macbeth context and literary context

c for context, lc for literary contect

1603 accession

c James I speech where he sets out what it means to be a rightful king vs. usurping tyrant

androboulon

c greek meaning ‘with manly purpose’, or ‘thinking like a man’

de casibus tragedy

c after the work by Boccaccio, which is a collection of moral stories of those who fell from the heights of happiness

demonic possession

c signs to look out for in a person suffering demonic possession: trance, inability to pray, visions, invitations to demonic possessions

Divine right of kings

c the belief that kings derive their authority from God not their subject

Fortune’s wheel

c tragedy was less the result of individual action that the inevitable turning of fate

Great Chain of Being

c a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, starting with God then downward.

Gunpowder plot

c 1605, a year before macbeth was first performed; assassination attempt on James I

ideology

c a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or individual

Jacobean society

c those who lived during the rein of James I, 1603-1625

James I witchcraft

c not everyone believed in witches in 1606, but the King was convinced that there were women who were in league with the devil and used spells and rituals to harm men

medieval morality play

c popular in 14th and 15th centuries, whose purpose was to teach illiterate people about the stories of the Bible and how best to live a moral life

natural order

c the physical universe considered as an orderly system subject to natural (not human or supernatural) laws

patriarchy

c a system of society in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it

property

c women had no power and were reliant on their fathers and husbands for all necessities; women were the property of menre

regicide

c the action of killing a king

supernatural disruption

c the supernatural emphasises how the natural order of things can be disrupted, therefore a belief in God and the King is requiredty

tyranny

c cruel and oppressive government or rule

tragedy

lc a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character

protagonist

lc main character

tragic flaw

lc psychological flaw evident in the protagonist

megalopsychia

lc Aristolean, ‘greatness of soul’; hero is of high birth, courageous and generous

hamartia

lc Aristolean, error of judgement

hubris

lc Aristolean, self-indulgent pride, arrogance, confidence that causes a tragic hero to ignore the decrees and warnings of the gods; brings about his downfall

anagnorisis

lc Aristolean, recognition of the truth/fatal error

nemesis

lc Aristolean, the inevitable fate that overtakes the tragic hero, retribution for hubris

peripeteia

lc Aristolean, reversal of fortune

catastrophe

lc Aristolean, calamitous outcome andn conclusion of a tragedy, provokes emotional response from audience

Seneca, 4 BCE

lc Senecan, roman philosopher and poet 4 BC - 65 AD, classical dramatist who had the greatest impact on the development of tragedy in Shakespeare’s time

gory and macabre

lc Senecan, revelled in gory and macabre descriptions, in sensational and shocking displays of violence and horror that produced a corpse-strewn stage

supernatural

lc Senecan, ghosts, witches, magic and other supernatural features appear

madness

lc Senecan, characters descend into madnessm

monologues

lc Senecan, speak in long, rhetorical monologues