12th Feb: A new policy is being put in place for TRS threads: Make your case that the name/page is broken in the Opening Post, or the thread will be nuked immediately. See Everything You Wanted To Know About Changing Names for what "Make your case" means.
5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here
Macbeth is a 1606 play written by William Shakespeare. It was written at the express request of King James I/VI of England and Scotland, who asked Shakespeare to present a new play to honor his visitor, the King of Denmark.The play takes place in the Scottish Highlands. Fresh from putting down a rebellion against King Duncan, Lord Macbeth meets three witches who relate a series of prophecies, one of them being that he will rule Scotland. When one of the other seemingly unlikely predictions comes true, his scheming and heartless wife convinces him to murder Duncan. Both are driven mad with guilt; while Lady Macbeth copes by sleepwalking and then killing herself, Macbeth himself copes by extending his power, especially after the witches predict that "No Man of Woman Born" shall slay him. After being visited by the ghost of one of his victims, Macbeth is overthrown and killed by Macduff, who was "from his mother's womb untimely ripped" - in other words, delivered via crude caesarean section from his mother's dead or dying body.Many of the inconsistencies in Macbeth come from the fact that Macbeth was a real person who was featured in Holinshead's Chronicles, a best-selling popular history of Shakespeare's time. Holinshead played fast and light with the facts in many cases, though - for instance, he includes legendary or wholly fictional characters such as Fleance, who was supposedly an ancestor of the Scottish royal family. (In the play as produced now, Fleance disappears in Act Three: in the original 1606 presentation, he was brought back on stage after the play in a "dumb show" that explained he was the ancestor of the Stuarts.) Holinshead also refers to Lady Macbeth as "burning with an unquenchable desire to bear the name of a queen". In reality he had no historical justification for this - the only thing that's actually known about Lady Macbeth is that she existed (and that her first name was Gruoch, and that Macbeth was her second husband) - but Shakespeare turned that one sentence into one of his best-known female characters.Shakespeare also takes liberties with the facts, although in his case his changes are justifiable as they improve the dramatic tension and the flow of the action; after all, he was writing a play, not a history. For instance, he makes Duncan a wise, old good king instead of a young wastrel, he has Macbeth kill him while sleeping instead of in a fair fight, and he compresses the action into two seasons when the real Macbeth ruled for 17 years (and successfully).Another source of the inconsistencies is that Shakespeare wanted to get in all kinds of things that he thought King James would like - witches, ghosts, the legitimacy of the Stuart line, the divine right of kings (something James was for, to put it mildly), and the portrayal of his Scottish ancestors as noble and warrior-like. The fact that Shakespeare snuck in the trope that "power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely" - possibly a criticism of James's desire for absolute power - was not noticed until after Shakespeare had died, and may not even be noticed these days by readers looking for the blood and guts. And yet, even considering all this, the man wrote a play that four hundred years later people still pay good money to see. Old Shaky was a genius, people.Superstitious actors refer to this as "The Scottish Play" (or, occasionally, "The Tartans"). The head role is "The King" or "Mackers" anywhere outside the play itself. And even though the script calls for it, sometimes things still happen, though they are usually less injurious. Some of the wackier ones talk about The Scottish Restaurant.
Also notable for being produced by Playboy Productions, as part of a short-lived attempt to create a mainstream film arm.
From a Jack to a King- Bob Carlton musical, with a lot of Sixties songs.
A recent BBC adaptation, set in a restaurant.
Scotland, PA, a dark comedy also set in a restaurant, this one in 1970s Pennsylvania.
A character in Gargoyles, who surprises the audience by being based more on the historical Macbeth than the better-known Shakespeare version. Word Of God mentions that he was amused by the play, and suggests that he and Shakespeare may have been drinking buddies (though Shakespeare wouldn't have known his friend was the actual Macbeth).
Wyrd Sisters from Discworld, which references and parodies Macbeth throughout and opens with a spoof of the famous witches' cauldron scene in which the response to "When shall we three meet again?" is "Well, I can do next Tuesday."
The Weird Sisters, three witches who form a rock band in Harry Potter, are named after the nickname given to the three witches in Act 1 of Macbeth.
Another of the more famous lines, "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" (from the same monologue that named Eye of Newt, was also the name of an early (by which we mean Full House-era) Olsen Twins movie.
