Shakespeares Portrayal of the Witches in Macbeth Essay Example
?Discuss Shakespeare’s presentation of the witches in ‘Macbeth’
The play ‘Macbeth’ was written by William Shakespeare between 1603 and 1606. Shakespeare was born April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, and died in April. Macbeth is one of the four great Shakespearean tragedies along with ‘Hamlet, King Lear and Othello. It is set in 11th century Scotland. This play would have been performed in the Globe theatre and could have had an audience of over 16000 people. The theatre would have been very simple by today’s standards with little scenery or props. It did however, have a stage that protruded into the audience producing a sense of involvement between the actors and the audience. This would have made a play like Macbeth very menacing for the audience Music was used to create effects and convey meaning. There would have been trapdoors underneath the stage for the witches to disappear through. These effects, basic by our standards would have delighted the audience of the time.
Shakespeare wrote “Macbeth” for King James 1 who had just come to the throne in 1603. Shakespeare had been well liked by the previous monarch (Elizabeth 1) and he wanted to ingratiate himself with the new monarch also. King James, like many people in the 17th century, was obsessed with the supernatural. Witches were used as scapegoats in society at that time. If the crops failed or farm animals died, people used to believe that witches were involved as they had no other medical or scientific knowledge to explain these events. Witch hunting was popular in these times. Most of the witches executed were old women who lived alone. If they had a pet like a cat then people would claim that the animal was a ‘familiar’ and was really and evil spirit given to the witch by the devil. People believed that the witches fed their ‘familiars’ on their own blood through a mole or a birthmark and during a witches trial they would be examined for such marks. These familiars are referred to in the play when
The play ‘Macbeth’ was written by William Shakespeare between 1603 and 1606. Shakespeare was born April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, and died in April. Macbeth is one of the four great Shakespearean tragedies along with ‘Hamlet, King Lear and Othello. It is set in 11th century Scotland. This play would have been performed in the Globe theatre and could have had an audience of over 16000 people. The theatre would have been very simple by today’s standards with little scenery or props. It did however, have a stage that protruded into the audience producing a sense of involvement between the actors and the audience. This would have made a play like Macbeth very menacing for the audience Music was used to create effects and convey meaning. There would have been trapdoors underneath the stage for the witches to disappear through. These effects, basic by our standards would have delighted the audience of the time.
Shakespeare wrote “Macbeth” for King James 1 who had just come to the throne in 1603. Shakespeare had been well liked by the previous monarch (Elizabeth 1) and he wanted to ingratiate himself with the new monarch also. King James, like many people in the 17th century, was obsessed with the supernatural. Witches were used as scapegoats in society at that time. If the crops failed or farm animals died, people used to believe that witches were involved as they had no other medical or scientific knowledge to explain these events. Witch hunting was popular in these times. Most of the witches executed were old women who lived alone. If they had a pet like a cat then people would claim that the animal was a ‘familiar’ and was really and evil spirit given to the witch by the devil. People believed that the witches fed their ‘familiars’ on their own blood through a mole or a birthmark and during a witches trial they would be examined for such marks. These familiars are referred to in the play when