English 431B: Advanced Shakespeare
A survey of the works from the second half of William Shakespeare's career
Archive for the category “Uncategorized”
Final Exam Study Guide
‘Antony & Cleopatra,’ ‘A Winter’s Tale,’ ‘The Tempest,’ Staging/Theater
Click here for a study guide for the test. Keep in mind that Part One on the test will only have about eight quotes and you will pick four. For Part Two there will be about 20 terms and you can choose 15. As for Part Three there will be about 12 questions and you will choose 10. The essays are just pure speculation, I am not sure what Dr. Kiefer plans to put on the exam, so study a wide-array of themes and be prepared to defend your perspectives.
Final Exam
Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Time: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Place: Modern Languages Room #411
‘The Tempest’ Notes
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Misunderstanding about this play, it is not the last play Shakespeare wrote
At the end of his career he calibrated with a younger author John Fletcher.
Simplistic plot
Shakespeare didn’t observe: Classical unities of action (one story), time (24-hour time frame or less) and place (one setting/location) [except in The Tempest]
In later works, Shakespeare uses remote locations (sometimes mythical locals like in The Tempest)
No psychological complexity of characters
Providence divine is what Prospero says brought the ship to the island
It is a tragic comedy
This play should not work in the theater, but it has a long and strong stage history.
Opening scene starts with thunder and lightning
Problem with exposition: need more details, why are the people in the boat going where they’re going, who’s on the island, et cetera
Bermuda pamphlets: saved a ship during a voyage to the Caribbean in a hurricane
Ariel: Airy creature, moves quickly, more spirit than human
This play relates to the European settlements in the “New World” and comments on the treatment of the natives
Caliban is the opposite of Ariel, more Earthly creature, not entirely human
Caliban could possibly mean cannibal
Montaigne: “Of the Cannibals”
Meaning of the play is never bound by the words of the script: it is the director and actor’s interpretations and what knowledge the audience brings to the performance
Act 2, Scene 1
Gonzalo’s comments: Line 52+
Antithesis of English life
Is it possible that Shakespeare was envisioning a new society because of the settlement of the “New World?” Would democracy evolved in Europe without the settlement of a “New World?”
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Prospero’s magic is so powerful he can dominate native inhabitants and anyone else who comes to the island
Rebellion within the play: Caliban meets up with Trinculo and Stefano
He says he will devote himself to them if they can free him from Prospero
Act 3, Scene 2
Books that were handed from generation to generation became a thing of the past after the printing press came to prominence.
Lost cause for Caliban, can’t exit from servitude
Stage History
Pleasures for the audience: Sound and sight
Reading this as a script is not the same as watching it in performance
Stage directions are important cues (almost all stage directions in this play are important)
Act 2, Scene 1
Line ~186 – Enter Ariel [invisible] playing solemn music
Music is extremely important in the plot of the play, but also entertaining
Line 300 – Enter Ariel [invisible] with music and song
Caliban suggests in Act 3, Scene 2 at line 140 + that music exists all over the island
Audience gets a sense that this is a special place: like the island in ‘Lost’
Sight
Line 17 + (stage directions)
Some stage directions were not included because they were inside Shakespeare’s head
Other stage directions were not included because it saved the printer money and allowed for cheaper scripts (non-essential stage directions)
Stage directions sometimes are literal, but (bringing in a banquet) can be interpreted metaphorically as well (banquet of life)
Don’t get to partake in any revelry (banquet)
Later stage direction of storm: Thunder and lightning are symbolic of divine intervention
Harpy: combination (part female, part bird) shows up when people do something wrong (malefactors) punishment to take something (typically food) away (withdraw something)
Resonance for classical and Elizabethan/Jacobean culture
This scene depends entirely on sound and sight
Dramaturgy: art of writing the play
Raked stage: slops down towards the audience, further away from audience (allows for good lines of sight)
Act 4, Scene 1
Iris: Classical mythological creature, messenger between Gods and human kind. Thought to travel along a rainbow. Iridescent is derived from Iris
Ceres: Cereal derived from this word, (Captain Crunch) representative of the Earth, all good things, food, plenty, et cetera
Juno: Queen of the God (married to Jupiter) gold crown and a scepter. Used to reference marriage. Month June derived from Juno. (June bride)
Prospero’s daughter is to be married to Ferdinand
Black Friars Theater: After King James ascended to the throne, the King’s Men became insistent on opening another theater besides the Globe. Dominican Monks (Friars) lived in a monastic community. Black because of the color of their garments.
