William Shakespeare

 

MACBETH

William Shakespeare 

Macbeth (full title: The tragedy of Macbeth), tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, is one of his shorter tragedies, and was probably written between 1599-1606 and published in the First Folio of 1623 from a playbook or a transcript of one; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606 . The main source for Shakespeare’s Macbeth play was Holinshed’s Chronicles. Shakespeare penned the play during the reign of James V1, who was a patron of the playwright's acting company. Of all of his plays, Macbeth may best reflect Shakespeare's relationship with sovereign nobility.

This play is about a Scottish nobleman and his wife who murder their king for his throne charts the extremes of ambition and guilt.

#Characters

•Duncan - The good King of Scotland whom Macbeth, in his ambition for the crown, murders. Duncan is the model of a virtuous, benevolent, and farsighted ruler. His death symbolizes the destruction of an order in Scotland that can be restored only when Duncan’s line, in the person of Malcolm, once more occupies the throne.

•Malcolm - elder son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland’s return to order following Macbeth’s reign of terror. Malcolm becomes a serious challenge to Macbeth with Macduff’s aid. Prior to this, he appears weak and uncertain of his own power, as when he and Donalbain flee Scotland after their father’s murder.

•Donalbain - Duncan’s younger son and Malcolm’s younger brother.

•Macbeth - a general in the army of King Duncan; originally Thane of Glamis , then Thane of Cawdor , and later King of Scotland

•Lady Macbeth - Macbeth's wife, and later Queen of Scotland, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position.

•Banquo - Macbeth's friend and a brave, noble general in the army of King Duncan, whose children, according to the witches’ prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action.

•Fleance - Banquo's son, who survives Macbeth’s attempt to murder him. At the end of the play, Fleance’s whereabouts are unknown. 

•Macduff - a Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade’s mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of Macduff’s wife and young son.

•Lady Macduff - Macduff's wife

•Macduff's son

•Angus, Menteith, Caithness - Scottish Thanes

•Lennox - A Scottish nobleman.

•Ross - A Scottish nobleman.

•Siward - general of the English forces

•Young Siward - Siward's son

•Seyton - Macbeth's armourer

•Hecate - The goddess of witchcraft, who helps the three witches work their mischief on Macbeth.

•Three Witches- Three “black and midnight hags” who plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies.

•Captain - in the Scottish army

•Three Murderers - employed by Macbeth

Third Murderer

•Two Murderers—attack Lady Macduff

•Porter - The drunken doorman of Macbeth’s castle.

•Doctor—Lady Macbeth's doctor

•Doctor—at the English court

•Gentlewoman—Lady Macbeth's caretaker

•Lord—opposed to Macbeth

•First Apparition—armed head

•Second Apparition—bloody child

•Third Apparition—crowned child

•Attendants, Messengers, Servants, Soldiers

Summary:

The play is set primarily in Scotland, and follows the character of Macbeth, a bold Scottish general, as he becomes power-hungry and demented with political ambition. Shakespeare brilliantly portrays Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's downward spiral as they struggle with the punishing physical and psychological effects of greed.

Three witches tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people out of paranoia. Civil war erupts to overthrow Macbeth, resulting in more death.

Act: I

The first act begins during a wild thunderstorm, as three witches decide they shall next meet with Macbeth, a general praised for his bravery from the Scottish army. 

On a bleak Scottish moorland, Macbeth and Banquo, two of King Duncan's generals, discover three strange women (witches). The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be promoted twice: to Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. Banquo's descendants will be kings, but Banquo isn't promised any kingdom himself. The generals want to hear more, but the "weird sisters" disappear.

Soon afterwards, King Duncan names Macbeth Thane of Cawdor as a reward for his success in the recent battles. The promotion seems to support the prophecy. The King then proposes to make a brief visit that night to Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Lady Macbeth receives news from her husband about the prophecy and his new title. She promises to help him become king by whatever means are necessary.

