Shakespeare date of birth was never known but we do know that he was baptised on the 26th April 1564, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway and had three children Susanna Hall and the twins Hamnet Shakespeare and Judith Quiney. Throughout the time that Queen Elizabeth I reigned Shakespeare he wrote, A Midsummer’s Nights, which are often seen to embody the generally happy, confident and optimistic mood of the Elizabethans. On the other hand when James I came to the throne he wrote he wrote darker and more cynical plays, such as Macbeth and Hamlet reflecting the insecurities of the Jacobean period. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth a year after the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. Guy Fawkes and his men were the people responsible for this as they had tried to blow up Houses of Parliament with King James I and his MP’s inside. In total they had gotten 36 barrels inside a basement underneath the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes and his men were arrested the day before they planned tried blow up the Houses of Parliament. They were horribly tortured on the rack until they confessed. They were executed were executed in the most brutal way back then as a warning to other would-be traitors. My research has helped me to understand why Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, which was to warn that if anyone betrayed a King the awful fate that will inevitably overtake them. Macbeth is set in Medieval Scotland, he is a really succesful soldier in King Duncan’s army. Until he is told that he would become king and that his best friend and his army Captain Banquo’s sons will be kings.One day Duncan visits Macbeth’s Castle and stays overnight. This is the point were Lady Macbeth bribes Macbeth to kill Duncan but he feels that he can not do it as Duncan had even crowned him Thane of Cawdor. He kills Duncan after Lady Macbeth’s bribes, he feels that he needs to kill any witnesses when as a loyal follower of Duncan come to wake him up to go back to the Castle, then he kills him and the guard that had been drugged last night before killing Duncan. And Lady Macbeth faints. Macbeth is proclaimed the new King of Scotland, but recalling the Witches second prophecy Macbeth sends hired murderes to kill Banquo and his son Flenance but the murderes commit a mistake and Flenance escapes. Then when Macduff and Malcom find out that Macbeth had killed the king they join forces from Ireland and England against Macbeth; and when Macbeth is finally killed Malcom is crowned the new King of Scotland. This reasearch has really helped me to understand the text in more depth as I now knpw the reason why Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.
Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/english/macbeth/background/revision/1/
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/macbeth/play-summary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
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