Guy Fawkes and the conspirators wanted to take power away from James I and bring back the country to its Old Catholic faith. Nonetheless, a conspirator wanted to warn his friend by sending an anonymous letter. The letter accidently ended up in James I hand and the group were caught and later executed.
The parliament found thirty-six barrels of gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament.
Shakespeare used his play as a way to warn James I to trust no one. He used Duncan in the play to represent King James I. Both kings were happy and felt safe. Duncan and his people were happy because they had just won a battle. Duncan had faith in Macbeth and thought of him to be a total warrior, a fierce fighter and a very powerful confident soldier. However, he wasn’t aware of what was going to occur on him just as King James I wasn’t at all aware of what Guy Fawkes and the group of co-conspirators were going to attempt.
The Wierd Sisters
The Shakespearean audience would all probably react similarly to the start of the play. In the beginning there’s thunder and lightening and we see the witches appear. The witches like to appear in those conditions when we hear the first witch say “when shall we meet again? In thunder, lightening, or in rain?”
The appearence of the witches seem rather odd. They are described as three figure like women, having beards, withered skin and wild clothing that made them look not like any earthly creatures. They spoke in rhymes, used many unclear terms and paradoxical words. The audience can immediately tell by their appearence that nothing good will come from them.
In act 1 scene 3 we see the witches appear again in the morbid atmosphere. The image of them being evil is seen again when they mention cursing a sailor. The witches seem to know that Macbeth is coming when the third witch tells the other two “Macbeth doth come”. These quote makes the audience think that maybe Macbeth has a link with the witches making him seem evil from the beginning.
When Macbeth and Banquo first see the witches after returning from a victorious battle, Macbeth addresses them. The first witch salutes Macbeth with the title ‘Thane of Glamis’, then the second witch salutes him with the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’ and then the third witch follows up by saying “all hail King that shalt be hereafter!”
Macbeth is stunned by the words of the witches but then says “...I know I am the Thane of Glamis, but how, of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives”
Banquo then asks the witches about his future, they tell him that his children will be kings.
Soon after, the witches vanish. Ross and Angus, who are soldiers, return from the battlefield and tell Macbeth that the king has made him the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is shocked that the witches proved him correct. Macbeth then tells Banquo that if he does become the king of Scotland it will be through chance only.
We see how Macbeth seems evil when he says to the witches “So foul is fair a day I have not seen” using the same type of language as the witches. At this time, Macbeth seems to believe everything the witches say because their predictions have come true so far. As evil takes over Macbeth, he knows that the only likely way that he’ll be king is if Duncan dies.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth invite Duncan to supper. Duncan, who is accompanied by two servant’s, stay for the night, Lady Macbeth manages to drug the servants drink.
While Duncan is sleeping alongside his two servants, Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan. Macbeth has a change of heart and cannot commit the evil act as he cares for Duncan too much and thinks of him as a brother.
Lady Macbeth gets exceptionally angry, so she decides to commit the murder herself. As she is about to kill Duncan, she also cannot attempt it because while Duncan is sleeping, he reminded her of her father. They both have doubts, but seeing Lady Macbeth as a woman whose mind would not turn away from evil, she makes Macbeth kill Duncan by telling him of the good details about being king. She tells him how they won’t be suspects of the murder and how the servants can effortlessly be blamed.
When Duncan’s two sons find out, one flees to Ireland and the other flees to an English Court to seek refuge. Macbeth is now found to be more evil for getting other people to commit evil deeds for him.
Macbeth then remembers the witches predictions that Banquo’s children will be king. Macbeth has no other choice but to kill Banquo and his household.
The play wouldn’t have been a tragedy if it haden’t been for the witches. The purpose of the witches is to encourage the evil desire they know that Macbeth will find hard to resist. Macbeth maybe could have ignored the witches if they hadn’t saluted him with the titles ’Thane of Glamis’, ’Thane of Cawdor’ and ‘King hereafter’. Macbeth had an idea that they knew a lot of information because they correctly predicted him being ‘Thane of Glamis’.
The witches’ predictions influenced him and made him wonder. Macbeth’s ambitions made him greedy and commit evil acts that only creature like witches would carry.
I believe that if the witches didn’t exist, there wouldn’t have been any murders because Macbeth would have been especially proud of his two titles or maybe Lady Macbeth still would have persuaded Macbeth to kill Duncan because we know how immoral and greedy she can be.
When we hear the witches’ mention cursing the sailor, we can tell that Macbeth will get the same unpleasant treatment from them. Hecate, the leader of the witches, only stepped in to put a stop to the predictions from the witches because she thought they were wasting their time on Macbeth as we hear her say “...how did you to trade, and traffic with Macbeth....”. I also believe that if Hecate didn‘t tell them this, they wouldn’t have stopped approaching Macbeth.
