The Tragedy of Macbeth

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English poet, actor, and playwright who is considered to be one of the greatest writers in the English language and the world’s preeminent dramatist and is credited with 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two long narrative poems. Little is known of his life aside from the fact that he married Anne Hathaway when he was eighteen, worked as an actor-playwright in London, and retired in 1613. His plays fall into four principal categories: early comedies (1585–1594); more sophisticated comedies and histories (1595–1599); the great tragedies (1599–1607); and the final phase (1608–1613). His most accomplished works—including Hamlet (1601), Othello (1603), King Lear (1605), and Macbeth (1606)—belong to the third period.

KEY CONTEXT Written around 1606, Macbeth is loosely based on the life of the historical king Mac Bethed who reigned in Scotland from 1040 to 1057. The real Macbeth killed his predecessor Duncan I, and was in turn killed by Duncan’s son Malcolm III. Events such as these were not uncommon in the feudal Scotland of the eleventh century; of the fourteen kings who reigned between 943 and 1097, ten were murdered. However, the Scottish king bears very little resemblance to the character in Shakespeare’s play. Shakespeare was a playwright, after all, and driven by very different goals than a historian.

One of those goals was writing a play that Shakespeare’s patron, the newly crowned King James I, would enjoy. King James I had ascended to the throne in England in 1603, and Shakespeare began writing Macbeth soon after. King James I came from the same families who led to the real Macbeth’s downfall, and Shakespeare’s play acknowledges this fact and even flatters the man who had recently become the king of England. It was also well known that King James I was fascinated with witchcraft, even writing a book on demonology, which is probably why witches play a mysterious and important role in this play.

Dramatis Personae

DUNCAN King of Scotland

MACBETH Thane of Glamis, later of Cawdor, later King of Scotland

LADY MACBETH

BANQUO a thane of Scotland

FLEANCE his son

MACDUFF Thane of Fife

LADY MACDUFF

SON of Macduff and Lady Macduff

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SIWARD Earl of Northumberland

YOUNG SIWARD his son

SEYTON an officer attending Macbeth

Another LORD

ENGLISH DOCTOR

SCOTTISH DOCTOR

GENTLEWOMAN attending Lady Macbeth

CAPTAIN serving Duncan

PORTER

OLD MAN

Three MURDERERS of Banquo

FIRST MURDERER at Macduff’s castle

MESSENGER to Lady Macbeth

MESSENGER to Lady Macduff

SERVANT to Macbeth

SERVANT to Lady Macbeth

Three WITCHES or WEIRD SISTERS

HECATE

Three APPARITIONS

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, and Attendants