"For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." -Macbeth
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, one of the most influential writers in English history. He was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His family was apart of the wealthy middle class. His education went as high as Grammar school and no further education after that. In his personal life, he married Anne Hathaway (obviously not the actor we all know now) in 1582 and together they had three children. After 8 years of family life, he decided to move on and move to London to pursue his dream of acting and playwright. William Shakespeare wrote his first play write, Two Gentlemen of Verona. After his first playwright people started to really notice how extraordinary his works were.Many people loved his works including, Elizabeth I and James I. They were both fans of Shakespeare's work. William Shakespeare and his company were granted the honor of being bestowed by James I as his King's Men. After many adored playwright's William Shakespeare' s fame soon came to an end. At the age of 52, William Shakespeare died and left all his stories and plays for future generations to enjoy and analyze. Centuries later many people still enjoy reading his plays and stories.
Summary Of Macbeth
The summary below is a brief summary in my own words.
Main Characters of Macbeth
The picture below provides some of the main characters of Macbeth the play.
The play opens up with the witches telling Macbeth that he will be king.After hearing that he would soon be king he tells Lady Macbeth. But not knowing exactly when that time would come they started to get anxious waiting. To speed up the time, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plot to kill King Duncan they also get help from Banquo, one of Macbeth's friends..After the deed is done, Macbeth is filled with guilt. He tells Lady Macbeth that he wish he could take back what he did. When Lady Macbeth hears this she simply tells him to man up, the deed is done. As the witches said,Macbeth becomes the King. Duncan's boys Malcolm and Donallbain flee to England in the fear that they will be next to be killed. Their departure to England has many people thinking they are the ones who killed Duncan. For awhile, Macbeth enjoys being king,but he soon starts to fear that if the witches were right about him being king then they must be right about Banquo. For the fear of Banquo, Macbeth orders him to be killed and his son. After this Macbeth goes on killing everyone whohe thinks is a threat to his power. The three witches appear to him again with three apparitions, 1 to fear Macduff, 2 none of woman born shall harm Macbeth and 3rd Macbeth would be overthrown until the Great Birnam wood goes to Dunsinace. Macbeth is fully confident that these will not happen. The only thing he does is order to kill Macduff and his family. The Deed is complete, except Macduff is in England in search of Malcolm.While in England, Macduff is trying to get Malcolm to be King instead of Macbeth. Ross finds the two men and informs Macduff that his castle was attacked and everyone was killed.Enraged Macduff plans to get revenge with Malcolm by his side. From all the killing guilt finally gets the better of Lady Macbeth and she kills herself and Macbeth is killed by Macduff.
Main Parts of Macbeth
The Weird sisters at the beginning of the play.
Macbeth seeing the dagger before he kills Duncan.
Macbeth telling his murderers to kill Banquo.
Macbeth seeing the ghost of Banquo.
"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. "
The three apparitions appear to Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth about to be killed.
Macduff trying to convince Malcolm, son of Duncan, to become the new King.
Lady Macbeth sleepwalking.
Macbeth in his final battle before he is killed by Macduff.
History of Macbeth
The picture above is the true Macbeth King of Scotland from 1005-1057.
Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare in 1606. Around this time in England, King James I was in reign. King James I was the previously King James VI of Scotland. King James I of England symbolized the union between the two crowns. In his play William Shakespeare tries to capture this unification in his play of Macbeth. Macbeth was a play based on facts. King James I of England received the thrown through his ancestors Banquo and Fleance. The character of Macbeth and Duncan were real kings of Scotland, and everyone knows that Macbeth killed Duncan to receive the thrown of Scotland and Macbeth was killed by Malcolm, one of Duncan's son.
The story of the true King Macbeth is said to have ruled for 17 years. He Kept North and South Scotland were united for the first time. When Malcolm heard that Macbeth had killed his father he wanted to get him back for what he did. He went to the King of England, Edward the Confessor. Together they were able to gather an army and defeated Macbeth in a battle near Aberdeen. Malcolm killed not online Macbeth but his whole family.
The story of the true King Macbeth is said to have ruled for 17 years. He Kept North and South Scotland were united for the first time. When Malcolm heard that Macbeth had killed his father he wanted to get him back for what he did. He went to the King of England, Edward the Confessor. Together they were able to gather an army and defeated Macbeth in a battle near Aberdeen. Malcolm killed not online Macbeth but his whole family.
