A Reflection Upon Macbeth

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A Reflection Upon Macbeth

Introduction

For this English assignment I am going to write about William

Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”. Through this essay I am hoping that I

will be able to comment upon many things about the story of Macbeth,

for example the actions of the characters.

I will only be monitoring two of the scenes, these are Act 1 scene 3

and Act 4 Scene 1 as I see these as the most influential scenes in the

play and they each show how the play is progressing and the changes in

the characters as the story is unfolding. They are also the scenes

which feature the witches.

Macbeth was first performed in 1606, early in the reign of king James

I, who had succeeded queen Elizabeth, and during the time the theatre

was becoming more popular between all the different ‘classes’. The

play would be performed in front of a crowd who, if they did not like

the play, would walk out and leave. The play was performed by men only

because of the Elizabethan beliefs of women’s roles in society.

Elizabethan Beliefs

The Elizabethans believed that witches were evil and they were seen as

being the devil on earth, all Elizabethans that would see this play

thought this and would, when they saw the witches, automatically

dislike the witches. In the play Shakespeare presents the witches as

evil, unpleasant characters throughout the whole play. It is

ultimately they who are responsible for the killing spree that Macbeth

embarks upon, as it was they who planted the idea that he may one day

become king. This raging ambition led the once noble Macbeth to murder

king Duncan, and then to brutally kill many other innocent people in a

bid t...

... middle of paper ...

.... The story is an old classic play and to this

day is still used often by groups of people to act out and because of

the betrayal, evil witches and death I feel that this play will never

become overused and un-interesting.

The beliefs of the Elizabethan people are shown immensely all through

the play, all of which are now believed to be stupid folk stories used

to scare the people of the time into using the church.

The play was first performed in 1606 when King James the first was

crowned king and at the time there was the same belief that James had

taken the thrown in the same way as Macbeth did in the play which kept

the audiences interested.

So to conclude this essay, this play shows Elizabethan beliefs about

witches and shows just how strongly they felt regarding witches powers

amongst other things.

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