The play 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare is possibly one of the most influential plays or texts in the history of literature or theatre.

Macbeth Essay

The play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare is possibly one of the most influential plays or texts in the history of literature or theatre. Countless adaptations have been staged and screened since its original writing in 1606 and it has influenced other plays and films which have adopted the similar theme and even story of betrayal, the supernatural and the curse this bears. With the relevance Macbeth still holds today it is easy to forget that it was a product of it’s times and audience as all literature is. When Macbeth was written in 1606 the King was James I (VI of Scotland) he had only been King of England for three years and already a major assassination attempt had been uncovered. This was the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ of 1605 when Guy Fawkes and several other Catholic sympathisers tried to assassinate the King by blowing up the houses of parliament while the King was opening it. What made this attempt all the more significant for James was the fact that many well respected men with knighthoods were embroiled in it. This did nothing but harden James’ fear of regicide against himself, which was already verging on full-scale paranoia. James was also fascinated by witchcraft and wrote ‘Daemonologie’ a book on witchcraft including their powers and what they plotted to do. On returning from Denmark he had 300 witches and several Scottish Lords arrested for plotting his murder. This kind of obsession was indicative of James’ philosophy towards life he was an intelligent man who enjoyed art, drama and literature and yet he was notoriously paranoid due to his upbringing, the murder of his father Lord Darnley and the notorious treachery of the Scottish court. There are countless other instances from James’ life that served to implement these attitudes into James’ mind and Shakespeare’s play Macbeth confirms all James’ attitudes through its plot and speech.

It is easy to see how the play is a product of it’s times. After the Gunpowder Plot captured the imagination of the country in the way it did treason and treachery would have been a topic on the minds of the nation and so Macbeth leaps upon this with its plot and script. It deals with witchcraft also. The inclusion of treachery and witchcraft is undeniably important and we can see how Shakespeare’s and the public’s views on these subjects are woven into the story of Macbeth and indubitably in the outcome of the story. Another theme which fits with James’ fervent belief in the divine right of Kings is the disruption of the natural order after King Duncan is murdered. All of these themes and factors combine to give a detailed reflection of the story of Macbeth and the times it was written in.

An important theme of Macbeth is set out in the very first scene. This scene contains the three witches who are vital to the plot and theme of the play. The reason Shakespeare would have included a scene of this kind so early using the three witches would be mainly to shock the Jacobean audience who would have been very frightened of the supernatural and especially witchcraft. However the inclusion of the witches in the first scene of the play would also have informed the audience of how important the witches are in the plot of the play. The witches talk very cryptically so it is fairly awkward deciphering their musings. This cryptic verse would have reinforced to the audience the idea that the witches were supernatural and perhaps dangerous as they speak very differently to a normal character and the audience of the time would have certainly been xenophobic. One Witch says ‘Upon the heath.’ The other witch replies ‘There to meet Macbeth’. A few scenes later the witches meet Macbeth upon the heath. This perceptiveness is another device to show the witches as supernatural. The witches appear in two of the opening three scenes of the play. The opening scenes of a play set up the future action and plot of the play. These plentiful early appearances for the witches would suggest that they are integral to the plot and events of the play.

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In Act one Scene three the witches appear again. This time Macbeth arrives and meets the witches fulfilling the prediction they made in Scene one. Macbeth’s friend Banquo who is with him notices the witches and comments on their appearance. He says they are ‘So withered and wild in their attire That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ the earth’ This statement outwardly informs the audience of their supernatural qualities and shows that the characters in the play are a little perturbed by these characters which creates an empathetic situation with the audience whereby they can see that Banquo is ‘one of them’ because he reacts in a similar way to a member of the audience at the time with shock. The witches greet Macbeth with three proclamations each ending with a new title. They ‘hail’ Macbeth as Thane (a Scottish lord) of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and say ‘thou shalt be king hereafter.’ This is the first major effect the witches have on the play. Macbeth already was Thane of Glamis but is not Thane of Cawdor or King. Therefore he dismisses the witches’ prophecies at first until King Duncan decides to anoint him Thane of Cawdor. This sows a seed in Macbeth’s mind which we discover in his aside towards the end of Scene three. Macbeth becomes worried because two of the witches’ prophecies have come true and this means there is a possibility the third could come true. He states his thoughts are ’horrible imaginings’ and uses the word ‘murder’. This is the beginning of a path you can tell Macbeth is starting to go down and it is the witches who have directed him towards this path. This is one reason they are essential to the play they direct Macbeth towards murdering Duncan, the turning point of the play. I believe the witches are placed in this central position as a moral lesson to the audience of the day. This lesson is that evil has the power to twist the lives of anyone if they listen to its messengers. Macbeth in Act one Scene two is referred to as ‘noble’ the fact that the witches direct his life to evil and the murder of a King would teach people to be wary of evil and this was a prevalent attitude at the time. It also aims to show that James is right in his paranoia about witches and if the play as is believed was first performed for him, as is believed, this would have pleased James greatly to be shown that he was correct to be afraid of witches as the play showed them already orchestrating the murder of a king.

