Early Scottish History and Jacobean Political Issues Macbeth Macbeth to James I 1034-1040 King Duncan 1040-1057 Macbeth

Holinshed's Chronicles combines the reigns of two kings - King Duff (952-967) and King Duncan (1034-1040) Both kings were murdered: Duff by Donald, and Duncan by Macbeth Duff applied to Duncan Donald angry at Duff for killing relatives accused of treason - complains to wife - persuades him to kill the king The plan: make chamberlains drunk and send servants to kill the king includes an incident of witchcraft King Duncan Banquo and Macbeth win favour in a battle against the Danes Slaughtered an entire Danish army by cunning: first mixing a sleeping potion and sending it, like the Trojan horse, as a gift to the enemy army Kill Duncan together A small problem James Stuart descendent of Banquos In Shakespeare's play, Banquo cannot be the accomplice Role passes to Lady Macbeth Basilikon Doron (1599) handbook on good government pamphlet for his son Henry James I fascinated by what makes a good king Ideas of good kingship are listed by Malcolm as the king-becoming graces (IV, 3) Justice, Verity, Temp'rance, Stableness, Bounty, Perseverance, Mercy, Lowliness, Devotion, Patience, Courage, Fortitude. Other Handbooks for Rulers A Mirror for Magistrates (1559) - the rise and fall of kings emphasising the effects of pride, providence and fate Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince - offers advice to Italian state rulers based on his perception of the presence of ambition and corruption in the political sphere.

Some advice Cruelty justified - if done quickly and if it brings stability Better to be feared than loved in politics The necessity of deception no need to keep word if detrimental; others are dishonest, too Ethical codes and morality suspended 1556 1567 1598 kingship John Ponet's A Short Treatise of Political Power advocated the right of rebellion. King James VI of Scotland King James writes the Law of Free Monarchies expressing his views about the rights of

King - God's representative on Earth (James practiced the healing ritual of laying hands on rich people) Other relationships depend on loyalty: comradeship in warfare, hospitality of host towards guest, and the loyalty between husband and wife In Macbeth: Relationships are perverted or broken: regicide, female domination; destruction of family and comradely bonds Natural Order medieval and renaissance view of the world: a relationship between order on earth, the so-called microcosm, and order on the larger scale of the universe, or macrocosm tempests, earthquakes, darkness at noon, and so on are all reflections of the breakage of the natural order that Macbeth has brought about in his own microcosmic world The Gunpowder Plot - To Kill A King What was expected of James I 24/3/1603 James I crowned - promises more tolerance 22/2/1604 priests ordered to leave England April 1604 5 conspirators join forces and plot against the king August 1604 New Recusancy Act passed, increasing fines 11/12/1604 18/1/1605 March 1605 26/10/1605 4/11/1605 5/11/1605 8/11/1605 5 conspirators begin digging the tunnel (break for Christmas) Work continues rent a cellar at Parliament House and fined Lord Mounteagle receives an anonymous letter Guy Fawkes discovered Conspirators flee London Captured

27/1/1606 tried (Father Garnet caught - Roman Catholics and Jesuits blamed) 30/1/1606 Digby, Winter, Grant and Bates hanged Jan 1606 Rookwood, Kegs and Fawkes hanged. Garnet is imprisoned in Tower

28/3/1606 trial at Guildhall 3/5/1606 hanged The Treatise of Equivocation to convey the truth by answering ambiguously - not deliberate lying Jesuit priests protected themselves thus advised faithful to do the same Father Henry Garnet implicated - Roman Catholic pamphlets couldn't be printed. Comments in his handwriting were found in the margins. Witchcraft The Art of Equivocation double, double, toil and trouble The Three Sibylls - a short Latin play written by Dr. Gwinn - performed for James in Oxford on 27/8/1605 3 prophetic women who prophesize James' rise to power = 3 witches in Macbeth Malleus Maleficarum (1486) The Hammer of Witches most famous modern treatise on witches by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Spreifer culmination of a long medieval tradition of treatises on witchcraft The Discovery of Witchcraft (1584) - Reginald Scot the first English study written in response to the terror of the Essex trials around 80 trials between 1580-1584 Sceptical View of Witchcraft fears about witchcraft - unfounded superstition only God has the supernatural powers people so readily attributed to women witch = innocent victim of public paranoia or impostors pretending to possess evil powers stereotypically - ugly old woman Socio-Political Implication witchcraft is nothing more than a system used to support or justify malicious behaviour and abuse of the poor James ordered all copies of Scots book to be burned James believed in witches Newes from Scotland (1591) an anonymous pamphlet describes the events in North Berwick trials witches charged in the treason conspiracy against James VI

Confession of 2 Agneses - black Sabbath - several hundred witches gathered to dance and make music with the devil to bewitch the king to death by toad on robes Conjured up a storm on the sea to destroy his ships travelling home from Denmark with wife. Supernatural powers proven through relation of private words he spoke to his queen. Daemonologie (1597) - James I Composed after the North Berwick trials 70 people implicated in the plot Stresses the need to recognise the seriousness of witchcraft and to discount sceptical views of men such as Reginald Scot Women frailer than men - easier to become entrapped in the gross snares of the devil Witches could harm people in the following ways: cast diseases on someone make men or women love/hate each other raise storms and tempests in the air, either upon sea and land cause folk to become frenetic or maniacs

The witches announce Macbeth's titles - they equivocate; Oracles always equivocate; not allowed to announce the truth Witches are not taken seriously until the prophecies have become fulfilled Lady Macbeth is a concealed witch - she manipulates Macbeth He is on his guard and rational with the witches but not with his own wife Lady Macbeth wants to be a man; unsex - cause is important something unnatural about her changing sexes - a variation of witchcraft 1st Prophecy "All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter!"(I.iii.50) 2nd Prophecy Third Witch: Hail! First Witch: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Second Witch: Not so happy, yet much happier. Third Witch: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! (I.iii.64-68)

3rd Prophecy Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth. Descends.(IV.1.88-90) ... Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him." (IV.1.92-94)