The Sources of Shakespeare's Plays
Shakespeare, Macbeth is created by combining two people, Makbeth and Donwald. Also, the
murder of Shakespeare’s King Duncan, comes almost directly from Donwald’s murder of
Holinshed’s King Duff. Shakespeare also condensed Macbeth’s seventeen year reign into a
period consisting of a couple of weeks. The saying that “history is written by the victors” holds
true here. After Malcolm ascended to power he proceeded to rewrite history to make his family
justified in overthrowing Macbeth. This editing of history made the real Macbeth darker and more
evil and made King Duncan, making him more docile and kind. The Celtic customs of succession
were ignored in Shakespeare’s play, and with that, so was Macbeth’s claim to the throne by being
the worthiest of the kinsman.
Due to the amount and context of the information used by Shakespeare, I have decided to
go through Shakespeare’s Macbeth explaining the play and then summarizing the information
from Holinshed’s and explaining the parallels. In the paragraphs pertaining to the plot of
Shakespeare’s Macbeth, I will use the names given by the author (e.g. Macbeth, Macduff,
Banquo, etc.). To avoid confusion as to what is being discussed (Shakespeare’s story line or how
he uses Holinshed’s), bold type will be used when referring to Holinshed’s work ( I will also use
the chronicler’s spellings of the names -- e.g. Makbeth, Makduffe, Banquho), while plain type will
be used when referring to Shakespeare’s plot. The page numbers cited in reference to Holinshed’s
pertain to W.G. Broswell-Stone’s 1896 printing of Shakespeare’s Holinshed.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth opens on three witches. They speak in rhymes that sound like
magical incantatio...
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...enterprise”(III, i, 12) (pg. 117) and then speaks to Caesar. At first, Cassius fears their plan has
been revealed by Popilious, but Brutus realizes from Caesar’s expression that the message was o
Bibliography:
Bibliography
Alden, Raymond Macdonald, A Shakespeare Handbook, Books for Libraries,
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Griffin, Alice. The sources of ten Shakespearean plays. Thomas Y Crowell, New
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Spencer T. J. B., Shakespeare’s Plutarch, Penguin books, Middlesex, England,
1964
Rowse A. L., The Annotated Shakespeare, Orbis Publishing Ltd., 1984
Nicholl, Allardyce & Josephine, Holinshed’s Chronicle as used in Shakespeare’s
plays, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1927
Derrick, Thomas, Understanding Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Greenwood press,
1998
Daniel, Samuel, Poems and A Defense of Ryme, Phoenix books, London , 1930
In the beginning of the play, Duncan rewards Macbeth for his victories by making him Thane of Cawdor.
Clark, W.G., and W. Aldis Wirhgt, eds. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol 2. USA: Nd. 2 vols.
Best, Michael. Shakespeare's Life and Times. CD ROM. Santa Barbara, CA: Intellimation, 1994. Version 3.0.
Cassius sends a letter to Brutus saying that he should kill Caesar for Rome, and then later in the act they meet to make their final preparations. Caesar’s wife thinks that Caesar is hiding something and wants to know what is wrong.
Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine, ed. Introduction. Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993.
Thatcher, David. Begging to Differ: Modes of Discrepancy in Shakespeare. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.
Evans, G. Blakemore. Ed. The Riverside Shakespeare. by William Shakespeare. 1552- 1616. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.
Solomon, Andrew. "A Reading of the Tempest." In Shakespeare's Late Plays. Ed. Richard C. Tobias and Paul G. Zolbrod. Athens: Ohio UP, 1974. 232.
The essence of Macbeth lies not only in the fact that it is written by the universal talent William Shakespeare; the royal-conspiracy, the political unethical activity, the killin...
His opening comment, "Brutus, I do observe you now of late; / I have not from your eyes that gentleness / And show of love as I was wont to have"(I,ii,32-34) encourages Brutus to elaborate on the reasons for his altered behavior by concluding that the behavior denotes displeasure with Cassius. To deny this, Brutus must give an alternative reason for his behavior, and even in his guarded response lie clues to his feeling about Caesar: "Vexe'd I am / Of late with passions of some difference." (I,ii,39-40) This point is underlined later in the same passage when Brutus refers to himself as "poor Brutus, with himself at war."(I,ii,46) It is only after this passage, when Cassius is sure that Brutus is not thoroughly contented with Caesar's position, that Cassius begins to cautiously ease his way into his plan with a very formalized
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power
invaders of Scotland gains respect from the King Duncan and his fellow soldiers. However, the demonic
Clark, W. G. and Wright, W. Aldis , ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. 1. New York: Nelson-Doubleday
Hirsh, James E. "The "To Be Or Not To Be" Scene And The Conventions Of Shakespearean Drama." Modern Language Quarterly 42.2 (1981): 115-136. Literary Reference Center. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.