MACBETH Historical/Social Context

Question 1

James VI of Scotland (Scotland and England)

Answer 1

Had the complex and difficult job of uniting Scotland and England when he became King James I of England after Elizabeth I died

Question 2

James I (Witchcraft)

Answer 2

Very interested in witchcraft, he wrote a book, ‘On Daemanologie’ and supported the discovery and punishment of witches

Question 3

James I (Banquo)

Answer 3

Would have been flattered at the implied connection with Banquo, a mythical father of the true line of Scottish Kings

Question 4

James I (Gunpowder Plot)

Answer 4

Would have been pleased to see Macbeth’s treachery punished. The Gunpowder was a very fresh example of the punishment of traitors who attempted regicide.

Question 5

Elizabeth I

Answer 5

Long, successful and stable reign. Lots of anxiety and uncertainty over the succession without heirs when she died in 1602

Question 6

Great Chain of Being

Answer 6

A belief that God ordered society and the universe in a strict hierarchy. This supported the Divine Right of Kings

Question 7

Troilus and Cressida

Answer 7

‘untune that string and hark what discord follows’ - written four years before Macbeth, Shakespeare’s audience knew that changing the natural order led to chaos, yet Macbeth seems blind to this fact.

Question 8

Witchcraft

Answer 8

Presented as unmistakably evil in Macbeth. Very different from the white magic of The Tempus, the playful mischevious magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the portents and prophecies of Julius Caesar. The Witches in Macbeth are servants of the devil.