Macbeth is arguably one of the greatest tragedies ever written. Macbeth has been read, analysed, and performed for many centuries. Macbeth has more performances than any of his other works. In 1606, the play was first performed for King James I of England. The next performance was in 1611 at the Globe theater in London. One of the first actors was Richard Burbage. In history there are 48 productions of Macbeth recorded on Broadway.
Alan Cumming was the first Scotsmen to perform "The Scottish Play" or Macbeth. Upon the research that I did, legend has it that Shakespeare was an actor in his own play. Before the first performance of the play, the guy that was supposed to play Lady Macbeth suddenly died and Shakespeare filled that spot.
Alan Cumming was the first Scotsmen to perform "The Scottish Play" or Macbeth. Upon the research that I did, legend has it that Shakespeare was an actor in his own play. Before the first performance of the play, the guy that was supposed to play Lady Macbeth suddenly died and Shakespeare filled that spot.
The Curse of Macbeth
In 1849 two famous actors in the famous Macbeth play broke out in to a fight. The two actors were Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready. The reason for the fight is unknown, but from what started as a little fight escalated into a riot. This riot, known as a the historic Astor Place Riot, left 25 people dead and more then 120 injured. There are hundreds of incidents when filming Macbeth known as "The Curse of Macbeth" were real daggers were used which resulted in the death of many actors.
This curse is known as a misfortune that happens throughout the production of the play.
This curse is known as a misfortune that happens throughout the production of the play.
Helpful Video's
The first one is the whole play of Macbeth. It helped me see how the characters acted and helped me fully understand the play. Since reading Macbeth is difficult to understand, watching the full play helped me understand the play a little better. I was able to see how the characters acted and changed and then able to connect what I saw to the book.
This next video I found on Sparknotes. Instead of it being the whole play of Macbeth it gives you a run through of the main points of the play. Besides giving a brief summary of the story, this video also includes many facts about the play, like the themes of the play and information that may be hard for some readers to grasp from just reading the text.
I choose these three quotes from Macbeth because you are able to see how he changes from the beginning of the play to the end of the play.
The first one comes from Act 2 scene 2 right after Macbeth killed Duncan. He feels the guilt by the deed he has done. He says he hears voices saying he is a murderer.
The second one comes from Act 4 scene 1. At this time Macbeth is given three apparitions of who to fear. He is confident that these apparitions will not happen so he does not pay to much attention to them. The one that he does fear is Macduff, but he orders the murderers to go after him and kill his family and Macduff.
The last one is from Act 5 scene 5 Macbeth has just been informed by Seyton that Lady Macbeth is dead and Macbeth has no reaction to what has happened.
These quotes are important to the story because they show how Macbeth started off good,feeling sorry for what he has done to being a person who can kill any one and not care.
The first one comes from Act 2 scene 2 right after Macbeth killed Duncan. He feels the guilt by the deed he has done. He says he hears voices saying he is a murderer.
The second one comes from Act 4 scene 1. At this time Macbeth is given three apparitions of who to fear. He is confident that these apparitions will not happen so he does not pay to much attention to them. The one that he does fear is Macduff, but he orders the murderers to go after him and kill his family and Macduff.
The last one is from Act 5 scene 5 Macbeth has just been informed by Seyton that Lady Macbeth is dead and Macbeth has no reaction to what has happened.
These quotes are important to the story because they show how Macbeth started off good,feeling sorry for what he has done to being a person who can kill any one and not care.
The Fist quote comes from Act 1 scene 7 this quote is important because we see the evil in Lady Macbeth. Even though the quote is rather odd, it shows that she is truly evil but a strong character.
The second quote comes from Act 5 scene 1. Lady Macbeth has gone crazy.Guilt has caught up with her. She is the opposite of Macbeth, she feels bad for the lives she has been apart of killing.
By the end of the play you see Lady Macbeth change from a strong character who was very evil and showed that she wouldn't let anything get in her way to a character who is overwhelmed with guilt for her husbands deeds.
The second quote comes from Act 5 scene 1. Lady Macbeth has gone crazy.Guilt has caught up with her. She is the opposite of Macbeth, she feels bad for the lives she has been apart of killing.
By the end of the play you see Lady Macbeth change from a strong character who was very evil and showed that she wouldn't let anything get in her way to a character who is overwhelmed with guilt for her husbands deeds.
MacBeth Act 1