Transcript The Tragedy of Julius Caesar - Brooklyn Technical High School

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
William Shakespeare
The English Renaissance
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Anglo-Saxon Period: 449-1066
Medieval Period: 1066 (Battle of Hastings)- 1485
(War of the Roses)
Renaissance: 1485- 1625 (King James I dies)
Advancements
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Associated with pan-European Renaissance that started
in Italy in the 14th-century
Invention of the printing press popularized literature
written in Modern English (the language of the common
people)
Plays were the outstanding legacy of the period (what
Italy produced in visual art, England produced in the
written word and music)
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William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, John Donne, Ben
Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Edmund Spenser,
Thomas Wyatt, among others
The Notorious Tudor Dynasty
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1485 (War of the Roses) to
1603 (death of Queen Elizabeth I)
The Tudor Rose:
A combination of the white
(York) and the red (Lancaster)
Henry VII
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Seized control of the Monarchy at the Battle of
Bosworth Field in 1485, and later married Elizabeth
of York to form the Tudor line
Asserted control over Ireland in 1542, uniting the
two countries under one crown
Father to Henry VIII
Henry VIII (1491-1547)
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King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death
Known for his 6 marriages and for separation from
the Catholic Church
Notorious for executing those who stood in his way:
reports range from 57,000-72,000
Marriage #1: Catherine of Aragon
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Catherine, a devout Catholic and daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella was first married to Henry’s younger brother Arthur, but after 20
weeks of marriage, Arthur died at the age of 15.
To keep the alliance between England and Spain secure, Henry’s father
and Queen Isabella struck a deal for Henry to marry the now widowed
Catherine, and they married in 1509 when Henry had become king at the
age of 14.
After three miscarriages and the death of a son, Catherine gave birth to
Mary, who would later become the notorious “Bloody Mary” for burning
280 Protestant dissenters at the stake.
Henry had many mistresses during this time and became particularly
infatuated with one- Anne Boleyn– and as he was growing impatient with
Catherine’s inability to produce a male heir, he decided to annul his
marriage to Catherine. The Catholic Church was THE CHURCH of Europe
and disallowed divorce. He appealed to the pope, claiming that his
marriage to Catherine had not been a “true marriage” because she had
consummated her marriage to her brother and was therefore not a virgin
up on their marriage. The pope disagreed with this summation, so Henry
created his own Protestant church: The Church of England.
Marriage #2: Anne Boleyn
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Henry had already fathered two illegitimate children with Anne’s
sister Mary, but Anne played a little harder to get. She was the
“lady in waiting” to Catherine (a.k.a. assistant or servant), so the
king had access to her. He banished Catherine from court and
married Anne (a Protestant supporter) in 1533. His daughter Mary
was declared illegitimate. (motivation for “Bloody Mary”?)
Anne gave birth to a daughter who would become Queen Elizabeth
I: the royal patron of Shakespeare.
A few miscarriages later (including one of a son), and Henry grew
impatient for a male heir once again.
Meanwhile, Henry had grown infatuated with another woman: Jane
Seymour.
Anne knew her position was at risk, and she was accused of
conspiracy, adultery, incest, and possible witchcraft. She was
executed at Tower Green on 17 May 1536.
Marriage #3: Jane Seymour
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Henry married Jane Seymour 10 days after the
execution of Anne Boleyn.
The next year, Jane gave birth to a son (who would
later become King Edward VI at the age of 9 but
would only live until the age of 16), but Jane died
during childbirth, leaving Henry as a widower. He
declared his daughter with Anne (Elizabeth)
illegitimate and announced his son Edward as the
heir to the throne.
Marriage #4: Anne of Cleves
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This marriage was a arranged based upon a
portrait only that Henry would later claim to be
overly-flattering of Anne, but Henry was not
attracted to Anne once they married. The marriage
was never consummated, so he had it annulled.
Marriage #5: Catherine Howard
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Henry married Catherine on the same day that he
had Oliver Cromwell executed. She was a lady-inwaiting to Anne Boleyn.
She had an affair with another man and got
caught! Henry had her executed on 13 February
1542.
Marriage #6: Catherine Parr
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Henry’s final wife. She helped to reconcile him with
his two daughters: Mary and Elizabeth. Later on,
the girls were re-legitimized as heirs to the throne.
The Rhyme
Divorced, beheaded and died
Divorced, beheaded, survived
I'm Henry VIII, I had 6 sorry wives
Some might say I ruined their lives...
Final Years
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Henry became obese with a waist that measured
54 inches. He had to be moved around using
mechanical inventions, and he was covered with
painful boils.
His obesity stemmed from a jousting accident in
1536 that left him with an ulcerated leg wound that
doctors found difficult to treat, so he was not able
to maintain his physical activities.
He was buried next to Jane Seymour– the one wife
that gave him the male heir.
From Henry to Elizabeth to James I
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After Henry died, his son Edward took the throne but died at the age of 16.
This brought up the issue of succession. Edward didn’t want Mary to inherit
the throne for fear that shed re-Catholicize England, but he couldn’t disown
Mary without disowning Elizabeth, too. So, he named Lady Jane Grey, his
first cousin, as the heir. She is called The Nine Day’s Queen because after
Edward died, she was executed for treason, and the crown went to its
rightful heir: Mary.
Mary was notorious for trying to reinforce the Catholic beliefs that her
father had destroyed in England and so burned religious dissenters at the
stake. Her half-sister Elizabeth was a supporter of the Church of England
like her mother Anne Boleyn and was even imprisoned by Mary for a time
at the notorious Tower of London. Mary did not produce an heir, so upon
her death, Elizabeth became the Queen of England, and a time of true
Renaissance with peace, culture, and the arts was born.
Elizabeth didn’t produce an heir either, so upon her death, the throne fell to
her cousin James of Scotland, who became the King of England, Scotland,
and Ireland, uniting all three kingdoms under one crown.
Queen Elizabeth: 1533-1603
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Queen from 1558 until her death in 1603
Also called “The Virgin Queen” because she never married
and never had any children- she was married to her country.
Moderate in governmental rule and tolerant of religious
differences- a time of peace between Catholics and
Protestants
Imprisoned and executed Mary Queen of Scots (her cousin
James’s mother) out of fear that the queen (who was allied
with the French) would invade England and usurp her power.
The English theatre prevailed under her reign with
playwrights such as William Shakespeare.
Shakespearean Tragedy
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Aristotle’s Poetics
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“Tragedy is an imitation of a serious and complete
action of some magnitude…Plot is the imitation of
action…Tragedy is an imitation, not of human beings
but of action, life, happiness, and unhappiness.”
 Mimesis-
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imitation of action
“…the principal means whereby tragedy makes its
effects are the parts of the plot: reversals of fortune
and recognition scenes.”
 Anagnorisis- recognition
 Peripeteia- a reversal
Poetics Continued
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“Every tragedy, then, must have six parts on which
its quality depends: plot, character, speech, mind,
spectacle, and melody…Plot, then, is the starting
point, the soul as it were, of tragedy; and character
comes next.”
Poetics Continued
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“The plot, too, should be one, just as in other arts of
imitation there is a unified imitation of one thing.
Since it is an imitation of action, it should be about
one whole action; the parts should be combined in
such a way as to make a difference to and disturb
the whole if one part is moved from its position or
taken away altogether. Anything the presence or
absence of which goes unnoticed is no real part of
the whole.”
In Layman’s Terms…
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Hero has ONE SINGLE problem.
Hero tries to solve the problem, but the hero makes
the problem worse.
Hero has to deal with the worsened problem.
Hero either solves the problem (COMEDY) OR hero
is solved by the problem (TRAGEDY:
ANAGNORISIS).
No “Deus ex Machina”
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“Plainly, the unraveling of the plot should spring
from the plot itself, and not from the deus ex
machina, as in the Medea, or in the way in which the
events concerning the sailing away in the Iliad do.