James Burbage acquired the monastery. Public blocked the opening of the theater in 1590’s. His sons renewed his effort to create the theater. 1609 or 1610 was when the theater opened. Why did the King’s Men want another theater? Because The Globe was an open-air theater. Black Friars Theater was not subject to weather, rain, snow, cold or warm weather. In-door theater used for winter performances and during inclement weather. 1610 – 1642 it operated. Much smaller than The Globe. It could hold only about 600 patrons. Charged 6 times as much for basic (minimum) admission. Six pence was for the cheap seats. Different crowd than at the Globe more moneyed, social, literate, sophisticated crowd. Same plays were performed at The Globe and Black Friars Theater. Shakespeare began altering his later plays because of the opening of the Black Friars Theater. He emphasized sound and sight in his later plays. Lighting presented a new challenge for In-door Theater. No electricity, so they used candles and torches to light the theater. Candles had to be replaced during the performance during the play. There were small act breaks to replace the candles. King’s Men hired musicians to play music during the breaks.
Theater sets were not in use until 1660.
(Courtly) Masque: Dramatic theatrical-form in use. Poetry, elaborate costumes, masks, dance, set design. Plots were rudimentary. Based on classical mythology. Includes witches/devils.
Shakespeare democratized the masque. He uses it in his plays sheep-shearing scene (Winter’s Tale), (Tempest)
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Final Exam
Tuesday, May 8
8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
A Quiz on ‘The Tempest’
A site to brush up on your “Tempest” knowledge… http://quizlet.com/8437186/print/
The Winter’s Tale Notes
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Written near the end of his career.
The opening speech of the play gives the impression that it is made half on-stage and half off. This is to draw the audience into the action. The second half of the speech in Act 1, Scene 1 is important to note.
Two secondary characters: Camillo (Sicilian) and Archidamus (Bohemian)
Act 1, Scene 2
Time is a major motif throughout the play.
* Line 11 (+) –> Polizenes
* Line 34 (+) –> Hermione’s plea for Polixenes to stay
* Polixenes line ~62(+)/line 67 (+)
* Polixenes is a family friend, has known them since childhood
Doctrine of original sin
Adam and Eve affected all humankind after them; stained by the fist sin. Sacrement is done by Christians to baptise people to wash away that sin.
The world of this play however is pre-Christianity.
Speech is more likely about sex.
“Stronger blood” mention alludes to sexual passion
Sexuality of scoiety is overt, yet simultaneously submerged. It is subtle, but there.
Leontes notices strange juxtaposition of facts. He suspects Polixenes impregnated his wife.
Strangeness of the world of the play. It exceeds ‘strangeness’ other plays.
Leontes is deranged.
*Line 128 (+)
– Talking to Mamillius (his son, who’s young about 5 or 6 years old)
Difficult speech to follow for his son.
Leontes mind is turning in on itself. He is going crazy, becoming paranoid.
Leontes switches his thoughts mid-speech, which further paints a portrait of his deteriorating mental state.
–> The actor must convey confusion of character.
His jealousy feeds on emotion, not factual evidence. Leontes is his own Iago.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Heroism in speech
Act 3, Scene 2
Hermione: “Since what I am to say must be but that…” (Line 20- 52)
Strange that the king goes mad quickly and re-gains his sanity quickly.
Play ‘Pericles’ bares several similarities to this play.
Shakespeare’s change in style was a signal in the shift in societal tastes.
In an instant everything changes in the world of this play.
Act 4, Scene 1
Personification of Time: Old man, bearded, toga (perhaps), carried a scythe (perhaps), carried an hour-glass. 16 years has gone by in a blink of an eye.
The Elizabethan-Jacobean Theater
The Shakespearean Theater
Middle Ages: During the late Middle Ages dramatic performances were typically held at religious feasts.
Guilds: Were a group of actors were common working-class men, also known today as unions.