In Act one Scene five Macbeth informs Lady Macbeth of the prophecy in a letter. However Duncan does not name Macbeth as his successor. This is also reported in the letter. Just after Lady Macbeth has read the letter a messenger arrives saying King Duncan is coming to the Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth sees this as an opportunity to murder Duncan and bring Macbeth nearer to the crown. In order to help her murder Duncan she tries to evoke evil spirits saying ‘Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts unsex me here’. This would have petrified the Jacobean audience as they strongly believed in the idea of spirits and she also asks them to ‘unsex’ her. This is asking them to make her not a woman. This is another attempt to shock by Shakespeare as certainly in James’ England women were not regarded as capable of independent thought let alone murder unless they were of some supernatural power.

The next supernatural occurrence in the play is the appearance of Banquo’s ghost before Macbeth. The ghost appears and sits in Macbeth’s place at a banquet with his lords. Macbeth reacts with shock as would be expected, saying ‘Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me.’ I believe the ghost appears for a number of reasons. Firstly this would have been another shock to the audience who believed that the ghost of a murdered person would return to get revenge on his murderer. The second I believe is because Banquo is almost a spokesman for the audience throughout his life. When the witches’ prophecies come true he says ‘What can the devil speak true?’ a question that the audience of the time would be likely to raise. He also is the first to talk of Macbeth ‘playing foul’ to become king. In death he is doing this as well getting revenge on Macbeth on behalf of the audience for his misdemeanours. The third reason is that the appearance of the ghost is a turning point in the play. Macbeth up until this point had been relatively secure as king. After the appearance of Banquo’s ghost his mental state begins to go downhill. He descends almost into madness putting faith in the witches’ prophecies and going to see them. His lords also begin to doubt him after the appearance of the ghost and start to desert him for Malcolm and Donalbain. This is another example of the way the supernatural changes the course of the play. This time however the change in the plot is included to show the reality of the supernatural and its effects on people. The appearance of the ghost is the beginning of Macbeth’s downfall and so it shows how ghosts and supernatural happenings can change the course of people’s lives. This refers to the era Macbeth was written in because it validates James I’s belief in the power of the supernatural at a time where old traditional beliefs were starting to be questioned by philosophers and scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo and John Hobbes. The masses watching Shakespeare’s play would have been relatively uneducated so they would also probably hold traditional beliefs such as belief in the supernatural.

The witches appear again in the first scene of Act four and meet Macbeth who by now has decided to put his faith in the witches and what they tell him. The witches give him one warning and two reassurances. They tell him to beware Macduff, that no man of woman born shall harm him and that he will not be vanquished until Birnam wood comes against him. However the two reassurances are equivocations or half truths. Although the witches do not lie to Macbeth they do not give him enough information to make an informed decision. Macbeth makes assumptions on what the witches tell him which turn to fall a bit flat when he discovers there are loopholes in what the witches have told him. For instance he is told that no man of woman born can harm him. This is born out to be an equivocation when Macduff tells Macbeth that he was born by caesarean section. This would empathise with the Jacobean audience who would identify equivocation with evil.

