Study Guide, September 2015
Prepared by Paige Reynolds
study guide
table of contents
Who’s Who
in Macbeth
‘The Scottish Play”
Superstition
Scottish History
and Macbeth
Historical King
Macbeth: At a Glance
6
7
On Location
in Macbeth
King James 1
and Macbeth
Supernatural in
Macbeth
Lines to
Listen For
Spotlight on
Costume Design
In the Classroom
4
8
10
12
5
9
11
13
Synopsis
Featuring eerie witch-like figures conspiring in riddles and chants to the backdrop of a
great battle coming to an end, the beginning of Macbeth promises a story that will keep
audiences on the edge of their seats. A captain reports the details of the battle to King
Duncan, praising the bravery of two generals, Macbeth and Banquo. As Macbeth and
Banquo travel home, they encounter the “Weird Sisters,” three witches who prophesy
great honors in store for both men. They tell Macbeth that he will become the Thane
of Cawdor, and eventually, the king. They tell Banquo that although he will not be king,
his descendants will. The first prophesy is fulfilled immediately when Duncan awards
the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth in return for his successful military service in
the preceding battles. He writes of the witches’ predictions to his wife, who begins
strategizing how she will help her husband claim the crown. When they find out the
king plans to spend a night at their castle, the Macbeths decide to murder him in his
sleep.
Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan’s sons, run away in fear of their own lives, and
Macbeth becomes king. The rest of the play reveals the personal and political consequences of Macbeth’s act of regicide: he and his wife, his former “partner in greatness,” drift apart, he plots murder after murder to cover up his initial crime, he
desperately seeks out further help from the witches, he is plagued with insomnia, and
he is terrified by the haunting of a ghost. Lady Macbeth, too, suffers for her part in the
murder of the king—she experiences distressing episodes of sleepwalking, and ultimately, deteriorates to the point of death. In the end, Macbeth’s tyranny is brought to
an end when he is defeated in battle by Macduff and Malcolm, who claims his right to
the throne. The play seems less interested in the eventual restoration of order than it
is in the cost of corruption to the human soul.
“The scottish play”
If you’ve ever been in a theatre when some unsuspecting soul uttered the word “Macbeth,” you may
have seen a range of panicked responses and bizarre rituals unfolding—some playful, but no doubt,
some quite serious. Often, actors refer to Macbeth as “the Scottish Play” just to avoid saying the
name. So, what’s the matter with saying the name of the play inside a theatrical space? Stories
about the “curse of Macbeth” have been circulating ever since its earliest performances, and theatre
practitioners have been strategizing ways to counteract the catastrophes it can bring with it for just
as long. Alexander Leggatt tells an anecdote about a particularly accident-prone production at the
Prince’s Theatre in London in 1926. Sybil Thorndike played Lady Macbeth and her husband Lewis
Casson played Banquo. As the story goes: “such terrible things kept on happening that one night
Lewis came into her dressing room and said, ‘Sybil, the Devil does work in this play—there is horror
behind it—we must do something positive against it’. And together they read aloud the 91st Psalm,
which calmed and strengthened them.” Take a look at a few other stories of mayhem and misfortune
below.
1606: According to legend, during the play’s original performance, the boy actor
playing Lady Macbeth dies backstage (though there is no real evidence for
this)
1849: 31 people are killed as a longstanding rivalry between two famed actors erupts
into violent rioting in front of the theatre where one of them is performing the
title role.
1934: Due to a series of misfortunes, the Old Vic’s production goes through four
different Macbeths in one week (the first loses his voice, the second becomes ill, the
third gets fired. The fourth makes it through the run unharmed).
1937: Laurence Olivier stars in a production at the Old Vic that is characterized by
narrow escapes from catastrophe: the director is in a dangerous taxi accident,
the lead actor is nearly hit by a falling stage sandbag, opening night is delayed
when the set does not fit the stage, and various Macduffs are actually wounded
in the final battle scene.
Some people believe the curse comes from actual spells cast by the three witches in the play. Others
claim that Macbeth productions have been susceptible to accidents—and thus seem “cursed”—because the play has so many fight scenes and opportunities for disaster. Still another theory behind
the superstition is that because Macbeth is such a popular play, it has traditionally been put on by
theatres in financial trouble, thus unwittingly creating an association between the play and theatres
closing down.
