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Shakespeare's life
Shakespeare's plays are read and performed all over the world. Yet
they were written by an ordinary Englishman almost four hundred
years ago. Ben Johnson, a fellow writer of Shakespeare, said that
he was not for any one century, but for all time. One might add
that he was for all places and all races.
We do not know many firm facts about most ordinary people of
William Shakespeare's time, but we do know quite a lot about him.
Several documents, or papers, about him survive. They include
baptismal and burial records, business and theatre papers, and his
Will. We also know a great deal about life in the sixteenth
century. From all this we can build up a picture of Shakespeare's
life.
Shakespeare was born about the 23rd April 1564, in the family home
at Henley Street, in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town in England
about 100 km from London, the capital city. He was christened on
that day in Holy Trinity church in Stratford. He was the third of
the eight children, four boys and four girls, of John and Mary
Shakespeare.
John's father, Richard, had been a farmer in a village a few miles
from Stratford. John, like others of his generation, rejected the
farming life in favour of learning a profitable trade. He became a
glove-maker in Stratford, which was quickly becoming bigger and
richer.
Stratford was a flourishing market town of about 1400 people, with
many trades, the chief of which was brewing beer. It had regular
trading fairs and markets, and many travellers passed through it.
John Shakespeare made many other leather goods besides gloves. He
became rich and rose rapidly to positions of importance in the
town, becoming bailiff (i.e. mayor) in 1569. Shakespeare's mother,
Mary Arden, was from a rich and ancient landowning family, so John
had made more than one step in the world.
John Shakespeare's son, William, almost certainly attended the
local grammar shool, the King's New School. Girls received little
education. They had some training at home in needlework, singing
and other skills, but boys of prosperous families started school at
the age of four or five. A great deal of time was spent studying
the 1-atin language. '1'he school day was a demanding one. It
started at six in the morning and went on with little break until
five in the afternoon.
William Shakespeare probably left school at the age of fifteen or
sixteen. He then probably became an apprentice or trainee in his
father's shop.
At the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a
neighbouring farmer, who was seven or eight years older than him.
Anne gave birth to their first child, Susanna, about six months
later. 1,ess than two years after that, in February 1585, the
twins, Hamnet (who died at eleven) and Judith (who lived to
seventy-seven) were born.
Almost nothing is known about Shakespeare's life between 1585 and
the early 1590s, though there are many legends. For example, it is
said that he stole deer from a rich man's estate and had to escape
to London to avoid being prosecuted. Some people believe that he
worked as a schoolmaster, a lawyer's clerk, a soldier, a printer or
a seaman. We shall probably never know.
We know for certain that at some point in these years he went to
London, and eventually became an actor and playwright. (The
'Wright' in 'playwright' has nothing to do with writing, but means
a 'craftsman' or 'maker', as in 'shipwright', or
'wheelwright'.)
By 1594 Shakespeare was one of a group of actors called the Lord
Chamberlain's Men. There were several such groups, each depending
on a patron, a rich man who supported them with gifts of money. The
best groups soon be- came profitable enough for the actors to grow
rich, as Shakespeare himself did. By 1598 he was famous for writing
tragedy, comedy and history plays, and also poetry.
In 1597 he was rich enough to buy New Place, the second largest
house in Stratford, and in the 1600s he bought several more pieces
of land around the town. He stayed with the Lord Chamberlain's Men,
who were renamed the Kin's Men when James 1 became King in 1603,
until he retired from the stage. He did little writing after 1610
and none, as far as we know, after 1613. He spent his last years in
Stratford, only occasionally visiting London. He concerned himself
with his business affairs, over which he was extremely careful. He
remained a countryman, although he was a man of wide experience in
the larger world of town and city. His plays reflect both town and
country life.
In his will he remembered his family, his old friends from the
theatre, and some ordinary people of his native town. He died on
23rd April 1616, and was buried two years later in the church in
which, fifty-two years earlier, he had been christened.
Shakespeare's England
The England that Shakespeare knew was very different from the modem
industrialised country it is today.
