Macbeth Context (copy)

- Great Chain of Being - James I and Witchcraft - The position of women - Regicide - Christianity - Equivocation

Regicide

Regicide

• In Early Modern England the King was seen as God's representative on earth.

• The population believed in the divine right of kings.

• To kill the king was perhaps the most serious crime that someone could commit. This was an unforgivable sin that would certainly result in murderer going to hell.

• Macbeth recognises that if he kills Duncan he will certainly go to hell.

The Great Chain of Being

• Society in Early Modern England was organised around a belief in the Great Chain of Being.

• The King or Queen was at the top of the chain, close to God. Noble men and women were next in the chain, followed by ordinary citizens. Humans were above animals and plants.

• Animals in plants appeared on the chain according to size and proximity to the sun. Literally. The lowest vegetables on the chain were those that grew underground and the most senior animals were those such as the eagle.

Christianity in Early Modern England

• Macbeth was first performed in 1606. Until 1650 the population of Great Britain were legally required to attend church on a Sunday.

• Every member of the audience would recognise biblical references in the text. For example, understanding that the 'serpent' was a symbol of evil due to the serpent's temptation of Eve in the Genesis story.

James I and Witchcraft

• James I was known to believe strongly in witches

• He was instrumental in the trial an execution of 'witches' in Scotland and then in England in the Early Modern period.

• The witch hunts that swept across Europe between 1450 and 1750 are one of the most controversial and terrifying phenomena in history, resulting in the trial of around 100,000 people (most of them women), a little under half of whom were put to death. 

• By the time James became king, belief in witches had declines significantly.

• During the first year of his reign, Daemonologie  (his book on witchcraft) was reprinted twice. This prompted a rash of similar pamphlets aimed at whipping up popular fear of witches.

Women in Early Modern England

• Women in Early Modern England were thought to be lower on the Chain of Being than men.

• Therefore, women were expected to be subservient and obedient to their husbands.

• A woman's role was to be a wife, mother and a hostess.

• Lady Macbeth fulfils these expectations to some extent - look at the ways she welcomes and hosts the other noblemen at her castle.

• In most ways Lady Macbeth challenges the Early Modern audience's expectations of a woman. Her dominance of Macbeth in Act 1 Scenes 5 and 7 would be seen as unnatural.

Equivocation

• Equivocation means to lie whilst speaking the truth.

• The porter in Act 2 Scene 3 mentions a specific contemporary case of equivocation which was included in the play to flatter king James 1st.

• The porter's speech also draws the audience's attention to all the other ways in which the theme of equivocation operates in the play

  • Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equivocate in the scene that follows. They do not outright lie and say they didn’t kill Duncan, but they act as if they are surprised to find him dead and the words Macbeth speaks before Lady Macbeth pretends to faint come perilously close to the truth.

  • The witches equivocate in both the first and second prophecies to Macbeth. The tell him truths which are intended to trick him into taking the wrong course of action.