Macbeth Background

Macbeth Background Shakespeare- Renaissance Drama  Rebirth of interest in Greek Tragedies  Shakespeare wrote three types of plays:  Histories  Comedies- has a happy ending  Tragedies- tragic hero comes to a miserable end Historical Background  The Title Character based on a historical Macbeth, king of 11th century Scotland  He seized the throne after killing King Duncan Shakespeare’s Sponsor  King James the First  James interested in witchcraft- but didn’t necessarily believeused it for political purposes  Belief about witches widespreadWHY:?illiterate people, no scientific Witches- Famous Three in Macbeth Witches- Famous Three in Macbeth Characteristics of Tragedy  Tragic hero must begin the play as a person of importance  Someone looked up to because of position and/or ability  Cannot be an average guy  Never a woman  Characteristics of Tragedy  Tragic hero exhibits extraordinary abilities  Also has a TRAGIC FLAW that leads to his downfall  Tragic flaw is usually associated with HUBRISexcessive pride  Macbeth’s tragic flaw is driven by his AMBITION Characteristics of Tragedy  Antagonistoutside forces with whom the hero battles  Pushes him toward the tragic ending Characteristics of Tragedy  A series of casually related events lead the hero to the catastrophe  Catastrophe- the hero dies, others may die Characteristics of Tragedy  Right before his death tragic hero must recognize his flaw – his OOPS moment  Gains the pity of the audience- they then feel fear- for if this can happen to a man so great, what does it mean for the common man. Characteristics of Tragedy Tragic hero comes to an unhappy and miserable end Characteristics of Tragedy  Tragic hero meets death with dignity and courage  Macbeth somewhat problematic in the end for some readers  Question whether or not his OOPS moment is big enough Comic Relief in Tragedy  The following of a serious scene with a lighter humorous scene  Gives audience relief  Juxtaposition heightens the prior tragedy Terms to Remember/Review Soliloquy  Speech by a character ALONE on stage  Shares innermost thoughts  Only the audience hears. Aside  Remark from a character to the audience  Can also be a remark from one character to another character that other characters on the stage DO NOT hear  Will indicate in the text  aside to- character name  Aside- to audience only Verse Drama  Dialog consists mostly of poetry with a fixed rhyme or meter  Blank verse- unrhymed iambic pentameter  Shakespeare pulls characters out of verse to indicate something about his or her character Motif:  a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature  Blood  Sleep  Manhood  Water  Clothing  Weather  Birds  Light and Dark Shakespeare’s Language  NOT OLD ENGLISH  Archaic word usage  Grammatical Forms: thou, thee, thy, thine, and thyself instead of you.  Outdated Verb forms:  Art for are  Cometh for comes  Fewer helping verbs:  Not: Don’t you know he has?  Unfamiliar vocab:  Seeling=blinding  Choppy=chapped  Use the marginal notes in textbook to help with meaning.  He coined words- like assassination Dramatic Irony  What appears to be true characters in the play is seen to be false by the audience  The audience has a more complete picture of the action-watches EVERYTHING unfold Themes  Theme:  Macbeth Themes:  A central idea or unifying  Things are not always what generalization implied or stated by the literary work  Not a subject  Must be in statement form  Should NOT be an absolute  Can be applied to humans and life beyond the text they seem  Ambition is often blinding  Power can corrupt those who have it.  Superstition often affects human behavior Key Characters  Duncan  Witches  Malcolm  Porter  Donnalbain  Old Man  Macbeth  Three murderers  Lady Macbeth  Gentlewoman  Banquo  Seyton  Fleance  Siward and Young Siward  Macduff  Ross and Lennox  Lady Macduff and her son Setting and Places  11th century  Medieval Scotland  Brief section in England with King Edward the Confessor  Macbeth’s Castle: Inverness on Dunsinane Hill  Macduff’s Castle: Fife  Birnam Woods- a forest  Scone-where kings are crowned  Instead: “know you not he has?  Unusual word order;  Verbs before subjects  Objects before verbs  Says: “O, never shall that sun that morrow see!” instead of “O, the sun shall never see that morrow!”