The countryside
Most people lived in small towns or villages, and the great
majority were farmers. They kept sheep, chickens and cattle, and
grew fruit, vegetables, wheat, oats and barley. They used horses
for pulling ploughs and carts. Many farmers, like William
Shakespeare's grandfather, Richard, were tenant farmers (that is,
they rented land from rich landowners). Far larger areas than today
were forest or marshes, and were not used for agriculture or
housing.
Most rural people stayed in the same village throughout their whole
lives. Transport was very difficult, as there were, of course, no
buses, trains or cars, and roads were few and extremely bad. Ale
main ways of travelling were on horseback, by horse-drawn carriage,
or by boat along rivers and along the coast.
Houses were usually one or two storeys high, built of brick or of
wood and mud, with thatched or tiled roofs, like Anne 1-lathaway's
cottage. Rich people, however, lived in far bigger houses, and some
in huge and beautiful palaces with hundreds of rooms. There were
also many beautiful churches.
The towns
Towns were far smaller than they are today, and there were no big
industries as we know them. People carried on many different trades
and crafts, working at home or in small workshops. Clothmaking,
leatherwork (such as Richard Shakespeare was engaged in), pottery,
carpentry, baking, brewing, preparing meat, working in iron and
steel, gold and silver, were examples of trades carried on in towns
and villages. A great deal of very beautiful and skilled work was
carried on in architecture, wood-carving, plasterwork for walls and
ceilings, painting, embroidery and jewellery.
London
London was the capital city, then as now, but it had many fewer
people than nowadays. It was a rich city that traded with many
countries. It was also crowded, dangerous and dirty. There were
many beautiful buildings, but there was no clean water supply or
proper sanitation. Sewage ran into the river Thames. Rich people
used to carry bunches of flowers or spiced oranges close to their
noses when they walked in the streets because the smell was so bad.
Not surprisingly, there were many outbreaks of the plague and other
diseases. Most houses were built of wood and were crammed close
together. In 1666, fifty years after Shakespeare died, most of
London was burnt down in the famous 'Great Fire'.
The social system
There was a great difference between the way ordinary people and
the rich and powerful ones lived. Rich landowners could keep
hundreds of craftsmen working for them, as well as hundreds of
permanent servants. Some- times they also supported drama or music
and became 'patrons' to a group of actors or musicians, paying them
for their work. The Earl of Southampton was Shakespeare's patron.
At the head of all these rich and powerful people was the Queen,
Elizabeth 1. From Whitehall in London, she and her chief ministers
ruled the country.
Queen Elizabeth I ruled England from 1558 to 1603. Her position was
very "rent from that of the present Queen, Elizabeth II. She had
more power than a modern-day President or Prime Minister: she often
disagreed with Parliament, and could order the imprisonment or
death of anyone, even an important minister or landowner.
Like other rich people of the day, Elizabeth I was a great
patroness of poetry, drama, music and all the crafts. She loved
beautiful clothes and had thousands of highly decorated dresses
stored in her various palaces.
Elizabeth, and her successor James I, who ruled from 1603 to 1625,
were, like all the kings and queens before them, different in one
very important way from most modern Presidents or Prime Ministers.
People believed that they were the representatives of God, and had
a divine, or God-given, right to rule, which put them above
everyone else in the country. People believed strongly that
everyone had a fixed position in life. Anyone, for example, who
opposed a king, as Macbeth does when he kills King Duncan, is
breaking the proper order of things. Just as all parts of the body
should obey the head, so the wife should obey the husband, and the
subject the Queen (or King). Highest of all was God, whom everyone
had to obey.
Everyone at any level of society was very likely to remain there: a
farmer's son was likely to remain a farmer, and, unlike today,
could not easily rise to a position of power through education.
William Shakespeare's father, John, was an example of a farmer's
son who was quite successful in his own town, but most really
important people of Shakespeare's day were from a few powerful old
families.
Shakespeare's plays reflect the big differences between the classes
of people. His heroes and heroines are usually kings, queens or
other aristocrats - rich and powerful people. Often such people
came to watch his plays so they were, of course, interested. Even
the ordinary men and women in the audience usually expected to see
plays about exceptional or famous people, not about ordinary people
like themselves. Shakespeare's plays are mostly written in poetry,
but his poor people and servants usually speak in prose (that is,
ordinary, non-poetic language). Most of the humorous scenes in
Shakespeare deal with ordinary people rather than aristocrats, so
that we laugh at 'lower-class' people more often than at
'upper-class' ones.