Mystery Plays: Served as a precursor to the works that would emerge in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. They were based on biblical stories. Walk of life/trade = mystery.
From the 1400’s to the 1500’s new plays began to be written and performed.
Morality Plays: These were not based on dramatized biblical sermons. Characters rather personified morals (or lack there of) often in an exaggerated context. There were Greek/Roman/Biblical and English historical influences. Examples include life, death mankind, temptation and deceit to tell a story/parable/warning. Everyman, a renowned Morality Play, was written around 1500. These plays were no longer performed by the ordinary working-class, but rather a set of professional, traveling actors.
Moral Interludes: Combination of serious and comedic. Shakespeare benefited from themes, conventions, character types of those before him.
“If Shakespeare stands tall it’s because he’s standing on the shoulders of those before him,” said Frederick Kiefer, English professor at the University of Arizona.
Troupe: Four adult male actors and at least one boy to play female roles
Senior Actor: This/these actor(s) possessed such a talent that Shakespeare wrote roles in his plays based on their talents.
Apprentice Actors: Young boys who started out playing the female roles could graduate as they matured to play male roles and perhaps eventually become a Senior Actor in the company.
Moral Interlude: serious or comedy, didactic basis, reached a wider audience
The Vice: A stock character of the Morality Play often represented by a Wooden Dagger
Restoration/ Renaissance Era: After 1660 women were allowed to take the stage. Permanent theaters were built. In the past performances were typically in a market square on a stage raised five (5) feet off the ground to ensure a good Line of Sight for everyone in the audience. There was a curtain so actors could change to play a different role.
Booth Stage: A stage with a curtain
There were no permanent theaters from the time England was a Roman colony.
Red Lion Theater: The first permanent theater was built in 1567. John Brayne was responsible for its construction. It was built out of wood and featured a raised stage. Scaffolding allowed some to sit. It was not a commercial success. The theater was involved in lawsuits in London.
The Theater: In 1576, The Theater was built and went on to become an enormous success. James Burbage and John Brayne were partners in the venture. It was three (3) stories tall, one hundred (100) feet in diameter, thirty-three (33) feet high and a max capacity is about three thousand (3,000), it was an open-air theater with no roof. Plays were held in the middle of the day to utilize the natural lighting. The theater was multisided, polygonal, twenty (20) side, but it looked round because it was plastered. The lease for the land was for 20 years. It was built on land not owned – but rented, round in appearance (multisided), made of Oak wood beams (strongest material of the time). Buildings that are 500 years old are still standing because their foundations are made of Oak. Giles Alleyn owned the land and started a legal dispute between himself and the partners Burbage and Brayne over payment for the land use. One claim: Brayne wasn’t getting enough money from Burbage. Burbage eventually won after Brayne’s death. Alleyn and Burbage then couldn’t come to a lease agreement and ownership reverted back to Alleyn. Alleyn however, ultimately took back his land and effectively shut down the theater. The theater was outside the city walls and would have been in a disreputable area in hopes that the authorities wouldn’t shut down productions. The renewal for the lease fell through. Burbage, an acclaimed actor in his own right, along with a business partner Cuthbert, tried to negotiate with Alleyn, but to no avail. The theater went dark in 1597. His two sons did not inherit the theater. Richard Burbage and Cuthbert (a savvy business man) were a powerful duo.
The Theater Went Dark: This is the time the theater was closed. The troupe of actors who performed here moved to The Curtain Theater after it was built in 1577.
1548: The Theater was still empty
Burbage’s brothers hired Peter Street to dismantle the theater during the Christmas season (Dec. 25 – Jan. 6), move the pieces via wagon and barge, and reassemble the pieces on the other side of the Thames River (the South Bank).
Censorship: Manuscripts had to be approved before they were performed. The advantage of censorship laws meant that plays were not about the topical subjects of the day, but rather playwrights wrote about things that transcended place and time.
Lord Chamberlain’s Men: Shakespeare’s company of actors (1594). The troupe helped reconstruct the theater, which became The Globe Theater (1599). The Rose Theater was nearby. In 1988 remnants of The Rose Theater was discovered, but an office building was built over it. The Rose was a smaller theater than The Globe. Shortly afterward, The Globe was discovered, but could not be completely excavated because it was on an site that had already been declared a historic site. There was also a major roadway running through the remains. The limited excavation confirmed that it was twenty (20) sided and not rounded. There was also a confirmation of where Orrell drew the picture of the theater. The Globe was about the same size and dimensions. “It was so good it couldn’t be bettered,” Kiefer said.
