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The Tragedy of Macbeth
Pre-reading Notes
This content will need to be
known while reading play and for the exam.
- The three types of plays for which Shakespeare
was known:
- Comedies
Often satirical, making fun of something of the day but always able to draw
a parallel to today. The conflict ends with the protagonist winning his/her
struggle. Usually, with Shakespeare, the comedy ensues as a result of a
person or people misreading a situation and their responses are silly as a
result. (Much Ado about Nothing = Much Ado about Noting (wrongly))
There is a moral to the story and we as readers learn it from the plot,
conflict and themes. Can have some historical basis.
- Tragedies
Especially connected to today - what are the parallels and where do we see
examples in the modern day? The conflict ends with the protagonist losing
his/her struggle. Sad ending, tragic. Usually a good protagonist
either becomes bad or at least does bad things, called a tragic fall
(from grace) and the person usually falls from a great height as most often
they're elevated members of society. There is always something about the protagonist that is the
"chink in their moral armor" that results in their undoing, either by their
own hand or the antagonist's - this is called a tragic flaw. This too
has a moral to the story but this one is more of a warning than a reminder -
we are expected to be moved as a human. Can have some historical basis.
- Histories (Considered a common
type in many circles)
Contain elements of both comedies and tragedies. Have much more historical basis but
still are dramatic.
- Shakespeare was a shareholder in The Globe
Theatre.
He also was one of the main writers and even acted in a few. Seeing plays was
the center of many people's lives, so the business of drama was a very serious
and lucrative one. All plays were like big parties. The cheap seats were on
the lawn, a pit, like festival seating today. Since it was the ground, those
who frequented that space were called groundlings and were the
equivalent of today's bleacher bums. Only men acted - women were not
allowed. That made for great comedy with the comedies.
- Shakespeare’s exact birth-date is unknown but
many guess it to be April 23, 1564. April 23
happens to be the day he died in 1616.
- Shakespeare’s hometown is Stratford-upon-Avon.
- Recurring elements in Macbeth, such as
references to ambition, blood, madness, manliness or disturbances in the
natural order are called motifs.
-
The Five-Act Play Structure (also known as Dramatic Structure)
- Exposition
Introduces the protagonist and antagonist (depends on type of conflict, man
vs. what or whom?), introduces the conflict, introduces the setting
- Rising Action
The heart of the story, the sequence of conflict/plot. Some consider this
the "tightening of the rubber band" as if the story were a model airplane in
that a tension forms.
- Climax
The height of emotional intensity of the story. The peak of the conflict.
This is the turning point of the story and the protagonist's struggle. In
comedies, the story is turning out well. In tragedies, like Macbeth, things
are going south for the main character. Back to the model airplane
analogy: the propeller is let loose in either a positive or negative way.
- Falling Action
The conflict unravels, win or lose, for the protagonist. Usually we can
predict the end of the story/conflict at this point as we're now clearly
heading to the end.
- Conclusion (or Dénouement (day-know-moe) in comedies
and Catastrophe in tragedies)
The final outcome of the conflict, plot, story itself. The end, whether it's
a happy or sad one.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Freytags_pyramid.svg
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