One of several Shakespeare plays adapted into a Graphic Novel recently. Available in original Shakespearean, modern text, and a paraphrased version.
Mac Homer, Rick Miller's one-man show, which casts Simpsons characters in the roles. While largely following the play's basic story, many liberties, fourth wall breaks and lampshades unsurprisingly occur for comedic effect.
An audio novelization by A.J. Hartley and David Hewson, narrated by Alan Cumming. It features deep analysis of several characters, portraying both Macbeth and his wife as tragic figures.
Tropes:
Age Lift: When Patrick Stewart played the role recently, the portrayal of the character was changed into that of an aging general with a young trophy wife, rather than the vigorous thirty-something (sometimes forty-something) warrior he is portrayed as in most film and stage productions of the last century.
Ambiguous Gender: Banquo is unsure what gender the three witches are. They were originally played by men pretending to be women, so his line that they have beards is likely an inside joke. In the recent Globe version, this caused the actors to do a rather hilarious double take.
Ambition Is Evil - At least if you have to murder your king for it. What's especially sad is that Macbeth had already gained enormous prestige and rewards for his heroism in putting down the rebellion and invasion from Norway, and the high esteem he was held in by Duncan would have given him tremendous influence even if the king had stayed alive and passed the throne on to Malcolm.
At that period in Scottish history the kingship was more adoptive than hereditary (indeed, Duncan was the first ever king to succeed his own father) and Macbeth, as a successful general and a lord in his own right, had every reason to suppose that he might be tapped as next in line to the throne. (This is the back-story to the part about "if chance will have me king, then chance may crown me" and the reason he is so shocked when Duncan names his son Malcolm as Prince of Cumberland, i.e. heir to the throne.) In real life, Macbeth drew his support from the more conservative element in the Scots ruling class, who were horrified at the thought that supreme power might become a monopoly of one family. In that sense, he might be seen as the Darker and Edgier version of Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Arc Number: 3. Three witches, three murderers, twenty-seven (three cubed) scenes, et cetera.
Artistic License - Geography: Averted, though not obviously so. A witch says she'll keep a woman's ship-captain husband from making port in Aleppo, because she wouldn't share her chestnuts. Aleppo is some distance from the sea, but is near the Euphrates River, which empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
Shakespeare would have had easy access to the account of one Ralph Fitch, who in 1583 set sail on the Tyger bound for Tripoli and Aleppo in Syria. Aleppo's seaport in the late 1500s was located on the nearby Euphrates River, which empties into the Mediterranean Sea. This allows access to Aleppo by ship, a seven day journey according to Mr. Fitch. Mr. Fitch arrived back in London in 1591, with plenty of time to write his description before Shakespeare read it.
Badass: Macbeth, if all the exposition about him is to be believed.
Beard of Evil: In Roman Polanski's film, Macbeth starts as a baby-faced young Thane, and as his murderous intentions grow, so does his beard.
Better to Die than Be Killed: Inverted. Macbeth refuses to "play the Roman fool and die on [his] own sword", instead choosing to die in single combat with Macduff.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to be one: "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."
Bittersweet Ending: Macbeth, after falling as far as he can, is killed by the rebels and Malcolm becomes the new king. The bitter part comes when you remember how noble Macbeth had been before his fall.
Downer Ending/Gainax Ending: The 1971 adaptation adds a silent epilogue (sometimes tacked onto the play) in which Donalbain goes to the witches' hut, presumably to do exactly what Macbeth did. It is deeply unsettling.
Young Seward: With my blade, I'll prove the lie thou speakest!
Macbeth pulls out a pistol and shoots him dead
The 1990s adaptation Macbeth On The Estate turns Macduff into this. He goads Macbeth into charging him, then pulls out a gun. Justified given the setting. A gun would be hard to obtain, but when taking revenge for your murdered family...
Come to Gawk: Invoked, and why he's willing to fight to death.
Despair Speech: The "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" monologue.
Driven to Suicide: Lady Macbeth. Macbeth, however rejects sucide and decides to fight to the death.
Evil Redhead: Given their origin, Macbeth and his lady are generally portrayed as redheads.
Executive Meddling: About a hundred years after Shakespeare died, an English theatre impresario (probably Colley Cibber) added an extra "witches" scene to Act III which was later assumed to have been part of the original play. (After the witches' "double, double, toil and trouble" speech, Hecate and three other witches show up randomly, sing a song called "Black Spirits", and vanish. This is never mentioned again. Most versions of the play produced before about 1970 include this scene; most since leave it out.
