In this resource, you can find the historical contexts behind Shakespeare's play "Macbeth", cultural beliefs, political views at the time when the play has aired, and an overall look at how the public has perceived it.
MACBETH: HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• Macbeth was written and performed in 1606.
• The play was written for King James I, who had been ruling Scotland for a while. When Elizabeth
I died in 1603, James took over, so Shakespeare had to change the way he wrote to suit the new
king.
• The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a year before Macbeth was written, was a failed attempt to blow
up the houses of parliament and assassinate King James I. We still celebrate it today in the form of
Bonfire Night.
• King James I was an academic and intelligent king who wrote lots of books, including Daemonologie
(1597) - a historical book on witches, popular in the day. He’s also responsible for the King James
Bible, the first Bible to be translated into English so that common people could understand it directly
(prior to this the Bible was always in Latin).
• Divine Right of Kings (sometimes called ‘the Divine Right to Rule’) - the idea that God appoints a
king to rule, and the power of the king should be unquestionable and respected. James I was a
great supporter of this concept.
• Great Chain of Being - Jacobeans believed in the ‘Great Chain of Being’, which was a divine
hierarchy of living beings on earth, directly created by God himself. This belief was used as a
stabilising force in society, discouraging individuals from being ambitious or trying to change their
social position, because each person was considered to be born into a social position that God
intended. Therefore, Macbeth becoming ‘Thane of Cawdor’ is arguably acceptable because he is
already a thane, but his ambition to become king goes too far as it contradicts this theory.
• King James was thought to be descended from Banquo. Therefore, he is watching a kind of history
play about his own family, as well as a tragedy that depicts the downfall of a tyrant king that tries to
stand in the way of a true monarchy.
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
• A strict unquestionable power structure: the king is on top, aristocrats or lords are underneath him
and they own the land. Peasants pay aristocrats for land rights - this creates a stable social structure.
• Peasants are at the bottom and pay tithes to the upper classes; aristocrats such as barons, lords and
noblemen own portions of land and are responsible for the lower classes that live on their land; their
income is derived from those peasants.
• Macbeth is set in the 11th Century Scotland (1000s) - a time when the feudal system was at its
peak (you can call the characters ‘feudal lords’ > Banquo/Macbeth/MacDuff/Ross/Lennox).
• A feudal system has strict hierarchical rules, and it’s not possible for someone to challenge those
rules - there’s no possibility of being a social climber either through nepotism or promotion, beyond
being promoted as a lord to owning a greater piece of land - in this system, Macbeth shouldn’t
technically be able to become king, nor should Banquo or his sons.
• The beginnings of the feudal system are also called ‘The Dark Ages’ - they occur just before medieval
times. Shakespeare himself is writing in the Renaissance era, around five hundred years after the
play is set - so in many ways, his audience feel that they are looking back on a less civilised, more
barbaric time when they watch the play.
A Tower on Moorland by Carel Nicolaas
NEW POLITICS
• An idea proposed by Niccolo Machiavelli in his 16th Century political treatise ‘The Prince’, which
states that the most intelligent and best leaders will rise to power through the system.
• This opens up the possibility for anyone strong and intelligent to rise to power.
• Machiavelli concluded that ‘it is better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both’, this led to
a lot of leaders interpreting the statement as a justification for ruling through fear. You can see
this tension in the play, where Macbeth is clearly a fearsome ruler, whereas Duncan is kind and
amiable. Ultimately, Duncan’s line is restored to the throne so we can assume that Shakespeare
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