Transcript Macbeth and the Gothic - English teaching resources

Friday, 17 July 2015
MACBETH AND THE GOTHIC
TIMELINE
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The Gothic: accepted as beginning in 1764
with Walpole’s ‘The castle of Otranto’.
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Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in or around
1606.
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What did he think he was writing?
JACOBEAN TRAGEDY
A new form of tragedy was emerging on the
London stage,.
 Features owe much to the Roman philosopher
and playwright: Seneca.
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The features are clearly seen in Macbeth and
other Shakespeare plays of this period,
especially Hamlet.
JACOBEAN TRAGEDY: FEATURES.
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Revenge
Extreme bloodthirstiness resulting in multiple deaths in the
closing scenes
A sense of decadence to be found in Italy and France (Catholic
countries)
The supernatural
Five Episodes or Acts
Sententiae (pithy, wise sayings)
Violence and horror (on-stage)
Magic, supernatural & death as topics, elements
Major characters with a single obsessive motive
HOW EASILY CAN THIS BE SEEN IN MACBETH
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Witches, Banquo’s ghost, Lady Macbeth as a
driven character, the settings, Good (Duncan,
Malcolm) vs Evil…
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We need to identify the defining characteristics
of revenge tragedy before considering the
influence on the Gothic.
1606-1764
Civil War
 The commonwealth closes all theatres and
other places of entertainment
 Restoration. Charles II reopens all theatres and
other places of entertainment.
 Comedy and bawdy frolic thrives in the new
regime.
 The French Revolution approaches and
Romanticism waits in the wings…
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THE GOTHIC…
Shares a fixation with the supernatural and
plots involving revenge.
 Setting is usually bleak and removed from
“civilised society” – often the setting reflect
Northern Europe. Again, the Southern (Catholic
countries) are disparaged.
 Horror
 Human Decay
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NEW TO GOTHIC TRAGEDY:
Women as powerful and “unwomanly”
 Setting is specifically nocturnal
 Supernatural includes witchcraft and use of
“magic” numbers such as 3 or 7.
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WHY GOTHIC?
Goths: barbarian tribes from Germany who
defeated Rome.
 Strong sense of monarchy
 Perceived as cruel and unforgiving
 Worshipped pagan Gods of antiquity (Witches
reflect this)
 Gothic Architecture: soaring cathedrals spring up
in 12C over Northern Europe
 Architecture is uplifting to the spirit and at odds
with the Southern archetypes.
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GOTHIC IN SOCIETY
James I writes about witches and Macbeth salutes
his new king.
 Later, as science develops, society finds the need
to explore a new world. Frankenstein – a modern
Prometheus is an example of this.
 The novels explore the horror and supernatural as
imagined in this new world – Dracula.
 Women are increasingly portrayed as having
fearsome sexuality which can be a tool for cruelty
and savagery.
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SO, DID SHAKESPEARE INVENT GOTHIC?
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He did not even “invent” Macbeth!
Sources are mainly from Medieval writers such as
Holinshead (1529-80) or Scottish Historians (link to
archaic Gothic?)
Not only the plot but much of the supernatural comes
from these sources: witches and their prophesies, the
unnatural events following Duncan’s death, the
unnatural events of the ending – BUT
Banquo’s ghost and the banquet is an invention
Lady Macbeth seems to prefigure the “feminine Gothic”
BANQUO
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A necessary foil to Macbeth, yet not untainted by his
credulity and eagerness to converse with the witches
His appearance at the banquet is a new idea and one
that becomes a stock-in-trade of Gothic horror through
to the films of the 20th Century.
He says nothing – the effect relies on the imagination of
directors
MacKellen/Dench
Jason Connery from 1990s - big on horror
Nicole Williamson
THE FEMALE GOTHIC
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Coined in 1976 by ELLEN MOERS
“a coded expression of women’s fears of entrapment within the domestic
and within the female body, most terrifyingly experienced in childbirth”
Lucy Westenra (Dracula) wears a long white shroud resembling both a
wedding dress and an angel's gown and carries a child upon whom she has
been preying. She attempts to seduce her fiancé into joining her; and he
"under a spell" almost does so. In losing her soul Lucy has become a
travesty of wife, mother and Angel, endangering any respectable man falling
within her sphere of influence; the archetypal establishment view of the New
Woman.
This seems close to LM who unsexes (1.5) herself to drive Macnbeth on to
his task.
Women lose all that is traditionally seen as “female” – usually by males and
in patriarchal societies – and become “demons in disguise”.
WITCHES
A nod of respect to James I who had just published
Daemonologie – a study of witchcraft and evil.
 Topical content due to number of witch trials at the
time
 Weird sisters are strange incarnations – travel on
air yet seem corporeal and do not appear to the
“good” Lennox in 4.1
 Interpolated scenes weaken Shakespeare’s vision
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INTERPOLATION
The whole Hecate scene is likely to be an
interpolation
 Songs are from Middleton’s play “the Witches”
c1610. The Hecate passages seem to introduce
the songs rather than serve any dramatic purpose.
 The use of Hecate, with a tangible Classical
heritage, spoils the uncertainty around the witches
 Northern European mythology requires Norns, not
classical gods and goddesses – witches should be
seen in this light.
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LITB3 Not a study of Macbeth with comments about
blood and witches
 A study of Gothic and a consideration of its
roots whether in Macbeth or earlier literature
 Good Luck
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