Religion
England had been Catholic until the middle of the sixteenth century
when Henry VII quarrelled with the Pope and broke away from the
Church of Rome. Elizabeth 1 enforced Protestant Christianity by
law. Those not attending church regularly were punished. Catholics
were increasingly oppressed.
For the first time, the Bible was widely available in English, and
the large numbers of illiterate people could at least hear it read.
Shakespeare's work uses the rhythms and images of the Bible, though
he does not often mention characters or stories by name.
The Renaissance
The Renaissance (rebirth of learning) began in Italy in the
fourteenth century and spread throughout Europe. There was new
interest in the ancient Greek and Roman classics, and also new
forms of art, architecture, music and literature. It was a period
of change, questioning and vitality. People no longer believed
everything they were told, but tried to find things out for
themselves. Shakespeare's plays are part of this 'rebirth'.
Poetry and drama
In England it was above all an age of great poetry and drama.
Besides Shakespeare himself, there were Spenser, Sidney, Marlowe,
Chapmen, Johnson, and many other important writers. The drama
especially flowered as never be- fore in England. Elizabethan music
is also still performed and enjoyed in many places today.
Science, magic and medicine
Scientific and medical knowledge was progressing very fast in
Shakespeare's day, but there was still a great deal of ignorance.
People knew very little about health care, and did not understand
that dirt breeds disease. William Shakespeare was one of eight
children, but three of them died in childhood. Only he and one
sister lived to over fifty. This was typical for that period.
'Apothecaries', or chemists, like the one in Romeo and Juliet, knew
a lot about medicinal herbs, but there were many mistaken beliefs.
People believed that a sick person could be cured by having the bad
blood taken out of him: leeches, which look rather like small
worms, were put on sick people's skin to suck out the 'bad blood'.
People often died of the medicine they were given rather than of
the disease!
People thought that everything was made up of four 'elements', Air,
Water, Earth and Fire. In the human body there were four liquids,
the 'humours', which corresponded to the elements and affected a
person's behaviour. These were melancholy (bitter black bile from
the liver) which made one sad; blood, which made one courageous;
choler (bitter yellow bile from the liver) which made one angry;
and phlegm (the mucous from one's nose, etc) which made one quiet
and calm.
The ideal person was supposed to be a good mixture between the
humours or elements. For example, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar,
(Act Five, scene 5), Brutus is described as having 'The elements/So
mixed in him, that nature might stand up/And say to all the world,
this was a man.'
Many people believed in witches, who co-operated with the devil and
could harm others by their strange prayers and medicines; they
could see into the future, like the three witches in Macbeth. Many
harmless people, especially weak-minded old women, were accused of
being witches, and were burnt to death.
Astrology and astronomy
Many people believed in astrology, a study of the stars and planets
which, they thought, affected people's lives. The sun, the planets
and some of the stars seem to move through the twelve groups of
stars we call the Zodiac. Ale position of these stars when a person
is born is supposed to affect his character and the events of his
life. For example, the unlucky Romeo and Juliet are called
'star-crossed lovers'. Because the stars were in a certain
unfavourable position, Romeo and Juliet had to die. In other words,
people cannot control their own lives, but are controlled by the
stars. '1'he horoscopes, or star signs, in today's newspapers and
magazines are based on a belief in astrology.
Until the late seventeenth century, people thought that the earth
was the centre of the universe, with moon, sun and stars revolving
around it. Shakespeare probably believed this. Astronomy, the
science of studying the planets and stars, was progressing very
fast but, as late as 1616, the Italian astronomer Galileo got into
trouble with the Catholic Church for supporting the view that the
earth went round the sun.
Exploration
In general, however, people in Western Europe were finding out more
and more about the world. Explorers sailed to Africa, Asia and
America in their small (by our standards) wooden sailing boats,
bringing back information and riches to their countries. Scientists
were looking at the sky through the telescope (which was invented
in 160
, and performing many experiments to find out about
the body, about medicine, and about the world around them.