The deus ex machina should be used to deal with
events that lie outside the drama- either things that
have happened beforehand, but of which humans
cannot know; or things that are to happen and need
to be announced…”
 Deus
ex machina= machine of the gods/ supernatural
intervention
Catharsis
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“By means of pity and fear, it contrives to purify the
emotions of pity and fear.”
 Catharsis-
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purging of pity and fear
“Fear and pity can be aroused by purely visual effects,
or they can be aroused by the actual structure of the
plot; the reaction is more fundamental in the second
case, and he will be the better poet who brings it
about. For quite independently of what one may see,
the plot should be so composed that anyone who hears
the vents related shudders and feels pity at what is
happening; this certainly happens to anyone who hears
the story of Oedipus.”
TRAGEDY
•A fictional work depicting
the fall of a person of high
degree
•Essential difference between
tragedy and comedy: their
depiction of human nature
•Comedy: dwells on
human weakness
•Tragedy: emphasizes
human greatness
Comedy vs. Tragedy
The Tragic Hero
The tragic hero is a person
of noble stature, meaning
that s/he is not a normal
individual but one who is
great in two respects:
 Social importance
(usually a prince or king)
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The possession of an
extraordinary quality
(passion, aspiration,
nobility of mind, etc.)
•The hero’s misfortune is not wholly deserved.
What most impresses us about the tragic hero
is his/her greatness, not his/her weakness.
•The hero’s fall results in some
increase in awareness, some gain in
self-knowledge. There are two sides
to this gain in knowledge:
•His/her responsibility for the
fall
•A significant insight, not just an
increase in knowledge but in
wisdom.
The tragic hero is imperfect, his/her fall resulting from that
imperfection, i.e., the tragic hero is responsible for his/her own fall.
•Aristotle: “an act of injustice”
committed either 1) out of
ignorance or 2) with the belief
that some greater good will be
served. His term for it: hamartia.
•Later critics: a defect of
character, or “tragic flaw” or
overweening pride (hubris)
•Other critics: not a lack but an
excess of virtue, a nobility of
character that unfits him/her for
life among mortals.
Essential Action
The Fall
Suffering
Reconciliation
Tragic hero
makes a
mistake and
compromises
meaningful
status in
society
As a result of a
tragic mistake,
loses his/her
place in society
Experiences
insight
Takes
responsibility for
his/her fall, which
s/he realizes is
his/her fault
Terms
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Aside- words spoken by a character intended to be heard by the
audience while other characters are onstage; a character’s inner
thoughts
Soliloquy- words spoken by a character alone onstage to the
audience; reveals innermost thoughts
Blank Verse- unrhymed iambic pentameter
Comic Relief- a humorous episode in a tragedy intended to break
the tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast;
also foreshadows trouble
Foil- two characters in the same situation/ status in society that
contrast in order to highlight facets of the main character’s
personality
Dramatic Irony- When the audience knows something that a
character does not know. This builds suspense.
Macbeth
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Shakespeare’s Source=
Holinshed’s Chronicles
Shortest play- probably written in
1606
Written as a tribute to James I
Witches- demonology
 Banquo- ancestors
 Divine right of kings
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Blank verse with prose (mad scene,
drunken porter scene)
Setting: Anglo-Saxon period Scotland
Motifs
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Blood/water
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Supernatural
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Light/dark
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Appearance/ reality
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Animals
Essential Themes
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Trusting appearances can lead to downfall.
Unchecked ambition leads to corruption.
Main Characters
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Macbeth- noble soldier who learns that he is to be king from
the witches/ acts on the witches’ prophecies
Banquo- Mac’s friend/ foil character/ does not act on the
witches’ prophecies
Lady Macbeth- Mac.’s wife/ strong, resolute/ wants her
hubby to be king more than he does
Duncan- King of Scotland, good king, poor judge of
character
Macduff- noble soldier
Malcolm & Donalbain- Duncan’s two sons
The Witches– tell Macbeth and Banquo their futures
Hecate– the “head witch” who rules the three witches