Act II

Macbeth returns to his castle, followed almost immediately by King Duncan. The Macbeths plot together to kill Duncan and wait until everyone is asleep. At the appointed time, Lady Macbeth gives the guards drugged wine so Macbeth can enter and kill the King. He regrets this almost immediately, but his wife reassures him. She leaves the bloody daggers by the dead king just before Macduff, a nobleman, arrives. When Macduff discovers the murder, Macbeth kills the drunken guards in a show of rage and retribution. Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, flee, fearing for their own lives; but they are, nevertheless, blamed for the murder.

Act III

Macbeth becomes King of Scotland but is plagued by feelings of insecurity. He remembers the prophecy that Banquo's descendants will inherit the throne and arranges for Banquo and his son Fleance to be killed. In the darkness, Banquo is murdered, but his son escapes the assassins. At his state banquet that night, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo and worries the courtiers with his mad response. Lady Macbeth dismisses the court and unsuccessfully tries to calm her husband.

Act IV

Macbeth seeks out the witches who say that he will be safe until a local wood, Birnam Wood, marches into battle against him. He also need not fear anyone born of woman (that sounds secure, no loop-holes here). They also prophesy that the Scottish succession will still come from Banquo's son. Macbeth embarks on a reign of terror, slaughtering many, including Macduff's family. Macduff had gone to seek Malcolm at the court of the English king. Malcolm is young and unsure of himself, but Macduff, pained with grief, persuades him to lead an army against Macbeth.

Act V

Macbeth feels safe in his remote castle at Dunsinane until he is told that Birnam Wood is moving towards him. Malcolm's army is carrying branches from the forest as camouflage for their assault on Macbeth's stronghold. Meanwhile, an overwrought and conscience-ridden Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep and tells her secrets to her doctor. She commits suicide. As the final battle commences, Macbeth hears of Lady Macbeth's suicide and mourns.

In the midst of a losing battle, Macduff challenges Macbeth. Macbeth learns Macduff is the child of a caesarean birth, realises he is doomed, and submits to his enemy. Macduff triumphs and brings the head of the traitor Macbeth to Malcolm. Malcolm declares peace and goes to Scone to be crowned king.

50 Of Shakespeare’s Most Famous Quotes

1. ‘To be, or not to be: that is the question’

(Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1)

2. ‘All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.’

(As You Like it Act 2, Scene 7)

3. ‘Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?’

(Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2)

4. ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’

(Richard III Act 1, Scene 1)

5. ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?’

(Macbeth Act 2, Scene 1)

6. ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.’

(Twelfth Night Act 2, Scene 5)

7. ‘Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.’

(Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 2)

8. ‘Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made. Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange.’

(The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2)

9. ‘A man can die but once.’

(Henry IV, Part 2 Act 3, Part 2)

10. ‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!’

(King Lear Act 1, Scene 4)

11. ‘Frailty, thy name is woman.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 2)

12. ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’

(The Merchant of Venice Act 3, Scene 1)

13. ‘I am one who loved not wisely but too well.’

(Othello Act 5, Scene 2)

14. ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’

(Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2)

15. ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.’

(The Tempest Act 4, Scene 1)

16. ‘Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’

(Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5)

17. ‘Beware the Ides of March.‘

(Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2)

18. ‘Get thee to a nunnery.’

(Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1)

19. ‘If music be the food of love play on.‘

(Twelfth Night Act 1, Scene 1)

20. ‘What’s in a name? A rose by any name would smell as sweet.’

(Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2)

21. ‘The better part of valor is discretion’

(Henry IV, Part 1 Act 5, Scene 4)

22. ‘To thine own self be true.‘

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3)

23. ‘All that glisters is not gold.’

(The Merchant of Venice Act 2, Scene 7)

24. ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.’

(Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 2)

25. ‘Nothing will come of nothing.’

(King Lear Act 1, Scene 1)

26. ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1, Scene 1)

27. ‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1, Scene 1)

28. ‘Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war‘

(Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 1)

29. ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’

(Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2)

30. ‘A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!‘

(Richard III Act 5, Scene 4)

31. ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 5)

32. ‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.’

(A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 1, Scene 1)

33. ‘The fault, dear Brutus, lies not within the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.’

(Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2)

34. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’

(Sonnet 18)

35. ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.’

(Sonnet 116)

36. ‘The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones.’

(Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 2)

37. ‘But, for my own part, it was Greek to me.’

(Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2)

38. ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.’

(Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3)

39. ‘We know what we are, but know not what we may be.’

(Hamlet Act 4, Scene 5)

40. ‘Off with his head!’

(Richard III Act 3, Scene 4)

41. ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’

(Henry IV, Part 2 Act 3, Scene 1)

42. ‘Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.’

(The Tempest Act 2, Scene 2)

43. ‘This is very midsummer madness.’

(Twelfth Night Act 3, Scene 4)

44. ‘Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.’

(Much Ado about Nothing Act 3, Scene 1)

45. ‘I cannot tell what the dickens his name is.’

(The Merry Wives of Windsor Act 3, Scene 2)

46. ‘We have seen better days.’

(Timon of Athens Act 4, Scene 2)

47. ‘I  am a man more sinned against than sinning.’

(King Lear Act 3, Scene 2)

48. ‘Brevity is the soul of wit.‘

(Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2)

49. ‘This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle… This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.’

(Richard II Act 2, Scene 1)

50. ‘What light through yonder window breaks.’

Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2)

Facts

 

100 Stunning Facts of English Literature:

 1. Chaucer lived during the reigns of – Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV

 2. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was written in – 1385 onwards

 3. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales belongs to – 3rd Period of Chaucer’s literary career 4. Norman Conquest took place in – 1066 (11th Century)

 5. Wyclif’s Bible was published in – 1380 6. William Langland’s The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman was written in – 1362-90 

7. The Travels of Sir John Maundeville was published in - 1400 

8. The Hundred Years’ War was begun in – 1338 (14th Century) 

9. The Hundred Years’ War was fought between – England and France

 10. Wat Tyler’s Rebellion took place in - 1381 

11. The War of Roses was fought between – The House of York and the House of Lancaster 

12. The War of Roses was fought during the period – 1455-86 

13. Thomas Malory’s Morte De Arthur was written in – 1470 (published in 1485) 14. Caxton’s Printing Press was set up in – 1485

 15. Thomas More’s Utopia was published in – 1516 (Latin), 1551 (English)

 16. The First English Comedy, Roister Doister was written in – 1550 

17. Roister Doister was written by – Nicholas Udall

18. The First English Tragedy, Gorboduc was written in – 1561 

19. Gorboduc was written by – Thomas Sackville, Lord of Buckhurst & Thomas Norton 

20. Tottel’s Miscellancy was published in - 1557 

21. Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne of England in – 1558 

22. Globe Theatre was built in – 1599 

23. The Elizabethan Age covers the period – 1558-1602 

24. The leader of University Wits was – Christopher Marlowe 

25. Marlowe’s first tragedy was – Tamburlaine the Great (1587) 

26. Shakespeare wrote – 37 plays 

27. Dryden’s All for Love is based on Shakespeare’s – Antony and Cleopatra 28. Shakespeare’s Sonnets were published in – 1609 

29. The hero of Spenser’s Faerie Queene is - King Arthur 

30. Spenser’s Faerie Queene is dedicated to – Queen Elizabeth 

31. Spenser dedicated his Shephearde’s Calendar to – Philip Sydney 

32. John Lyly’s Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit was published in 1579 and was contemporary with – Shepheardes Calender. 

