![]() ![]() Macbeth faces temptation knowing what he contemplates is a monstrous crime. It has a terse gloomy view of humanity's encounter with the powers of darkness. This is the last of the 4 great tragedies dealing with spiritual evil. ![]() WS has made Duncan more than the historically ineffective king, Banquo is no longer his partner in the conspiracy (he was reputed to be ancestor to James I), etc. Duncan was a soft and gentle king, and Macbeth and Banquo were needed to defend Scotland against her enemies: Macdowald (i.e., WS's Macdonwald) and later Sueno, the King of Norway. The historical Macbeth ruled 1040-1057, had taken the throne from Duncan in a civil conflict between two clans, and was defeated by the Earl of Northumbria (Siward in the play) at Birnam Woods, but ruled 3 more years until slain by Duncan's son Malcolm. It had become a legend more fiction than fact. " Scotorum Historiae", which drew on the 14C priest John of Fordun and 15C chronicler Andrew of Wyntoun. Holinshed's " Chronicles" (1587 Ed.), which utilized Boece's ![]() Overall Impression: I was deeply moved by this profound play, its language of unsurpassed beauty despite the morbid subject matter-one of my ![]() Quotations are for the most part taken from that work, as Shakespeare Updated Fourth Ed., Longman Addison-Wesley, ed. John Singer Sargent: Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1889Īcknowledgement: This work has been summarized using The Complete Works of Summary by Michael McGoodwin, prepared 1999 ![]()
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