Macbeth Context

Who was Shakespeare’s wife and what is important about their relationship?

Shakespeare Married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she was 26. She was already 3 months pregnant with his child.

How were women viewed in Elizabethan and Jacobean England?

Women were seen as playing the subservient role in the patriarchal society. They were considered the property of their husbands by law.

What can we infer if Shakespeare loved Anne?

We can see why he would have written roles for clever, passionate, powerful women, like Lady Macbeth. We might infer that he did not see women as weaker or inferior beings, but men’s equal in many respect.

Why do we think Shakespeare married Anne?

It would be strange for Shakespeare, as a teenager, to marry someone who wasn’t highly intelligent, articulate and quick-witted like him.

Why is it important that Shakespeare was born under the reign of Elizabeth?

The queen being a woman was a symbol of women’s power and intelligence. We can infer that Shakespeare’s female leads are a celebration of their intelligence, rather than a warning to their husbands that they need to control their wives. In this reading, Lady Macbeth is not a sexist creation to prove that women are manipulative and evil.

What if Shakespeare didn't love Anne?

If we believe that Shakespeare’s marriage was forced on him, we might argue that Lady Macbeth represents the manipulation of his wife, Anne. It is unlikely that a 26 year old would get pregnant by accident. She would have been very desperate to have a child in a society where women’s status was entirely dependent on their husband, and when the average life expectancy was 35.

How can Shakespeare’s marriage be seen as similar to Macbeth’s?

The trajectory within their marriages can be seen as similar, starting as equals with “my dearest partner in greatness” to Macbeth’s unemotional reaction to her suicide, “she should have died hereafter”, to mirror his own marriage.

What can we infer from Shakespeare’s will?

We can infer that Shakespeare resented his wife, by the fact that he said “I gyve unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture”, which many critics see as a deliberate insult to his wife.

How do we know that friends were important to Shakespeare?

Shakespeare named his kids after his friends. His first born was called Susanna, and his next children were twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, a baker, and Judith, were later both witnesses to his will. Shakespeare drew the will up aged 52, 4 weeks before he died. From this, we can infer that Shakespeare believed strongly in loyalty and friendship.

Why is Macbeth’s killing of Banquo important to Shakespeare?

If we believe that Shakespeare valued loyalty and friendship, the killing of Banquo is unforgivable, and much more likely to damage Macbeth than the much more socially damaging regicide of Duncan. This helps to explain why Macbeth doesn’t seen Duncan’s ghost, he only sees Banquo’s ghost.

Why is the death of Shakespeare’s son important?

The death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, who died at 11 in 1595, had possible effects on Shakespeare’s writing. The tragedy of the play could have still happened without any reference to their child’s death. The line “He has no children.” spoken coldly by Macduff after the murder of his family could be linked to the sting Shakespeare felt at the time.

How can the grief of Hamnet be responsible for Lady Macbeth’s evil nature?

If Shakespeare simply wanted to portray Lady Macbeth as evil, he would have excluded mention of their dead child. However, by including it we see how their grief is partly responsible for both their tragedies. So then we can also speculate this may reflect Shakespeare’s own grief at the death of son, Hamnet.

Was Shakespeare catholic?

It was illegal to worship as a catholic in his lifetime, but Richard Davies, the Archdeacon of Lichfield, who knew Shakespeare, wrote that Shakespeare was catholic.

How can religion be viewed as the plot of the play?

Shakespeare creates a ‘tyrant king’ as a warning about the dangers of tyranny and repression. Act 4 Scene 3, often heavily cut, shows Malcolm pretending to be more evil than Macbeth to test Macduff’s loyalty. Malcolm says he will go “against the good and loyal, Destroying them for wealth”. The scene isn’t needed for the plot — its real purpose is political. Written for King James’s court after the Gunpowder Plot, it acts as a lesson against using the plot as an excuse to persecute Catholic families or to seize lands and become a violent, Machiavellian ruler.

Was there self interest in Shakespeare’s advice to King James on catholicism?

