Macbeth facts for kids
Title page of the part in the First Folio.
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| Author | William Shakespeare |
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| Country | London, England |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Shakespearean tragedy Tragedy |
| Set in | Scotland and England (Act IV, Scene III) |
| Publisher | Edward Blount and William Jaggard |
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Publication date
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1623 |
| Text | The Tragedie of Macbeth at Wikisource |
Macbeth ( full title The Tragedie of Macbeth) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, Macbeth most clearly reflects his relationship with King James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.
Plot
A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.
Sources
Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy are usually associated with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Superstitions
In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "The Scottish Play". The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.
Characters
- Duncan – king of Scotland
- Malcolm – Duncan's elder son
- Donalbain – Duncan's younger son
- Macbeth – a general in the army of King Duncan; originally Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and later king of Scotland
- Lady Macbeth – Macbeth's wife, and later queen of Scotland
- Banquo – Macbeth's friend and a general in the army of King Duncan
- Fleance – Banquo's son
- Macduff – Thane of Fife
- Lady Macduff – Macduff's wife
- Macduff's son
- Ross, Lennox, Angus, Menteith, Caithness – Scottish thanes
- Siward – general of the English forces
- Young Siward – Siward's son
- Seyton – Macbeth's armourer
- Hecate – queen of the witches
- Three Witches
- Captain – in the Scottish army
- Murderers – employed by Macbeth
- Third Murderer
- Porter – gatekeeper at Macbeth's home
- Doctor – Lady Macbeth's doctor
- Doctor – at the English court
- Gentlewoman – Lady Macbeth's caretaker
- Lord – opposed to Macbeth
- First Apparition – armed head
- Second Apparition – bloody child
- Third Apparition – crowned child
- Attendants, Messengers, Servants, Soldiers
Images for kids
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Macbeth consulting the Vision of the Armed Head by Johann Heinrich Füssli
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Lady Macbeth sleepwalking by Johann Heinrich Füssli
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Silver coin struck in Holland to commemorate King James' survival of the Gunpowder Plot. The coin reads DETECTVS·QVI·LATVIT·S·C· (the concealed one is discovered) with a snake, representing the Catholic Society of Jesus, whom the Protestants accused of the plot.
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The first page of Macbeth, printed in the Second Folio of 1632
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Macbeth and Banquo with the Witches by Henry Fuseli
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Ellen Kean and Charles Kean as the Macbeths, in historically accurate costumes, for an 1858 production
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A print of William Charles Macready playing Macbeth, from a mid-19th century performance
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Photograph of Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, an 1888 production
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Jack Carter and Edna Thomas in the Federal Theatre Project production that came to be known as the Voodoo Macbeth (1936)
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Fort St. Catherine's, Bermuda, the site of a 1953 outdoor production
See also
In Spanish: Macbeth para niños
