Macbeth: context Flashcards
What is essentialism ?
- philosophy from Plato about the meaning of life
- that our fate/meaning is programmed into the essence of who we are from birth
What is existentialism ?
- philosophy from Sartre about the meaning of life
- that we’re not destined for anything in particular
- we have to create meaning in our own lives + shape our fate
What is Nihilism ?
- philosophy from Nietzsche about the meaning of life
- that there is no meaning and meaning cannot created; there is absolutely no point to anything
What are the Holinshed’s Chronicles ?
- original tales of Macbeth and Duncan etc.
- in the original, Macbeth ruled for 10 years peacefully before becoming a tyrant
- the original cites the witches as the weird sisters; not evil, just magical
What is the Malleus Maleficarum ?
- old church document
- contained fearmongering about witches to dissuade people from trusting their healing and putting more money and time into the church instead
- stated that witches got their powers by trading their soul to the devil
- stated that witches’ animal familiars were the devil disguised
What is Daemonologie ?
- book written by King James I
- manifesto for his belief in the supernatural and his passion for researching it
- included punishments for practices such as witchcraft
What is psychoanalytic theory ?
- Freudian philosophy
- the self is split into three parts
- superego = the moral voice of society; tells what a person should do due to societal rules and moral codes
- ID = instinctual desires; regarded as more primitive, acts only on what the person wants and not according to any moral code, though desires need not be evil in nature
- ego = the actual consciousness; negotiates between the wants of the superego and the ID to devise an appropriate course of action which satisfies both parties
- the theory states that, in order to be liked in society, people often repress their desires to come to a mutual agreement with others/compromise efficiently
- repression of the ID builds up over time and if not released will forcefully come to light in the form of dreams, hallucinations, emotional outbursts and so on
Who was King James I and how does he relate to themes in the play ?
- originally Scottish
- rumoured to be a descendent of Banquo
- had interest in witches
- very religious
- protestant; hated by catholics
What was the Gunpowder Plot ?
group of catholic socialists plotted to blow up parliament and kill King James I and all of the government
Who was Henry Garnet ?
- catholic
- father of equivocation
- stood trial for being a catholic and lied to protect the location of fellow catholics
What is equivocation ?
speaking in half-truths
What is the Great Chain of Being ?
- natural order of importance/closeness to God
- angels
- king
- church
- nobles
- men
- women
- daughters
- natural world
- witches/blasphemers etc.
What is hegemonic masculinity ?
- attributes of the ideal man according to society
- strength
- bravery
- prowess in battle
- unemotional
- logical
What is hegemonic femininity ?
- attributes of the ideal woman in the eyes of society
- soft
- weak
- innocent
- pure
- pious
- emotional
- caring
- motherly
Who are the weird sisters in Greek mythology ?
- the three fates
- decided when a mortal’s life ended and begun, as well as carrying out fate
- not evil
- neutral morally
What is an aside in theatre ?
small soliloquy that on-stage characters cannot hear
Which scene in Hamlet is alluded to when Lady Macbeth says “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;” ?
where Claudius kills his brother (King Hamlet) by pouring poison in his ear
Which scene in Hamlet is alluded to when Macbeth says “Commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice/To our own lips” ?
where Claudius attempts to kill Hamlet by poisoning his drink, but Claudius’ wife Gertrude drinks it instead and dies
What is the adage ?
folk tale about a cat that stood on a pier and wanted to eat the shoals of fish that swam past but was too scared to get in the water to kill them
What does an everyman typically represent in literature ?
desires, thoughts and needs of the common person in a situation
Which areas of context apply to a reading of Macbeth ?
- Marxist theory
- feminism
- psychoanalytic theory
- the Great Chain of Being
- Christianity
- hegemonic femininity/masculinity
- tragic hero
What is the path of a Greek tragic hero ?
- aristeia (point of greatness)
- hubris (excessive pride)
- hamartia (fatal flaw)
- peripeteia (point of no return)
- anagorisis (realisation that the downfall was caused by harmartia)
- nemesis (punishment for peripeteia)
- catharsis (pity/fear of audience for the tragic hero as a result of nemesis + feeling that the punishment was too severe)
When was Macbeth written ?
1606 (the year after the Gunpowder Plot)
