By Daniel Smart 10L2 1

  1. Y10LP1 English Coursework

  1. Macbeth

What is the dramatic contribution of the character Lady Macbeth in act 1 scene 5, act 2 scene 2 and act 5 scene 1 of the play?

Lady Macbeth is a character in 's shortest and thought by many, to be his best tragedy, . There is not an exact date as to when the play was written but it is believed to be sometime in the 1600’s (1601-1608). Lady Macbeth is wife to the play's protagonist, Macbeth, a  general. After tempting and goading him into commiting , she becomes Queen of Scotland, and later suffers pangs of guilt for her part, which is all the arranging and some of the handi work in the plan to murder the present king, King Duncan. Lady Macbeth then commits suicide, off stage in a later scene.

In Act 1 we get out first impressions and come to understand the use of the witches and their impact. The set changes as we move at a fast pace to the murder and the scheming, we also get to see more of how Lady Macbeth and Macbeth react to sertain situations in Act 2. Finaly we see a complete change in Act 5 of Macbeth and an even great change to Lady Macbeth. We see Lady Macbeth go from a demonic, devoted schemer to a self-destructive loner.

Most of Shakespeare’s plays are set around the time that he write them, this makes it easier for the audience to understand. Macbeth is no exception. Back in the 1600’s the majority of the population believed in witches, but not in the same way as we believe in Giant Sqids, we have never seen one in the flesh but we know they exsist. Witches/the belief of them had a large effect and impact on peoples lives. They blamed them for catastrophic disasters and even for the smallest things like a windows smashing or cattle dying. They believed they were the agents of the devil his servants. Lots of innocent people died every day for being accused of being a witch/witch craft. Women where believed to be witches if they studied the moon, stars or performed secrets at night. This is why there used to be only male astronomers. Also, women that had spots, moles or any other scar/mark, or disabilities, it was not only thought that they were a witch but that their parents were also. As you can see, all these reasons are feeble and harsh.  Imagine having to live your life with a severe disability and after having a hard life, being hung. Most people back then where Christians because England was not as multi-cultural as it is now and other religions and thoughts hadn’t been brought in from other countries or discovered/invented. People believed that witches were demons in the form of women. The reason Shakespeare wrote about such a sensitive topic was to relate to the people of that century, with witches and  the assassination of kings, which was common. The King at that time, King James, had an attempted assassination which failed and even so went down in history and till this day we still remember it on the 5th November (Guyfalks Night). However, most of the time royalty were executed by the next in line. The play was interesting and related to most of the public, but more importantly it was to impress the King who was patron (sponsor) to Shakespeare’s theatre company ‘The Kings Men.’ So Shakespeare would have wanted to impress his host. The King would have enjoyed Shakespeares plays escpecially ‘Macbeth’ because it involved royalty and the situation in which they find themselves and their reactions and opinions. All this would have been easier for the king to understand then normal people.

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A play which involves witches would have been popular to most people who were able to see it, this mainly included people in England, Scottland and Wales but more so to the King at that time. King James studied witches and had a deadset belief of their great power, and even wrote a book about them called ‘Demonology’. The King himself believed that he had been

By Daniel Smart 10L2 2

cursed by a witch. He like many people at the time was terrified of what evil he believed they possessed.

The play would have been one of ...

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