Macbeth
The Scottish Play
Macbeth - also known as The Scottish Play - is one of Shakespeare's strangest and most dramatic works. Amongst other things it contains a weird washing woman, walking woods and witches. It's also reportedly cursed.Synopsis
Shakespeare's play is based loosely on the life of a real King Macbeth of Scotland. The main themes of the tragedy are power and betrayal with examples of blood imagery strong.The play begins with three witches preparing to meet with Macbeth. These Weird Sisters predict that Macbeth - currently Thane of Glamis - will rise first to be Thane of Cawdor then eventually to be King. Soon afterwards Macbeth receives news that he is now Thane of Cawdor - and hence begins to believe that he can and will be king.
Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, is both ambitious and ruthless. She persuades Macbeth to murder the current king, Duncan. This he does and becomes king. However the murder sets off a chain of events that include Macbeth arranging for the murder of his friend Banquo. Banquo returns as a ghost visible only to Macbeth and drives him part crazy with guilt. Lady Macbeth is similarly driven to abnormal behaviour by her own guilt.
The play ends with Macduff and Malcolm leading an army against Macbeth. Macbeth has been mislead by the witches into believing that he is invincible and he is ultimately defeated and beheaded.
Lady Macbeth
One of the most memorable characters in the play is Lady Macbeth who utters the famous line: "Out, damned spot! out, I say!". Following her part in the murder of Duncan she is racked with guilt and is constantly washing her hands. This washing, we're told, can go on for up to a quarter of an hour at a time. Today we'd probably call this an obsessive compulsive behaviour brought on by guilt. She is quite literally trying to wash the blood from her hands. Of course there is no physical blood there so her attempts are doomed to failure.Ultimately Lady Macbeth dies, whether through guilt or suicide is unclear. Suicide is suggested by the line in Malcom's final speech:
| ...his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands Took off her life |
Great Birnham Wood
One of the many prophecies Macbeth receives from the witches is spoken by the Third Apparition:| Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him. Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him |
Since the idea of a walking wood is ludicrous, Macbeth assumes that this prophecy is the equivalent of "when pigs fly". However when Malcom and Macduff move on Dunsinane they camouflage their movements with branches of trees cut from the Wood. Thus Birnam Wood really has come to Dunsinane and Macbeth is destroyed.
The Curse
Many in the acting profession believe Macbeth to be cursed. It's apparently unlucky to speak the name within a theatre (except, of course, when acting it). Instead it is referred to by various euphemisms of which the most common is "The Scottish Play". If someone does speak the name then different actors have a variety of rituals to try and avoid the bad luck. These were parodied amusingly in an episode of Black Adder.Why should this particular play be cursed? Some say that Shakespeare incorporated real spells from witches into the text. The wiches were annoyed by this betrayal of their secrets and retaliated by cursing the play.
A more prosaic explanation is that staging Macbeth (a play very popular crowd-pleaser in its day) was often a last-ditch desparation measure by a theatre in financial trouble. Thus theatres had a habit of closing down soon after The Scottish Play.