In 1613 during a performance of King Henry VIII a cannon was shot off with a blank, but the embers from a cloth wadding drifted up to the roof and set the thatched roof aflame. The fire was put out with a pitcher of beer, according to Kiefer. No one was harmed, but a man’s pants were burned clean off.
Thatched Roofing: Thatched roofing is made from vegetable parts and is highly flammable. Thaching is still popular today. It is aesthetically pleasing and cheap. It is made of reeds, about 10 inches to 1 foot thick. Over time it decays, but is effective at keeping the elements of weather at bay. Thaching was infested with rats, bugs and other animals that would gnaw away at the structure and were also trying to keep warm.
1614: The Globe was reopened. There were no thatched roofing for the rebuilt theater. The maximum capacity was about 3,000 including standing and sitting prior to 1614. Now The Globe can hold about 750 patrons. It remains an open-air theater. Thatching has since been reapplied to the theater. It was the only exception made after the 1600-era fires. There is a fire suppression system that will quickly put out any potential fire.
1614 – 1642: Puritans shut down the theater.
Interregnum: A period when normal government is suspended, esp. between successive reigns or regimes. Theater remained dark during this period.
In 1644 a group of Puritans tore The Globe Theater down. American Sam Wanamaker helped to rebuild the new Globe. He was the organizational genius and driving force behind the restoration. The theater opened again in 1998. It was made with the guidance of academics from Europe and America to be as accurate to the original (facsimile).
The building of permanent theaters did not take off until the 16th century. For playwrights it was a great shift because it meant a ready market for long runs of productions, which did not exist prior. There were as many as six (6) different plays performed each week. Playwrights sold their plays to actors for about 5-6 pounds sterling (which at the time was a good amount). Actors also benefitted from permanent theaters. Actors had to travel before, especially during outbreaks of the plague shut down temporary stages. Actors had to begin honing their craft and started rehearsing daily. The audiences became more sophisticated as they increasingly became literate and were more frequent play-goers, of which they drew their knowledge and critiques from.
About 700 plays from this time period survived. This is only a fraction of those actually performed. About 600-650 copies were made of the surviving plays.
Swan Theater: A large, round, out-door theater builtin in 1595. A man from Holland named, Johannes de Witt drew the theater and Arend van Buchell made a copy of the drawing. It is said to be similar to the dimensions of The Globe at the time and the only surviving pictographic representation of a theater during the time period.
Plane or Arena: theater yard where people who paid one pence (penny) stood to watch the play. A seat cost two pence and was typically more for those who went to the play to be seen as much as they did to see the play.
- There are about 12 pence in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound.
- Almost everyone could afford to be a standee
Groundlings/Standee: Those who stood in the front row in front of the stage. They paid less to see the show because they had to stand. The stage is raised off the ground five (5) feet.
Proscynium: Front of stage
Memorum Edes/Tiring House: Room of the actors, where they would change costumes (attire/tire)
A small roof jutted over the stage to protect the actors from the elements in what is an otherwise open-air theater.
Ingresses: Entrances to seated galleries, there were three (3).
Orchestra: Area for seated customers who paid to be closer to the stage.
Sedilia: Area for seated audience members.
Porticus: Passageway
The theater was plastered on all sides so that it would appear round. A flag went up to signal theatergoers that a play was about to start.
Tectum: Roof (tile as opposed to tatching).
In the floor of the stage there was a trap door for a burial vault, prison cells and spirits of the underworld. There was also a trap door in the ceiling of the super structure that allowed descent of the deities (gods). Stage sets became important in the 18th centuries and beyond. There were no stage sets prior. Descriptive language was used in place of elaborate background designs. There was also continuous action with no pauses, unlike in modern theater productions. The Globe was 27 ½ feet deep and 43 feet wide, 100 feet in diameter.
There were about seven (7) or eight (8) senior actors who made decisions, the rest were hired hands for walk-on roles, ticket takers, floor sweepers and the like. Boys were on the lowest tier. Long Leat houses the only drawing of a Shakespearean performance – Titus Andronicus.