33. White Devil and Duchess of Malfi were written by – John Webester 

34. Ben Jonson’s first play Every Man in his Humour was published in – 1598 

35. Ben Jonson is known for his – Comedy of Humours 

36. Ben Jonson’s play written wholly in prose – Bartholomew Fair 

37. Bacon’s essays are written in – Aphoristic style 

38. Bacon wrote essays in all – 106 essays (1st, 2nd, 3rd Edition – 10, 38, 58 essays) 

39. Authorised version of the Bible - 1611 40. The leader of Metaphysical School of Poets was – Henery Vaughan 

41. The term ‘Augustan’ was first applied to school of Poets by – Dr. Johnson 

42. The intellectual father of French Revolution – Rousseau 

43. Lyrical Ballads was published in – 1798 

44. The leader of the Pre-Raphaelite in England was – D.G. Rossetti 

45. The founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England – William Holman Hunt 

46. The originator of the Oxford Movement was – John Keble 

47. The phrase ‘Stream of Consciousness’ is associated with – James Joyce 

48. The Hero of Homer’s Iliad is – Achilles 

49. Pope’s Rape of the Lock contains – Five Cantos 

50. A Ballad stanza generally contains – Four lines 

51. The greatest Epic in English is written by – Milton 

52. The next in command after Satan in Paradise Lost is – Beelzebub 

53. The meaning of L’Allegro is – A cheerful man 

54. A Pastoral Elegy written by Shelley on the death of Keats – Adonais 

55. Everyman a famous play of 15th Century was a – Morality Play 

56. The villain in Duchess of Malfi is – Bosola 

57. Dryden’s plays in general are called – Heroic Plays 

58. The last play written by Shakespeare is – The Tempest 

59. Andrea Del Sarto in Browning’s Dramatic Monologue was – A renowned Painter 

60. Rabbi Ben Ezra was a – real Jewish Scholar. 

61. Occleve in The Governail of Princes wrote a famous poem mourning the death of Chaucer. 

62. Caxton was the first to set up a printing press in England in 1476.

 63. William Tyndale’s English

New Testament is the earliest version of the Bible. 

64. Tottle's Miscellany is a famous anthology of 'Songs and Sonnets' by Wyatt and Surrey. 

65. Amoretti contained 88 sonnets of Spenser. 

66. Thomas Mores' Utopia was first written in Latin in 1516. It was rendered into English in 1551. 

67. Roister Doister is believed to be the first regular comedy in English by Nicholas Udall. 

68. Gorboduc is believed to be the first regular tragedy in English by Sackville and Norton in collaboration. 

69. Chaucer's Physician in the Doctor of Physique was heavily dependent upon Astrology. 

70. Spenser described Chaucer as "The Well of English undefiled’. 

71. Chaucer's pilgrims go on their pilgrimage in the month of April. 

72. Forest of Arden appears in the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare. 73. Globe Theatre was built in 1599. 

74. When Sidney died, Spenser wrote an elegy on his death called “Astrophel” 

75. Spenser’s Epithalamion is a wedding hymn. 

76. The first tragedy Gorboduc was later entitled as Ferrex and Porrex. 

77. Sidney's “Apologie for Poetrie” is a reply to Gosson's “School of Abuse”. 

78. In his Apologie for Poetrie, Sidney defends the Three Dramatic Unities. 

79. Christopher Marlowe wrote only tragedies. He first used Blank Verse in his Jew of Malta. 

80. "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships” . This line occurs in Doctor Faustus by Marlowe. 

81. Ben Jonson used the phrase 'Marlowe's mighty line' for Marlowe's Blank Verse. 

82. Ruskin said, "Shakespeare has only heroines and no heroes". 

83. The phrase 'The Mousetrap' used by Shakespeare in Hamlet. It is the play within the play. 

84. Spenser dedicates the Preface to The Faerie Queene to Sir Walter Raleigh. 

85. The Faerie Queene is an allegory .In this Queen Elizabeth is allegorized through the character of Gloriana. 

86. Charles Lamb called Spenser the 'Poets' Poet'. 

87. Spenser first used the Spenserian stanza in Faerie Queene. 

88. In the original scheme or plan of the Faerie Queene as designed by Spenser, it was to be completed in Twelve Books. But he could not complete the whole plan. Only six books exist now. 

89. Twelve Cantos are there in Book I of the Faerie Queene. 

90. In the Dedicatory Letter, Spenser Says that the real beginning of the allegory in the Faerie Queene is to be found in Book XII. 

91. The Faerie Queene is basically a moral allegory. Spenser derived this concept of moral allegory from Aristotle. 92. Ben Jonson said 'Spenser writ no language.' 

