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Macbeth The Thug W ho W ould B e K ing

Macbeth The Thug W ho W ould B e K ing. Background. Holinshed’s Chronicles: largely fictionalized account of Macbeth’s life Published twice: 1577 and 1587. Shakespeare altered Holinshed’s account 4 reasons: a more exciting story than is found in the sources (drama)

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Macbeth The Thug W ho W ould B e K ing

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  1. MacbethThe Thug Who Would Be King

  2. Background • Holinshed’s Chronicles: largely fictionalized account of Macbeth’s life • Published twice: 1577 and 1587 Shakespeare altered Holinshed’s account 4 reasons: a more exciting story than is found in the sources (drama) a more complex characterization of Macbeth (theme/artistic) cater to the beliefs of the reigning monarch, King James (politics) Convey idea that there is a divine right of kings, and that to usurp the throne is a crime against humanity(again with the politics)

  3. Shakespeare + Macbeth • Writes Macbeth between 1605-1606 • Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577), authoritative historical text – used as source of real Macbeth, among others

  4. Political Drama • 1034 Malcolm II murdered @ Glamis by friends + possibly grandson Duncan • Duncan killed rivals + took throne • Children: Malcolm + Donald “Bane” Duncan I

  5. The Real Macbeth • Macbeth mac Findlaech (McFinley) • Dad: Findlaech: Mormaer (ruler) of Moray in northern Scotland • 1020 Findlaech killed + throne taken by nephew Gillacomgain (Gill) • Mormaer = second only to king in Scotland (Side Note) King Duff killed by Donwald (nagged by his wife to do so) a century before Macbeth

  6. Macbeth Makes Alliance • Thorfinnof Orkney: a Norse Viking • Thorfinn Sigurdsson called: Thorfinn Skull-Smasher Thorfinn the Black Thorfinn Raven-Feeder - pretty well-known for success on battlefield • August 1040 Thorfinn+Macbethdefeat + kill Duncan I in battle • Thorfinn rules northern + Macbeth ruled southern Scotland • Macbeth = good king, strict but fair

  7. Real Macbeth continued… • 1032 Gill + 50 ppl burned to death for murder of Fin (Macbeth no doubt in on this revenge) • LadyMacbeth: Gruoch – originally married to Gill + had son Lulack the Simple • Macbeth marries her after killing her husband

  8. Scotland • Malcolm III - 1058 • Lulack the Simple – king for about 5 minutes (murdered at Malcolm’s order)

  9. Blunt Force Trauma/Head Slice - or Both!

  10. Weaponry with which to keeeel you… No clubs, movies, Xbox… Besides, 45 is just old… What else can we do with our time???

  11. Macbeth’s Downfall • 1054, Earl Siward of Northumberland, who spirited Malcolm to England after Duncan's death, invaded Scotland. • Met and defeated Macbeth at the battle of Birnam Wood / Dunsinane (July 27). • Most of Macbeth's army were killed, but Macbeth escaped. Siward's son and nephew were also killed. • Macbeth continued to reign but was killed in 1057 by Duncan's son Malcolm near Aberdeen. Thorfinn II survived until 1064.

  12. Duncan’s Sons “They were such sweet boys…” said Grandma. Malcolm Donald “Bane” • Ambushes/kills Lulack when he claims throne • Aggressive + successful • Invaded England many Xs (thus thanking his benefactor) + was killed in Northumberland • A treacherous soldier, pretending to hand him a key on a spear, put the spear through his eye socket • Is king twice (deposed for a time by Duncan II (his brother’s son), who he later defeated and killed) • Finally defeated, imprisoned, blinded by King Edgar, another son of Malcolm

  13. Political Uses for Witches! • James Stuart was King James VI of Scotland when Queen Elizabeth's death made him James I of England • With many people convicted of witchcraft on no physical evidence. James I, who believed the witch hysteria, wrote a book about hidden world of witches: Demonology. • The "witches" of the play exist for their role in Macbeth's fictionalized story. • A Matthew Gwynn held a pageant to greet James I, in which three boy-actors played Sibyls + prophesied his future greatness + mentioned Banquo • James supposedly reported that before the execution of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, there was an apparition of "a bloody head dancing in the air" • An accused witch (after torture) told James and his court that on Halloween of 1590, two hundred witches sailed into the town in sieves.

  14. James wrote in his book that witches would give deceptive and double-meaning prophecies. • Henry Garnet: a Jesuit and priest, implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, wrote A Treatise of Equivocation about how to mislead and answer ambiguously under oath. • Executed, he may be the "equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven."(Act I – porter scene)

  15. That Shakespeare… • Macbeth deals with the fictional ancestors of the Stuart line (Banquo, Fleance) • Presents Banquo more favorably than the play's sources. (In Holinshed, Banquo is Macbeth's active accomplice.) • The procession of kings ends with a mirror (held by Banquo rather than another king) • James could see himself, thus becoming part of the action. Macbeth says he sees more kings afterwards.

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