KEY
~ = Quotes + Titles
~ = Interpretations
O
~ = Context
JA = Jacobean Audience
GP = Gunpowder Plot
MACBETH GCOB = Great Chain of Being
DROK = Divine Right of Kings
NO = Natural Order
ESSAY PLANS
Themes
BY THEME AMBITION
GUILT
EVIL
SUPERNATURAL
APPEARANCE VS. REALITY
VIOLENCE
GENDER
POWER
By Ovie and Milo
,CONTEXT The play is set in Medieval Scotland - Written and performed in 1606 Jacobean England
·
- Divine right of kings: The belief in Christianity that the monarch of a country is chosen by God Himself to be His
representative on Earth, meaning they don't have to answer to anyone except God.
- Great chain of being: The belief in Medieval Christianity that all life and matter on Earth was organised into a
hierarchy by God.
- Natural order: The belief in the microcosm and macrocosm. The Elizabethan/Jacobean audience believed that the world of
nature (the macrocosm) and the political world (the microcosm) reflected each other, and that disturbances
in one foretold , or paralleled unusual events in the other.
- Original sin: The story of Adam and Eve. Similarly to Eve, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth and aligns herself with
devilish qualities, and is then punished afterwards
- Religion: Christianity was taken very serious Jacobean times ( God fearing people) and so characters like the witches and
Macbeth would have scared them.
- Cautionary tale: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both meet tragic ends due to them overthrowing the king. Shakespeare intended
to show Jacobeans that treason resulted in tragic endings. (deaths)
- Gunpowder Plot: An assassination attempt on the King of England, King James I, in 1605, where a group of Catholics tried
to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder.
- Aristotle’s tragic hero: There are 5 characteristics to a tragic hero, and only one is needed to be one. These include;
I
having nobleness, peripeteia, hubris, hamartia, and a sudden realisation. Macbeth emobides all
of these characteristics.
, CONTEXT The play is set in Medieval Scotland - Written and performed in 1606 Jacobean England
- Daemonologie: The Jacobean audience had fear of the supernatural driven by James I in his book 'Daemonologie’.
- Patriarchal society: Jacobean society was male dominated.
- Androboulon: It means 'With manly purpose' / 'Thinking like a man' - Lady Macbeth portrays this quality throughout the
play.
- Jacobean Era: The period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also
inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I.
~ = Quotes + Titles
~ = Interpretations
O
~ = Context
JA = Jacobean Audience
GP = Gunpowder Plot
MACBETH GCOB = Great Chain of Being
DROK = Divine Right of Kings
NO = Natural Order
ESSAY PLANS
Themes
BY THEME AMBITION
GUILT
EVIL
SUPERNATURAL
APPEARANCE VS. REALITY
VIOLENCE
GENDER
POWER
By Ovie and Milo
,CONTEXT The play is set in Medieval Scotland - Written and performed in 1606 Jacobean England
·
- Divine right of kings: The belief in Christianity that the monarch of a country is chosen by God Himself to be His
representative on Earth, meaning they don't have to answer to anyone except God.
- Great chain of being: The belief in Medieval Christianity that all life and matter on Earth was organised into a
hierarchy by God.
- Natural order: The belief in the microcosm and macrocosm. The Elizabethan/Jacobean audience believed that the world of
nature (the macrocosm) and the political world (the microcosm) reflected each other, and that disturbances
in one foretold , or paralleled unusual events in the other.
- Original sin: The story of Adam and Eve. Similarly to Eve, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth and aligns herself with
devilish qualities, and is then punished afterwards
- Religion: Christianity was taken very serious Jacobean times ( God fearing people) and so characters like the witches and
Macbeth would have scared them.
- Cautionary tale: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both meet tragic ends due to them overthrowing the king. Shakespeare intended
to show Jacobeans that treason resulted in tragic endings. (deaths)
- Gunpowder Plot: An assassination attempt on the King of England, King James I, in 1605, where a group of Catholics tried
to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder.
- Aristotle’s tragic hero: There are 5 characteristics to a tragic hero, and only one is needed to be one. These include;
I
having nobleness, peripeteia, hubris, hamartia, and a sudden realisation. Macbeth emobides all
of these characteristics.
, CONTEXT The play is set in Medieval Scotland - Written and performed in 1606 Jacobean England
- Daemonologie: The Jacobean audience had fear of the supernatural driven by James I in his book 'Daemonologie’.
- Patriarchal society: Jacobean society was male dominated.
- Androboulon: It means 'With manly purpose' / 'Thinking like a man' - Lady Macbeth portrays this quality throughout the
play.
- Jacobean Era: The period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also
inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I.