How to Counteract the Curse
What does one do when the “M” word has accidentally slipped out? There are many variations on cleansing
rituals to counteract the curse if the forbidden name is spoken inside a theatre. One version involves going out
of the theatre, turning three times, spitting over the left shoulder, and swearing or reciting a line from another of
Shakespeare’s plays (“Angels and ministers of grace defend us” from Hamlet is a popular choice. After completing the ritual, the offending speaker must be invited back in before returning to the theatre.
scottish history and macbeth
All of the major characters in Macbeth are historical except Banquo and
his son Fleance. Shakespeare got Banquo and Fleance from Raphael
Holinshed’s “Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland” (1587), the
dramatist’s favorite historical source. Though Holinshed reported the figures to be historical, modern
history considers them to have been a myth promoted by the dynasty that ruled Scotland during the
time. The King of England when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth was James I, also known as James
VI of Scotland. He was a Stuart, which meant he was descended from a Norman named Walter
FitzAlan, who was a steward to King David I of Scotland. The first Stuart King of Scotland, Robert
II, was descended from the old Scottish royal family through his mother. This was a bit of an embarrassment, so a myth arose which said that they were really descended from “Banquo.” Banquo was
a Thane of Lochaber in Holinshed. Lochaber, located in the western Highlands of modern Scotland,
was not part of the kingdom ruled by Duncan or Macbeth.
Kenneth MacAlpin founded the kingdom which we know as Scotland in 848 when he moved the
Stone of Scone to Scone from Dalraida. In the nearly two centuries that followed, no King of Scotland
was succeeded directly by his son or grandson. Scottish succession at the time went to the strongest
member of the royal family. Each king was succeeded by a nephew or cousin, the new king often
having murdered the old king. This began to change with Malcolm II (reigned 1005-1034). He became
king by the approved method of killing his uncle. Then, he set out to make his grandson the next king.
He did that by killing as many potential rivals as possible. So, in 1034, Duncan became king.
One rival not killed by Malcolm II was the Mormaer of Moray, Macbeth. The name “Macbeth” means
“Son of Life” and was Macbeth’s Christian name. It is probably a reference to Macbeth’s Christianity.
Both he and his wife, Gruoch, were descended from Scottish kings and, therefore, had as much right
to the throne as Duncan. Macbeth became Mormaer of Moray by killing the previous Mormaer and
marrying his new widow. He held Moray for his stepson, Lulach, the son of Gruoch and the previous
Mormaer. Lulach is not mentioned in the play except where Lady Macbeth (her name, Gruoch, is also
not mentioned in the play) talks about giving suck.
In 1040, Duncan, who was a weak king, decided to exert his authority over Moray by invading it.
Either during the battle, or shortly after it, Macbeth killed Duncan. Holinshed says “killed.” There is no
mention of murder. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were not guilty of the murder of Duncan as portrayed
by Shakespeare. Shakespeare got the story of the murder from Holinshed, but, in Holinshed, it is the
murder of King Duff by Macdonwald and his wife.
Macbeth had a long, fairly successful, 17-year reign. In 1057, Duncan’s son Malcolm (known in history as Malcolm III “Canmore”--”Big Head”) defeated Macbeth in battle. Macbeth fled but was killed by
MacDuff, the Thane of Fife, in revenge for the killing of his family by Macbeth a year earlier. Macbeth
was succeeded as king by his stepson, Lulach, but Lulach was defeated and killed by Malcolm after
only a few months. Malcolm ruled for 34 years and was succeeded by his brother, Donalbane (Donald
the Blond), who had remained in exile in Ireland throughout Macbeth’s and Malcolm’s reigns.
king james 1 and macbeth
Witchcraft
The people of Shakespeare’s England were fascinated by witchcraft long before King James I came
to the throne in 1603. He was, however, particularly interested in the supernatural, which might have
influenced Shakespeare’s choice to dramatize the story of the Macbeth (and the Weird Sisters) in
1606, just three years later. After all, the king was the new patron of Shakespeare’s acting company,
formerly the Lord Chamberlains’ Men, but newly dubbed the King’s Men.
The king had resided over witchcraft trials in Scotland in the 1590s and even published a treatise on
witchcraft, Daemonology, in 1597 (which was promptly reprinted after James moved to London). King
James believed in the evil power of witches, calling them “ungodly creatures, no better than devils”
who had pledged themselves to the service of Satan.
Sovereignty
The ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the throne of England (making him King James I
there) represented at least one step toward the union of the two nations. Macbeth tells the story of
the specific line of Scottish kings from which James descended. The play is also politically significant
in its exploration of a topic of monumental importance to any monarch: sovereignty. King James I
believed in the absolute divine right of kings—that is, God handpicked each king and no man had the
right to challenge it. He believed the king was above the law, and that no law could be passed without his express approval. Indeed, even if a ruler was a tyrant, his subjects were obligated to bear it
with loyalty and patience rather than considering rebellion. His own mother had been deposed by her
people and eventually executed by Queen Elizabeth I, his predecessor on the English throne, an experience that surely intensified his views on the subject. King James published his beliefs about the
nature of kingship in The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598). The volatility of kingship represented
in Macbeth can be seen in contrast to the promise of stability represented in the new king of both
Scotland and England. Ironically, the son of James I, Charles I, would later be executed by an Act of
Parliament in 1649.
