Context of

Macbeth
Women’s rights and
Marriage
In the Jacobean era, woman were seen as
inferior it men and are born to serve them.
Before a woman was married they were under
the control of their father, then once they got
married there husband was in charge of them
and if their husband were to die her son would
be in charge.
Women had to take care of household matters
and raise children.
Divine Right of
Kings
People believed that Kings were given their
position by God.
This belief kept Kings in power as people were
afraid of going to Hell for opposing the
Monarchy.
This made the Kings only answerable to God.
The Great Chain of Being
This belief stated that God set out and order for everything
in the Universe. Beings of pure spirit were at the top, for
example God and Angels, this was followed by beings of
matter and spirit so men and woman, but at the bottom was
rocks, minerals, animals and plants.
As they believed that God gave Monarchs their power, it was
a sin to question the monarchy
When that natural order of the Great Chain of Being is
disturbed, nature will be in uproar and things will be
unbalanced.
Jacobean Witches
During the Reign of James I, the fear of Witches was at an all time high. The King passed many
laws forbidding the act of Witchcraft and made the practice of ‘magic’ punishable by death.
In order to find these Witches, King James I published a book called Daemonologie which
contained a list on how to identify a witch:
1) Mostly old women

2) They have pets that follow them around, mostly black cats

3) They make models

4) They hold Unusual ceremonies

5) They are deformed in some way

6) They live alone

7) They have no shadow

8) They talk to themselves all the time

9) They cannot say the Lord’s Prayer without a mistake

10) Their hair cannot be cut