93. Spenser divided his ‘Shepheardes Calender’ into twelve Ecologues. They represent twelve months of a year. 

94. Bacon's Essays are modelled on the Essais of Montaigne. 

95. Bacon is the author of Novum Organum. 

96. Spenser dedicated his Shepheards Calendar to Sir Philip Sidney. 

97. Ten Essays were published in Bacon's First Edition of Essays in 1597. 

98. 58 essays of Bacon were published in his third and last edition of Essays in 1625. 

99. "......... a mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better , but it embaseth it". These lines occur in Bacon’s “Of Truth”. 

100. Hamlet said "Frailty thy name is woman” in Hamlet by Shakespeare.

Literature

 

#Who_is_the_mother_of_English?

Fanny Burney died in 1840 was one of the best-selling writers of the late eighteenth century, and for Virginia Woolf' she is “the mother of English fiction.”

#Who_is_called_the_father_of_prose?

William Tyndale: The Father of English Prose. The King James Bible, since its publication in 1611, has had a profound influence on the development of the English language, not only in the words and phrases that it employed but also in the syntax and grammatical usages that it rendered into the English vernacular.

#Who_is_the_father_of_comedy?

Aristophanes c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was a Greek poet and playwright of the Old Comedy, also known as the Father of Comedy and the Prince of Ancient Comedy. Of his forty plays, eleven are extant, plus a thousand fragments of the others.

#Who_is_the_father_of_the_short_story?

Edgar A. Poe is called the "father" of the short story because he is credited with setting up the first guidelines for the short story.

#What_is_realism_in_drama?

Realism in the theatre was a general movement that began in the 19th-century theatre, around the 1870s, and remained present through much of the 20th century. It developed a set of dramatic and theatrical conventions with the aim of bringing a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances.

#What_are_the_key_elements_of_a_tragedy?

Six Formative Elements of Tragedy. After discussing the definition of tragedy, Aristotle explores various important parts of tragedy. He asserts that any tragedy can be divided into six constituent parts. They are: Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Song and Spectacle.

#What_is_realism_and_naturalism_in_Theatre?

Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create an illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies

#Who_is_known_as_the_father_of_naturalism?

The best-known "proponent of naturalism" was the novelist and French art critic Émile Zola (1840–1902); he was one of the most passionate defenders of Taine's theories, putting them to use in his novels. Zola's foreword to his novel Thérèse Raquin (1867) became the fundamental manifesto of literary naturalism.

#Who_is_known_as_the_father_of_realism?

Henrik Ibsen

Transcript of Henrik Ibsen: The Father of Realism. Henrik Ibsen was a monumental playwright and revolutionary for the world of theater. Through his works, he made a significant contribution to sparking the women's rights movement, and changing previously accepted roles imposed by society as a whole.

#Who_is_the_father_of_tragedy_in_English?

Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe. English dramatist, the father of English tragedy and the first practitioner of English dramatic blank verse, the eldest son of a shoemaker at Canterbury, was born in that city on the 6th of February 1564.

#Who_is_considered_the_father_of_tragedy?

Aeschylus

Aeschylus (Aiskhylos) is often recognized as the father of tragedy, and is the first of the three early Greek tragedians whose plays survive extant (the other two being Sophocles and Euripides).

#Who_is_the_father_of_the_English_language?

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer. He was born in London sometime between 1340 and 1344. He was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and diplomat. He is also referred to as the father of English Literature.

#Who_is_known_as_the_father_of_drama?

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen is famously known as the Father of Modern Drama, and it is worth recognizing how literal an assessment that is.

#What_kind_of_plays_did_Aristophanes_write?

The surviving plays of Aristophanes, in chronological order spanning a period from 425 to 388 BCE, are: “The Acharnians”, “The Knights”, “The Clouds”, “The Wasps”, “Peace”, “The Birds”, “Lysistrata”, “Thesmophoriazusae”, “The Frogs”, “Ecclesiazusae” and “Plutus (Wealth)”