Monday 19 October 2015

More About Saint Macbeth of Lumphanan

We can never know the reason why artists and painters produce their specific works unless they tell us. Shakespeare never told us why he wrote Macbeth so all we can do is make educated guesses about his reasons.

We know that as one of the principle share-holders in the Globe theatre, Shakespeare had vested interests in writing “a hit, a palpable hit.” But why write one about a long dead Scottish king and his over-ambitious wife?


              Macbeth being crowned King of Scotland. Holinshed's Chronicles, 1587

The reason may be that this play was probably written in 1605-06 (Shakespeare never dated his plays) and King James I of England (a.k.a. King James VI of Scotland) had been sitting on the throne of England for two or three years by then. We also know that this king loved the theatre and our William was an important member of the 'King’s Men' theatre company. So why not write a Scottish flavoured play that would keep the company’s chief patron happy?

In addition, the king fancied that he was a direct descendant of the eight kingly apparitions who appear at the end of the second terrific Witches scene. This is the one where they are busy making soup chanting:
                            Double, double toil and trouble;
                            Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

     Macbeth meeting "womenin straunge & ferly apparell resembling creatures of an elder                                                 worlde." Holinshed's Chronicles, 1587.

In addition, it was also very fashionable then to write about witches. Two popular plays of the time included, The Witch of Edmonton and The Late Lancashire Witches. Also, Shakespeare’s contemporary playwright (and possible literary partner?) Thomas Middleton, had written The Witch. In addition, following the (in)famous North Berwick witch trials which were held in 1590-01 on the Anglo-Scottish border, the king himself had become obsessed with the topic of witchcraft. In 1597 he had written his own treatise on the subject, Demonologie.  
So what better could Shakespeare do than to stroke the royal ego and write a play about Scottish kings and witches? Success should be guaranteed and the Bard should make a profit. Not only was he a great dramatist, but obviously the Bard knew the value of good PR.

             At the foot of the oldest tree in Birnham Wood today. The witches were alleged to have                                        lived in the hollow at the foot of the trunk!

And if we are talking about the witches, we should also mention one of their predictions when “Great Birnham Wood will come to high Dunsinane hill.” This moving forest ploy was of course not new. In the Bible we read that  King David had used it to fool the Philistines while two hundred years before Shakespeare, Andrew Wyntoun had used it in his Orygynale Cronykil.


Next time I will tell you what were Shakespeare's sources for this play and why it can be fatal to play a part in it. I'll also say why it can be dangerous even to go to the theatre merely to watch this popular "Scottish play."

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