MACBETH report.

Essay by t1g3r March 2004

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MACBETH

Setting

Macbeth takes place in Scotland, in the middle of the eleventh century.

During that time, Scotland

officially was a kingdom, but ruled mostly by pretty independent barons

("thanes").

The play Macbeth is based on real events: the power-struggle in the middle

of the eleventh

century. The real Macbeth ruled Scotland between 1040 and 1057, but the

play doesn't follow that

exactly. The main characters are not invented, but I doubt that their

personalities do accord to

those in the play.

At the beginning of the play there has been a revolt against the Scottish

king, by the rebel

Macdonwald, in which the formerly loyal Thane of Cawdor became a traitor.

Also the king of

Norway has provided troops for Macdonwald. The actions shown in the play

are however mainly

taking place either in the palace or in Macbeths' castle.

Tone

You can easily tell that Shakespeare's plays were meant to attract men;

Shakespeare used quite

brutal expressions when describing battles, for instance, and the very plot

- including murder,

treachery and war - was designed for men.

A good example is this report of

the battle against the

traitor Macdonwald: "...brave Macbeth...reeking from bloody

execution...carved out his

passage...till he unseamed him [Macdonwald] from the nave to the chaps, and

fixed his head

upon our battlements". I don't think that makes many women excited (except

some English

teachers that find in it a great example of men's primitiveness).

Reading the play, you feel like many things are predestined. Macbeth feels

it himself, but he is

drawn into the evil. Finally, he gives up, and doesn't even try to keep

from wrongdoing.

Major Characters

Macbeth

Macbeth is the absolute main character in the play, and is both easier and

much harder to

analyze; there is more said about him. This...