The Burbage brothers owned a fifty (50%) percent stake of the theater. They took in five (5) partners who each had a ten (10%) percent stake. Shakespeare was one of those partners. These partners were the charter members of the King’s Men. Most playwrights died broke because there were no royalties, just a one-time, flat price for the sale of plays.
Shakespeare on the other hand had three sources of income:
1) Chief playwright for the King’s Men writing about two plays per year for 20 years
2) Charter member or “Sharer” of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, owning a ten (10%) percent stake
3) Also a part-owner of The Globe
He was a writer, owner and actor. It was rare, but Shakespeare retired a wealthy man.
Wenzel Hollar drew a picture of The Globe and landscape. John Orrell figured out where Hollar was when he drew a picture in Southwark Cathedral. Shakespeare’s brother Edmund buried there.
1607: Queen Elizabeth died. King James of Scotland was chosen by Elizabeth to be the heir to the throne. He became the first English king of Scottish descent and reigned until 1625.
James I, King of England: Took over Shakespeare’s company and renamed them The King’s Men.
Puritans: Closed the theaters in England in 1642.
Stratford-upon-Avon is an agricultural base, not urban area.
Stages were made out of local materials before there were permanent theaters. Planks of wood were placed on sawhorses five (5) feet off the ground. There was a curtain across the back quarter of stage to change clothes. Each actor had to play multiple roles.
The first was built by Romans in Londinium (London). Orange, France in Southern part of the county is the site of the best preserved theater of ancient times.
1567 – the first theater
Antony & Cleopatra Notes
March 27
Staging of first scene
Center door of the Tiring House was larger and might be more suitable for the entrance of Antony, Cleopatra and the train.
How important are Demetrius and Philo? Also, where are they going to be on the stage?
No front curtain in Shakespeare’s time so audience sees the characters entering the stage.
Very different from all the plays so far in this course. Shakespeare is never content with the status-quo.
Antony provokes arguments.
Philo: “Nay, but this dotage of our general’s / O’erflows the measure.”
Dotage has a slightly negative connotation. Feeble/childish state, but can also be used in a romantic context. Excessive of the quality of their devotion.
This term in this context is of disapproval. The word “O’erflows” leads to ambiguity about Antony’s dotage.
Philo “Look where they come: / take but good note, and you shall see in him / The triple pilar of the world transformed / Into a strumpet’s fool.”
Cleopatra “If it be love indeed, tell me how much.”
Antony “There’s beggary in the love that can reckoned.”
Line 26 Cleopatra speaking. Antony rejects the messengers.
Lines 33-40 centerpiece to the scene, well written. Cleopatra doesn’t believe a word of Antony’s speech.
Scene leaves us simultaneously informed and perplexed. Hints that no ones words are entirely true.
Demetrius “… I will hope / Of better deeds tomorrow.”
No events, but opinions/voices are given in this first scene.
For a renaissance tragedy there is little in the way of decisive action. Scenes are typically short. Everyone judges everyone else.
Act 1, Scene 4 line 45 Ceasar. No absolutes in this world.
Language of liquids/water/sea. Action takes place on or near the sea. World of this play is unstable, constantly changing. Creatures of mood and impulse.
Act 3, Scene 1 often cut in performance. See Antony & Cleopatra through Ventidius’s eyes.
Plutarch wrote about all the important characters in ancient Greece and Rome and finds parallels between them.
Sir Thomas North translated Plutarch’s book
Shakespeare makes us feel that these characters are not fixed in history. Future of these characters is open and unsettled. The knowledge of them is incomplete.
March 29
Conflict of civilizations in Antony & Cleopatra in second scene of Act 1.
Roman values: Fortuna (roman deity), mental toughness/stoicism
Egyptian values: prose, longer speeches, sexuality, “party animals,” life of Egypt is the life of the body
Is this play tilted in the direction of Egypt or Rome?
Antony exchanges Egypt for Rome.
Act 1.4 Caesar says Antony is no longer manly
vir = man
Antony is being criticized for taking up Egyptian values. Whenever his past is brought up it serves as a contrast to his current status. This is the only unquestioned ideal in the world of the play.
