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entrapment and claustrophobia.
The couple share a murderous
secret that simply cannot be
disclosed. The secret ultimately
devours them both and serves to
put distance between them.
Taunted to murder
Macbeth does not enter blindly
into the murder of Duncan,
although he does show some
unwillingness to commit.
Shakespeare complicates our
relationship with Macbeth by
voicing the character’s reluctance
to go through with the crime.
Having listened to his wife’s
reaction to the witches’ prophecy
that he “shalt be king hereafter”
(1.3.48), he states firmly that
“We will proceed no further in this
business” (1.7.31). For a moment
it looks as though Macbeth will
resist temptation and conquer his
“Vaulting ambition” (1.7.27). His
wife’s stinging taunts, however,
make him think again. Lady ❯❯
THE KING’S MAN
King James I Macbeth was written during the
reign of James I. When James took
to the throne in 1603, he became
the patron of Shakespeare’s
acting company, honoring them
with the title of the King’s Men.
Shakespeare wrote plays for
audiences in London’s playhouses,
but he was also writing to
entertain his king. In the tale
of Macbeth, Shakespeare is
playing toward some of the king’s
interests. James I of England
had previously sat on the Scottish
throne as James VI of Scotland, so
the play’s Scottish setting would
have had royal appeal. James alsobelieved that he was a direct
descendant of Banquo, and
Shakespeare’s presentation of
this figure is duly honorable.
He may also have been
pandering to one of the king’s
particular concerns: witchcraft.
The king had published a
treatise on the subject in 1597
called Daemonologie, a fact that
would not have gone unnoticed
by the playwright. Although
Macbeth’s dramatic ingredients
would have entertained the
king, they would of course have
appealed to a much broader
public as well.Laurence Olivier’s Macbeth was
acclaimed for its “dazzling darkness”
in 1955. The glamorous production had
Olivier’s wife, the film actress Vivien
Leigh, as a goading Lady Macbeth.