Elizabethan drama
Today's theatres are comfortable buildings with seats for all the
audience, and powerful electric lighting to illuminate the actors
performing on stage. Often there is complicated scenery made of
wood or cloth, representing walls, trees and so on, to give the
impression of indoor or outdoor scenes.
In Shakespeare's day, theatres were Very different. The central
part had no roof. As there was no electricity to light the theatres
they had to depend on sun- light. The central, open-air part
contained the stage and a yard. Many of the audience stood in the
yard in front of the stage. The stage was raised so that everyone
could see. Those who could pay higher prices sat on seats arranged
in two or three storeys in a rough circle around the yard, rather
as in a very small football stadium. Sometimes they even sat on the
stage! The top storey of seats had a roof, and there was also an
extra storey, the 'heavens', above the back of the stage, which
contained machinery (for example, for lowering and lifting actors
playing gods). At the back of the stage were large double doors or
curtains leading to a dressing room for the actors. The space
behind was also used for some inside scenes, for example, Juliet's
tomb in Romeo and Juliet. Actors also went in and out (entered and
exited) through these doors. There were trapdoors going down
through the stage, for use as tombs, prisons or even hell. Unlike
today's theatres, there was no scenery, so actors in Shakespeare's
time could move very freely. Costumes were often rich and
impressive, but not historically accurate. For example, the Romans
in Julius Caesar would have been dressed more or less as
Elizabethan gentlemen. Without costumes or scenery, plays had to
rely on words to show the audience where and when the story was
taking place. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the play opens with
lines which 'set the scene':
'Two households, both alike in dignity In fair Verona, where we lay
our scene ...
(Act One, scene 1)
The audience had to use their imaginations far more than we do in
the cinema or theatre today, and especially in one matter: there
were no actresses! The theatre was not considered a respectable
place for women to work, so all the women's parts were taken by
young boys whose voices had not yet broken.
The origins of western European theatre
The western European tradition of theatre began in Greece in the
fifth century BC. Tragedies and comedies were performed in huge
open-air theatres for thousands of people. The tragedies usually
dealt with traditional heroes of the past and with the gods.
The tradition of Greek theatre continued into Roman times, and
famous Latin plays were written until about the first century AD.
These Greek and Latin plays continued to be read, first in the
original languages, and later in translation. Shakespeare would
have known many of their stories and characters. Theseus and
Hippolyta, Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hecuba
and Helen, Acneas and Dido in Hamlet, for example, are all
characters from Latin and Greek poetry and drama. Juno, Jupiter,
Mars and Venus are some of the many gods that the Greeks and Romans
believed in before the introduction of Christianity. These gods are
often mentioned in Shakespeare's plays.
There was another tradition of drama in Western Europe. 'Mystery'
plays based on Bible stories were performed on religious holidays
in churches and market places. These were lively, often exciting
and humorous plays, and they may well have helped to fire
Shakespeare's imagination and point him towards his career as a
playwright. Shakespeare, and the other playwrights of his time,
also took stories from English and European history, and from
novels, poems and plays by earlier writers.
In the sixteenth century, plays were first performed in the yards
of inns (hotels) with a stage set up against a wall. Groups of
actors used to travel round the country performing plays in inns
and the houses of rich people.
The first building specially designed as a theatre was opened in
London in 1576. The Globe Theatre was opened in 1599. Shakespeare's
plays were performed here and in other London theatres such as the
Swan and the Blackfriars Theatre.
MACBETH
Historical and theatrical background
Macbeth was written early in 1606, and the earliest recorded
performance was in 1611 at the Globe Theatre, London. It is likely,
however, that the play had been performed earlier than this.
It is one of the shortest of Shakespeare's plays. From the
nineteenth century onwards, Macbeth has often been performed by
companies as a special attraction when business was going badly.
This is one of the reasons why actors consider it bad luck to quote
from the play, or to mention it by name, especially inside the
theatre - they always refer to it as 'the Scottish play'!
