Macbeth context

Macbeth context

1. The Scottish Setting

   • Set in Scotland
   • Not historically accurate but facts drawn from Holinshed Chronicles of England
   • Macbeth is fictional but could be based on Malcom II of Scotland who died in 1034
   • The paly refers to Scottish culture
   • The battle at the beginning of the play appears to be based on the Norse invasion. (during the ninth century Scotland was invaded by raiders from Denmark and Norway, known as Norseman or Vikings)

2. Witchcraft and the supernatural

   • Medieval Scotland as well as Renaissance England maintained a belief in witches
   • Witchcraft was regarded as evil
   • Witches could be burnt to death
   • King James' greatest passion was the study of witchcraft. James I wrote a book condemning witchcraft, convinced that a group of witches had raised a storm and tried to drown him
   • King James also attended trials and examinations regarding witchcraft

3. The divine right of Kings

   • The decree that a nation's monarch was God's representative on Earth, and therefore entirely guided by God- rebelling against the monarch was an affront (an insult) to God
   • King James even wrote in The True Law of free Monarchies (1598)

4. The Gowrie Conspiracy

   • On August 5,1600, an assassination attempt on King James, then of Scotland, nearly succeeded
   • This captured the public's imagination
   • Murdering a King was considered a heinous crime and a sin because of the Divine Right of Kings

5. The Gunpowder plot

   • On November 5, 1605, the Gunpowder plot took place
   • Motivated by the religious tensions between Protestants and Catholics and King James' persecution of Catholics
   • Guy Fawkes and his conspirators were found with a large quantity of gun powder in Parliament
   • Robert Catesby, was a young nobleman from a distinguished family who was involved. Some believe Macbeth is based on Catesby
   • The trial of Father Henry Garnet
     • Being Catholic was considered a crime
     • Father Henry Garnet was on trial for his part of the Gunpowder plot and sentenced to death
     • Catholic priests developed the practice of equivocation (speaking words with unclear meaning) to avoid giving untruthful responses while under interrogation
     • Equivocation is mentioned in Macbeth in the scene following Duncan's death, "Faith, here's an equivocator"- the audience would have understood this as mocking Catholics
     • The witches speak in equivocation

6. The Chain of Being

   • The renaissance world inherited a special worldview, the idea of a hierarchical universe ordained by God- "The Chain of Being"
   • The order of the chain from top to bottom is: God, Angels, Humans, Animals, Vegetables and finally Minerals