Tahlia+Macbeth



CONTEXT OF SHAKESPEARE William Shakespeare was born in the time of the Tudors, in England. Though the date of his birth is unknown, it is proved that he was baptized on the 26th April 1654 and his birthday is traditionally seen on the 23rd April. Being born in the time of the Tudors (between 1485 and 1503), this can be observed in his works of sonnets, plays and narrative poems where he brings in the authentic work and lifestyle of the Tudor Dynasty. The Globe Theatre also played a major role in his works, as the Theatre had many levels where seats were purchased to please the many different lifestyles of the people who attended his plays. These plays would then have to appeal to all parts of the audience from poorest of poor to rich and well brought up.

QUEEN ELIZABETH I She lived from September 7th 1533 – March 24th 1603 in Tudor England and ruled for most of the 16th century. Her rival to the throne was the Scottish Queen, Mary. They were both relatives and queens. Some people believed that Queen Mary should become the Queen of England after her husband’s death in France. Queen Mary wanted to interact with Elizabeth as she was not liked by the Scottish, so she was hoping Elizabeth would help her. Elizabeth was clever though, she knew the Catholics would prefer Mary to be queen. Due to this, Elizabeth ‘imprisoned’ Mary in a different castle, changing her location around now and again. Elizabeth definitely had more power than Mary. The right thing to do would be to get rid of her however, she did not wish to kill another Queen and also a family member. Elizabeth ended up signing a warrant for Mary’s death as she had been caught plotting; this was the hardest decision for her and she felt bad after Mary’s death.

MACBETH Shakespeare's Macbeth follows the story of a Mormaer. Macbeth basically killed all his competition to gain access to the throne of Scotland. He killed King Duncan I.

MALCOLM Malcolm was the oldest son of King Duncan. He escaped Macbeth by running south and took refuge at the court of English King Hardicanute. He did this as he knew that Macbeth would be after him. In the end, he killed Macbeth.

DUNCAN **Duncan was born in 1034 and lived until 14 August 1040 where he was killed in a battle by Macbeth. He was the eldest son of Malcolm II’s daughter. Duncan may have favoured Southern ways and this is a possible reason that he was unpopular with his subjects. **

JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND & HIS RELATIONSHIP TO JAMES 1 OF ENGLAND James VI of Scotland and James I of England is in fact, the same person. He was known as the King of Scots and he was also the only child of Queen Mary. He became the King of England and Ireland as he inherited both thrones after his mother was forced to leave the throne.

THE DIVINE RIGHTS OF KINGS The Divine Rights of Kings refers to the Queen or King having no earthly authority and what they do is the direct will of God therefore no matter what decision has been made, they can do no wrong and cannot be blamed for the wrong.

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