Macbeth - context Flashcards
What is the original source of Macebth?
Holinshed’s History of Scotland
Difference between Holinshed and Macbeth
Witches changed from ‘goddesses of destine’ to limit (delegitimise) their power, giving Macbeth choice and agency, making him responsible for his actions
-> because Jacobean era was intensely religious and witchcraft was sinful as it was of the devil and not of God
-> appeals to the audience and monarch
Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder plot had just happened, Macbeth deters people from plotting against monarchy to appeal to James I
James I was Scottish
Society was anxious and disapproving of a Scottish King and at the time, Scotland and England were enemies. Shakespeare shows that Scottish Kings possess valuable traits.
Society was patriarchal
Rigid gender roles were in place, Lady M defies/subverts these stereotypes because
1. Shakespeare was suggesting women are more powerful and should be given more power
2. OR that women in power are corrupt and so should stay in their confines
James and Witchcraft
James was famously concerned with witchcraft and wanted to abolish any witches e.g. ‘Daemonologie’ (science of the demons) inspired witch hunts.
SO Shakespeare presented the weird sisters in a negative light to warn the audience against using witchcraft to achieve goals and desires.
ALSO Jacobean audiences feared witches and the supernatural, so the witches would’ve been terrifying, which is why S utilises them to show the dangers of witchcraft
Great Chain of Being
Elizabethans had this belief.
Order of universe - God at the top, followed closely by King
M disturbs chain and all the chaos and consequences that happen to him are a result of that
Divine Right of Kings
King can do anything bc (according to Great COB) he doesn’t have to answer to anyone but God
- so much superstition around regicide bc absence of the king = chaos as he’s only one below God
James as a religious fanatic
Believed in divine right of kings so believed he was chosen to be the righteous judge of England
Didn’t only believe in witch trials out of moral conviction, but due to the fact that he was ordained by God, he had a supernatural duty to complete witch hunts
Believed in Great cob, so close rs with God meant it was his role to enact the will of God aka getting rid of witch craft
James with deeply misogynistic views
origin of his strong opinions on witchcraft stemmed from this
as seen by Daemonologie where he asserted that only women could be witches bc they were the ‘weaker sex’ and so could be trapped by the ‘snares’ of the devil.
also used Bible as evidence - looked at story of Adam and Eve and beloved women are easily influenced and persuaded to the side of evil
Religious allusions
Similarities between Adam and Eve and Macbeth and LM e.g. LM persuades M to sin just as Eve persuaded Adam. LM’s ambition and thirst for power, like Eve’s, leads to their demise
Predestination vs free will
Could be argued that Macbeth is just a victim of predestination through the prophecies of the witches OR that Macbeth is only a victim unto himsef
pred = God already decided whether we are going to Heaven or Hell, nothing can be done to change this
f.w. = we have choices in everything we do which determine where we end up when we die
Macbeth vs Greek tragedy
Despite the play following Greek tragedy, which is described by Aristotle as having a character that is neither virtuous nor evil who attempts to avoid his fate, Macbeth chases for his fate. He is eager to reach the fate given to him by the witches and takes agency to get to it himself. During Shakespeare’s time, London was filling up with people who were writing new ways of living and stopped believing their roles in life were mapped out by their birth. Shakespeare himself was born to a glove maker and a wool farmer but became a playwright so, through the character of Macbeth, Shakespeare appealed to the audience of the time.
Nihilism
The rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless
Zealotry
fanatical and uncompromising pursuit of religious, political, or other ideals; fanaticism.
Macbeth was a zealot because once he began to achieve his goal through murder, he felt like he needed to eliminate everyone who posed a threat