Genre Savvy: Upon hearing of their father's murder, Malcolm and Donalbain immediately resolve to leave the country, realizing the murders are unlikely to stop with Duncan.
Ignored Epiphany: Macbeth realizes several times, most prominently after the feast, the wrongness of what he's done and that he has a chance to turn back. He doesn't.
Last Name Basis: Lady Macbeth's first name is never stated. This may be because the historical Lady Macbeth had what most non-Scots would consider to be an Embarrassing First Name - Gruoch.
Mood Whiplash: Between the scene in which Duncan is murdered and the scene where his body is found, we're treated to an interlude involving a drunk doorman complaining about how he can't get an erection when liquored up.
A Real Man Is A Killer: Lady Macbeth makes this point to convince her husband to murder the king, but the rest of the play can be seen as a massive deconstruction of this trope. (Also played straight in Act I Scene ii, where a minor character recites Macbeth's bloodthirsty feats of arms to universal applause. "Unseamed him from the nave to the chaps and fixed his head upon our battlements" comes pretty close to Ludicrous Gibs
Remember the New Guy: The Third Murderer, who appears out of nowhere—Macbeth charges two Murderers with killing Banquo and Fleance, but when the time comes three show up. Given that the Third Murderer is of no importance, this is probably a continuity error due to textual corruption.
Alternately, the Third Murderer is frequently played by an extant actor, often Macbeth himself, to add layers of conspiracy theories.
Alternately alternately, the mysterious third was an extra hire or a servant of Macbeth's, charged with being a spy on the first two. The idea adds more depth to the idea that Macbeth is pretty paranoid at this point.
Secret Test of Character: When Macduff finds Malcolm, Malcolm pretends to be a Complete Monster and then asks if Macduff will still restore him to the throne. Horrified, Macduff refuses, and then Malcolm explains it was a test and he's actually closer to Purity Personified, and knowing Macduff has scruples means he can join the righteous cause of toppling Macbeth.
Self-Made Orphan: Subverted in that Malcolm and Donalbain are suspected of murdering Duncan because they fled, although they are in fact innocent.
Setting Update: Very popular for this particular play, with the kingdom usually replaced with either a business or an organised crime syndicate. The fun part is seeing what the Witches are changed to (practitioners of Wicca, Gothic schoolgirls, Japanese forest spirit, black garbage collectors, Russian nurses...).
Shout Out: Macbeth disdains the idea of acting like a "Roman fool" who "dies on my own sword," as Brutus does in Shakespeare's own Julius Caesar.
Those Two Guys: Many productions put Ross and Lennox together as this.
Too Stupid To Live: Macbeth in the 1971 film, after getting the prophecies to beware of Macduff and No Man of Woman Born can kill him, Macbeth lets Macduff live because: "[Macbeth] has spilt too much of [Macduff's] family's blood." Guess what happens.
Ungrateful Bastard: Macbeth to a certain extent, as Duncan rewards him for his heroism by giving him the lands and titles of Macdonwald, the rebellious thane who tried to help King Sweno of Norway conquer Scotland. He'd have probably been more than happy with this if the witches hadn't inflamed Macbeth and his wife's ambitions.
Unholy Matrimony: One interpretation of Macbeth and his wife's relationship.
In reality, Donnchad (Duncan) failed badly at invading part of England, and so decided to pillage Mac Bethad's (Macbeth's) territory. Mac Bethad defeated him in battle, Donnchad dying, and Mac Bethad became King. He proceeded to rule for the best part of two decades and evidently felt pretty secure in his position, since it's documented that he took several months off to go to Rome and get personally blessed by the pope. The time frame of Shakespeare's play isn't entirely clear, but seems to be quite a bit shorter than the seventeen years of Mac Bethad's historical reign.
Villainous Breakdown: Macbeth has one when he hears Lady Macbeth has died. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day..."
Wasn't Fleance supposed to become king after Macbeth according to the prophecy?
It never said Banquo's immediate heir would be king. Fleance's descendents get to be king, not him.
Written by the Winners: Or written to appeal to a descendant of the winners, to be more precise; Banquo was an ancestor of King James, and portraying him in a historically accurate way might have upset King James....
Many now in fact don't think there ever even was a Banquo (or a Fleance.)
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