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Macbeth. The Scottish Play. What you need to know:. First performed in 1606 Written as a tribute for the King Considered one of the greatest of Shakespeare’s tragedies Shakespeare wrote it at the peak of his career – he was enormously popular actor, playwright, and theatre owner.
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Macbeth The Scottish Play
What you need to know: • First performed in 1606 • Written as a tribute for the King • Considered one of the greatest of Shakespeare’s tragedies • Shakespeare wrote it at the peak of his career – he was enormously popular actor, playwright, and theatre owner. • His acting company had just had their name changed! To the King’s Men. What does this mean?
James I • In 1603, Elizabeth I dies without an heir. This is the end of the Tudor line. • James IV of Scotland becomes James I of England. • He was a Protestant, who was known for his paranoia and obsession with witchcraft.
The Gunpowder Plot(aka, Guy Fawkes Day) • In 1605, a group of home-grown terrorists (who wanted to restore the Roman Catholic faith to England) placed a bunch of kegs of gunpowder in the basement of Parliament on the day James was arriving for a visit… • Guess what? It doesn’t detonate. Why? • Everyone is rounded up and sent to the Tower. • Playwrights in London write plays about this event…including William Shakespeare.
The Royal Patron • Shakespeare and the King’s Men have been asked to write a new play to be performed at court during the Christmas festivities. • To please the royal patron, Shakespeare writes Macbeth… a play that concerns: • Scottish royalty • Treason • Witches All near and dear to James’ heart!