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Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1606

the political context is the key to the main theme of the play: excessive ambition will have terrible consequences.

Shakespeare was writing to the theatre during the rings of Queen Elizabeth the first and James the 6th of Scotland.

The plays he wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, are often seen to express happy, confident and optimistic mood of the Elizabethans. However, those he wrote during James's reign, such as Macbeth and Hamlet, are darker and more cynical, reflecting the insecurities of the Jacobean period

Macbeth was written the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, this could suggest that Shakespeare was inspired or motivated him to write the play as it did reflect the dangers of the Jacobean era.

Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, since she did not have any children, or even nephews or nieces, the throne was offered to James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, who then became James I of Britain. He was a distant cousin of Elizabeth, being descended from Margaret Tudor, the sister of Elizabeth's grandfather, Henry the Eighth

Shakespeare's plot is only partly based on fact. Macbeth was a real eleventh century Scottish king, but the historical Macbeth, who had a valid right to the throne, reigned capably in Scotland from 1040 till 1057. He succeeded Duncan, whom he had defeated in battle, but the real Duncan was a weak man, around Macbeth's own age, not the respected elderly figure we meet in the play. In reality, Macbeth was succeeded by his own stepson, not by Duncan's son, Malcolm, who came to the throne later. The Stuart kings claimed descent from Banquo, but Banquo is a mythical figure who never really existed. Shakespeare found his version of the story of Macbeth in the Chronicles of Holinshed, a historian of his own time. Holinshed does include a Banquo in his version, but he is also a traitor who assists Macbeth in the murder. As a tribute to the Stuarts, and James in particular, Shakespeare presents Banquo as a wise, noble and regal figure who arouses jealousy in Macbeth as much for his own good qualities as for the promise the witches make to him of founding a dynasty.

Shakespeare and the Court