own kingship would stabilised. This marked the end of the purely Celtic, exclusively "barbaric" Scottish fol as it led to the gradual breaking down of barriers between England and Scotland and to the introduction of English ways and customs
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Macbeth, historically, could be summarised as being the victim of Malcolm but Shakespeare deliberately avoids this to show Banquo as the noble victim of Macbeth as King James was supposedly descended from Banquo and Fleance
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WITCHCRAFT
When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1606, James I had been King of England for three years
It is well known that the new king was fascinated by witchcraft; Shakespeare might have been trying to win his approval by introducing the figures of the "three weird sisters" into the play
1597 - DEMONOLOGY Demonology was written by King James to stop the doubt of the people after an increase in those who doubted the nature of the witches to resolve the doubting harts of many (Demonology)
Does Shakespeare present them in a way that proves they do not exist? For instance, they do actually tell Macbeth tp do evil, so is all of this deception really just Macbeth himself? The only reference to evil is "by the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes" which is a reference to Macbeth
Does Shakespeare believe in witchcraft? Is he saying the witches have great power? Or, is Shakespeare stating that his hamartia is completely produced himself? - Grade 9 as you will automatically be offering opposing views
Is Macbeth the true agent of evil as he is presented as more evil than the witches? Is this suggesting the witches are not real as if they were, they would be more powerful than the evil of a man
The initial and subsequent publications of Daemonologie includeda previously published news pamphlet detailing the accounts of the North Berwick witch trials that involved King James himself as he acted as judge over the proceedings
The deputy bailiff to the kingdom of Scotland, David Seaton (potential link to Macbeth's assistant Seyton), had a servant named Geillis Duncan, who was found to have miraculously helped any who were troubled or grieved with sickness of infirmity
David Seaton examined her as a witch annd obtained a confession that caused the apprehensions of several others later declared to be notorious witches. Agnis Tompson confessed to King James to have attempted his assassination using witchcraft on more than one ocassion. This is significant as we have a historical link to assassinating the king - Is this the true purpose of the dagger scene, to impress King James and give him a reason to blame the witches for King Duncan's assassination?
Shakespeare is integrating King James' past by using names from these witch trials to remind him of them =-
Dagger scene - he says it is one of the "mind" - this could either mean he is establishing the connection between Macbeth and the witches' evil or could be subtly outlining why he believes that the witches / witchcraft is a false belief, but not forwardly as this would upset his patron
Macbeth and Banquo's discovery of the witches is based of the Holinshed's Chronicles however, they are presented as rich, well dressed whereas Shakespeare characterises the witches as ugly etc. This could be an attempt by Shakespeare to show his disbelief in witchcraft as he is created some preposterous / ridiculous.
POLITICAL PROTEST
Shakespeare was writing for the theatre during the reign of two monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. The plays he wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream are often seen to embody the generally happy, confident and optimistic mood of the Elizabethans
However, those he wrote during James' reign, such as Macbeth and Hamlet, are darker and more cynical, reflecting the insecurities of the Jacobean period. Macbeth was written the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605
This mood could establish a link between the thoughts of King James and the mood of the sinister plays
This change in mood could be a reference to the people and their insecurities. More insecurity, consequently, wrote tragedies with deeply, psychologically damaged men
When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, she had no children or even nephews or nieces. The throne was offered to James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, who then become James I of Britain
James was the son of the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, who had been deposed and imprisoned when he was a baby, and later executed on Elizabeth's orders. Brought up by Protestant regents, James maintained a Protestant regime in Scotland when he came of age, and so was an acceptable choice for England which had become firmly Protestant under Elizabeth
However, his accession was by no means a popular choice with everyone. Since he was not a direct descendant of Elizabeth , there were other relatives who believed they also had a strong claim and James feared that discontented factions might gather around them.
At first, the Catholics hoped James might support them, since his mother had been a staunch Catholic, but then when they realised this would not happen conspiracies developed, one of which was the Gunpowder Plot
Guy Fawkes and his men tried to blow up James and his parliament in 1605. The conspirators were betrayed, and horribly executed, and tortured on the rack until they confessed. They were executed in the most brutal fashion as a warning to other would-be traitors. Shakespeare's play is to some extent a cautionary tail , warning any other political regicides of the awful fate that will inevitably overtake them