Theme

THEMES

EVIL, AMBITION & MADNESS

Ambition:

- Lady Macbeth

- Macbeth

- Macduff

- Malcom

- Lady Macbeth: ambitious to kill people, for her husband to get the throne - power & money. Her ambition of killing the king blinds her, which she doesn't even know what she is doing. 

- Macbeth was ambitious to kill the king and get his throne + hide the fact that he murdered the king.

- Macduff persuaded Malcom to come back and get his throne back - determined to get revenge for his dead family.

- Malcom fought with Macbeth for his throne and won.

- The key moment of the story was when she told her husband to kill the king. That part of the story, reveals her true character and how ambitious and evil she was. Also when Macbeth sent someone to kill Banquo, his friend who suspected him of killing Duncan - it shows that he's determined to hide what he did.

- Context: During 11 century when the play was set in, kings were treated differently - more respected and no one dared to rebeled against the king as it would be like argueing with God. So this could be the reason for Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Malcom ambition.

Evil:

- Witches 

- Lady Macbeth 

- Macbeth

- Macbeth listened to his wife and murdered King Duncan

- Witches tempted Macbeth - gave him magic potion + witches were seen as mean and bad people at the time the play was set in.

- Lady Macbeth was blinded by her ambition to have the throne all to her husband, she persuaded her husband to kill Duncan which made her husband a bad person as his axiety of people finding out he killed Duncan - making him killed his friend, Banquo.

- The key point in the play was when Macbeth killed the king, when he went to meet the witches again and when Lady Macbeth said 'A little water clears us of this deed' - it shows that after mudering someone, she couldn't careless about the king or what she did, she cares more about cleaning the blood off their hands to hide the fact that they killed Duncan - this shows she has no kindness nor guilt towards the king.

- Context: The play was set in 11 century, when people believed that witches were evil people - which means that Macbeth who interacted with witches would either slowly be turned into a bad/evil person or is already an evil person.

Madness:

- Macbeth

- Lady Macbeth

- Macbeth was becoming crazy as he was afraid someone would know he killed the king - after sending someone to kill his friend, he had came to the witches and drank their magic potion, seeing weird visions afterwards. Also, after killing his friend, he kept on seeing Banquo's ghost and it drove him mad.

- Lady Macbeth was fine at first after her husband killed Duncan but soon, she was haunted by the murder - it drove her mad, making her end up committing suicide.

- The key point in the play was when Macbeth panicked at the party when he saw Banquo's ghost, making him look like a mad man. 

- Context: In 11 century, even though people believed in witches, they despised witches. So going to meet the witches and even drinking their potion would be considered a crazy thing to do. Also, seeing someone's ghost must be quite crazy

Context

11 CENTURY SCOTLAND - KINGS POSITION
- At this time, the government was run through the Feudal System - a ranking order meaning the nobles were at the top, merchants in the middle and the servants at the bottom

WHO IS JAMES I?

- James was the king of Scotland when Elizabeth past, and he was the closest relative to Elizabeth. James had never took over the control of the country fully. Scotland was claimed as ungovernable in parts of that country.James was proclaimed king of Scotland in 1567, aged 1, after his mother enforce abdication and she was Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1589, he married Anne of Denmark, which she claim herself a Flimsy and shallowed person. James was a fervent believer in the Divine Right of Kings. He had a high opinion as to his academic ability. He also held in high regard his ability to be a king. King James I thought he was a witchcraft expert - he was very interested in this.

Mens and Woman role:

How woman's look like.

This is a time when men were men, and women were bearded witches, unsexed nags, or dead. That is why, at the end of the play Macbeth, there were no women’s alive. Medieval women invariably had a hard time in an era when many men lived harsh lives. A few women lived comfortable lives but Medieval society was completely dominated by men and women had to know 'their place' in such a society.The women in the play, Lady Macbeth and the witches, defy their gender expectations and act as cruel as the men.

How mens look like.

Another picture of how mens look like.

Witches & Witchcraft

During Shakespears's time, witches and witchcraft were the objects of morbid and fevered fascination - a nonsense that wasn't supposed to be real. People suspected of bring witches were cruelly persecuted. Even though there were superstitions and negative talks about witches, people still believed in witches.

It was believed that witches allowed the Devil to suck their blood in exchange of familiars - black cats, rats, owls, bats, toads, etc... These animals were used as evil servants.

Accused witches were examined for the 'Devil's mark' - a red mark on their body from where Satan had had sucked their blood. Some of Shakespear's audience interpreted that Lady Macbeth's 'damned spot' was an evidence of the Devil's mark.

People also believed that witches had supernatural power - being able to predict the future, fly, sail in sieves, bring on night in daytime, cause fogs and tempests, etc...

The execution of witches were brutual - burned, hung, drowned, catherine wheels - a spiky wheel and the witch is tied on it as it's rolled down the hill.

To test if a person is a witch, they were drowned and if they floated, they're a witch as people believed that they had the magic to float.

Religion:

The church was lead by the Pope. The vast majority of European citizens were followers of the Catholic faith. Religion had played a really important jobs in the daily life of that time. Many of the laws were enforced by the Church and people lead their life by a rigorous moral code; punishments for going against these laws were extremely severe. Religious conflict in the medieval era is well documented.

The Crusades, which occurred in the early part of the 11th century, are perhaps one of the most famous religious conflicts of all time; this event involved the invasion of Eastern Muslim lands and the capture of Jerusalem. There were five crusades in total; eventually the Muslims took Jerusalem back and the soldiers retreated back to Britain.

Characters

Macbeth: main character of this play - a soldier who is King Duncan's cousin who earned his spot as the king after murdering Duncan.
















Macduff: A Scottish nobleman who eventually turns out to be the hero in this play.

Lady Macbeth: Macbeth's wife - the person who persuaded her husband in killing Duncan.

King Duncan: the king of Scotland at the time. He is also the father of two children - Malcom and Donalbain

Malcolm (top): King Duncan's oldest son
Donalbain (bottom): King Duncan's youngest son




























Banquo: Macbeth's friend




Fleance: Banquo's son

The three witches: the people who tempted Macbeth into killing Duncan

Plot

‘Macbeth’ is a play written by Shakespeare and the play is centered on a brave soldier who was tempted by witches and persuaded by his wife to kill people in order to get the throne of Scotland.

The three witches were portrayed in different ways on stage though they are known as bad people.

Lady Macbeth is like Macbeth's partner in crime - she had persuaded him to do all this, thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal though further into the story, she was always haunted by King Duncan's murder.

At a party, when everyone passed out/fell asleep because of exhaustion, Macbeth killed King Duncan and Lady Macbeth put the blood on Duncan's son to make it look like they did it. When people found out about King Duncan's death, they were shocked. Duncan's children ran away to England, since people were thinking they did it. That leaves Macbeth, Duncan's cousin to earn his crown.

Banquo, Macbeth's friend suspected him of killing Duncan, which made Macbeth anxious. He sent a murderer to go and kill Banquo and his son, but his son ran away.

At the party, Macbeth hallucinated, seeing Banqos's ghost and went crazy - screaming. His wife tried to calm him down.

Macbeth went to see the witches again and they let him drink a potion. He saw crazy vision like beware of Macduff and all.

He sent people to go and kill Macduff's family but luckily, Macduff wasn't in Scotland so he wasn't killed though his family were killed.

He ran over to England to persuade Malcolm, Duncan's son to go get his throne back. He agreed and went back to scotland with 1000 soldiers.

Overwhelmed by guilt, Lady Macbeth killed herself.

He then had a show down with Macduff but he lost and died. Malcolm was then crowned king.

WATCH THIS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFtCYESosDw