Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Trending
    • Interview with the Vice-Chancellor
    • Country Highlight: The Netherlands
    • If You’re Moving Back Home After Uni …
    • Jane Austen in Lockdown: How her six novels are more relevant than ever
    • All About … Period Poverty
    • My Veggie Journey: How not being strictly Vegetarian is OK
    • Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month
    • Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr
    Seren
    • News & Politics
      1. Local News
      2. UK News
      3. Uni News
      4. World News
      5. Politics
      6. Comment
      7. Business
      Featured

      SABB Election: The Full Result Breakdown

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Interview with the Vice-Chancellor

      May 23, 2022

      Retro? Chip shortage may bring vintage tech to your car.

      May 6, 2021

      Manizha – the artist causing a stir as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2021:

      May 6, 2021
    • Arts & Culture
      1. Books
      2. Games
      3. Film
      4. Music
      5. TV
      6. Creative Corner
      Featured

      Bangor alumni podcast earns Hollywood cameo & BBC features

      By Amelia SmithMarch 7, 20210
      Recent

      Jane Austen in Lockdown: How her six novels are more relevant than ever

      July 7, 2021

      Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month

      May 17, 2021

      Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021

      May 16, 2021
    • Lifestyle
      1. Fashion
      2. Food and Drink
      3. Social
      4. Health and Beauty
      5. Travel
      Featured

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      By Emily ShoultsMay 6, 20220
      Recent

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      May 6, 2022

      If You’re Moving Back Home After Uni …

      August 3, 2021

      All About … Period Poverty

      May 17, 2021
    • Discovery
      1. Science
      2. Environment
      3. History
      4. International
      Featured

      Brewing up a Storm: The History of Guinness

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Manizha – the artist causing a stir as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2021:

      May 6, 2021

      Japan plan to release radioactive water into the ocean

      May 6, 2021

      The link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots

      April 29, 2021
    • Sport
      1. Varsity 2019
      2. Varsity 2018
      3. Varsity 2017
      4. Varsity 2016
      5. Varsity 2015
      6. Varsity 2014
      7. Varsity 2013
        • Varsity 2013 Results
        • Varsity 2013 – In tweets
      Featured

      Bangor Muddogs’ American Football: a young woman finding her place

      By Jade HillMarch 23, 20210
      Recent

      The 48-hour rise and fall of the European Super League

      April 27, 2021

      The European Super League is announced

      April 19, 2021

      Formula 1’s ‘Drive to Survive S3’ is released

      April 7, 2021
    • Students’ Union
      1. Union News
      2. Societies
      3. Volunteering
      4. Clubs
      Featured

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      By Caroline CartmillMarch 17, 20210
      Recent

      Bangor University Feminist Society

      March 30, 2021

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      March 17, 2021

      LGBT History Month in Bangor

      March 4, 2021
    • Issues
      • Current Issue
      • This year’s issues
      • Last year’s issues
      • Seren Archive
      • Seren Teams
    Seren
    Home»Entertainment»DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, SCOTS JOKES CHURN AND MONARCHISM SMUGGLE.
    Entertainment

    DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, SCOTS JOKES CHURN AND MONARCHISM SMUGGLE.

    Rosie MacLeodBy Rosie MacLeodAugust 14, 2013Updated:August 22, 2013No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    How many actors and actresses do you recognise?
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    How many actors and actresses do you recognise?
    The BEDS cast of Macbeth: How many actors and actresses do you recognise?

    In light of BEDS’ (Bangor English Drama Society) recent-and fantastic- production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Rosie MacLeod takes a look at the historical context of the play’s writing.

    Raphael Holinshed produced a factual work known as ‘Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland’, which served as a valuable and fruitful point of reference for William Shakespeare; he used it as a source of inspiration and historical accuracy for many of his plays. These ‘Chronicles’ reveal that the killing of King Duncan, the central plotline in Macbeth, is based on fact.

