Macbeth
The Context
Knowing the history behind the texts you study is key. Here is some of the key historical context for 'Macbeth'
The Great Chain of Being
In A Sentence
Every single thing in the universe on a big list starting in order of the most important.
The Big Picture
Like creating lists? The good people of medieval England certainly did. They ordered the entire universe in importance. We've got God at the top and under him we have angels. Under that we have humans. Moving down to animals, plants and the rocks at the bottom. A giant list of every single thing that exists in the known universe.
It was an idea that had been around since the ancient Greeks and was sometimes called the 'ladder of being'. Everything had its place in the universe and if anything happened to change then there would be big trouble.
The things at the top were supposed to have more spirit. God for example is entirely spirit and has no physical body like a human. A human is somewhere in the middle. We have a body but we also have a spirit (we call it our soul) that exists within us. Down the bottom we have a rock. It's a big lump that is there for us to see and touch, but it has no spirit, no soul; rocks don't write poetry or fall in love.
Every single thing in this chain is ranked. Every type of angel has a rank. Every animal has a place where it sits amongst the other animals. The lion was the highest. Animals that couldn't move very well like the oyster were down the bottom. Diamonds and gemstones were the highest ranks of your rocks and minerals.
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Link to Macbeth
So why do we care? People throughout history have believed all sorts of strange and wonderful things. The thing is though, Macbeth breaks this chain. A big no no. He kills King Duncan and makes himself king. Remember every possible thing is ranked and a Thane doesn't belong in the place of a king. Breaking the Great Chain of Being sends the whole universe into chaos. For Duncan “his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature." Macbeth has torn nature itself apart.
Brilliantly we see what happens. Scotland is ruined until the rightful king, Malcolm, is restored at the end. Ross tells us that day has become night in Scotland "'tis day,//And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp." An Old Man in the same scene tells us that an owl has eaten a falcon which is a much bigger bird and top of the food chain. "A falcon, towering in her pride of place,//Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd". The best one though is when we find out that King Duncan's horses have turned wild and the Old Man tells us "'Tis said they eat each other." That's what happens when you break the Great Chain of Being!
Divine Right of Kings
In A Sentence
God personally chooses each king.
The Big Picture
So how do you convince people that you are the best person to run an entire country, just because your dad did. It's a hard sell isn't it. That's where the divine right of kings comes in. The belief that God has personally chosen you.
You are your father's son (the last king) because God chose you to be his son. Therefore God chose you, personally, to rule the country. Oh, and he also chose you personally to be his representative on earth. That means you are in charge of the church too. James I was the biggest believer of this and made sure everyone knew about it. The divine right also states that the king is not accountable to any other person on earth (like a parliament or anybody else who might have an opinion on how a king should do his job) because he gets his authority straight from God. Handy.
Link to Macbeth
Macbeth kills King Duncan. This means that he doesn't just commit murder, a crime against laws made by humans, but also breaks God's laws. This is a sin. God has chosen Duncan to be king and by killing him, Macbeth is directly attacking God's wishes.
Warrior Society in Scotland
In A Sentence
A brutal place where you had to fight for the right to be king and your life didn't always last very long if you were.
The Big Picture
Scotland contained lots of different groups of people who all looked up to different leaders. The Vikings controlled the north and the Northumbrians of England regularly took land from the south. The Pictish or Gaelic kingdom held the east of Scotland. This was known as Alba and came to dominate what we today call Scotland by the time of Macbeth. Macbeth was indeed a real King of Scotland, though he didn't murder Duncan in his sleep. He defeated King Donnchad I in battle in 1040.
Local leaders who wanted to take the lands of their rivals did so by using the local peasant farmers as an army. They usually had no armour and were lightly armed with spears or a bow. Fighting would be bloody and brutal. Kings would gain support of local leaders and form alliances that allowed them to use their troops to form larger armies. These alliances sometimes meant longer periods of peace, but often broke down and resulted in more war.
Link to Macbeth
The play starts with rebellion breaking out on two fronts. MacDonwald attacks Duncan using troops from the Kerns and Gallowglasses. These are men from the islands of the north of Scotland. The Thane of Cawdor allies with the King of Norway to attack Duncan. Many islands around northern Scotland were actually held by Norway at the time of Macbeth and this land was called the 'Kingdom of the Isles'. Macbeth was a feared general in the play. He would have been of great value. But of course, he too couldn't resist the temptation to gain more power for himself.
Shakespeare's Theatre
In A Sentence
Chaotic brilliance in a loud, smelly and aggressive theatre.
The Big Picture
Shakespeare's theatre was called the Globe and was built just south of the river Thames in London. It is best described as a little chaotic and very different from the theatre of today. A particularly wild showing happened in 1613 when during a performance of Henry V, a spark from a canon set fire to the roof and burned down the theatre. When rebuilt, it was just as successful as before. Common people could afford to go and would pay a penny to stand in front of the stage. Those with a little more money could choose a more expensive seat in the overhanging balconies. Before the actors arrived, entertainment could involve dog fights, bear fights, and plenty of ale. The drinking might have been problematic later in the performance due to the lack of toilet facilities.
Link to Macbeth
Let's think about that first scene. Why do we start with thunder and lighting? Well it sets the atmosphere for the scene with the witches and allows us to question their abilities to control the weather. Perhaps practically though, thunder would quieten down that lively audience with a loud canon firing or two! The uses of witches themselves too no doubt would hook the attention of an audience who might otherwise take some persuading to quieten down and listen.
Gunpowder Plot
In A Sentence
A plot to kill King James I of England in 1605.