Shakespeare took the story from the Chronicles (1577), a history
written mainly by Raphael Holinshed and known by his name,
'Holinshed'. He in turn had taken the story from the work of a
Scottish historian called Hector Boyce, writing about fifty years
earlier. Though Shakespeare develops the story in his own way, and
invents a good deal, the central characters and events were closely
based on actual history. King James I of England (who was also King
James VI of Scotland), for example, was proud to count both Banquo
and King Duncan among his ancestors.
The central theme of the play is the destruction caused when an
ambitious man usurps power and undermines social and political
order. In the process, moral and spiritual order are also seriously
attacked, but in the end order is restored under a wise, strong and
legitimate king. It is likely that Shakespeare wrote the play
partly as a compliment to King James and as a celebration of that
ordered rule which had very nearly been destroyed by the Gunpowder
Plot.
Two difficulties which modem audiences sometimes have with this
play concern the witches and the ghosts or apparitions, and these
need some comment. In the case of the ghost of Banquo and the
apparitions apparently conjured up by the witches, our difficulty
need not be so great - if we do not believe in ghosts or visions,
we can respond to these things as if they were hallucinations or
delusions on Macbeth's part, caused by a guilty conscience or a
vivid imagination. There are, however, people in the West who do
believe in such phenomena, or who think that there might possibly
be such things.
As far as witches are concerned, the position is more complicated.
Belief in witchcraft is widely distributed in human society, past
and present. Records of such beliefs go back to probably the
prehistoric period, though some people (e.g. the Bushmen of the
Kalahari Desert) do not have a belief in witch- craft. Generally
witches are thought to be strange, abnormal people who use what
they believe to be supernatural means in order to achieve some
harmful, evil ends. Some societies, however, recognise 'white'
witchcraft, the use of such powers for beneficial aims such as
curing the sick. Witches are often blamed as the cause of things
going wrong - e.g. for illnesses or untimely deaths, or the failure
of crops.
Some people in Shakespeare's time thought that the beliefs about
witches were simply superstitions. Others, like King James I
himself, at first doubted but later appeared to be convinced that
witches did have extraordinary and evil powers. He was very
interested in the subject and wrote a book on it called Demonology
(1597; Published in England 1603). Most people in those days,
however, did believe in the evil power of witches, who were thought
to be earthly representatives of the Prince of Evil. An Act of
Parliament of 1604 made the practice of witchcraft an offence
punishable by death. The campaign against witches was waged
relentlessly, by Catholics and by Protestants, for centuries. It
was not until the more secular philosophy of the modem world began
to emerge from the late seventeenth century onwards that the
European witch-craze died down. Many innocent women must have been
killed over the centuries, however. There are still reports of
traditional witchcraft practices and beliefs in Western societies
in recent years.
Whatever we think of witchcraft, one thing is clear about Macbeth:
Shakespeare does not put the blame for what happens on the witches.
They have a keen interest and delight in encouraging human evil,
but Shakespeare shows that evil is really in certain human beings
themselves. Supernatural powers and their human agents can
encourage this human evil to flourish, but they do not create it.
The witches foretell the future - Macbeth, briefly, makes it.
Language and structure
Shakespeare telescopes the events of the play into what seems a
short space of time, and the play has a very tight structure. We
see Macbeth at the beginning and end of the play as a soldier - at
the beginning he is a hero, loyal to the rightful king, and part of
a system of order. At the end, however, he is a hated tyrant who
has killed the rightful king, dispossessed his heir, killed others
who would be in his way, and reduced the ordered kingdom to terror
and anarchy. He is also, at the end, no longer part of a coherent
society, but instead he is alone.
The first movement of the play is triggered by the prophecies of
the witches - that Macbeth will be Thane of Glamis (as he is),
Thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter, and that Banquo, though not
becoming king himself, will be father to a line of longs. The
prophecies add to what Macbeth has evidently already been thinking
and help to impel him to the various actions of killing the king
and having Banquo murdered. The second meeting with the witches
also contains three prophecies - that Macbeth is to beware Macduff;
that he should not fear anyone born of woman; and that he would be
safe until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. His reactions to the
second set of prophecies lead to his downfall and death.