Plutarch’s work, however, talks about a number of his failures.
Antony decides to marry Octavia, Caear’s sister
Act 2.2 The decision is meant to strength the bonds between Casear and Antony
Act. 2.6
Act 3.4
Cleopatra’s past is not always spoken about in complementary terms. She says she was a “morsel for a monarch” for Julius Caesar.
Act 2.2 Enobarbus’s speech is taken from Plutarch. Plutarch: prose history in 3rd person vs. Shakespeare: blank verse poetry
Barge serves as a metaphor of Cleopatra, deified by Shakespeare’s description. Speech is in the same scene as Antony agreeing to leave Cleopatra. This indicates he will go back to her.
External observations replace internal conflicts. No soliloquies to keep the characters at a distance.
April 3
Antony appears not to want the power that was thrust upon him in the past from his military conquests.
Does the play favor one culture over another?
Act 3, Scene 7 line 27 “We will fight with him by sea.”
Enobarbus thinks this choice is wrong.
Line 34 +
Seems that Antony is drawn to the sea.
Scene 10
Scene 11
Scene 13
Act 4, Scene 2, Line 10
Scene 3
Scene 5
Scene 6
In Act 5, Scene 2 Shakespeare is pulling out all the stops as a poet. Her death leaves her beauty preserved, while Antony’s is bloodied.
Notes for Thursday, March 1
Macbeth Staging & History
All’s Well That Ends Well‘s & Othello’s respective protagonist and anti-hero leave the audience guessing as to their motivation as the action unfolds.
King Lear does not have the complexity of the double plot.
In 1603 the death of Queen Elizabeth finally appointed a successor
– Advisers had hoped she’d pick someone sooner
Her pick was James III of Scotland
James became King James I. His transition to power was peaceful. He remained the monarch for the remainder of Shakespeare’s career (1603 – 1625).
Jacobean is a term often associated with James.
King James authorized his own version of The Bible. He did not directly contribute anything to the text. In 1611 the new version was adopted by the Church of England. Different versions of The Bible were floating around during this time period and so his version created a standardization.
William Tyndale produced translation in early 16th century. It is considered the greatest translation of The Bible. A large portion of James’s translation was used – 90 percent.
Accession of King James I was a boon to Shakespeare’s career. He changed the name of Shakespeare’s company from Lord Chamberlain’s Men (1594) to The King’s Men (1603-1638). He conferred a new and enhanced status on Shakespeare’s company.
From 1603-1604 the theaters were closed due the outbreak of the plague.
In 1599, “As You Like It ” was performed at Hampton Court (one of the King’s palaces). Several other plays including his dramas like Macbeth were performed there. Other palaces included White Hall and Greenwich. The performances at the palace were important because it was an indoor stage, unlike the open-air Globe Theater. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth with the indoor performance in-mind. Shakespeare’s night scenes are harder to stage at the Globe. With the indoor theater you can shutter the windows and dim or extinguish candles/lighting.
The sound effects were better in an enclosed theater as well. Reed instruments were used to impact the drama of the play – especially oboes (known as HAUTBOYS). Bell tolls were used to symbolize death. In Act 3 there was a trumpet call and music during the banquet scene.
Shakespeare’s company performed for King James I more than Queen Elizabeth – 187 times in all. This meant money and prestige for Shakespeare. Right-wing religious extremists – the Puritans – did not like the theater and eventually got it shutdown.
Macbeth was written with many of James’s beliefs in mind. James was convinced early on that there was a coup d’état against his life, but it was not politically motivated, but rather driven by supernatural forces – especially witches. He attended witch confessions/trials which only confirmed his suspicions and reaffirmed his notions of the power of witchcraft.
James I wrote The Daemonologie in 1599, which is about witchcraft. He fancied himself something of an amateur theologian. Witchcraft and female sexuality are invariably linked in the world of Macbeth.
James I was publicly “attached” to men and boys. He married only to produce an heir to the throne. He was a known homosexual.
In Act 4, around line 88 when Macbeth and the witches are on stage there is an apparition that says “Beware Mcduff.” The apparition descends which leads to ambiguity about the motivations of the supernatural forces that exist within the world of this play. The apparition ascended thru the trap door beneath the stage suggesting and evil element.
