(12)During the time of Macbeth, people fought like this.

(1)

Macbeth was written for King James I, who was also King James VI of Scotland. It is because of this and his interest in witchcraft that Shakespeare decided to insert Scotland and witches into the play. In addition to this, the character Banquo is an ancestor of King James I. (4)

Themes/Motifs

Throughout the play many characters either say something or find themselves in a situation that is paradoxical. From the beginning of the play it becomes obvious that many things will seem contradictory, but in reality are true. Two of the most well known examples of these contradictions are the lines "when the battle is lost and won" and "fair is foul and foul is fair." (2)

Symbols

Weather is a symbol in Macbeth, just as in most Shakespeare tragedies. Thunder and lightning accompany the witches appearances, and on the night of Duncan's murder, the terrible storms, they both symbolize the violations of the natural order reflect corruption in the moral and political orders. (9)

The Curse of Macbeth

Back in the 1600s, there were eerie coincidental accidents during performances of Macbeth. Many believed the witches' spells to be real, and it became bad luck to say the name "Macbeth" in the vicinity of a theater. Because of this supposed "curse," Macbeth is often referred to as "The Scottish Play" (3).

Origins

Shakespeare's inspiration for Macbeth came from Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland by Raphael Holinshed. The basic plot of Macbeth is derived from Holinshed's story of Malcom and Macduff, with additions from the murder of King Duff. (5)

Macbeth happens to be the last of Shakespeare's four great tragedies. These include Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello. It is a shorter play compared to the others not containing a large and obvious subplot. Many scholars consider it to be one of Shakespeare's darkest works. (6)

The Witches

The witches show the obvious prescence of magic in Macbeth. Each one has its own familiar--Graymankin the cat, Paddock the hedgehog, and Harpier the owl (10)


Here is a portrait of the three witches(11)

Banquo and the Foil

A foil in literature is a character that by contrast intensifies aspects of another character. (7)
Banquo is seen as a foil to Macbeth. He lacks the ambition that drives Macbeth and makes him unable to shrug off the weird sisters. (8)


The costume for Lady Macbeth in an opera production(9)

1.http://www.pathguy.com/chasseriau_macbeth.jpg
2.http://students.roanoke.edu/t/tnunez/MACBETHomepage.html
3. http://www.siskiyous.edu/theatre/theatersuperstitions/macbeth.htm
4. http://library.thinkquest.org/2888/
5. http://www.pathguy.com/macbeth.htm
6. http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/
7.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/foil
8.http://shakespeare.about.com/od/characterprofiles/p/banquo.htm
9. http://wbopera.org/0607/Macbeth/
10. http://students.roanoke.edu/t/tnunez/witches.html
(11)http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/macbeth.jpg
(12)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnz-cSEfzJI