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SHAKESPEARE'S CONSTRUCTION AND CONTEXT (AO3 (This play was written for…
SHAKESPEARE'S CONSTRUCTION AND CONTEXT
AO3
This play was written for King James I of England and Scotland. He was the first king of both England and Scotland.
The play is written in 1606, a year after the Gunpowder Plot
Shakespeare is flattering the King by naming his direct ascendant - Banquo - as a good character. The witches' prophecy that Banquo would file a line of kings is a nod to James
Great Chain of Being meant kings were believed to be chosen by God and were very important
Regicide = act of killing a king
only a century before Macbeth was written, England had suffered under the massive disorder of the Wars of the Roses. Civil disorder was now seen as the ultimate disaster and also an ungodly state
Witches
Witches were a real fear of much of the population of the British Isles in Shakespeare's time so the play would've been seen as truly scary / horrific.
James I wrote the book Daemonologie - he was the king so this was very influential
Tragic Hero
a noble person, suffering from a fatal flaw who makes a serious mistake which ruins their future
hamartia - the flaw or defect in the character that leads to their downfall
Hubris: arrogance of the kind that invites ruin
Macbeth
Verse and Prose and Rhyme
the witches speak in a four-beat rhythm (tetrameter) which is appopriate for spells, incantations and the supernatural
Prose was used to signify characters' madness or low status like Lady Macbeth in act 5
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
this rhyming couplet tells us that Macbeth has firmly decided to kill the King, while also reminding us of the language of the witches