Yes, Shakespeare advises to the King not to persecute the Catholics after The Gunpowder Plot because some of his friends and family are also catholic.

Was Shakespeare homosexual?

Many critics believe that because of the gender swapping roles of so many of his plays, such as Twelfth Night, and his portrayal of powerful women, such as Lady Macbeth, and her demand “unsex me here”, can be explained with Shakespeare being homosexual.

Who were Shakespeare’s sonnets written to?

Many people believe they were written to men, but this is impossible to know for sure.

What does Shakespeare only having 3 children suggest?

Shakespeare only having 3 children, 2 of whom were twins, contrasts his mother, who had six children, with no twins. This suggests a lack of sexual relationship with Anne after their first years of marriage.

Why was Shakespeare’s will strange?

Shakespeare left most of his possessions to his daughter, Susanna, mentioning Anne only once: “I gyve unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture”. We might argue that this distance could be explained by his homosexuality, and this would also explain why he had children so young, while still deciding on his sexual identity.

How is Shakespeare’s possibly homosexuality linked to Macbeth?

We can look at Macbeth’s ultra-masculine behaviour as a warrior and see masculinity itself as his hamartia.

What was Lady Macbeth’s view of masculinity?

Lady Macbeth perceives masculinity to mean “cruelty” and a lack of “remorse”. Both of these allow men to be incredibly single minded and purposeful. Giving this view to Lady Macbeth could be a way for Shakespeare to highlight what is wrong with his society’s view of how men should behave.

Was King James homosexual?

Yes, and if Shakespeare was also homosexual, that could be the reason why his plays were so popular with King James.

How do we know King James was a fan of Shakespeare’s plays?

King James became a patron of Shakespeare’s acting company, and Shakespeare renamed the actors “The King’s Players”, and they frequently performed at the court.

What was King James’ involvement in the Bible?

King James financed the first English translation of the King James Bible. In 1611, the year of Shakespeare’s 46th birthday, Psalm 46 has “shake” as the 46th word, and “spear” as the 46th word from the end. Many critics believe this is a coded birthday message to Shakespeare.

If King James included a birthday message in the Bible, how does that help with Macbeth?

This helps us assume that Macbeth might also contain coded messages to King James. Shakespeare could have written the play to show the Court the dangers of a king who was too masculine. Part of his motive might be to persuade the Court to accept James, as an openly homosexual king.

Was King James’ open about being homosexual?

King James never came out as being openly homosexual, although he was quite open about his affairs. In 1617 he told The House of Lords why he was honoring his lover with the title Earl of Buckingham: “I, James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man like any other… You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else…Christ had John, and I have Goerge.” Perhaps part of Shakespeare’s motive was to make society at Court more accepting of their new king’s sexuality.

How was literature perceived?

Poems were considered the most worthy kind of literature, and no one had yet written a novel. Books were factual, mainly about history.

How did Shakespeare write his plays?

Shakespeare wrote his plays more like a businessman than an artist. The public wanted new plays, Shakespeare did not have time to draft and redraft till it was perfect. He would write down the text on folded paper, called Folios. The plays were not mentioned in his will, as they were not worth anything to him. After his death, the plays were recited from memory by the actors in his company. The 18 plays he did publish were not big earners, he made much more money from his poetry, which were in book form.

How is Shakespeare’s plays being worthless to him important?

We can use this to argue that Shakespeare was incredibly interested in the context of his time. His main impulse was probably to give the audience what they wanted. Whatever the concerns of the people at the time, and their worries about the politics, war and nobles of the time, would be quickly rectified in his play.

Did Shakespeare write to make money?

Surprisingly, London had around 20 theaters for a population of under 200,000 — meaning theater was about 20 times more popular than today. Unlike now, when a play might run for months, in Shakespeare’s time a play would usually be performed once every couple of weeks in rotation with others. Theater wasn’t seen as high art, but as popular entertainment. Shakespeare made money by getting audiences through the doors, so he had to constantly create new plays that reflected the thoughts, fashions, concerns, and politics of the time.