The Gunpowder Plot
Shortly after James I took England’s throne, an assassination conspiracy was uncovered. In his
introduction to Macbeth, Stephen Greenblatt describes the Gunpowder Plot of 1605: “officers of the
crown apprehended Guy Fawkes in a cellar that extended beneath the Parliament House. The cellar
was filled with barrels of gunpowder and iron bars, concealed by a load of lumber and coal. Carrying a watch and the devices to light fuses, Fawkes intended to carry out a desperate plot by a small
group of conspirators, embittered by what they perceived as James’s unwillingness to extend toleration to Roman Catholics. Under torture, Fawkes revealed the names of those who had conspired
with him to blow up the entire government. Among those hunted down, arrested, and brought to trial
for the Gunpowder Plot was Father Henry Garnet, head of the clandestine Jesuit mission in England.
Garnet, against whom there was very little hard evidence, pleaded innocent, but the government
prosecutors made much of the fact that he was the author of A Treatise of Equivocation, a book showing how to give misleading or ambiguous answers under oath. Garnet, Fawkes, and the others were
all found guilty, executed, and their heads displayed on pikes.” Many scholars have identified the
Porter’s “Faith, here’s an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale” in Act
2, scene 3 of the play as a direct reference to Henry Garnet’s treatise.
IN THE CLASSROOM
Working with a partner or a small group, create a 30-second version of one act from Macbeth. Along
with selecting short and punchy lines to highlight the plot, pick the characters you want to include in
the script. Which characters can be cut? What can be lost from the plot and what cannot? Which
lines are most crucial to include and why? When you have finished drafting your 30-second act, perform it for the class. The following is an example of a 30 second version of the entire play (remember,
you and your group will only choose one act to condense).
Duncan: What bloody man is that?
Witch #2:
A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come
Macbeth:
So foul an fair a day I have not seen
Witch #3:
All Hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!
Macbeth:
If chance will have me king, then chance will drown me.
Lady Macbeth:
Unsex me here
Macbeth:
It were done when ‘tis done
Lady Macbeth:
Screw your courage to the sticking place
Macbeth:
Is this a dagger I see before me? (Duncan dies and falls to the floor)
Lady Macbeth:
A little water clears us of this deed
Banquo:
Macbeth:
Fly, good Fleance, fly! (Baquo dies and falls to the floor)
Blood will have blood
Three Witches: Double, double toil and trouble
MacDuff’s son: He has kill’d me, mother! (son dies and falls to the floor)
MacDuff:
Bleed, bleed, poor country!
Lady Macbeth:
Out damn’d spot! (L. Macbeth dies, and falls to the floor)
Macbeth:
Out, out brief candle
MacDuff:
Turn, hellhound, turn!
Macbeth:
Lay on MacDuff! (Macbeth dies, and falls to the floor)
Macduff:
Hail, King of Scotland
arkansas curriculum framework taught in study
guide, attending the show and show discussion
our story
Founded in 1976 and enjoying its 39th season, Arkansas Repertory Theatre is the state’s
largest non-profit professional theatre company. A member of the League of Resident Theatres
(LORT D), The Rep has produced more than 280 productions including forty world premieres
on its 385-seat Main-Stage and 99-seat black box Second Stage located in its historic Galloway
building in downtown Little Rock. The Rep relies on season subscriptions, special events, foundation support, corporate and individual donations, Shakespeare in American Communities, The
Shubert Founda-tion, National Endowment for the Arts and Arkansas Arts Council funding.
OUR MISSION
Arkansas Repertory Theatre exists to create a diverse body of theatrical work of the highest artistic standards. With a focus on dramatic storytelling that illuminates the human journey, The Rep
entertains, engages and enriches local and regional audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
CONTACT
INFORMATION
For questions or comments concerning this production of Macbeth or the Arkansas
Repertory Theatre, contact our offices at (501) 378-0445. Additional information may also be
found at TheRep.org. The Box Office may be reached at (501) 378-0405.
THANKS TO OUR
EDUCATION
SPONSORS
• Bank of America Foundation • Central Arkansas Planning & Development District
• The Philip R. Jonsson Foundation • Rebsamen Fund
• Windgate Charitable Foundation • Karen & Domenick Yezzi