The Sources of Shakespeare's Plays

The Sources of Shakespeare's Plays

Shakespeare, Macbeth is created by combining two people, Makbeth and Donwald. Also, the

murder of Shakespeare’s King Duncan, comes almost directly from Donwald’s murder of

Holinshed’s King Duff. Shakespeare also condensed Macbeth’s seventeen year reign into a

period consisting of a couple of weeks. The saying that “history is written by the victors” holds

true here. After Malcolm ascended to power he proceeded to rewrite history to make his family

justified in overthrowing Macbeth. This editing of history made the real Macbeth darker and more

evil and made King Duncan, making him more docile and kind. The Celtic customs of succession

were ignored in Shakespeare’s play, and with that, so was Macbeth’s claim to the throne by being

the worthiest of the kinsman.

Due to the amount and context of the information used by Shakespeare, I have decided to

go through Shakespeare’s Macbeth explaining the play and then summarizing the information

from Holinshed’s and explaining the parallels. In the paragraphs pertaining to the plot of

Shakespeare’s Macbeth, I will use the names given by the author (e.g. Macbeth, Macduff,

Banquo, etc.). To avoid confusion as to what is being discussed (Shakespeare’s story line or how

he uses Holinshed’s), bold type will be used when referring to Holinshed’s work ( I will also use

the chronicler’s spellings of the names -- e.g. Makbeth, Makduffe, Banquho), while plain type will

be used when referring to Shakespeare’s plot. The page numbers cited in reference to Holinshed’s

pertain to W.G. Broswell-Stone’s 1896 printing of Shakespeare’s Holinshed.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth opens on three witches. They speak in rhymes that sound like

magical incantatio...

... middle of paper ...

...enterprise”(III, i, 12) (pg. 117) and then speaks to Caesar. At first, Cassius fears their plan has

been revealed by Popilious, but Brutus realizes from Caesar’s expression that the message was o

Bibliography:

Bibliography

Alden, Raymond Macdonald, A Shakespeare Handbook, Books for Libraries,

New York,1932.

Griffin, Alice. The sources of ten Shakespearean plays. Thomas Y Crowell, New

York, 1966

Spencer T. J. B., Shakespeare’s Plutarch, Penguin books, Middlesex, England,

1964

Rowse A. L., The Annotated Shakespeare, Orbis Publishing Ltd., 1984

Nicholl, Allardyce & Josephine, Holinshed’s Chronicle as used in Shakespeare’s

plays, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1927

Derrick, Thomas, Understanding Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Greenwood press,

1998

Daniel, Samuel, Poems and A Defense of Ryme, Phoenix books, London , 1930