    WHEN SHALL WE THREE MEET AGAIN? IN 1603, UNDER A COMMON REIN.

    The Union of the English and Scottish crowns played a huge part in the conception of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Queen Elizabeth 1st produced no offspring and so no heir or heiress to inherit the English throne after her demise. When Good Queen Bess died in 1603, James 6th of Scotland succeeded the English crown from Elizabeth in March 1603: James 6th of Scotland was therefore James 1st of England as well, ruling both England and Scotland simultaneously and in union. It is believed that Shakespeare began writing Macbeth in 1603, the very same year that King James began ruling England in addition to Scotland. The perfected version of the play is accredited with a date of 1606.

    Shakespeare intended for Macbeth to appeal to the new king of England. As such, it was tailored to the interests –political and apolitical- of the new monarch.  This play focuses on bloodbaths and sword fights among the jealous and vindictive aristocracy and begins at a meeting of…peasant witches? The inclusion of the witches throughout Macbeth may seem incongruous; they figure in the play because the new James 1st of England was massively intrigued by witchcraft and the folklore and hysteria surrounding it. At this time of huge interest in these paranormal and mystical beings, witches were regarded, on an artistic and folklore level, as genderless figures. However, the practice of witch hunts and witch trials led to an overwhelming majority of women being tried as witches. This has led to an increased perception of a witch as an evilly feminised figure. How ironic it is that misogyny was ardent enough to mercilessly try women as witches and yet in the same age and land a woman –Elizabeth 1st– reined England for forty-five years.  It is King James’ interest in witches and spells that explains Shakespeare’s choice to open the play at the Weird Sisters gathering: To grasp the attention of the monarch from the outset; the whole play is punctuated with appearances from the Three Witches, designed to hold the King’s attention for the entirety of the play’s action.

    DAGGERS IN THE SMILES.

    As well as flattering King James into watching Macbeth, the play also served a more political purpose, conveyed through the ill fate of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Seduced by a lust for power and desire for the crown and an inability to resist this temptation, they murder King Duncan and promptly descend into madness. At the time when the English and Scottish crowns had just been merged, this was Shakespeare’s way of delivering the stern, firm and uncompromising message: “Do not kill your king!” Shakespeare portrays Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as plagued and haunted by guilt, completely unable to sleep and relax and becoming increasingly enslaved by the crippling weight on their shared conscientious. These may appear normal responses for people who have ended someone else’s life. However, these depictions of trauma and insanity by guilt were in fact all intended to warn the audience against treason and designed to intimidate them in favour of the monarchy.  One such episode that intensely incites fear is Lady Macbeths’ sleepwalking scene; “Her eyes are open. Their sense shut” as she soliloquises feeling permanently marked and dirtied by murder she and her husband committed. This scene was memorably performed by Dame Judi Dench and contains the line “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”.

    OATS? OATS?? DAMNED SCOTS!

    More comically, the witches’ spell in the latter stages of the play is comprised of revolting ingredients; “Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog”. Macbeth was written at a time when Scotland was firmly in the English psyche, for the two crowns became unified. Then, the Scots’ diet –oat porridge and haggis- varied sharply from the English one and was considered strange by many English. This witches’ spell of grotesque spell-stuffs is widely believed to be Shakespeare’s insolent jibe traditional Scottish cooking.

     

    England OATS scotland Shakespeare Student drama
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Rosie MacLeod

    Related Posts

    Interview with the Vice-Chancellor

    May 23, 2022

    Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month

    May 17, 2021

    Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021

    May 16, 2021

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    MORE INFORMATION
    • ABOUT
    • ADVERTISE
    • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED
    • MEMBERS
    Links
    • Bangor University Bangor University
    • Google+ Google+
    • Undeb Bangor Undeb Bangor
    About

    Seren is Bangor University Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

    We have editorial independence from both Bangor University and Bangor Students’ Union. Seren is written by students for students and we’d love you to get involved!

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.