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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