The Big Picture
Despite his mother being Catholic, James I was a Protestant. These two forms of Christianity had divided England since King Henry VIII left Catholicism so that he could divorce his first wife. The Gunpowder Plot was designed to assassinate the protestant James I and return England to Catholic rule (oddly by making his 9 year old daughter Queen). Robert Catesby organised the plot and planned to blow up the House of Lords with the King inside during the state opening of Parliament in 1605. 36 barrels of gunpowder were placed in the basement of Parliament with a man called Guy Fawkes taking responsibility for looking after them until the right moment.
A number of events meant the plan did not go as expected. An outbreak of plague delayed the opening of parliament and then Fawkes realised the original gunpowder he had used had gone off in this time. Finally the plot was rumbled when an anonymous letter was sent to the king. Parliament was searched and Fawkes was found guarding the gunpowder.
Fawkes gave his name as "John Johnson" and resisted the most terrible torture when authorities tried to get out of him who else was involved. Eventually his strength broke and he started to give details of the plot. A manhunt was underway across England to capture the plotters. Some, such as Catesby, died being captured. An unlucky 8 were brought in alive. Their punishment was to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Dragged to the gallows strung behind a horse, they were then hanged from the neck without enough force to kill them. After being cut down, they were castrated alive and then their body was chopped into quarters. The heart was ripped out and the executioner held it up and shouted to the crowd, "behold the heart of a traitor." The head was placed on a spike as a warning to others.
Link to Macbeth
Macbeth commits regicide (killing the king). This play was written shortly after the Gunpowder Plot and it are obvious links to this event that Shakespeare includes. Firstly it is clear that rebelling against the rightful king gets you nowhere. The Thane of Cawdor, Macdonwald and later Macbeth all end up dead as a result of their decision to give it a go. Like the Gunpowder Plotters, Macbeth has his head removed.
There are some clearer links to the Gunpowder Plot too. "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it" is a reference to a silver medal that was made in Holland to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. On one side it had a snake slithering through flowers and ivy. James I and many in the audience would know this quote referenced the medal.
As well as Lady Macbeth’s famous line, the drunken Porter mocks an "equivocator". Equivocation was the word Catholics used when they had to lie and deny that they were Catholic. Lying is a sin but equivocation is not. This allowed them to lie about their faith to the authorities and escape death, but not commit sin. It is thought the equivocator the Porter mocks is Father Garnet. A man involved in the Gunpowder Plot.
Witchcraft
In A Sentence
The belief that some people (especially women) had supernatural powers they used for evil.
The Big Picture
Beliefs about witchcraft did not begin at the time Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, but they certainly were exploding in popularity. This was mainly due to James I, King of England, who had a fascination and a fear of them. He had written a book called 'Daemonologie' which explored witches and witchcraft. It was in total 3 books and explored witches, demons, werewolves, vampires and Satan himself.
James I wrote the book as a result of the North Berwick Witch Trials. James I was to marry Anne of Denmark. Before the wedding however, Anne's ships were hit by a terrible storm and had to shelter in Norway. James sailed out to meet her there. A trial was held in Denmark to find out who was to blame for this incident; ultimately this led to a group of women being blamed for sending demons onto the ships to raise the storm. Two women were burned at the stake.
James, still upset about the storm, set up his own investigations at home. More than 100 women were arrested as suspects, mainly from the town of Berwick. They suffered awful torture and some were strangled and burned after confessing their 'crimes.'
James continued his fascination with witches long after the trials and took his witch hunting to England when he became king there too.
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Link to Macbeth
Shakespeare takes many ideas from the North Berwick Witch Trials and 'Daemonologie' and uses them in Macbeth. The three witches discuss raising winds to punish a sailor at sea whose wife had refused to give one of the witches a chestnut. The first witch even sails to find him in a sieve! This seems odd to a modern reader, but one of the witches of the North Berwick Witch Trials was accused of sailing from Scotland on a sieve to sink the ships of Anne.
James I of England and VI of Scotland
In A Sentence
James (I of England and VI of Scotland) was the King when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth and a major influence on the play.
The Big Picture
The life of James could take up a website in itself. Even by royal standards his life was full on, you can find out more details about his childhood in the GF Blog! It is said that many of Shakespeare's plays were written for the King or Queen at the time, but there is no doubt that 'Macbeth' was written for James. A successful play that the king enjoyed could take Shakespeare's career as a playwright to the next level.
James was born in Scotland. His father was assassinated when he was still a baby. It was strongly suspected that his mother had something to do with the murder. These suspicions became stronger when she quickly married the leading suspect shortly after. The social services were not a thing in the 1500s. James was made King of Scotland aged 1, but ended up being separated from his mother who was overthrown from her position of power. He was raised by his 'protectors' who ruled Scotland until he was an adult. Over in England, Elizabeth I was Queen. She had no children but was related to James as they were both descendants of Henry VIII (Elizabeth was his daughter). Despite having James' mother executed, after Elizabeth's death, James was the closest living relative and therefore became King of England as well as Scotland.
James made Shakespeare's acting company 'The King's Men' an official royal group of actors in 1603.
Link to Macbeth
There are many links to James' life. Firstly, the play is entirely set in Scotland, the home and birthplace of James. It deals with the supernatural through the witches, one of James' biggest obsessions. It directly references moments in James' life like the medal forged to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. A distant relative to James I, Banquo, comes out looking like the good guy when he tries to persuade Macbeth to ignore the witches and later suspects his evil actions. James certainly wouldn't have been happy if it was suggested that Banquo was involved in illegally gaining power! The themes of regicide, the divine right of kings, upsetting the great chain of being all play up to the beliefs of James. It's clear the play was written to suck up to James and Shakespeare manages it with a style that few others could.