Another large theme in the play is the disruption of order and nature. After the death of Duncan there are several strange instances that show order to be disrupted in Macbeth’s Scotland. For instances Duncan’s horses are said to have turned wild and eaten each other. It is inferred that this terrible disruption of nature is linked to the murder of Duncan. Shakespeare also uses imagery to show how nature has been disrupted. Rosse says ‘Is’t night’s predominance on the day’s shame. That darkness does the face of the earth entomb, When living light should kiss it?’ This conjures up the image in the audience of a world shrouded in darkness during day time. This for the time Macbeth was written would be an incredibly profound image for the audience. As natural phenomena like eclipses were unexplained in 1606 when the play was performed and written the audience would have say something like an eclipse was a bad omen or showing that something terrible would happen or was happening. Shakespeare personifies the light saying it should kiss the earth. This serves to show that the light is human to and an unnatural event like the murder of a king affects it. The imagery Shakespeare uses implies that God is upset by the regicide that has taken place. By personifying the light of day Shakespeare is linking it to God who must be like a person as man is said to be made in his image. This attitude can be liked to James I’s fervent belief in the divine right of kings and so he would have believed that the murder of a king would disrupt God’s plans.

Later on in the play Macbeth’s regime becomes disorderly and is defeated by Malcolm’s forces. When Macbeth is finally killed his realm is in ruins as he has had to retreat to a castle. This disorderly rule of the country and the way he is referred to as a ‘tyrant’ rather than a king shows that Shakespeare does not want it to appear that you can become king by murder. This would have pleased James as just one year before he had had a lucky escape from the gunpowder plot. The play may also have deterred others who may have thought of attempting to assassinate James. This use of the play as propaganda is unlikely but may be true due to James’ great fear of assassination. Once Malcolm has been reinstated order is shown to return. This is represented by the creation of Earls as this is instilling what would be in those days the system of government.

The theme that is linked to the loss of order because it is the cause of it is treachery. This is probably the most apparent theme that runs through Macbeth. The treachery in the play is mainly committed by Macbeth however Lady Macbeth as his accomplice could be said to be responsible also. The first act of treachery by Macbeth is against Duncan when he is murdered. Duncan is portrayed as a saintly figure who is trusting but has been betrayed by the original Thane of Cawdor. Duncan says ‘He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.’ This shows him as a trusting person who definitely does not deserve to be betrayed. Therefore it is all the more horrifying for the audience who would regard treason as the most heinous of all crimes when Macbeth commits treason against Duncan. After Macbeth has murdered Duncan he hears a voice say ‘Macbeth shall sleep no more’. This voice is almost meting out justice on Macbeth and showing the audience that treachery always brings profound consequences. In a similar way Macbeth suffers because of his two other murders. His murder of Banquo causes Banquo’s ghost to haunt him. Macduff kills Macbeth in the end which is revenge for the murder of his family committed by Macbeth. This punishment for his crimes would be held as a general belief in the strongly Christian society of England under James I. The belief people would hold that God was watching everyone and punished sins is borne out by the way that each of Macbeth’s major acts of treachery are punished in some way.

Macbeth is not the only person to show treachery in the play. Lady Macbeth I believe commits treachery against the principles of marriage in Jacobean England. When her husband shows ideas of treachery she would be expected to dampen his ambition and persuade him not to commit the sins he later commits. She does exactly the opposite, encouraging him to murder Duncan and questioning her husband’s actions when he expresses doubts about committing murder. ‘Are you not a man?’ She taunts him and is responsible for Macbeth acting the way he does. This treachery against her duty which in those times would be to listen to her husband and comfort him, not taunt and drive him towards acts of treachery.

The story of Macbeth is one that endures time and to future generations of schoolchildren’s dismay will carry on doing so. It is however a profound reflection of the time commenting on issues that would have been widely discussed in James’ court and beyond. The major exhibit of this trait is the running theme of the supernatural throughout the play. Macbeth was written at a time when people’s belief in supernatural occurrences and beings was at a peak. The King himself was obsessed by the idea of witchcraft and demons. It also comments on treachery against the king and the disruption of ‘the natural order’ which stems from belief in the divine right of kings which was widespread at this time. This would have rung home with James who so nearly shared Duncan’s fate in the gunpowder plot of 1605. However as Vincent Vega would say it’s the little things you notice. Such as the addition of certain subjects in the plot that would have interested James. For instance the fact that Banquo is shown to be the founder of the Stewart dynasty, of which James was the eighth king. Also one of the Thanes is called Lenox which is the same name as James’ great friend advisor and supposed sexual partner from his days in Scotland. It must be said however that although the subject matter is mostly of interest to those living in the Stuart era and reflects it’s time. The skill with which Macbeth is written and the turns of the plot means that Macbeth is a story which will endure in many forms for many years to come.