The witch scenes are therefore important in relating the two
movements of the play, but the turning point of the plot is the
banquet scene. Macbeth here briefly is able to act the part of
king. The murder of Banquo should have made him secure, but
ironically it is this which leads him to give himself away. Though
Macbeth is able to gain control of himself eventually, it is too
late, and though Lady Macbeth is still strong and determined, it is
for the last time. There can be no looking back for him, and he
determines that he has no choice but to go on killing.
It has been said that the play has some of the symbolic force of a
morality play, and this is true. Yet the characters are not
personifications of abstract virtues or vices, but living human
beings, and sometimes very complex ones. Instead the symbolic force
springs from the formal structure - what we have is a tight pattern
of cause and effect, with every action leading to consequences
which in turn have further results. The structure gives a sense of
inevitability to the play, with nothing irrelevant and yet
everything seeming natural in its place. Everything springs from
the character of Macbeth himself and its impact, in action, upon
those around him. The short scenes which occur from time to time,
e.g. between Ross and the Old Man, or between the doctor and the
gentlewoman, serve as a commentary on what has been happening, and
enable us to see the events as part of a universal context.
The language of the play is particularly memorable for several
related groups of images which powerfully help to achieve the
presentation of the themes of the play. Especially noticeable are
the following: images of clothing, particularly pointing to the
difference between external appearance and the reality beneath, and
sometimes implying that the clothes are too big for the wearer;
images of bloodshed, and the attempts to wash away blood; images of
sleep and sleeplessness; images of food and of banquets; images of
disorder in the worlds of animals; images of health and
disease.
The themes
The major themes of Macbeth are as follows: the sanctity of
rightful kingship; the destructive nature of usurpation; the
inwardly as well as outwardly destructive nature of evil (i.e. that
it destroys the evildoer as well as his victims); the
correspondence between order and disorder in the state, in nature,
and in individuals; the justifiable killing of the usurper.
Summary of the plot
Macbeth and Banquo are generals in the army of Duncan, King of
Scotland. They have just defeated an army of Norwegian invaders and
Scottish rebels. They meet three witches, who greet Macbeth as
Thane of Cawdor and 'king hereafter'. The witches tell Banquo that
although he will not be king himself, he will be the father of many
kings. The witches vanish, and news comes that Duncan has made
Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, in place of the former Thane, who has
proved to be a traitor.
Macbeth writes to tell Lady Macbeth of his adventures and the
witches' prophecies about his future, and about the new title
Duncan has given him. She starts to plan Duncan's death.
Duncan decides to spend the night at Macbeth's castle. Macbeth's
own ambition, and the fact that the witches' prophecy came true,
lead him to give in to his wife's persuasion and to kill the
sleeping king. The king's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, are
suspected, and run away, and Macbeth is crowned king.
Macbeth determines to defeat the witches' prophecy concerning
Banquo's children. He therefore tries to have Banquo and his son
Fleance killed while they are out riding, but Fleance
escapes.
The ghost of the murdered Banquo appears at Macbeth's banquet to
haunt him, and he decides to consult the witches again. They tell
him to beware of Macduff, Thane of Fife; that no one born of woman
can harm him; and that he will never be defeated until Birnam
Forest moves to Dunsinane. He therefore believes that fate is on
his side. On learning that Macduff has gone to England, to raise an
army to come back and fight him, Macbeth kills Lady Macduff and her
children. Lady Macbeth goes mad and dies, and Macbeth is alone. The
attacking army led by Malcolm and Macduff cut branches from the
trees in Birnam Wood and use them as camouflage as they walk to
Dunsinane - so that it looks as though the wood itself is moving,
as the prophecy foretold. Macbeth goes to fight Macduff, who
reveals that he was not born in the normal way but by Caesarean
section (i.e. 'untimely ripped' from the womb) - thus the last
prophecy comes true. Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm becomes King
of Scotland.
The main characters
Macbeth
(a) The historical Macbeth
The historical Macbeth was the ruler of Moray and Ross, and became
King of Scotland when he murdered King Duncan in 1040. His only
claim to the throne was through his wife, who was called Gruach.
He
