I.

Biography of the poet

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564
in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April (see When was
Shakespeare born), which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.

Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre
(sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare’s plays are
perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not all he wrote. Shakespeare’s poems also
remain popular to this day. 

Records survive relating to William Shakespeare’s family that offer an understanding of the

context of Shakespeare's early life and the lives of his family members. John
Shakespeare married Mary Arden, and together they had eight children. John and Mary lost two
daughters as infants, so William became their eldest child. John Shakespeare worked as a glove-
maker, but he also became an important figure in the town of Stratford by fulfilling civic
positions. His elevated status meant that he was even more likely to have sent his children,
including William, to the local grammar school. 

William Shakespeare would have lived with his family in their house on Henley Street until he
turned eighteen. When he was eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-
six. It was a rushed marriage because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony.
Together they had three children. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after the
wedding and was later followed by twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died when he was just 11
years old.

II. Famous Work

Many people believe William Shakespeare is the best British writer of all time. His many works
are about life, love, death, revenge, grief, jealousy, murder, magic and mystery. He wrote the
blockbuster plays of his day

1 – Romeo and Juliet (1595)

First of the works of Shakespeare that has become a classic of tragic love, of which numerous
theatrical, literary and film versions and adaptations have been made. It is considered its first
tragedy.
The impossible love between two adolescents, Romeo and Juliet, who have become the model
for romantic lovers. It combines destiny and personal choice, factors that will lead to the terrible
end.
2 – The Merchant of Venice (1595-96)

In this piece Shakespeare tries to draw a social backwardness by showing the class differences
and the relationship between them. His view is not precisely classist, but quite the contrary. He
proposes that what is important is not birth but formation, something that clashes with the
structural and conservative idea of class society. In spite of this differentiation, the ruling classes
will be accepting that they need those they consider inferior, even if they disdain them.

3 – Henry V (1597-99)

He treats another of Shakespeare’s most interesting themes: the historical portrait.

It contains one of the best-known monologues of all his work, the king’s speech before the battle
of Azincourt against the French on St Crispin’s Day. It presents a king very different from the
young prince he was, dissolute and reveling, now embodying the ideal ruler.

5 – Hamlet (1601)

Possibly, in spite of his extensive and well-known theatrical repertoire, this is the most universal
of all his works, giving Hamlet’s character a priority place in world literature.
It deals with two of his great themes: betrayal and revenge. And the consequences that this
betrayal will have not only on the tormented prince, but on all those around him, in an epic and
dramatic final.

III. Elements of Poetry

A. Form/Genre
Macbeth represents a classic tragedy in that its protagonist travels down a dark path of
treachery and violence that inevitably leads to his own downfall and death.
B. Persona/Voice
Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous one. He is easily
tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne, and once he commits his first
crime and is crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing
ease.
 C. Rhyme

BLANK VERSE
Most of Macbeth is written in this way. Shakespeare uses PROSE (non poetic writing that
sounds like regular speech) for characters who are:

RHYMING COUPLETS
Often, at the end of a scene or at the end of a string of blank verse, Shakespeare throws in some
rhyming couplets to catch our attention. Rhyming couplets are PAIRS of lines that rhyme at the
end and form a complete thought.

D. Meter
The characters in Macbeth specifically the nobles use or speak with the iambic
pentameter to show their high culture and position,

While The Witches in Macbeth have one of the most famous speeches in the show and it
is written in trochaic tetrameter. A trochee is the exact opposite of an iamb. Instead of
following the unstressed-stressed (da-DUM) pattern it goes stressed-unstressed. (DUM-
da) And a tetrameter is eight syllables per line.

E. Tone

“Macbeth” is a tragedy, so its tone is predominantly dark, elegiac and depressing.

“Blood will have blood”, as Shakespeare wrote in Act III, Scene IV of the play,
foreshadows the series of murders taking place, which, as a result, stir bleak and sinister
feelings among the readers.

F. Mood

The mood in Macbeth is varied. In Act 1, Scene 1, the Witches appear in "fog and filthy
air". This creates a gloomy atmosphere and also makes them seem ambiguous as they
can't be seen properly. In Act 1, Scene 6, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony - Duncan
describes Macbeth's castle as "pleasant", not knowing that he's going to be murdered
there.

By the end  the tone has devolved from fearful and foreboding to deeply pessimistic.

Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth disintegrate from the charismatic and keenly intelligent
characters we see at the beginning of the play into shadows of their former selves.
Lady Macbeth kills herself, tormented by guilt.

G. Point of view
 We see the action mostly from the point of view of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, so it is a
third person, we are initially sympathetic to Macbeth because we see him grappling with
the meaning of the witches prophecy both in dialogue and privately. He speaks in aside
that the audience can hear but the other character present doesn’t hear.

H. Diction (Connotative and Denotative Meanings)

1) blood - represents murder and guilt.

"Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
hand" (5.1.53-55) 

2) sleep : represents innocence and peace of mind.

"Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep." (2.2.47-48)

3) night/darkness: the evil that is shrouded at night.

"Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires." (1.4.57-58)

 4) snake: represents evil.

"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." (1.6.76-78)

5) the washing of hands: to cleanse one's self of his or her own sins.

"It is an accustomed action of her to seem thus washing her hands." (5.1.30-31)

6) owl: represents death and further, Macbeth.

"It was the owl that shrieked the fatal bellman..." (2.2.5-6)

I. Literary Devices (Techniques and Figures of Speech)

Similes:
And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do." (1.3.10-11)
a comparison between a rat and the witch.

Personification:
"Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires." (1.4.57-58)
has given human-like characteristics to the stars.

Metaphors:
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (1.1.12)
Things may not always be what they appear to be.
 J. Theme

The main theme of Macbeth—the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked

by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main
characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to
commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement.

IV. Analysis (relate the piece with the historical events in Great Britain/ America)

Shakespeare's Macbeth bears little resemblance to the real 11th century Scottish king.

Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, was born in around 1005. His father
was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of
Malcolm II. A 'mormaer' was literally a high steward of one of the ancient Celtic provinces of
Scotland, but in Latin documents the word is usually translated as 'comes', which means earl.

In August 1040, he killed the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle near Elgin, Morayshire. Macbeth
became king. His marriage to Kenneth III's granddaughter Gruoch strengthened his claim to the
throne. In 1045, Macbeth defeated and killed Duncan I's father Crinan at Dunkeld.

For 14 years, Macbeth seems to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging
Christianity. In 1050, he is known to have travelled to Rome for a papal jubilee. He was also a
brave leader and made successful forays over the border into Northumbria, England.

In 1054, Macbeth was challenged by Siward, Earl of Northumbria, who was attempting to return
Duncan's son Malcolm Canmore, who was his nephew, to the throne. In August 1057, Macbeth
was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm
III).

REFERENCES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/macbeth.shtml#:~:text=Shakespeare's
%20Macbeth%20bears%20little%20resemblance,second%20daughter%20of%20Malcolm
%20II.&text=Macbeth%20became%20king .

https://macbethstudyguideeng3u.weebly.com/diction.html

https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/summary/