The second apparition, a bloody child, was meant to symbolize C-Section birth and the statement [not direct quote: “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”] in effect give Macbeth the impression he is invincible.
Around line 111, a show of eight kings, was an example of a convention of Shakespeare’s stage. This was part of what is known as a Dumb Show, a pantomime/silent action. This scene was used for dramatic effect in order to compress a larger concept into a single scene. It was also for symbolic purposes. There was a looking glass (mirror) on stage which may have been facing King James I so the eighth King would have been him and brought him “into the world of the play.”
The witches were costumed in wild attire because they represented gender ambiguity and supernatural forces. They “vanished… into thin air… into the wind,” which added to the mystery of the play. Their stage exits were unusual. Witches may have also had a prop resembling horses, something they are often associated with. They may have also used “flying machinery” to raise and lower them to the stage. The ceiling above the stage was typically where supernatural forces entered and exited. Witches and their horses could fly because they would perform a spell that included burning a baby’s fat.
The play wasn’t especially popular then. No paperback editions existed during Shakespeare’s lifetime. An account of the play by Simon Forman, an educated, wealthy and professional astrologer described the irony of the staging of the audience seeing the ghost of Banquo before Macbeth in April 1611.
Hecate was added to the play after it had already been performed without him. Psychological emphasis was the action and thoughts that took place in Macbeth’s mind. Costumer/playwright Thomas Middletonwho was the only dramatist to be invited to revise a work of Shakespeare’s. He wrote a play called “The Witch.”Macbeth was played by Richard Burbage who also played Othello and Hamlet. He was the senior actor in Shakespeare’s company and was the most revered during his time. Lady Macbeth and Lady Mcduff were played by boy actors. The role of the witches were enacted by MEN with beards to add to the unnaturalness and to add to the drama. During King James I’s reign there was approximately 11 performances per year at court, while there was only about three performances a year. Shakespeare wouldn’t have written Macbeth if James I wouldn’t have been named King.
In 1642 theaters (which were highly-regarded by the public) were closed by Puritans. The theater was closed for 18 years. Then civil war errupted and James I’s son was killed. Oliver Cromwell ruled briefly. In 1660 the monarchy was restored and the era was known as The Restoration. Theaters were new, actors were new and women were acting (in part due to a change in attitudes of theater).
William Davenant revived Shakespearean work. He claimed he was Shakespeare’s illegitimate son and also claimed to be the father of English Opera. Davenant cut characters of low standing. Diabolical effect of the characters and drama was down-played in his version. He also modified the language to make them more of a conversation style of gentleman. He introduced instrumental music. The witches danced and sung. Only version for next 80 years.
In 1681 Nahum Tate remade King Lear in the image of his day. There was a love match between Edgar and Cordelia. Persisted well into the 19th century.
Macbeth was played by David Garrick. He tried to honor both Shakespeare’s vision as well as Davenant’s updated edition. The play was often remade based on the Temper of the Times which means societal changes are reflected in the new editions.
John Philip Campbell was an actor in Macbeth. Sarah Sittens played Lady Macbeth. In 1840’s Verde made an (Italian) Macbeth, which was very different. It was opera themed.
In 1936Orson Wells made an American version. The Works Progress Administration was being initiated by Franklin Roosevelt. The play showed in New York for 12 weeks. His version incorporated voodoo and an all-black cast. The setting was the Caribbean in 19th century Haiti. It was the first time black actors portrayed classical drama. The interpretation of the drama was that violent men were manipulated by evil forces. In 1957 there was a film version made.
In 1960 Tushiro Mufoni played Macbeth in Throne of Blood in the Japanese Kurosawa version. The Japanese version was based on Koh dramatic style, which was very stylized and incorporated more stillness than action.
In 1971 Roman Polanski along with John Finch and Francesca Annis made a version of the play that emphasized sexuality.
Hecate: a vengeful goddess of death and the afterlife
The actor who played Hecate wore a wig, looked similar to dreadlocks or the snakes donned by Medusa. The actor would have also been carrying a torch and accompanied by the sound of barking dogs. The sight of her added to the drama of the play.
English 431B: Advanced Shakespeare 