Shakespeare

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Shakespeares Macbeth

• What you need to know about the man and the play

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Do you recognize this man?
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Who is Shakespeare?

• Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford on Avon (near
  London)
• Family was well to do
• Had 7 brothers and sisters
• Education
• Went to free Grammar School until he was 15
• Studied mainly Latinread mythology, Ovid and
  Plutarch (used these as sources in his plays)

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• Married Anne Hathaway in 1582
• She was 8 years older
• They had 3 children
• Lived in London (still owned land in Stratford)
• Became a poet and an actor with Lord
  Chamberlains Men
• Wrote 36 plays grouped into tragedies, comedies
  and histories
• Revolutionized English stage with his stories and
  use of language

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• Retired sometime around 1611-1613 and returned to
  Stratford
• Died April 23, 1616

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Elizabethan England

• Elizabeth I was born in 1533, the daughter of
  King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
• Queen Elizbeth I ruled from 1558 to 1603 the
  period of her rule is known as the Elizabethan
  Age in England (also known as the Renaissance)

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• Elizabeths death marked the end of the Tutor
  dynasty
• The official religion under Queen Elizabeth was
  Protestantism (the Church of England)

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Witchcraft in Elizabethan England

• Renewed belief in the supernatural during the
  Renaissance
• First printed books were bibles or contained
  religious themesmany of these books promoted
  ideas about witches and witchcraft
• People blamed unexplainable events as the work of
  witches e.g. frequent outbreaks of the deadly
  Black Death, a bad harvest, houses burning down
  in fires, foods curdling

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• People accused of being Elizabethan Witches
  Women, Old, Poor, Unprotected, Single women or
  widows
• Women were expected to produce cures for most
  ailments as part of their house keeping. 'Wise
  women' also used herbs for this purpose. People
  found this to be suspicious behavior.
• The 1562 Elizabethan Witchcraft Act was passed
  during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was an
  act 'agaynst Conjuracions Inchauntmentes and
  Witchecraftes'.

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• Witches convicted of murder by witchcraft were to
  be executed but the punishment for witches in
  England was hanging, not burning at the stake
  which was the terrible death that was inflicted
  on French and Spanish witches
• The attitude of Queen Elizabeth was certainly
  more lenient than those of her neighbours in
  France and Spain, possibly because her mother,
  Anne Boleyn had been accused of being a witch

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King James I

• Became King in 1603 member of the Stuart dynasty
  and already King of Scotland
• Gunpowder Plot , 1605 was a plan to assassinate
  King James, one of many assassination
  attempts/plans
• Fascinated with witches and wrote a book on
  witchcraft

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• Shakespeare wrote Macbeth for King James because
  he was a descendant of Banquo (a character in the
  play)
• King James became a patron of Shakespeare and his
  acting troop, the Kings Men

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History of Macbeth

• The real Macbeth was born into a ruling family
  in 11th-century Scotland
• The King of Scotland at the time, Duncan, was
  unpopular and ineffectual as a ruler
• He was killed, possibly by Macbeth
• Macbeth became a popular king for 17 years
• Duncans son Malcolm invaded Scotland and Macbeth
  was killed in 1057

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• Bibliography
• http//www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/
• http//shakespeare.palomar.edu/
• http//www.shakespearehigh.com/
• http//students.roanoke.edu/t/tnunez/MACBETHomepag
  e.html
• http//images.google.com/
• Gibson, Rex, Cambridge School Shakespeare,
  Cambridge University Press, New York 1993.